America is heading into a best of times, worst of times summer as the longed-for promise of deliverance from Covid-19 is tempered by spasms of violent crime, economic false starts and unexpected obstacles on the road to freedom.

Things are demonstrably better. A 300 million vaccine effort gave many their lives back and a once-apocalyptic jobs crisis is much improved. A new presidency has restored science to its rightful place. The more than 600,000 dead are honored, not ignored. And the most important antidote in a national crisis -- truth -- has made a White House comeback.

But hopes of a sudden transition to a new and carefree "Roaring 20s" are elusive. It's becoming clear that a shock-and-awe pandemic changed society in unanticipated ways that may take many years to play out. An emerging scenario, for instance, of a nation divided by Covid -- between vaccinated Democratic states and skeptical and sickened conservative bastions -- is deepening an already bitter political estrangement.

The America that is slowly regaining its vigor is not the same as the one that went away in March 2020.

The omnipresent polarity has worsened and exemplifies the gap between the huge expectations stirred by the long-cherished prospect of reopening and the reality of a complicated return to normality.

While Washington has been fixated by former President Donald Trump's undimmed assault on democracy and the audacious debut of the Biden presidency, the rest of the country has had more immediate concerns.

The joy of family reunions, delayed weddings, the urge to travel and traffic returning to clog city freeways speak to a national reawakening that has seen infections and deaths shrink since early in the year.

But such rituals have coincided with the jarring return of another quintessentially American rite: the mass shooting, 10 each on the last two weekends alone. Cities like San Francisco and New York are recalling their dangerous after dark reputations of the past. And questions are being raised over whether the pent-up frustration of months of social distancing and consequential mental health issues are combining in a fatal mix with a nation awash in firearms.a