The Fourth Quarter

Sorry for the football reference here, but hey, the Super Bowl is almost upon us. Dare we ask it: is the end of COVID close too?

A while ago, one of those cable TV medical pundits said, if I heard him right, that we could be looking at only around 50 new cases a day by April. States and localities are beginning to drop mask mandates for vaccinated people. Of course, there is always the possibility of a new variant appearing, and yes, there is much discussion about living with COVID as an endemic illness.

But even the Spanish Flu of the last century had an end. So, what if our long national nightmare is about to be, for all intents and purposes, over? Like the groundhog coming out of its burrow earlier this month, what will we see, and do?

I thought, giant mask-burning parties. But maybe that’s not a good idea – we can’t forget about all that smoke and climate change. I would say, keep a few masks around in case of a new outbreak, or at the very least, as souvenirs for your great-grandchildren,  or save them for that house painting project.

At some point, it will dawn on many people that the economy is actually pretty good and that they’re sitting on a pile of disposable funds that they might want to spend before inflation and rising interest rates gobble any of it up.

But the pandemic, even if it ends, will not end at the same rate for everyone. While many of us suffering from COVID fatigue will want to get right out there, I suspect that others, especially in families that have lost a member to the virus, may be a little more cautious.

Right now, if you’re in a supermarket line in a liberal state, you’ve seen how those not wearing masks have been shamed or shunned. Will that someday happen in reverse? Some may not be ready to go shopping without masking up. Will the bare-faced in the new majority take offense? As in, what’s the matter with YOU?

Finally, the woulda, coulda, shoulda game will turn into shouldna. Like, our mass lockdowns were unnecessary, the disease mainly affected old and obese people, the experts were wrong, etc. I think the experts were learning as they went along, just like the rest of us, except they at least had the expertise to evaluate what was going on. I hope there is a national commission to list the lessons we need for the next time, and there will be a next time.

But I, for one, will be especially grateful to see those footprint decals on the floor go away!