It was five years ago this week that Governor Newsom issued the first in the nation “stay at home” order.
And everything started to change.
Schools started to close, along with some businesses and restaurants, and terms like masking up, social distancing and distance learning soon became part of our daily language and in the coming months and year, on the cable news channels, the grim numbers appeared 24/7 on the number of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths.
It's been estimated that more than one million people in the U.S died from COVID and COVID complications in those first couple of years or so of the pandemic.
Reports say the US government spent almost 4.5 trillion dollars to address Covid-19, as vaccines were quickly developed and not soon after that, the beginning of the end of the pandemic began.
The official national public health emergency was lifted in May of 2023.
And now five years later, polls have shown far less concern among Americans about the virus. And the number of vaccinations is down.
But the leftover impacts of the pandemic are still with us, from the impact it had on businesses and the economy as well as the lost learning in schools to the changes in workplace staffing to our personal hygiene and hand-shaking.
We will never forget. And we should never forget. So that if and probably when another pandemic comes along, we will be better prepared.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: TNS