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The entire COVID-19 pandemic could be described by peaks and valleys. We’ve had four distinct peaks —summer 2020, winter 2020, August 2021 and January 2022. The most recent saw case numbers get worse than at any point, but thankfully the Omicron variant was much more mild than Delta, helping keep death numbers down.

We’re sure vaccinations, masks and other preventative measures played a role as well.

With all that said, it’s clear we are in a drastic fall-off from early January right now. It almost looks like COVID-19 cases fell over the edge of a mountain range somewhere around Jan. 3, when daily cases peaked at around 136 new cases in Troup County. We’re down to just to single digit new cases each day, and those numbers still appear to be falling.

And although many are living their normal lives without a single thought about the ongoing pandemic, there are others who are wondering what the status of the virus is now.

Is this entire thing over?

Is life as we know on its way to being completely normal?

Will this pandemic soon be reclassified as an endemic, where we deal with this illness while not having massive death numbers and without having to shut society down?

The answer to those questions is no one really knows. A lot depends on the next major variant, which really hasn’t been detected or identified just yet.

Will the next one be even milder than Omicron?

We can only hope. But if it goes the other way, we could all have to buckle again.

At this point, nearing the end of February, we’re just thankful that we’re currently in a deep valley and that numbers are down to a point where you can count new cases on one hand. We don’t know what’s ahead. But with the weather set to warm up and time changing soon, there’s a lot to be thankful for as we get set for March.