Of course, it really isn’t – but in some ways it feels like it is

I know what you’re thinking: ‘we don’t decide when we’re done with the virus. The virus decides when it is done with us.’ And you’re also thinking about the vaccination rate in your country being nowhere close to that magical 90% threshold we’ve all been aiming for. And you’re thinking about new variants that are likely to emerge. And, of course, you’re thinking about the vaccine inequity and the large swathes of the world where less than 10% of the population have been vaccinated. How can it possibly be over, you ask.

But, despite these thoughts, you and I both know that COVID-19 is over.
We have decided to move ahead with ‘life’ in spite of the risks that are inherent with this decision. Boris Johnson has effectively lifted all COVID-19 restrictions in England despite the pleas from UK physicians and epidemiologists. In North America, governors of many US states have abandoned all pretense and declared mask mandates and proof-of-vaccination certificates to no longer be required.

Capacity limits have been lifted in most public places. Schools are also considering lifting their mask mandates soon. Canada’s largest province, Ontario, has also moved forward with significant COVID-19 ‘loosening’. Australia reopened its borders to vaccinated foreign tourists in February and Israel decided that it, too, would reopen its borders to foreign tourists, irrespective of their vaccination status, as of 1 March.
  
If COVID-19 is here to stay, as it clearly is, it is time to acknowledge this fact and get on with living life, we are being told.

To be hones, we all knew this day was coming.

From the early days of the pandemic when herd immunity was still a glimmer in our eye, the medical cognoscenti cautioned us against putting too much hope into being able to completely eradicate this virus through natural immunity and vaccination. They warned us that we had lost valuable time while we dithered and procrastinated over getting vaccine jabs and while we struggled with providing masks and hand sanitiser. Community transmission would (and did) spiral out of control.

And don’t forget that governments signalled quite early on in the pandemic that we would one day have to ‘learn to live with it’. They told us that we would have to make tough decisions. That the medical needs of the world would have to be balanced against the economic needs of the world, to boil it down to a simple equation.

A disastrous trade-off if ever there was one.

Some of us listened half-heartedly. Others among us protested at the time but their voices were drowned out by the next big COVID-19 news story or scandal. Or by dire economic news and geopolitical tensions around the world.

No matter. Here we are two years later. And COVID-19 is officially over. Stadiums are packed. Restaurants are splitting at the seams. Airplanes and hotels are running at (near) full capacity. Shopping malls are as clogged as ever.

And the playbook in the Western world now reads something like this: if you’re elderly, immunocompromised or under the age of 5, you must be careful. You must take extra precaution. The onus is on you to adjust your life to avoid getting the virus. We will try our best to help you. But we will not wear masks around you or reduce capacity limits to accommodate you.

And if you are single- or double-vaccinated, it is your responsibility to get that extra jab or two to complete your inoculation series. We will not close our schools and shopping malls and hair salons because you have not been able to ‘get around’ to completing your vaccination(s). We will no longer be held hostage by your poor planning or busy schedule. Go out and get your second and third jabs.
  
And if you haven’t been vaccinated at all, the equation is super simple. You’ve made a choice. We may not agree with your choice, but you have made it. It has been 16 months since vaccines have been widely available and you have deliberately chosen not to get one. Best of luck to you and your family.

To our health system and to our healthcare workers, we know you have suffered, but so have we. You have seen a lifetime of death and pain in 18 months. We feel for you. We have seen it too and suffered as we watched our mental health deteriorate, our children’s development stagnate and our businesses crumble. We have seen the social isolation in the eyes of our elderly parents and grandparents.
This is the 2022 playbook. It will not be changed. It cannot be changed. Because, remember, COVID-19 is over.