As the warnings to "stay at home" fade from memory and we're told we must "learn to live with COVID," it is easy to forget the first dread-filled days of the pandemic two years ago. Then, kisses, hugs and handshakes were freighted with danger and, panicked by the images from Italy of intensive care wards filled with elderly patients, we rushed to supermarkets to empty the aisles of bleach and disinfectant.