The end of the pandemic has been less like a car slamming on the brakes and more like a ship that has turned off its engines and is slowly gliding to a stop.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s weekday COVID communiqués, the descendants of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefings that began three years ago, have come to a close, replaced by weekly updates that will count down towards the end of the federal health emergency in May. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which tracked the virus worldwide around the clock from the start, closed on March 10.
Once-ubiquitous masks have slipped from many faces, with some still choosing to wear them in public but most places having dropped their mandates. Litanies of COVID-specific programs in government, nonprofits, and academic and research institutions have tapered out, and many increasingly reference the pandemic as something that we lived through, and which is now fading.
