What is missing are the names of the nearly 2 million dead from the infection, the countless others still ill and the many with lingering effects. I am also happy to see most have fully recovered. Nearly 82 million infections officially recorded by the end of 2020.

Here is a brief history of Covid-19 as described by The New York Times: read here.

December 31, 2019:

As Dr Liia Ramachandra and I were getting ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the family in The Netherlands, I remember reading about a viral pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China with SARS-like symptoms. No one heard of Covid-19 then. We knew very little back then but have since seen an amazing rise of resilience and ingenuity from sacrifices made to how we interact to the power of science to the record development of diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and new healthcare delivery models. Think of what we can do to tackle ALL of the world’s major problems with this determination.

As we close out 2020, make sure we don’t forget who we lost but also celebrate what we gained as a society. There will likely be tough times ahead with unemployment and jump-starting economies but with our joint effort we can overcome any challenge.

December 31, 2020:

I plan to have a quiet moment with family at home…remembering and hopeful… hopeful that Covid-19 will be ‘defeated’ this year.