Will We Ever “Get Back to Normal?”
Now that vaccination is underway, Americans are wondering when we can “get back to normal.” Some health experts are warning that we never will.
Normal is of course a slippery word, given that many Americans have had to report to work or have chosen to dine out, travel, and do all sorts of things that others have avoided. But whatever people have not been doing for the past year, they can expect to keep not doing it this spring.
…our desire for “normalcy” has inhibited the very return to a fuller life that we all seek, encouraging us to take risks that we shouldn’t and avoid risks that we should be willing — even eager — to take.
It is a phrase as optimistic as it is anticipatory. But it hides a burning question: When will things be normal again? [.] In general, there are too many unknowns to say definitively when the coronavirus pandemic will end.