At the start of 2020, the future was uncertain. President Donald Trump was on track for reelection and the US economy was in a strong, if tense, position. Tensions with Iran escalated briefly after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general. An ongoing trade war with China complicated international matters. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic made what was already a fraught year even more nerve-wracking.
The pandemic served as a bizarre pause for many Americans. Those who were able to stay home were filled with anxiety over what would happen to local stores and their at-risk family and friends.
Those who worked as essential, front-line workers faced the possibility of illness and even death. All the while, a small but vocal contingent of the country decried the entire health crisis as a hoax, even as thousands died from the respiratory illness each day.
We Lost a Year
At the start of the pandemic, there was a feeling of cautious optimism. Many people expressed hope that things could return to normal by May. Summer at the latest, right?
As the pandemic continued to rage through the US, and protest movements defined much of the summer, the feeling sank in that this year was not going back to normal. The bizarre tension of everything being so domestic and mundane while also being dire and life-or-death hung over the entire year.
Anxieties were further inflamed by the 2020 election. In the end, Donald Trump failed to secure reelection, an event he blamed on voter fraud, but political pundits identify as a referendum on Trump’s brash style of leadership.
As the end of 2020 approached, it became clear that the average American had simply lost a year of their life. While they had it luckier than the over 250,000 that lost their lives to the disease, the economic, social and psychological damage of this lost year will remain with an entire generation of Americans.
Now What?
As we move into a new year and the pandemic could be finally stopped by vaccines, the question on many minds is “now what?”
Indeed, 2020 was a bizarre, scary and brutal year. The country has come out of the other end of this year transformed. Now, it’s up to a new administration to steer the ship.
As we hope to finally get something resembling normal back, the scars of the pandemic will stay with us, literally and figuratively. If we’re lucky, the country will remember the lessons we learned this year and use them to avoid a similar pandemic in the future.
