At some point in the early days of the “Virus Era”—my term for the multi-year debacle that we endured from early 2020 through some point in 2023 or 2024—I decided to archive email exchanges with a few friends about this peculiar time in our country’s history.

Perhaps I thought at the time that a written record could help me understand the basis and outcomes of what might become an historic era, which turned out to be prescient as we went from “two weeks to flatten the curve” to what now amounts to an eternal-sounding four or five years depending on how one counts the passage of time.

Reviewing these archived email exchanges today reveals some of the major issues and differences of opinion that affected all of us. Some of these focus on the mere silliness of the Virus Era, some on the madness that affected many.

Anthony Fauci audaciously proclaimed that “attacks on me are attacks on science,” as though he were Mr. Science, the Science Guy himself. That Trump allowed Fauci to essentially run the country for months on end does not speak well for either man. Deborah Birx—also given an enabling platform by Trump—wasn’t much better. It appears, however, that no one will be held accountable for the mischief committed in the name of public health and “The Science.”

One can hope that our country is not subjected to a repeat of this unfortunate event and the ill-designed policies implemented in its wake. However, as they say, hope is not a plan. Once having succeeded in forcing it down Americans’ throats, power-hungry political players may succeed in repeating this when some other public health or natural disaster may arise in future.