viruses alive, not alive or something in between?

We argued about this for decades. It comes down to the definition of living, which no one can agree on, and even physicists have waded into the debate for some godawful reason. We don't even agree on how many Kingdoms exist. My personal view is viruses are a form of proto-life, not living, but not inanimate. Couple years back we discovered (actually they were already known be we proved) a new form of life that isn't related to other life forms on Earth and is theorized to be another type of life that evolved but never flourished. So we have a lot to learn yet about what is or isn't life and as we explore other planets have to be open to forms of life that are fundamentally different than what we know.

The current definition of life deals with the ability to reproduce... Viruses are parasites in this regard, but... Maybe the definition is wrong.
Sure thing, if pain in the back covid is not alive, it is a...pain in the back.

I think of viruses as living.   They exist as specific types/varieties/species. They have a gene pool. They reproduce/replicate and pass on genetic information to descendants which allows their gene pool to mutate and adapt.  Just because they require a cell to thrive doesn't suggest to me they aren't alive, it just means they are like a myriad of other life forms that depending on a certain environment. Many forms of life depend on specific environments or components in their environment to survive.  In fact pretty much all life on earth depends on the environment found on earth...so much so that in order for humans to survive in space they have to build contraptions...suits/craft/containers that allow them to carry a bit of that environment wherever they go.

Or maybe because physics is getting more expensive and harder since so much of the basics have been solved. It's so expensive to make big new discoveries that there are fewer exciting opportunities, it's just the plodding stuff that is available to most, working on old problems or stretching our understanding of current theories. But I think the real answer is that quite a few physicists have become minor celebrities and the money from speaking and tv is really good compared to their normal paycheck, so they stretch further to have more to talk about. NDTyson wanders into biology all the time and just as often is completely wrong when he does. Physics is a few extremely complex concepts; biology is thousands of complex processes. That's why there is way more specialties in biology, biochemistry, bioengineering, and medicine than physics. 

It's not that we can't define life, it's that we don't agree on the definition. I think there was general agreement until we discovered viruses, and I think there are a few holdouts for religious reasons, waiting for us to discover the magic all-spark. And a definition doesn't solve any problems so there is no pressing need. If we someday discover non-terrestrial life, or make a breakthrough in abiogenesis, then it might become important. Biology is advancing rapidly and will be a very different field in 50 years, lots of definitions will probably change.