Now that COVID numbers are beginning to decline and vaccine volunteers are masterfully helping spread the disease’s eventual end, it’s not time to let up on social distancing and mask-wearing. But it is time to take stock of how we have fared.

The great coronavirus pandemic has been compared to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and ’19. In Marion County, that pandemic infected 10.3% of the population in eight months. Our current pandemic has infected 8.3% of Marion County residents in 91/2 months.

If you believe scientists instead of fake-news papers like Epoch Times, owned by the fringe Falon Gong religious movement from China, it’s not that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is less virulent than the H1N1 virus was a century ago. It’s that science has advanced, the tireless efforts of health care workers have paid off, and our masks and distancing have helped flatten the curve enough so that we have a lethality rate of only 1.6%, compared to 4.2% with the flu pandemic.

Don’t stop now, but be heartened that our sacrifices have saved lives. These aren’t dark times. They’re times of enlightenment.

— Eric Meyer