Health experts have warned since omicron took over as the dominant strain that everyone is likely to get COVID-19 at some point. Yet all of the data we have at this point suggests there are still millions of Canadians who haven’t been infected.

How can it be that two years into a pandemic marked by increasingly contagious variants, so many people remain COVID-free? What separates those of us who have tested positive from those who haven’t?

Reason 1: Because vaccines, masking and distancing works
Reason 2: Because you’ve remained totally isolated
Reason 3: Because you did actually have it, you just didn’t know
Reason 4: Because household transmission is not a given
Reason 5: Because, well, luck

While there are clear, well-established mitigation strategies that have helped lower individual risk of contracting COVID-19, a lot of it comes down to a hefty dose of just good luck. There’s a lot of randomness to COVID. There are people who seem to have minimal exposure who come down with it, and there are people who have heavy exposure who seem to do OK.

The truth is that experts are still learning about COVID-19.