My issue with the "same as the flu" argument is that the flu isn't constantly mutating, as covid continues to. It's a yearly guess which strain(s) to vaccinate for, but otherwise, fighting the flu is a standardized process.
The XBB variant (Kraken) currently on the uptick has shown some ability to circumvent not just natural immunity but also the bivalent vaccine. And we're already seeing reactive treatments (monoclonal antibodies) fail.
3700 Americans died last week from Covid. Far lower than the 5000+ just one year ago, but not an insignificant number. And we're still early days of understanding the full extent of long Covid.
Honestly, I get it. Folks want "normal." All I care about is that taking away the emergency is going to make the vaccines both vastly more expensive, and less frequent (1x/year) making them far less protective.