Here is another good OpEd in SA regarding increased virulence.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... us-evolve/
To @trfie's point, right now the virus is not particularly deadly. So if the result of an increased contagiousness is that it becomes a little more deadly, then from the virus perspective it is a small price to pay for circumventing social distancing and continuing to spread.
The larger point I am trying to make is the same point I've made for about a year. This is an unstoppable virus. Rather than say it over and over, I encourage people to read the Scientific American article above.
With declining rates of new infections and the rollout of vaccines, some are beginning to speak of an end to COVID-19. But that rhetoric, in my opinion, is ill-considered and premature. Based on what we know now of SARS-CoV-2, it may no longer be a question of months before an end to the pandemic but a question of years, if not decades. We should plan for it.