Three years ago, scientists identified the first strain of covid-19 in China. I remember hearing vague rumors of a new virus going around in China starting around late January 2020. It seemed bad, but there were other viruses like the avian flu and swine flu that also seemed like they were going to spread but never got going.
It’s almost unbelievable how much change was wrought by one tiny virus. Just about everyone I know has had it. I don’t personally know anyone that has died directly from covid-19 but know of many people who lost grandparents or older relatives.
It certainly had an impact on many other aspects of mental and physical health. I personally struggled with forced isolation and my friendships atrophied as a result. Physically, I had a bike accident where I broke my finger during the early stages of the pandemic when nobody knew what was going on and never received any medical treatment because of the chaos in hospitals in early 2020. It’s still not right.
It’s not over and new strains will continue to appear but it’s so much better than it was in the really dark early days. I’m not sure what to expect going forward. China will spend time in the covid-19 barrel with the abrupt end to the failed zero-covid policy. After that, who knows? Maybe it’ll just become background noise.