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We still remember March, when we all held our breaths and hoped for the best as the coronavirus started making its way through the United States.

At one point, we’re sure we asked ourselves whether there’d be a case locally. Or whether we’d have 10 cases or 100. 

We quickly learned that it was going to be a much higher number.

Troup County hit 5,000 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday, a number we’re not sure anyone saw coming. Roughly 7 percent of people in our county have had a known case of COVID-19.

Put another way, in a room full of 100 people you know in LaGrange, more than likely at least seven of them have been sick from this awful disease.

That’s hard to fathom.

We know you’re tired of hearing it, and we’re tired of writing it. It’s the same thing over and over — wear a mask, social distance, make smart decisions, etc.

But COVID-19 isn’t over, even as vaccinations slowly but surely make their way across the country.

President Joe Biden said Monday that he thought the United States could reach 1.5 million vaccinations per day in the next few weeks, a milestone that would be huge in this country. Hopefully, that happens.

But even then, it’s going to be a while before the vaccinations make the world “normal” again.

Public health officials have said in recent days that if 70 percent of the country can be vaccinated by the fall, that normalcy could be a reality. We sorely miss that normalcy, something we never truly appreciated.

More than 5,000 people locally have been sick, and we don’t want to see that number continue to climb.

We hope you’ll continue to take precautions to slow it down.