No one knows precisely, or at least has told, when the first case of COVID 19 occurred, but we do know that it was right about this date, December 9, two years ago. Odds are, the experts say, that some version of the disease will be with us forever, though it could already be less front of mind if vaccines were more readily available where they are not and if those where vaccines are had the sense to get them.

I’ve posted before about pandemics, and this post is not intended to look back, but rather to take stock of where we are. Mask wearing has long been common in Japan and in some other Asian countries, as protection and as a gesture of courtesy and respect. It, or rather the lack of a mask, has become an inane political statement here, and seems likely, as a result, to make mask wearing for the rest of us a fairly permanent necessity here.

Travel is apt to become less common for the forseeable future, as will be many things we once took for granted, like eating out and shopping in person. Seeing packed stadiums runs counter to that prediction, but I know there are many who would not venture into such settings for now. In my mind, such mass insanity seems to be one of the side-effects of the disease.

Some once thought that herd immunity might cause COVID 19 to retreat into hiding, but variants and vaccine hesitancy make that a distant dream. Indeed, the beginnings of a fourth wave of infections, on the back of the Delta variant and with the onset of the yet-to-be understood Omicron variant, has put hope on life support for now.

We don’t know precisely who the first case of COVID 19 was and, if we don’t work together as one, we will never see the last. I would like to end this post on a note of optimism, but that seems as endangered as hope for now.