May I kindly argue that there is no "best" model as the model to use is dependent on the case and context of the research. On the other hand science produces all the time novel solutions:
1) Biswas, S. Forecasting and comparative analysis of Covid-19 cases in India and US. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00536-3, Free access: Article Forecasting and comparative analysis of Covid-19 cases in India and US
2) Sharif, O., Hasan, M.Z. & Rahman, A. Determining an effective short term COVID-19 prediction model in ASEAN countries. Sci Rep 12, 5083 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08486-5, Open access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08486-5
3) Rafael A. Barrio, Kimmo K. Kaski, Guđmundur G. Haraldsson, Thor Aspelund, Tzipe Govezensky, A model for social spreading of Covid-19: Cases of Mexico, Finland and Iceland, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications,
Volume 582, 2021, Open access: Article A model for social spreading of Covid-19: Cases of Mexico, F...
Integrating quantitative and qualitative models is a nice way to develop new methods of forecasting.