Actually flu epidemics are followed when there is an especially virulent strain.. Even when it’s a dud, if you remember the swine flu back in ‘75. The Russian flu( 1977) was the last I caught that put me in bed. I don’t think we should obsess in an unhealthy way over these variants but neither should we put our heads in the sand. I’m more curious about how this is reported and how people react to that reporting.. it’s a curiosity.
Not each and every variant has been or was reported; yes the particularly virulent strains were but death stats weren’t published or reported day after day after day; complete changes to our everyday lives or society as a whole didn’t happen. The reaction to covid has been utterly irrational.