Hmmm, is it time to start thinking about the long road back?
COVID case counts are on the rise again. Some experts are already declaring the fourth wave while others are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to do so. It feels like election night when the TV networks compete to see who will be the first to declare the winning party based on the analysis of the early polls.
The face mask requirement is not going away anytime soon. This we know. Here in Ontario we may, or may not, get promoted out of Phase 3 Reopening in the next week or two if we hit the target percentage of the population vaccinated. But then there is the Delta Variant which muddies the already murky water.
A year and a half into the pandemic and the rollercoaster ride continues. We are becoming in some measure acclimatized to the uncertainty and learning to live within it. I supposed there is a small upside there. We are arguably better equipped for the curve balls that life might throw at us moving forward.
It is clear that some of the changes have taken root and are here to stay. The preference for ordering goods online rather than visiting a store is firmly entrenched. Great for Amazon. For bricks and mortar retailers, not so much. Working from home – it works and many of us see no reason to go back into the office.
The questions percolating in my mind are evolving. I had been stuck on concerns like: How long will this drag on? What is the benchmark for declaring the pandemic is over. Where does “reopening” end and “all systems are go to resume” begin?
With no definitive answers to these early questions, my mind is moving on to new queries. What do we do about the experts who say it is never going to be over? At what point do we stop looking fearfully over our shoulder and start looking forward optimistically? Do we allow our state of mind and behaviour to be permanently altered?
At some point, there will be a post-mortem (apologies for the unintended pun) on how we as a society dealt with the pandemic. Did we get it mostly right or mostly wrong? Is there damage control and remediation needed? How can we move forward without being weighed down by the state of fear imposed upon us?
From my perspective, what we have been through the equivalent of a war – maybe even a virtual World War III. There is much healing needed and lot of wounded foot soldiers that need help transitioning back to everyday life. It is not just a flip the switch situation.
The real battle may be just beginning regardless of what we have already been through.
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~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: COVID-19 · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · pandemic · WW3No Comments