As of today, spring is 15 days away.
The shift in seasons should look significantly different than this same time last year.
At the outset of the pandemic in 2020, the prevailing advice was stay indoors as much as possible and avoid contact with people living outside of your household.
Doctors, epidemiologists, scientists and, ultimately, elected officials urged the public to behave cautiously until more about the coronavirus spreading COVID-19 was understood.
Restrictions were placed on access to public facilities and gatherings. Businesses were asked to significantly change the way they went about their day-to-day operations, or close altogether.
The directives were met dutifully if unenthusiastically, made palatable perhaps by the lies propagated by the previous president who assured the country everything would be back to normal by Easter. And then summer
More than 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths later, the country knows that wasn’t the case.
But we also know now that complete isolation from each other, avoiding parks and beaches and hiking trails is not the only way to combat the coronavirus’s spread. Over time we learned what we responsibly could and should do to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.
Over the last 12 months we have made slow, steady progress toward a resumption of pre-pandemic life.
Now, as spring 2021 approaches, we look toward and appreciate the sense of rebirth that beckons.
March 2021 is not as dark and foreboding as March 2020. Armed with knowledge, better protocols and a COVID-19 vaccine the days ahead, while filled with challenges, are bright and promising.
Basking in the warm glow of hope and optimism, the temptation may be to ease up on the vigilance and caution that has brought us this far.
But it’s the cautious approach that has brought us this far. To go roaring full throttle into the spring as if the pandemic is over would be foolish. Seasonally we approach a time when we experience new beginnings.
Celebrate the beginning of the pandemic’s end. We are not there yet. But it’s not as far as it used to be.
