Good-bye 2021!

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Roughly a year ago most of us were excited about 2021, because it had to be better than the year that introduced all of us to COVID-19, masking-up, and stay-at-home orders.

2021 was marginally better than 2020.

Vaccines became widely available, although for reasons beyond me, a sizeable number of people are refusing to roll up their sleeves to protect themselves and their neighbors so are still seeing a large number of people continue to die of Covid.  Sadly, the fact most of those dying are unvaccinated isn't prompting many of their peer group to change their minds.

2020 saw the election of a new President, but the out-going President threw a fit that continues to echo with unfounded claims about a result that he can't accept.  (There were plenty of clues during his campaign of his unfamiliarity with the truth which was verified when he disputed pictures of the turnout at his swearing in because he wanted to believe more people saw him than actually did.)  

In 2021, those unfounded claims are threatening the foundation of our democracy, our right to vote and its non-partisan administration.  If we aren't careful, and if many members of the former President's party don't wake up and call this on-going mess for what it is, we may lose the freedoms that veterans and those currently in service have protected for two centuries. 

The good news in 2021 is that here in Dane County, Wisconsin, there was actually a couple months during the summer where you didn't need to wear a mask and Covid's death rate seemed under control.  While we continue to be under a mask mandate, restaurants and stores remain open and we can do a lot more things than we did a year ago, which feels like progress.

I appreciated being able to return to the office in May and meet with people in person again (while wearing masks).  I'm thankful to be fully vaccinated and boosted.  I believe the work scientists have done for more than a decade on mRNA vaccination delivery systems and their study of the genetic code during that time enabled them to quickly develop and test vaccinations in a way never seen before.

The incremental progress in treating Covid-19 and the availability of the vaccine should go a long way to getting us closer to normal in 2022.  

It's difficult to see 2022 through rose-colored glasses, I hope it's just better than this year.  

Good-bye 2021, I don't think I'll miss you.