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Looking back on the year 2021 from a pandemic point of view, about the best that can be said is it wasn't as lousy as 2020.
Although 2021 did have its moments.
The year started with great hopes for three vaccines that have proven to be safe and effective. Though COVID-19 cases were spiking on Maui and around the world a year ago, there was a feeling the pandemic had reached its zenith. Some of us naively speculated COVID-19 might be put to bed in 2021. The coronavirus would never go away, but we would have it under control.
How quaint.
The year closed on Maui with record numbers of cases and positive test rates. Worried people were lining up in front of COVID-19 test sites at 3 a.m. to wait five hours for them to open. Thursday's line to receive free at-home rapid test kits from the county stretched for what seemed like miles and contained about 1,100 vehicles. The risk level for COVID-19 on Maui was rated "very high" this past week.
That is not what we expected back in January of 2021. Who knew vaccine hesitancy would cause more than a third of Mauians to reject free jabs? Officials were worried about supply shortages and instead there was more than enough vaccine to go around.
And then it became political. Sign-waving rallies and marches against vaccine and mask mandates were held. Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino charted a cautious course and found himself targeted by a recall effort that made some noise but did not amount to much.
Apart from a few letters to the editor and maybe some stone faces while driving past the rallies and marches, Maui's majority kept out of the fight. In private conversations, however, many people expressed frustration over how vaccine refusal puts them and others at risk. Now omicron is blazing through unvaccinated populations and crossing over to those who are fully vaccinated as well.
The year 2021 may be remembered as the year we learned to live with COVID-19 in our society. If at any point in 2020 Maui had the case numbers we do now, there would have been lockdowns and closures. These days, as long as our health care systems are not overrun, there is a softer approach.
Our officials have come to better understand the full impacts of shuttering businesses, schools and activities, of asking travelers not to come here. On a societal scale we have also been reminded that the more you try to make someone do something they do not want to do, the more they will double- and triple-down in their refusal.
The bar has been set pretty low by 2021 and 2020. Let's hope 2022 delivers on all the bright promises those two were unable to keep.