The Year in Pictures, Part II

December 31, 2021

What a year! It began with an attack on the Capitol and Trump’s refusal to concede his loss, facilitate the transition, or attend the Inauguration. Covid-19 was peaking just as the very first tranche of vaccines was rolling out. But by the end of January we had a new President, new vaccines, and a slight sensation that maybe things were beginning to look up again.

In February, Trump’s record-setting second impeachment failed in the Senate, as expected, but not before the GOP Leader scorched the former President for telling Big Lies that led to the insurrection. Vaccines were available at the Armory uptown, but the supply quickly exceeded demand, foreshadowing what would become the biggest stumbling block to ending the pandemic: vaccine hesitancy and outright resistance, compounded by inept logistics and lame messaging.

As the year progressed there were times when it felt like the worst was over. The City even sponsored a star studded “Homecoming Concert” in Central Park last Summer to celebrate its reopening. Broadway shows returned to theaters, and positivity rates dropped down to low single digits. It didn’t last. After Thanksgiving the numbers began to creep up again as a new, oddly named variant appeared, and venues that had just lately reopened began to shut back down.

By December, more people had died from Covid-19 this year than last and high case numbers and positivity set New Yorkers to scrambling for tests, only to find hours long lines to get one. This week, the CDC reduced the exposure isolation guidelines to five days in a last ditch effort to keep planes flying and ambulances responding. There were reports of thousands of cancelled flights nationwide and sky-high numbers of EMS crews out sick here in NYC.

The year started on an alarming note of insurrection and ended on one of grim resignation that somehow, someway, it may all still turn out OK if we just hang in there…but only time will tell.