Five Pandemic Things I Already Can’t Believe Were Real

We will never believe this happened.

The pandemic is not over in the United States. But it sure feels close, right? As The New York Times’ David Leonhardt pointed out this morning, Covid-19 cases in this country are plummeting while, not coincidentally, the number of vaccinations being given are increasing after a brief dip a few weeks ago. (As Leonhardt notes, this increase coincides with the CDC announcing that vaccinated people no longer had to wear masks.) Many states have already re-opened entirely, and the ones that haven’t, the ones among the more cautious ones throughout the pandemic, are about to, including Illinois and California. Covid-19 may never be fully eliminated. But it’s undeniable that a corner has been turned. We are almost out of this thing.

In many ways, we will be spending the rest of our lives wrapping our collective minds about the madness we went through during this time, how scary and disorienting and isolating it was. But I think, as we enter the final stage of the pandemic (this particular one, anyway) in the United States, I wonder if it’s worthwhile to remember how truly bizarre it was. There will be images that, in 30 years, we will simply not be able to believe we actually were alive to witness, that are surreal to even imagine.