Five years on: How Covid changed everything

When Covid-19 was declared a pandemic five years ago, it “triggered a brief moment of radical unity,” said Janelle Nanos in The Boston Globe. “Huddled in our homes, we rallied” as the virus swept our communities and gasping victims flooded emergency rooms. We sewed masks, looked out for neighbors, and “celebrated first responders and frontline workers.” As the grim toll mounted—at one point, more than 4,000 Americans were dying every day from Covid—our political leaders “made enormous investments in those in need,” bailing out entire industries and “sending $1,200 checks to nearly everyone, no questions asked.” Meanwhile, scientists developed a vaccine at record speed, “and some of us wept with joy as the first shot went in our arms.” Political polarization dropped as a common foe brought us together. “Then, it all unraveled.”

The pandemic “cleaved the nation into two distinct camps,” said Kavita Patel in MSNBC.com. In one were those who embraced public health mandates and “collective responsibility.” They masked, shunned gatherings, and “lined up for vaccines.” In the other were those who dismissed the virus’ dangers as overblown, saw personal liberty as paramount, and rebelled against mandates.

Our experts gave them reason for wariness, said Megan McArdle in The Washington Post. Mistakes were made, many “understandable in the face of a novel threat” but others a result of political influence. The CDC let teachers’ unions sway its recommendations on school closures, even as evidence mounted of how remote learning hurt children. And when the George Floyd killing sparked mass protests, public health officials suddenly stopped “telling us to avoid crowds.”

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If the pandemic split society in two, it’s clear which side “triumphed,” said David Frum in The Atlantic. America’s top vaccine foe, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now runs Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health could soon be led by Jay Bhattacharya, who wanted to let Covid “spread unchecked to encourage herd immunity.”

We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, said Kate Cohen in The Washington Post. This virus killed at least 7 million worldwide, including 1.2 million Americans, and left millions more with long Covid. As a society, we’re living with other “long-term damage”: higher housing prices, a youth mental health crisis, chronic mistrust of experts. If a true pandemic reckoning will come only when “we’re certain it’s all over,” then “we’re still waiting.”