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We've been on a major roller coaster of the unprecedented kind ever since COVID-19 became part of the English language--and our lives.

You've probably noticed.

The epic pace of change since the pandemic started has been mind-blowing. And yet the pandemic continues on.

Surges in new COVID-19 cases. A drop in new ones. Spikes in new cases again. Over. And over.

Now Delta, the highly contagious coronavirus variant that trampled India and the United Kingdom, has been clobbering us in the U.S. Just when the pandemic picture was looking better.

Not to state the obvious, but when is this thing, the pandemic, going to end?

It got old quite a while back. As of August 10, more than 615,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and nearly 36 million cases.

More than 4.3 million confirmed deaths, worldwide. 

Where do the healthcare heroes find the energy to keep on going?

Doesn't the coronavirus have something else to do? Somewhere else to go?

How about outer space? The far reaches, where no one has gone before?

The coronavirus should take the deadly Delta variant with it. Along with the other variants.

(In case you weren't aware, viruses change by nature. It's what they do. Hence the word "variant.")

And then there are the inequities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution/administration.

How many people in minority communities have been left out and still not yet been vaccinated? Or, it took a long time to get it.

The Kaiser Family Foundation can fill you in.

Would/could this serve as incentive for more black, Hispanic and other minority men and women to pursue careers as medical doctors, nurses, technicians, nursing assistants and other health-related positions?

And then there's the economy.

Sitting outside in the last month or so while my car was in service, I noticed the spaces between motor vehicles for sale on the lots at the dealership.

I don't ever remember seeing all that space before.

Wait a minute. Where are all the new cars?

Is this the inventory issue I've heard about, e.g., a shortage of computer chips that has slowed production of cars (among other items)? Yep.

Used cars have been commanding high prices. I heard on the radio very recently that those prices have leveled off.

(Still, is it time to rethink taking public transportation?)

And then there are the logistics of facemasks.

(Not to mention the nasty political divide in our country between those who favor masking up (or masking up more), and those against it.)

If you wear eyeglasses, what IS the best way to wear a mask? Put the mask on first, followed by the glasses? Or, vice versa?

What if your too-big mask keeps falling under your nose?

Finding it weird to see people without masks now?

Were you told a while back you could dispense with your facemask if fully vaccinated? Thanks to the Delta variant, that's been/being rethought, too.

And then there's work.

Have you gone back yet? Glad you did? Wish you hadn't? 

Are your bosses not so sure anymore about continuing the work-from-home thing?

And then there's the anti-Asian ugliness.

Why the horrific treatment of Asian-Americans? They didn't create the coronavirus. The incarceration of Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II remains a source of shame--I had hoped we'd come further than that.

And then there's personal space.

Never one for crowds anyway, I find myself quite reluctant to be in sizable groups of people. Indoors or out. Almost reflexivly, I default to social distancing

I know I'm not the only one in the country who feels this way.

At the same time, am I just being more paranoid than normal?

And then there's vaccine hesitancy. 

A little more than half the eligible population of the U.S. now is fully vaccinated, the CDC says. However there are lots of holdouts.

I understand fear. Major fear. I get it. I have my own fears.

But... aren't we in a public health crisis? One that affects more than you and me? Such as the safety of children under 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccine?

In case you were wondering... We really are.

Really.