Coming Out from Under the Covid-19 Blanket - Time Out #303

Happy Birthday tomorrow, America! We love you from sea to shining sea!

Here we are now, almost 16 months after the beginning of the dreaded Covid-19 worldwide pandemic.

Wow. That's a LONG time to be hunkered down.

Much of our United States' population is fully vaccinated. We have received mixed signals whether or not we have reached that magical "herd immunity" in our country. It really doesn't matter that much, however, as it appears, most Americans are sick and tired of staying home, and watching Netflix. That is not meant to slam that particular television-viewing choice, but enough is enough. Our homes' 4-walls have been slowing closing in on us for months now, and the early thrills of chilling out at home, have long since passed. By nature, we are a nation of movers and shakers, and one may only move and shake so much, when confined to his/her home. You know what I write here is absolutely true, and you began witnessing the increased people movement this spring. In Our Town, as early as late February after we survived the record-setting "Siberia-like" conditions for almost 10 days, you were certainly ready to get out!. The overwhelming desire to move around boiled over when the super frigid temperatures melted away. Those sub-zero days were painful to accept; remember, dear folks? Of course, you do! You recall that situation well; especially now we are calendar-officially into an Oklahoma summer.

Several months ago, I began noticing a definite increase in Our Town's traffic, especially on Friday afternoons. It wasn't over-the-top traffic volume at first, but with each progressive week, the vehicle count seemed to steadily grow. By the time OSU's spring semester was completed, the Friday moving vehicle numbers looked similar to a typical autumn OU vs. OSU Saturday afternoon football game, even though it was springtime. Other telltale signs of increasing local human activity were the rise in dine-in restaurant patrons, increase in retail shoppers, and crowds of folks using Stillwater's plentiful supply of convenience stores. These many stores scattered everywhere around our college town, were always full of folks, either buying fuel for their vehicles, and/or their hands full of recently purchased snacks.

Need more proof of the re-awakening of our giant American economy on a scale we understand?

All one had to do was drive an hour to the south (Oklahoma City) or the east (Tulsa), and traffic-wise, one quickly remembers why a big city is a big city; vehicles everywhere! And, of course, their stores, attractions, and public venues were also showing definite signs of people in greater and greater numbers, out and about, increased from one day to the next.

The news media accounts of increased commercial airline boardings as reported by the federal TSA daily counts, videos of downtown areas in most large American cities showing pedestrians and vehicles filling their sidewalks and streets, and vacation scenes, displaying crowds of relaxing Americans, are all factors in showing our country is getting "back in the groove'.

There were certainly times during the pandemic, I wondered out loud whether the horrible viral disease and its incredible destruction it had inflicted on our world, would ever be placed in our rear view mirrors?

Covid-19 has not been dealt a total knockout blow yet, but it is down on the mat for the ultimate 10-count. The reliable referee has currently gotten to an 8-count.

Yes, whatever "normal" was before mid-March, 2020, might be almost here, or is certainly getting as close as we are going to get to "normal", moving forward in time.