Facing another holiday season of COVID
Though it’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year, the dominant emotion as we approach Christmas and New Year’s among Connecticut residents appears to be, if not despair, then resignation. How, nearly two years later, are we still in the COVID era? Is this ever going to end?
The latest twist is omicron, a COVID-19 variant that could become the dominant strain in this area within a short period, experts say. This follows delta, itself a more transmissible version than earlier editions, and portends a future of ever-evolving, evermore-transferable mutations that will leave us in COVID limbo for the foreseeable future. Already omicron is wreaking havoc on New York City, and as we saw in the earliest days of the coronavirus — way back in March 2020, which feels like several lifetimes ago — what happens in New York will surely redound in Connecticut.
And so we’re seeing familiar sights, the kinds of things we might have hoped were in the past. Schools considering closing their doors. Sports events postponed. Return-to-office plans on hold indefinitely. All this during the holidays, when many families gather as one (or would like to). It’s as if we’re stuck in a never-ending loop, where any good COVID-related news is only temporary, and a return to a life free of pandemic worry is forever off in the distance somewhere.
That’s the pessimistic take. But it’s not the only way to see our current situation. Yes, it’s serious, but we’re not where we were at the end of 2020, much as it may appear otherwise. So much has improved, even if it’s easy to lose sight of all the ways.
The most important change is vaccines, which were only beginning to be administered a year ago. Now anyone 5 and up can get one, and, to restate a point made many times before, you really should. They’re no more foolproof than any other product of modern medicine, but every study, every expert shows that your chances of a bad outcome from COVID are dramatically reduced by getting vaccinated. They’re free, they’re safe and they’re widely available. Get the shot, and get your booster.
We’re also in a better position at school. Any parent could go on at length about what a nightmare the 2020-21 school year was, with its constant in and out, hybrid and halfway scheduling. This year, for the most part, classroom doors have remained open, and officials have done a much better job ensuring that missed class time is kept to a minimum. That’s needed not only for kids, but for parents whose jobs aren’t always flexible enough to deal with COVID demands.
Work has changed, too — for some people. With work from home more common, some companies have come to realize that flexibility is an asset worth preserving, and plan to incorporate those changes into employee schedules moving forward.
It’s easy to lose heart. But history shows we may be in for a COVID-tinged future no matter what we do. It’s not going to just disappear, and so we need to find a way to live with it. That’s the best we can hope for as the pandemic era continues to grind on.
History shows we may be in for a COVID-tinged future no matter what we do. It’s not going to just disappear, and so we need to find a way to live with it.