It has been only a few months that the pandemic started but it feels like a whole year has passed already. The human race, that never sleeps has been halted. The world that never stops, has been stopped. At least from our perspective.

And to make matters worse, there is no end in sight for this pandemic. We are all in lockdown mode, hoping that given enough time, the virus will just... disappear. But it doesn't work that way.

After all, the whole thing started with a single person and all it takes is one infected person to restart the whole thing again. People also keep talking about a "second wave" that usually shows up in the case of a pandemic.

How long can we keep things shut? We risk the downfall of our very civilization. Markets all over the world have collapsed and economies are set to enter the worst recession since the Great Depression. We need to end this pandemic and end it fast. Alas, that just might not be possible.

One More Year?

I just watched a video about the process of creating a vaccine since I was unaware of how exactly it happens. Usually, it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 years to develop a vaccine. Given the current emergency, scientists and experts say that there is a chance it could be done between 12-18 months from now.

Although that is really fast compared to the normal circumstances, it looks really really long given how serious the pandemic and its side effects are. Can the world really wait for one more year?

There are already talks throughout the world of reopening economies. We would have to change a lot of our ways and adapt to new ones to make it a whole year until a vaccine is developed. This might even bring permanent changes to the way we work and live. Working from home could certainly be an attractive choice where applicable.

But I fear whether our efforts of reopening economies will backfire on us. What if the moment we reopen, the virus starts spreading like wildfire again leading to the shutting down of everything again? It's like playing a game of cat and mouse with the virus and it freaking sucks!

But there is nothing we can do. At least not until a vaccine is made. Then we have to figure out a way to vaccinate 7.7 billion people on the planet. Maybe then normalcy will return.