It’s traditional at this time of year to reflect on the year past, and for the most part this could have been a redo of 2020, although some of us listened less to the breathless and frantic noise emitted by the news media daily pumping us with trumped up information on the most recent variant.
Many of us rolled up our sleeves to get the required number of “jabs” to put this latest pandemic into the history books. After all, we’ve all received multiple vaccinations against this or that almost since birth. By the time infants reach 15 months, according to the CDC, they will have received at least 23 immunizations against all kinds of formerly lethal diseases.
Carson City and Washoe County have consistently led the state in number of shots administered. We also wore our pesky masks hoping to keep this hopeless pandemic at bay.
For perspective, the first worldwide pandemic was the Spanish Flu in 1918-19, killing up to 5.4% of the world’s 1.8 billion population reported to up to 50 million. More recently, HIV/AIDS first burst forth globally in 1981 causing 36.3 million deaths to date. In comparison, as of Nov. 25, COVID-19 and variants has caused 5.2 million deaths worldwide out of a population of 7.9 billion according to the World Health Organization. We can thank our amazing scientists and medical community and the volunteers who participated in clinical trials for this fast response.
Nevada felt this pandemic where it hurt most: the hospitality industry. Las Vegas continues to lead the state in number of infections and deaths, because Clark County is 2/3 of the state population. As of this writing, the death toll is over 8,200 of which 6,310 are attributed to that county. Washoe County has recorded 966 deaths with Carson City at 175.
As we hunkered down again this year, many learned how to work from home trying to balance home and work life. Some left jobs to reflect. The “Great Resignation” left many businesses short staffed and wages going far above “minimum.” The retail and restaurant industry continue to be the hardest hit in part because of the interaction with demanding and less-than-patient customers. The auto industry was turned upside down due to chip shortages, and the storied supply shortages are keeping shelves half-full.
In most of Northern Nevada there was — and continues to be — a housing/apartment boom. Builders just can’t keep up with the demand in part due to supply and worker shortages. The buyers and renters are there, no matter the cost of housing caused by all the underlying factors blamed on the pandemic. Even though wages have gone up considerably, so has everything else.
New businesses opened doors while once venerable businesses closed theirs. Another downfall of the pandemic is we are now experiencing the highest inflation rate in 31 years. How this inflation will affect business and personal wealth in 2022 is yet to be seen.
Overall, Carson City weathered yet another COVID year and through the many federal stimulus dollars, much needed infrastructure repair is in the works. We saw just how prepared our city health and human services department and our medical facilities were and should be proud of how well each functioned in uncertain times often receiving mixed message from those pulling the strings.
We salute our business community as they presently continue to be mandated by federal, state, and local governments to become unsworn front-line enforcers, a task not at all in keeping in line with “customer service.” The OSHA fees for not enforcing the mask mandate can be hefty, thus compliance is in their best financial interest. Be patient, please, we want these businesses to survive.
We salute our educators as they maneuver through the endless rules designed to keep all safe. We mostly salute our children as their worlds continue to be turned upside down. We can only hope the emotional damage won’t be permanent.
As we approach the holiday season, there is hope that some month in 2022 will find us closer to returning to “normalcy” – whatever that may look like. This pandemic seems not yet to have an end in sight, but we can only wish for the best and encourage all to vaccinate if not for your sake, then for the rest of us. Let’s all hope for a Happy New Year!
