Claire D., journalist

The COVID-19 pandemic has dragged on for nearly a year now, and as we quickly approach the mid-March marker, the world seems to be holding its breath, waiting to see when life can return to the normal we once knew. Unfortunately, with the U.S. reaching over 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19, we will have to find a new normal to abide by, one with smiles missing from our dinner tables. Herd immunity through vaccination is an ongoing, long process, from actually creating the vaccine to then transporting it, and to then getting it into people’s arms, and is not expected to be achieved until the fall of this year. As a nation, it is time to recognize that coronavirus will not simply go away as we had once hoped but will remain part of this world even after the majority of the U.S. has been vaccinated.