This started as a story about what happens after a pandemic ends.
I pitched my editor on the idea in early May. Every adult in America could get a vaccine. COVID-19 numbers started to fall. If the Roaring ‘20s came after the Spanish flu a century ago, did that mean we were on track for another Roaring ‘20s now? Would “ Hot Vax Summer “ give way to Decadent Gatsby Party Autumn?
I started to dig in. A number of compelling parallels emerged: America 100 years ago had staggering income inequality. A booming stock market. Racial uprisings. Anti-immigrant sentiment. A one-term president plagued by scandals after he left office. Plenty of material for a story.
Then the pandemic didn’t end.
Vaccinations stalled. The delta variant fueled new waves of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. By September, some states had more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than they did during the winter surge. The economic outlook for this decade has gone from “champagne-soaked” to “room temperature.” In late November, the World Health Organization announced a new “ variant of concern “: omicron.
I called a meeting with my editor. I said I didn’t think it was a good time to write a story in which the premise was “this pandemic is over, now what?”