WEANED ON HOLLYWOOD ENDINGS, AMERICANS NOW FACE A MESSY ONE

There will come a day — maybe even a day in the next few months — when Americans wake up, emerge from their homes, cast away their masks and resume their lives. On that day, the Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020-21 will be over.

Ridiculous, right? A consummation devoutly to be wished, but highly unlikely.

Here’s the problem with anticipating the end of the pandemic: No one is sure just what that ending will look like or when it will arrive — or even if we’ll know it when we see it.

Will it be when most of the country is vaccinated? When schools all reconvene safely? When hospitals’ COVID beds are empty? When