Around the Island: Riding into the pandemic’s third year
Published on March 16, 2022
Around the Island: Normal feels more likely as new pandemic year starts
Moving into next phase, we’re managing risks to prevent more sickness, death while improving quality of life
Two years ago, the city had its first positive COVID-19 case, businesses and schools had to shut their doors, parks and beaches were closing, and we were all scrambling to make sure we had enough toilet paper and food staples for the next few “weeks” as we sheltered in place. We didn’t know what to do, and we were scared.
One year ago, after living with the pandemic for a year, cases were falling and things were starting to feel like normal. Then we were hit by the delta summer surge and the omicron winter wave. Also a year ago, we reported that Alameda’s COVID cases had doubled over the winter months from 1,000 to 2,000.
Today, we’ve recorded a total of 8,734 cases in Alameda, more than 6,000 new cases in the last year, and that high number is an underestimate, as rapid test results are not included in official case counts. One year ago, we reached the tragic milestone of 100 COVID-related deaths here in Alameda. Today, Alameda has lost a total of 119 people, with 19 deaths recorded in the last year.
In the pandemic’s second year, we had significantly higher cases and fewer deaths because a year ago, though vaccines were just being rolled out and initially just available to front-line workers and people older than 65 or with disabilities, vaccines soon became much more widely available.
Vaccines are now available to everyone 5 and older, boosters are available to everyone 12 and older, and there will be a vaccine for children younger than 5 in the coming months. Over and over, vaccines have proven to be the most effective tool we have against severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Vaccines save lives and are free and easy to get at Alameda pharmacies or through your health care provider.
We also have a better understanding of the risks of getting COVID-19 and how to protect ourselves, our loved ones and vulnerable members of our community. And we continue to pivot when things change. Recently mask orders were modified to let people remove their face covering indoors. But these changing requirements don’t change the fact that masks have proven to be effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and remain strongly recommended.
It just means that now, while we’re in a phase of lower transmission, people and organizations will choose to wear or require masks for a variety of reasons. We need to respect each other and the decisions we make. And remember, masks remain required on public transportation, in health care and congregate settings and at long-term care facilities.
We also need to continue to do things that keep us healthy, like washing our hands frequently and staying home when we are sick. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, take an at-home test, and be sure to order your free tests at covidtests.gov. You can now place a second order for an additional four tests.
Over the last two years, we’ve all experienced COVID moments that we’ll never forget. One of my first COVID moments was in March 2020, when my mom, who has two lung diseases and lives by herself in a Los Angeles apartment, received a post-it note on her door from neighbors she’d never met. The note read, “Hi Mary, I noticed you’ve been staying in for a couple of weeks. Please let me know if we can pick up anything for you. Stacy and Dan.”
A continued silver lining of the pandemic is that it has brought us all closer together. It has made us all stronger knowing that we’re all vulnerable — to disease, financial pressures, mental health needs and to losing loved ones.
As we move into this new pandemic phase, in which we know it will be with us for a while but don’t know what the next variant will look like or when it will hit us, we’re managing risks to prevent more sickness and deaths while improving our quality of life. We continue to lean in by being thoughtful and kind. It’s once again a feeling of getting back to normal, but this year normal feels a little more certain.
This article was originally published in the Alameda Journal.