Today is Sunday, March 20, 2022. Not only is today the first day of spring, it also marks my second-year anniversary of writing this blog. I can’t believe that I would ever commemorate such an anniversary, let alone be able to write for so long. When I started this blog, the pandemic had just launched itself into the consciousness of people on the planet. Today it has entered a new stage of quiescence, but no one knows how long this phase could last. Our coronavirus oracle, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and adviser to President Joe Biden, is sounding the alarm about a new subvariant of coronavirus called BA.2 that might be gaining momentum on the older variant of the Omicron virus known as BA.1. Thus Fauci has warned that the country could face more COVID-19 lockdowns if cases go up once again because of the latest variant. This could happen as most of us have begun to shrug off our virus fears once and for all. Other factors at play here would be easing restrictions and the waning protection from vaccines that could bring on another wave of rising infections in the United States. These facts are reported in an online article for Daily Mail.com entitled “Fauci warns America could face COVID lockdowns if cases tick up again.”

In an interview on Thursday, Fauci said, “We can’t just say, ‘We’re done. We’re going to move on.’ We’ve got to be able to be flexible because we’re dealing with a dynamic situation.'” This caution on the part of our leading pandemic expert will certainly have no fans out there, especially since we’ve already marked two long years of living under this collective COVID shadow. Fauci’s reasoning for saying this reflects the spike in cases in the United Kingdom that has been occurring presently. The new variant appears to be as infectious as Omicron, but less fatal, thankfully.

Many states in the nation have lifted their vaccine and masking mandate, particularly here in New York City, as have Chicago and San Francisco which were the longest holdouts of maintaining the policies in place.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday that “Just because COVID isn’t disrupting some of our lives in certain communities as much as it was a few weeks ago, it doesn’t mean it’s gone.” That philosophy is how we all should think about the virus: still be vigilant, even though it might have fled into the shadows for the time being.

In England, cases have jumped 36 percent over the past week, to 91,000 per day. This comes after weeks of declines.

Working in our favor is the high vaccination rate, which has been reported here as being nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults having received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and nearly 100 million boosted. Also, BA.2 has not been able to take hold in the country the same way it did in much of Europe either. According to most recent data revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BA.2 makes up 23 percent of active COVID cases in the United States, with BA.1 still being dominant.

One other good sign regarding this new variant is that it is not yet the dominant COVID strain anywhere in America, while it has taken over in many parts of Europe. But this has been the pattern with this mercurial virus anyway, so let’s hope this does not follow the usual pattern here this time.

So since this is my second-year anniversary of my writing this blog, here are some recaps of what we all experienced these past two years. When I started writing this, New York was then closing down for the first time. There were no vaccines yet in March 2020. The dominant strain of the coronavirus was the Delta variant, and it was much more virulent than the subsequent strains. We had a different president in the White House, and we all know who that was. The terrible events of January 6, 2021, were 10 months away. Dominating the news was the worsening COVID-19 situation. New York still had Governor Andrew Cuomo providing virus updates on television and was getting high ratings from incalculable viewers who took some comfort from his alleged truth telling on the progression of the disease in our health care facilities. The most excitement I experienced in those days was going to a supermarket or grocery store. I began doing some puzzles which took months to complete. At some point, I took up baking as a relief of stress – or just out of boredom, I don’t know which. I’m happy to report that I still practice this hobby to this day. I just can’t do any baking today because of the kitchen being remodeled.

So there you have it. If I’ve left anything out, I apologize for my lapse of memory here. If you can think of anything I could have added in the last paragraph, just let me know.

Oh, and as long as COVID has not completely faded from our midst, I will still write this blog in some shape or form. I hope you have enjoyed it thus far.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.