San Diego County may now be officially off the state’s watch list, but county officials warn us that doesn’t mean the coronavirus has gone away or that we can ease up on wearing a mask and doing the other things we’ve been doing.
Getting off the watch list is one step on what has become a long journey since the pandemic was declared. For us in California, it started on March 19th when the Governor issued the first in the nation statewide "stay at home" order. .
And now, as of today, 22 weeks and five months later, we’re not locked down and shut down as much as we were, but we’re a ways away from being out of the pandemic woods. Especially after hearing from the head of the state’s health agency warning us about this fall when the coronavirus will still be around as the annual flu season kicks in.
And knowing that a vaccine is not expected to be available, even if everything goes right, for probably 3 or 4 months yet,
So this journey through the year of the pandemic will continue for a while yet and will continue to affect our lives and probably how we look at a lot of things in our lives. And at some point, it will come to an end.
But we will come out of it eventually and when we do, we probably will have learned some things about ourselves and how we treat others. Going through hard times can often change us and when we do get through this, let’s hope it has changed us all for the better.
(Photo Getty Images)