Bob Schwartz

The Great Depression in America lasted, depending on how you count, more than a decade. World War II for America lasted about four years. The effects of those were felt by a wide swath of America, more or less independent of geography, social and economic status, or other factors.

For decades to follow, these were the two milestones that marked American life, for those who had been affected directly and for those who didn’t experience it firsthand. Stories of family histories involving Depression struggles still linger. “Postwar” still means “post-World War II”.

Covid is like this, will be like this. It may only be about two years so far, so we still don’t know exactly what the long term impacts will be, other than being sure that, like the Great Depression and World War II, those impacts will be there.

That’s why trying to put covid in the rear view mirror may be understandable, but is senseless, almost delusional. As the Great Depression waned, after World War II ended, the direct and indirect aftermaths persisted (not all bad, as the postwar boom demonstrated).

It’s not just the covid virus that is endemic, never to leave. It is the covid world, like it or not, that we will be living in.

© 2022 Bob Schwartz