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I’ve never been scared of COVID.

I’m still young and in good health, which played a big part in me not feeling vulnerable, since the virus tends to kill older and chronically ill people. But even those groups are both enjoying well over a 99% recovery rate now, according to the latest numbers. Whereas before coronavirus was hospitalizing and killing around 5% of those it infected, those numbers have dropped below 1%. Neither 5% or 1% scares me.

Truth be told, I’ve always sided with Sweden’s controversial, no masks, and little social distancing approach, which allowed schools, businesses, and small gatherings to remain open. That approach is increasingly looking like a more than suitable one that benefited Sweden’s economy without the massive death that the rest of the world predicted they would have.

Furthermore, in a recent report entitled The Coronavirus Is Never Going Away, The Atlantic convincingly argues that COVID will likely become a common cold or seasonal flu strain, like other coronavirus have before it. “I think this virus is with us to the future,” said one vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins. “But so is influenza with us, and for the most part, flu doesn’t shut down our societies. We manage it.”

If that ends up being the case, I’m not sure how soon we can all remove the masks and start “social proximiting.” But I sure hope it’s sooner than later. As one commenter recently said, “Sitting at home shaking with fear while pointing the critical finger is no life.”