March 12, 2022 Two Years of the Coronaverse

Two years ago they declared covid19 a pandemic. Back then no one imagined we would be still living in the shadow of the dreaded coronavirus in 2022.

Crazy days indeed

As far as anniversaries go this would not be my favourite. 

In the before times – before covid that is, the world was already divided. There was the left and the right – neither side was right. Here we are, two years later, separated along some of the same lines

More divided than ever.

We must find a way to unite – we need to find a way to join together. 

I enjoy science fiction and fantasy novels. But when things get too far-fetched sometimes I have to put it down and start a new book. The last two years have been much like a science fiction novel. A story I would have already put down because it was getting way too unrealistic.

Two years ago we sat in Happy Valley at Big White and contemplated this new coronavirus.  We never would have predicted the events of 2020, 2021, and now 2022.

Imagine telling someone that people were going to be told to keep a “social distance”. That we were going to be told masks were unnecessary and didn’t work. But only a few months later we were told we had to wear a mask when we were in public. Imagine if someone told you the government was going to keep a running public case count of the people catching this virus and we would be made to watch a daily update – for two whole years!

In the first month of the pandemic the roads shut down and the world was quiet. It was a breath of fresh air. But as time went on the world came back to life in other ways. There was a vaccine in record time – it would save us. It was our way out of the pandemic

We thought it would all end. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel – only to find out it was a train. As spring bloomed into summer we were allowed to remove our masks and have a semblance of normal. 

The world was ready for the pandemic to end.

But was Covid19 done?

 It was not.

Our viral foe came back with a vengeance and we had to wear our masks once again.

More people began to die. So they ordered everyone to get vaccinated. Since an order wouldn’t work they would bribe or threaten people to get the jab. Alberta even offered to pay people a hundred bucks to get vaccinated. 

Forcing and bribing people doesn’t always work and it caused animosity.

Regardless, the vast majority of people have gotten the jab. Something I’m not sure we could have forecast two years ago. 

Real estate did the exact opposite of what the experts predicted – instead of a crash we had a huge increase. Now there is a housing crisis like we have never seen. Supply chains have been decimated and the price of everything has gone through the roof.

None of this could have been forecast.

We did what we were asked. We wore our masks, we stopped dancing, we stopped living the way we once did. Many people listened to the experts while others pushed back.

Mental health issues and overdoses became a new pandemic. 

Two years…

The Spanish Flu lasted two years. Before that The Bubonic Plague lasted six or seven years, but we have modern medicine and have vaccinations. 

So is this the end? Can we hold out hope that the number of people in the hospital and ICU will continue to drop? That’s what we are counting on…

Meanwhile, there is a war in Ukraine that has managed to bump covid from the news. 

Who could have predicted that one two years ago either?