With Covid-19 variants seemingly springing up from everywhere, we jump from alarmism to paranoia to hysteria. And it is always someone else’s fault.

Our “leaders” always have the same message: (1) we’re working hard, (2) we’re consulting with the experts, (3) we’re investing in vaccines, (4) stay away from each other. One gets the distinct impression that the new order of government is crisis identification and not crisis management.

I feel bad for our leadership. When things looked up, the stage daily press conferences seemed to strike just the right balance between “baloney” and an aggressive plan toward normalcy; there was an element of credibility – just enough to sway skeptics.

And just when it seems we are turning the corner, “something/ someone” pulls us back. Always, there is some “expert” with the science to support the latest initiative. Except science is more about math… the latest count.

We have moved from counting infections to tabulating deaths, assessing dollar amounts, investing in vaccines, and counting variants. We have gone from no masks to masks, if necessary, to masks all the time. From vaccines that may work to those that work only after two or three doses to those that will not work on variants… oops, they did not exist three weeks ago.

Perhaps worst of all, or so we are now told, the virus was initially spread via droplets, so social distancing, masking, testing and tracing made sense. Now it appears to be airborne, an aerosol.

One thing has remained constant. The testing and reporting have been eclectic from jurisdiction to jurisdiction so that estimates and comparatives have been tentative at best.