By Diana Hartley
It was just over a year ago that the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill, and classes at Calhoun Community College were not spared the disruption. The quick transition to online classes, combined with the confusion and uncertainty of such a world-changing event, made for a very difficult spring for most.
This year, the springtime has a very different feel to it. You could almost smell the hope in the air.
As of April 19th, everyone over the age of 16 in the U.S. is eligible to be vaccinated, meeting President Biden’s deadline, which was moved up from an initial date of May 1st.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, over 1.4 million people have received at least one dose of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines approved by the FDA. While as a percentage of the population, Alabama’s vaccine rates are lagging behind most other states, there seems to be an air of positivity about the opportunity for most people to get vaccinated.
A quick glance at most people’s social media feed will corroborate this, with daily updates of people taking selfies with their vaccination cards.
While there are still many more people to be vaccinated, and the economic fallout of the last year won’t be fully understood for quite a while, for the first time in a long time there appears to be an end in sight.