Will America Still Be Social Distancing in 2022?

For me, one interesting aspect in dealing with social distancing has been the spectrum of emotions that I can feel. Most days, I make a concerted effort to find the rainbows in this storm mixed with one part uncertainty, one part inconvenience, and two parts heartache. I really try to focus on the fact that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do things we'll never be able to do again. I've thoroughly enjoyed walking into the kitchen in the middle of the day to find my wife preparing her lesson plans for her virtual classroom and joining both of my kids for lunch.

Those days are fleeting. I know for a fact that when I'm an old man, I'll look back on these days and relish those lunches and the casual conversations that would have never happened if I was preparing my show at the office and my kids were taking a biology test and eating sloppy joes in the cafeteria.

There are those days, however, where I just feel trapped. I simply miss my old life, my coworkers, the wait staff at my favorite restaurants, going to a ballgame, and so many countless other subtle things I took for granted. I feel sorry for myself until I remember I'm not being singled out. I'm not alone.

But it was hard not to audibly groan when I read the Boston.com headline this afternoon, Some Social Distancing May Be Needed into 2022 to Keep Coronavirus In Check. I mean, really?

I have a sincere question: at what point do we lose Americans' support for this valiant public health effort? I'm not going to lie, picturing myself trying to rally the troops to stay vigilant and stay home two years from now makes my stomach turn.

I am fully committed to the idea of social distancing. I jokingly brag about how strict I am and how many days it has been since I've left my property, but I have to admit that it's a little soul-crushing to read an article like that one. I have a really hard time picturing the country still listening to officials two years into this.

On the flip side, however, the thought of allowing a virus like this to savage an unthinkable amount of people is also soul-crushing, though. And there's the problem.

Before all of this happened, I used to wonder if Americans still had the resolve to come together in a war effort such as we saw during World War II. As much as I wanted to think we would, I just wasn't sure. What I've seen over the past month has made me proud of my fellow Americans. I think a vast majority of us have done our very best to do the right thing. World War II dramatically altered everyday life here in the United States for four years. Could we be asked to watch Netflix for two years?