Geneva, New York | October 5, 2020 | Ricoh GRII

This is the most Easter-appropriate shot from my "to post" queue. Easter is associated with rebirth, new beginnings, and, biblically—after a period of suffering, death, mourning, and fear—a miracle that promised hope for the future.

Though these associations might be best captured with a sunrise, this photograph is actually of a sunset, one in Geneva, New York, taken in early October of 2020, when the number of Coronavirus deaths had already seemed impossible to grasp (though that number was still far lower than the total 553,681 Coronavirus deaths in the US as of today), and when, as I recall at least, new cases were lower than they had been over the summer, a brief almost-respite before they would skyrocket as we plodded our way into the winter.

Pairing the image of a setting sun from that time with the Easter holiday that I'd associate more with a rising sun feels apt in this particular moment, in which case numbers are rising yet again—a 19% increase over the average from two weeks ago, according to the New York Times today.

It feels like a teeter-tottering moment right now.

With vaccinations continuing to roll out, it would seem unlikely or even impossible that, even with the current new cases upswing, things will be worse than they were. But to even use the way things were in the fall of 2020 as a point of comparison for how good we're doing feels like a particularly macabre version of grading on the world's worst curve.

Continue to hope that tomorrow will be better, but continue to do all of those things—masks, social distancing, hand washing, and vaccinations as possible—that will help ensure that will be the case.

Cheers to a Happy Easter, and a better tomorrow.