Navigating Life After the COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 emergency over, marking the end of a three-year journey that saw the world transformed by a pandemic that killed at least 7 million people and rattled many assumptions about what life would look like in the 21st century. The availability of vaccines, combined with the protection gained by prior infection, simply gave the virus fewer and fewer opportunities to spread. Restrictions gradually fell away, never to return in most places. Yet many Americans still remain cautious, masking even when outside, continuing to test at the slightest hint of illness and avoiding large indoor gatherings.