That's what I was thinking and it was a ray of hope and maybe even the rational thing to expect.

But we now have vaccines they had not.

Is the loss of advantages (if they are) like different population density and spread, travel, nutrition, etc. compensated by our vaccines so that we can hope for the same ending ?

I read a lot that covid-19 would turn into a milder flu as time passes by and as the virus naturally evolves to become more infectious but less lethal. But this is not what happened.

I was confident until Delta happened and newspaper headlines started mentioning a fourth wave (most articles I read about Spanish flu only mentioned a third wave).

Today, as far as I am concerned, all bets are off.

I am vaccinated with what I consider the best option available at the time (mRNA, maybe protein based vaccine would have changed my mind) and the way things are now I'll keep wearing a mask indoor, at work, in public transport for a long time and follow all the other recommendations. And I am not in the US, I live in one of the less impacted (at the moment) European country.

There's too much mobility in the world, tourism is quite a vehicle for spread and too many countries went all in on tourism - I'm from Portugal, and clearly our government gave priority to tourism over public health, over and over again.

Not because they wanted to, but because they had to - for economical and political reasons. Just like they stripped off all measures during Christmas for political goodwill, and it caused the death of thounsands.

Very few were, and are, willing to end this pandemic.

One thing was made very clear: politicians will do anything - ANYTHING - to keep themselves in power. This pandemic turned to the worst when it became a political weapon. They placed too much hope on the vaccine, when it should have been considered one valuable tool to end this pandemic, not the final fix for it.

Only time will tell the long term effects of these decisions.

There might be a time when the pandemic could've been curbed, but it was just too contagious for the initial lack of transparency and honesty. It is also perfectly balanced, not too deadly, not too insignificant. I doubt it could've been stopped in time as soon as it started spreading widely among the public.