Lost on the way to a post-pandemic normal

How do we find our way out of this mess? I wish I knew.

COVID people.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

With the two-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic bearing down on us, and the dreaded Omicron wave beginning to recede after proving highly contagious but mild for nearly anyone vaccinated and boosted, growing numbers of people appear eager, at long last, to get "back to normal."

But how do we get there — back to a reality that resembles life prior to March 2020, without mask mandates and testing and regular cancelations and virtual meetings and social distancing? Some, like writer Matthew Yglesias, suggest the key is for the Biden administration to take the lead in encouraging normalcy. But I doubt that would do the trick.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.