Endgame

I've seen a lot of Facebook posts recently about "what is the endgame," and when can we go back to something more like the way things were, and "I don't know about you, but I'm just going to go back to hugging everyone."

For me, the endgame will be when graphs of case counts and test positivity rates reliably angle downward and stay very low for an extended period of time. When we get to the level of circulation of virus where cases can be tracked and outbreaks managed. That's it. There may or may not be an approved, broadly available vaccine by then, and we may or may not have hit some arbitrary date; the facts and data will dictate the status of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, it will take everyone's effort to get us there, and right now even people who've been compliant so far are getting burnt out on all these precautions and restrictions. But until then, I will be 6+ feet away with my mask on, and appreciate you doing the same.

See also: this article from The Atlantic, There Won't be a Clear End to the Pandemic, that outlines the "gradual fade out" of the pandemic and its milestones.