I've been in the lucky position that I have remained fully employed during the pandemic, since we already all worked from home, my Day to Day has hardly changed at all. Back when this whole thing was gearing up I remember things were slightly busier, because our software is used in some retail stores that sold Ammunition, and apparently a lot of people were "prepping". I guess they planned to shoot the virus.
I actually kind of feel like continuing to work was "doing my part" too as the taxes from my income could go to help people who weren't so lucky and needed the CERB or the recently reworked EI or CRB. I think the most disgusted I've been in recent memory was around March when somebody seriously suggested I should apply for CERB because they were basically approving everybody! Unbelievable. Aside from that being morally reprehensible (I don't need it! I haven't been affected!) They will be going through the records and finding out who actually needed it and who didn't, It's not "free money".
in 2003, SARS was right on the brink of becoming a pandemic before it was contained. Covid-19 is almost like "revenge of SARS", and basically is more contagious and spreads more easily due to the long incubation period. The big issue seems to be that because of that these precautions need to be in place long enough to actually become a new "status quo" which is too long for some people, and people get fatigued and relax the precautions and you get another wave. For the United States, Politics seems to be more heavily involved than it is in most other countries, though that is perhaps beyond the scope of what should be discussed on this forum.
As for "How we got here"? There have been a lot of epidemics and pandemics in the past. We just happen to be living through a pretty bad one at a global scale. And as with those, we will be asking questions about what was done well, what was done poorly, and who did what when and why for decades, not unlike other major historic events.
