The COVID-19 pandemic continued to shroud nearly every aspect of life in 2021.

The pandemic’s first year, 2020, ended bleak, and 2021 began even bleaker: More than 15,000 new cases of the virus were diagnosed in the first month of the year, and the city recorded 268 deaths—more than any single month since the start of the pandemic.

Local hospitals were treating patients in hallways as close to 600 people were hospitalized locally with COVID-19 in mid-January. Two local hospitals assembled teams to navigate the possibility of rationing care, and the county gave orders that ambulances were not to bring in patients who had little to no chance of survival. Mortuaries could not handle the volume of bodies being brought in; the South Coast Air Quality Management District eventually lifted air quality regulations to allow more cremations per day.

But hope was on the horizon with the CDC giving emergency approval to vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer (and later Johnson & Johnson). The city in mid-January transformed its shuttered Convention Center into a mega vaccination facility, prioritizing essential workers, seniors over 65 and those who lived and worked in assisted living centers. Initially, with so many groups lobbying for access to the then-scarce vaccines, officials had to wade through the tricky politics of deciding who could get the shot first. The local teachers union lobbied hard for its members to be moved up in line as the state moved to reopen schools, and Long Beach teachers were among the first in California to get the vaccine.

Meanwhile, discontent had been brewing since the start of the year over health orders, mask mandates, and later vaccine mandates. Near the peak of virus transmission, the owner of the now-closed eatery Restauration, Dana Tanner, waged a one-woman battle with City Hall after a planned New Year’s Eve party at her Rose Park establishment. She continued to flout health orders, even allegedly running an illegal gas line to her restaurant after the city shut it off. She closed permanently in April after racking up a number of fines and criminal charges. In November the owners of Shady Grove Foods announced they’d be opening a barbecue restaurant at the location this March.

After more than a year of restrictions on dining, shopping and other activities, July 15 was a high—but short-lived—watermark: Gov. Gavin Newsom ended the state’s color-coded system for enforcing pandemic restrictions, leaving those decisions up to local authorities. With cases at the lowest they’d been since March 2020, Long Beach and Los Angeles County ended mandates on mask-wearing and business closures.

However, traffic jams for vaccines near the Convention Center had already given way to a trickle: On April 15, the city administered a high of 5,563 first doses; on May 1 the number dropped to 275 first doses. The slowdown came at a time when the city had vaccinated slightly over half of its population—not nearly enough to achieve herd immunity. The majority of those eschewing the vaccine were young, people of color and residents in West, Central and North areas.

As a new delta variant of the virus began circulating in the summer, health officials began offering incentives, such as event tickets, gift cards and even a joint. The city enlisted community groups for help and sent mobile vaccine units into neighborhoods. By late summer, the city and other municipalities, private companies and public agencies began issuing mandates for businesses including bars to check patrons for vaccination, and threats that unvaccinated workers could be fired. The city has yet to set a vaccination deadline for its workers, including police and fire personnel, both of which have the lowest vaccination rates among all departments.

At the end of July, Long Beach officials announced the city’s health workers would be required to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing beginning Aug. 9. The state, however, issued its own mandate that removed the testing option effective Sept. 9, which resulted in dozens of hospital employees being placed on administrative leave. If those employees do not receive the inoculation by the end of January, they will be fired.

In December, the omicron variant of the virus was discovered in South Africa and has now spread to several countries including the United States, where it has quickly become the dominant strain. Long Beach this week reported its average daily number of cases increased by 1,234% in December, from 44 cases on Dec. 1 to 587 on Wednesday.

At the start of 2022 and the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public is still weathering mask mandates, with health officials again worried about the health care system becoming overwhelmed.

All told, more than 73,000 cases of COVID-19 have now been diagnosed in Long Beach, and, 1,075 people have died of the virus, making it the leading cause of death by far in the city.

‘The single largest loss of life’: COVID-19 has now killed 1,000 Long Beach residents