COVID-19

We usually drop the “19” these days: we are instead in 2022, with a fourth wave, rampant transmission, spiralling cases and a sense that we’ll never shake free.

It seems kind of “wrong” to be pondering topics from my past when I’m sitting here in the middle of a global crisis that no one alive has experienced before – living inside history one day at a time.

Pandemics by their very nature have been worldwide, but not with the in-your-face presence that we have today, seemingly every minute. Reports fly in from well-known neighbourhoods to far-flung locales… and when news reporters can’t get there, personal smart phones can. No action is overlooked. Nothing is hidden. A vortex of “news”. Did you see this? Did you read that?

Two years in, information still changes daily – important information – on how to go about our day, how to protect ourselves, how to fight this invisible thing. We’re still grabbing for knowledge that isn’t fully here yet. It’s a really hard concept to grasp.

Knowledge takes time and experience and patience. Collectively, we have none of these. We push for answers, ungraciously accepting conflicting predictions and opinions in their place.

Despite all of this, I think the end may be near. It will likely not be a perfect ending – requiring regular vaccines, ongoing mask-wearing, smaller crowds – but it will allow us to get to an altered but happy middle ground as we give that knowledge the opportunity to grow.