As I sit writing this column, it has been almost exactly one year since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and states started implementing lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Now, almost a year later, authorities in 219 countries and territories have reported about 112.2 million COVID-19 cases and 2.5 million deaths — more than 500,000 of them in the U.S. alone — since China reported its first cases to the WHO in December 2019.
Through all of this, there is still much unknown about the coronavirus. This includes how it first passed to humans (conspiracy theories aside), why it affects some people more than others, how it is spread (there’s still debate over whether it is spread through respiratory droplets when someone coughs or sneezes — which can be protected by masks — or if it is also spread by aerosols, which are much smaller particles that can remain suspended in the air for hours and travel long distances — which masks cannot protect against), how long someone is immune, and most importantly, when the pandemic will be over.