How We Can Get Closer to Normal

The numbers in the story of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 and is still going on in early 2021 are falling and rising.

The number of new coronavirus infections is falling in San Diego County, in California and in the U.S.as a whole. But the number of COVID-related deaths is still going up and is now above 500,000.

And for those who once said the coronavirus is just like the flu, what has happened has torn apart those outdated believes. According to the CDC, over the last 10 years, there have been between 12,000 and 61,000 deaths each year from the flu in the U.S. That’s far fewer than the number of the now more than one-half million people who have died from the COVID virus.

And while there is good reason for optimism that we are now closer to the end of the pandemic than we are from its beginning, the top health experts warn it is not time to rip off our masks and start hugging everyone we see.

The current and the former directors of the CDC both remind us that vaccines have barely begun to have an impact. And that the current case numbers are still more than double the numbers last summer.

And they want us to know that the reason the numbers of new cases are falling right now, it is still all about wearing masks, staying apart and washing hands. To keep those numbers falling, we all need to keep doing the things we need to do. And to get vaccinated, so we can finally start getting back to at least close to normal at some point in the months ahead.

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(Photo Getty Images)