Life may be slowly returning to normal with the lifting of many COVID-19 mandates, but the BA.2 variant is taking off, and experts say we're not out of the woods yet. Experts at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health said, overall, conditions are better as far as moving past the virus, but there remain some issues that could jeopardize a complete return to what was normalcy.Doctors at Johns Hopkins said there is reason to be hopeful because infection rates should become more stable and predictable. While there will be more surges, it won't likely be as severe."Future surges are unlikely to cause as much severe disease as we've seen these past two years due to the population immunity we now have and important tools, such as vaccines, boosters and antivirals," said Dr. Amber D'Souza, who researches infectious diseases and cancer prevention at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. But many variables will affect the trajectory of the pandemic and how quickly it gets to endemic status, one of which is the war in Ukraine, which is likely to lead to increased COVID-19 transmission."Before the invasion of Ukraine, they were experiencing an omicron surge in cases with the highest rate of coronavirus Ukraine had seen occurring in the month right before invasion. Only a third of Ukrainians are vaccinated. So, the population is still highly susceptible," D'Souza said.Many Ukrainians are fleeing to other countries and living in close living quarters at refugee camps, which D'Souza said are breeding grounds for infectious diseases like COVID-19. All of this comes as the White House said this week it is out of funding for COVID-19 testing and vaccines unless Congress approves more.Dr. Anna Durbin, who studies experimental vaccines for COVID-19, dengue, West Nile, Zika and malaria at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the funding issue will have a big impact on the country's control of the pandemic."I think without that funding, while we're still in the midst of omicron and COVID and we're not entirely back to normal yet, there are concerns we could have another surge. Lack of funding to address that could adversely affect our response to the pandemic," Durbin said.But there's good news on the horizon for young children. Both Pfizer and Moderna plan to submit their vaccines for children under 5 to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization next month. "If it is approved, we'll have an EUA by the end of April, if not a bit earlier, for the Pfizer vaccine," Durbin said.Experts said the public also needs to start preparing for the next pandemic so that the country can be in a better position than when COVID-19 hit.