No, this is not 2020, when there were no vaccines against COVID-19, but certain marker events are sadly reminiscent of that time.

A primary example: The Queen’s Medical Center has decided to reinstate its no-visitor policy, while Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center now limits one vaccinated visitor per in-patient. The logic of all this is clear, with the omicron variant of the virus spreading like wildfire. Hospitals can’t afford to lose more staffers, or patients, to the illness.

But returning to the total isolation of patients does feel as if we’re backsliding toward bad, old pandemic days.