Covid Fatigue

First they say the virus will not reach us from overseas,
but it quickly does.
Then they mistakenly advise that it is not airborne,
but it turns out it can be spread by aerosol droplets,
particularly if we are not wearing a mask.
We rapidly go from optimism to pessimism.
We fluctuate between hope and fear.
For a brief moment hope returns.
Soon we will have a vaccine, they predict.
They tell us not to worry so much about the virus.
We will be able to ease restrictions and wearing masks,
as more of us are vaccinated.
Then they warn not enough people are getting vaccinated.
Worse still, there is renewed danger,
as there is a more contagious Delta variant.
Maybe the vaccine will not be as effective, they caution.
But research suggests the vaccine doses are still helpful.
But then there are reports of a Lambda variant.
It is named after the next letter in the Greek alphabet.
They are still analyzing that virus strain.
This past year has been a wild rollercoaster.
Initially optimism is offered,
then pessimism abounds.
One iteration rapidly follows another.
When will this dramatic up and down stop?
I feel like an emotional yo-yo.
In the meantime,
I wonder ‘How many letters are there in the Greek alphabet?’
When they run out of letters,
what will we do?
Probably we’ll switch to another alphabet.
A chance to improve my foreign language skills perhaps.

Alan Whitehorn

July 6 -8, 2021