TSPAN8 and infection: Here, we characterized AO from many subjects and capitalized on the diversity and cell-type-complexity in our large panel of AOs to (1) understand the underpinnings of epithelial cell infection by SARS-CoV-2 WA-1, Delta, and Omicron variants, and (2) discover TSPAN8 as a conserved mediator of infection with all three variants.