We haven’t had a lot of good news over the last year. Some would say the last 4 years, actually. It’s hard to be particularly jolly when all of your holidays are cancelled, you can’t get together with friends, stuck in the house, worried about your job and money, and scared that sometime in the next few days you might be in a hospital on a ventilator.

For my loyal readers, I’ve been part of that dark cloud. These essays have been downers. They’ve been correct: fast spreading, high morbidity, ineffective response, rolling waves of infection across the country, second wave in the late fall unrelated to the flu season, and half a million dead (my estimate in May was that 200,000-500,000 Americans would die of Covid before the end). Correct, but pretty damn depressing.

The times, they are a changing, though (to quote Mr. Dylan). If you read my last 2 Covid updates they sound positively optimistic. I was even asked if I was still the author. For the US, effective vaccines are rolling out to the tune of 1.5 million per day. Another vaccine will hit the market sometime early next week.The percentages of US citizens receiving one shot and with full immunization increases every day. The Federal government and the states seem to be ironing out the wrinkles and logistic difficulties relatively rapidly. Our number of new cases are dropping incredibly quickly (70% over the last month). Hospitalization and deaths are also falling and, of course, will eventually mirror the same trend as new cases. A sizable aid package will pass the Democratic Congress and be signed by the Democratic President and should assist individuals, families, communities, and the economy as a whole. Somebody is living in Florida instead of Washington. That’s all good news, people.

You know the “light” at the end of the tunnel that people kept hoping for? We’re at the end of the tunnel. It’s going to take a little more patience on your part, but you can start feeling good. I give you full permission. Breath. Smile. Hell, you can even laugh.

Cases will continue to drop, though soon they will plateau at some manageable level, my guess will be somewhere about 90% less than our high in early January. Our medical care infrastructure will no longer be overburdened by Covid, though they will still be caring for Covid cases well into the future. Unfortunately, people will still die from Covid, but we won’t again see these sobering numbers and, quite frankly, people die from many causes. Most importantly, shots will continue to go into arms. More shots. More arms. More freedom from the tyranny of the virus over our lives.

Wait a minute, though, what about the variants? Aren’t those variants going to wreck all this optimism? Shouldn’t we fear the variants? Yes, a little bit. But not too much. I haven’t seen anything about any of the variants that will make our vaccines ineffective, including the new one in California. The key to beating the variants will be to immunize the “spreading” population and prevent the virus from banging through millions of more hosts and creating more original offspring that can wreak havoc. Again, shots in arms as rapidly as possible and continue distancing and masks for the unvaccinated for as long as necessary.

Don’t worry so much and take the national news with a grain of salt for a little while. They mean well on this subject but they’re been forced to give bad news for so long on the subject of Covid that they don’t know how to handle this positive stuff. I mean, Wolf looks particularly uncomfortable. Every time there are more good Covid numbers, national news organizations seem compelled to bring on an “expert” to warn us not to feel good. About anything! Ever!

Me? I’m sitting here in a t-shirt and shorts, just finished a 14 mile bike ride, listening to John Moreland at a very loud volume (my wife is out), one shot in my arm and the second scheduled in 10 days, pit bull asleep on her bed, and I’m feeling pretty good. When I get the second shot, I’m going to live my life. You should too.

Stay Safe. Stay Informed. Wear the Mask. Get the Shot.

What about the Africa Covid numbers? Ah, now look what you did to my mood.