When you write it out in words instead of digits, it seems more impressive.

731.

See? But here we are, that many days since a positive test came back for
SARS-CoV-2 in Snohomish County in state state of Washington.

Two years – officially – have we now been dealing with this virus, this pandemic, in our nation. We’re hitting a few milestones over the next several weeks. Two years since this, two years since that. Sitting here over my breakfast, a flood of things came to mind when I heard the two-year mark noted on the radio. The earliest days were confusing. We’d been following the progress of this disease as it quickly spread beyond first one city, then the next, then leapt borders and continents.

Then, two years ago today, a Washington public health official said, “it’s here.”

Suddenly, the images of masked people from an infected metropolis were domestic images, not international news. Schools closed. Businesses closed. Reactions were swift, and varied, and in some cases seemed like panic. Amidst the reality of the spread of COVID-19, the biggest headlines seemed to be about the toilet paper wars.

One-fifth of a decade into this plague, we’ve come a long way. Or have we? Masks seem everywhere, and yet, as I dropped Her at the bus this morning, I watched a group of young adults try to board the bus sans masks. Stopped by the driver. They were incredulous that they couldn’t ride on a public transit without a mask.

Incredulity no longer rises within me at these sites: even this far in to a pandemic, it’s become the norm that there are those who, through willful ignorance or willful disregard for the state of affairs seem to still not get it: we’re in a pandemic.

Two years in, and some folks still can’t grasp that.

I fear this is just the first of many multi-annual milestones before we start clocking the days this is (finally) behind us.

Stay safe. Stay well. Mask up, get your shots. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic folks – the middle.