COVID-19 (2.0): Back to Square One?

“History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” – Mark Twain

The calendar displays 2025, but the headlines direct us towards 2020. It was all over, right? The masks were shed, the hugs grew deeper, and normality finally reclaimed dinner tables. Streets, once filled with unmasked smiles and restored habits, now resemble actors on a stage who have forgotten their lines. Offices shuffle between hybrid models and hesitation. Sanitizers reappear on countertops like relics of a war that’s not quite over. You're not alone if you try covering your nose with a handkerchief every time someone sneezes in a crowded room. We all look around, wondering: are we back at the beginning, or just stuck in a loop we never fully escaped? Is this really square one? Psychologically, the second wave—or even the whisper of a new variant—does something peculiar to the mind. The human mind is built to respond to crisis, but not to live in one endlessly. As the news of COVID’s return flashes once again on our screens, many people are not only anxious but also experiencing an unfamiliar emptiness. It’s not vulnerability; it’s burnout or pandemic fatigue—a condition where alerts become background noise, and masks feel like emotional bandages.

The psychological burden of years marked by uncertainty, mourning, and social isolation has gradually accumulated. What once was an adrenaline-fueled response has now been suppressed into emotional shutdown. Decision-making feels heavier, concentration weaker, and joy often seems out of reach. It’s as if our internal batteries are blinking red. Unlike the initial pandemic, which triggered fear, these newer versions evoke a deeper emotion: numbness. The mind, already stretched from previous lockdowns, economic losses, and shattered routines, finds it harder to mobilize the same urgency. It is not just physical tiredness but emotional depletion. We are no longer fighting just a virus; we are navigating collective trauma, decision fatigue, and the resurfacing of suppressed anxiety. For frontline workers, it’s PTSD. For students, it’s the revival of screen fatigue and disrupted learning curves. For parents, it’s the fear of uncertainty wrapped in the burden of being strong. We need emotional rest, collective compassion, and psychological first aid as much as we need vaccines. Maybe this isn’t a reset to square one. Perhaps it’s a reminder that recovery isn’t always linear. We’re not where we were in 2020 either. We now have vaccines, awareness, support systems, and most importantly, experience. But alongside safety protocols, we need a parallel emotional protocol. We must acknowledge grief that wasn’t processed, fears that were masked, and mental scars that still itch beneath the surface. Public health announcements must walk hand in hand with mental health awareness. Sometimes, the most dangerous variant is the silence of unspoken emotions and care left unattended. The lockdown taught us that the world outside is fragile, but so is the world within. We already know how to wash hands; we’ve witnessed what community, caution, and compassion can do. Perhaps now it’s time to cleanse the overwhelm, speak up if shadows grow louder, and build emotional immunity alongside physical protection. “We are not going in circles; we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.” – Hermann Hesse Maybe the idea was not to return to normal but to move forward with a sense of our vulnerability, our strength, and the fragility of being human.

Because square one isn’t where we start again; it’s where we begin differently.