The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic—Looking back and looking forward

Eighteen months after the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was detected in the United States, and 6 months following the first US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine, we find ourselves looking at a vastly different landscape regarding this pandemic than just 6 months ago. As the pandemic appears currently to be waning in the United States, now is an opportune time to take stock of how we have responded, assess what went well, document and categorize the missteps we have made, enumerate what pandemic concerns remain as we approach a possible recrudescence of COVID-19 in the fall, and try to discern how we can establish a ‘new normal’ state in the country. Her, we look, both retrospectively and prospectively, at the pandemic response in the US from the perspectives of 3 hospital epidemiologists who have discussed these issues almost weekly in the course of airing town hall webinars for the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). The views expressed in the manuscript represent the opinions and assessments of the authors as private citizens and do not represent those of their employers or the SHEA.