The Last SuperSpreader?
By 
One year and five days ago the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in Superbowl LIV. One day later, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders would sort of win the Iowa Caucuses, with Joe Biden placing a distant fourth. Two days after that, the Senate would acquit Donald Trump at the end of his first impeachment trial. On January 31, two days before the Superbowl, the final episodes of the final season of Bojack Horseman dropped. The evening before that, ABC screened the final episode of the Good Place. I watched the finales of both Bojack and the Good Place on Friday the 31st, knowing that the Super Bowl and the caucuses would dominate my weekend and that I had no interest whatsoever in paying attention to the impeachment trial.
By that point, Wuhan had been locked down for about a week, and the first cases of COVID had begun to appear in the United States. On January 24 the Senate was briefed, leading to an anticipatory selloff of stock by several Senators. By February 5 there were 12 confirmed cases, including in-person transmission in the United States. By February 15 COVID would dominate the news, and of course you know the rest.
A lot of folks said at the time that the final days of January and the first week of February were shockingly busy in terms of news, even for those who weren’t big fans of Bojack or the Good Place. It felt like there was a lot… and of course it turned that we had no idea just how much “a lot” would amount to. I wonder if, in retrospect, we’ll begin to think of February 1 as the “true” beginning of 2020 and Superbowl LV as its true end, in the same sense that we think of Waterloo and the assassination of the Archduke as the true beginning and end points of the 19th century. And I wonder if Superbowl LV, with inevitable indoor gatherings of friends and family, will end up being the last “superspreader” moment leading to the last big spike in infections.
I hope that 2021 will be a more boring year, complete with a more boring President. Whether you’re staying in or going out today, do your best to stay safe.