Signs reminding people about social distancing and wearing face masks are seen at a mall in Monterey Park, Calif., on June 14, 2021.

This week marks a somber anniversary: five years since New York shut down as a deadly virus was ravaging the state, the nation and the world.

So many stories can be told of the COVID-19 pandemic, from the tragedies of more than 7 million deaths around the globe, 1.2 million of them in the U.S., to the moments that reaffirmed our humanity and endurance: performers serenading their homebound neighbors from deserted streets, apartment dwellers banging pans from their windows to cheer on first responders and frontline workers, medical professionals who endured dangers, challenges and trauma on a scale they probably never envisioned when they embarked on their careers.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Most vital of all, it’s a time to consider what went right, and what went terribly wrong.

What went right was so successful we might barely notice the evidence all around us: the sheer normalcy of things now. While some still wear masks against the specter of a coronavirus variant as well as other ailments, most of us go blissfully mask-free. For........

© Times Union