Here we are at the very end of 2020, a year that proved to be a horror show from the impeachment trial in January through the COVID-19 explosion of this month.

As 2020 opened with the usual hopes and dreams, an amber warning light began to glow on the far side of the world. A new, infectious virus was causing deaths in China. Should we worry?

The virus bore its newness in the name: the novel coronavirus. We didn’t know much about it then: how it spread, how it affected patients, how to treat it. As that warning light turned red, and grew huge, spreading across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and into every community in the country, we learned about it all too well.

The wildfire of COVID-19 consumed the promise of 2020. It’s still burning out of control.

This final editorial column is for you, our readers, who have held up your heads, coped with every cancellation, shutdown and curveball this cursed year has thrown your way, adjusted and endured. We appreciate you.

We ap...