[Spring is here, and so is hope!]

A year into the pandemic, we are still looking for a way to step into the light from a year that was washed out by Covid.  Punxsutawney Phil saw six more weeks of winter from his vantage point in early February when the famous rodent summoned all his prophetic skills to predict another 6 weeks of winter.  As the groundhog day ritual was playing out in Pennsylvania, a hopeful nation was also looking for signs that the long & cold reality of Covid could also be soon behind us.

Vaccine Train

The vaccine train pulled into the station in late January and by the end of March, it had covered a vast swath of the population who were willing and eager to get on board.  Easily one of the fastest product launches in history, the development, testing and deployment of the Covid Vaccine finally showed the promise of health care oriented technology innovations we have been hearing about for a long time. While it didn’t have the drama and pizzazz of an Apple product event that consumers lap up at least twice a year, the vaccine rollout in the end was launched at record speed.  Soon, Telemedicine, Telehealth services, and Vaccine delivery were all vying to beat previous records of engaged and active user metrics, along with the latest TikTok viral sensations of the day.  

Who would have thought that health,safety and life itself, would be on somewhat equal par with inane instagram stories, Facebook posts and generate the same level of website traffic normally reserved for your favorite rock concert. So with increased vaccine availability and generally positive news about its efficacy and side effects, it seems like that more people have lined up for the jab of a lifetime, than was perhaps expected initially. There is hope then, for more people to get on board as the spring transitions into summer and normalcy returns.

Normalcy may be within reach again…maybe

So this sets up a summer season where many of us in the US will be able to rekindle some of the joys of normal life that have been lost over the past year.  Eating out, enjoying a more unfettered shopping experience and travelling farther than your neighborhood to meet friends and family — all seem within reach. Companies are once again contemplating the idea of bringing folks back into the office, so that the office cooler talk can flourish along with the need for in person interaction as we continue to push the giant wheels of the economy forward.

Just as these ideas of normalcy started to take root in the collective consciousness, we are seeing  the heart wrenching disaster strike again in the form of a new Covid wave in India.  Images and stories of incredible hardship in getting medical care are back in the headlines reminiscent of the darkest period of the pandemic in the Spring & Summer of 2020 in Italy, Spain, Brazil, USA and elsewhere.

It is clear we are still not out of the woods yet, and Covid may still have one or two tricks up its sleeve.  WIth no groundhog or human capable of predicting how this will pan out anytime soon, the only option we have is to take the vaccines and continue to practice sensible social distancing guidelines for as long as it is needed, and hopefully will see light sooner than later.