For a moment's respite from pandemic news that can seem unrelentingly bad, cast your mind into the future--say, to November 2021.
A world in suspended animation has awakened at last. The pandemic has subsided. New cases of covid-19 are a rarity. Schools have done away with their hybrid instruction models and have embraced in-class learning with a new enthusiasm.
Movie theaters are open, and although they allow unrelated patrons to sit next to each other, plenty of seats remain empty. It's the same in church. Congregants may sit close to each other, but few do. No one shakes hands.
This thumbnail-sized tour of one possible future is only that.
First, the vaccines that President Donald Trump keeps promising are right around the corner may, in fact, be close. His "warp speed" effort to funnel federal funds into the research effort appears to have borne fruit. Whether the American people can be persuaded to get one of the vaccines may be an open question, but that's a matter of politics and communication, not science.
Ultimately, the pain we've been through must be harnessed to move the country toward a more serious and responsible approach to public health. The next administration should set to work restoring the pandemic-response unit that once existed under the National Security Council.