Commentary: The gaslighting of the COVID hyper-cautious during the omicron surge

California recorded a million new cases of COVID-19 last week, hospitals are overtaxed, and it feels like everybody has omicron — or knows somebody who does — as sickness, ennui and burnout already are defining the new year. Could this last part explain why the current pandemic peak is being met with a collective shrug?

As an arts writer who has seen theaters and concert halls go dark for the better part of two years, in the name of public safety, but now is watching those same venues boldly open their doors to what many people are referring to as “the new normal,” I am flummoxed. With caseloads breaking records and death counts rising once again, why now? I want to share in the optimism but I can’t. In fact, I feel as if I’m being gaslighted.