In these waning days of December, last January seems very far away. Our family calendar for that month still speaks of what was then normal — a work trip for me, theater rehearsals for our daughter, a concert by the neofolk band Heilung. My husband and I attended the show standing shoulder to shoulder with friends and strangers.
But even then, the virus was coming. The first confirmed case in the United States was reported January 21, right before that concert. Since then, the world has learned that in a pandemic year, a concert hall packed with thousands of people is the last place you want to be.
We know that now because scientists around the world devoted themselves to solving the mystery of SARS-CoV-2. There’s so much we still don’t know, but we’ve learned a tremendous amount.
Many of those lessons were painful, a chronicle of misery and loss. The pandemic timeline we built for this special year-end issue recalls what we have endured — vacationers trapped on a sick cruise ship, millions out of work as countries locked down, students out of class, hospital workers overwhelmed, people dying without the comfort of a loved one’s hand.