Opinion: Post-Pandemic: Are We There Yet?
posted by Oliver D. Bentley | March 1, 2022 | In News, OpinionFor the past two years we have all looked forward to the day when we can negotiate our lives without the constraints of COVID-19. We have recently seen mask mandates being lifted around the country and the latest variant, Omicron, is reported to be less severe than previous variants by the Center for Disease Control.
Which begs the question, have we gotten ahead of COVID-19, and are we in the much-anticipated post-pandemic?
When we consider this question, we must consider more than simple mask mandates as a marker. We must look at the current jobs market, economic markers, and social markers that have been affected by the emergence of COVID-19.
Concerning the jobs market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has concluded that there were 5.7 million unemployed persons in the U.S. and an unemployment rate of 3.5% in February of 2020. As of January 2022, it is reported that 6.5 million people remain unemployed, and the U.S. unemployment rate sits at 4%. This is certainly much closer to pre-pandemic levels than we have seen in quite a while. However, with approximately 1.2 million more workers unemployed and a .5% increase in the unemployment rate that still lingers, I cannot say we are quite out of the woods just yet on this front.
With regards to the economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed on February 20, 2020, at 28,992.41. This economic marker dropped sharply after this point but regained its former numbers on November 20, 2020, at 29,263.48. This bounce back has continued to this day and places the economy in a much better position than it was pre-pandemic, closing at 34,079.18 on February 18, 2022. This indicates that the economy is much stronger than it was pre-pandemic and shows only a minor effect from February 2020 through November 2020. Concerning this economical marker, we have been clear of pandemic effects on the markets since November 2020.
Social markers such as anti-vaccination behaviors, protesting, and social upheaval have also taken a dive. According to the CDC, we are at about 81.1% of people ages 5 and up have received at least one dose of the current vaccines available. Protesting pandemic measures such as vaccination and mask mandates has slowed but not yet ceased. According to MSNBC and other news outlets, there is a trucker convoy that is scheduled to arrive in Washington in an attempt to block roadways as a form of protest against mask mandates, vaccination mandates, and high fuel prices. However, this single incidence is much less than the protesting and social upheaval we saw at the height of the pandemic.
Given this information, I would have to conclude that the U.S. may not be out of the woods just yet, but we are certainly standing at the tree line looking across the post-pandemic field, if you will. Global recovery is another matter altogether.
Photo courtesy of Ian Livesey
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