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Two Years After The COVID-19 Pandemic Began, North Texas Starts Spring Much Closer To Normal

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - As fans hurried in out of the cold to the AAC Basketball Tournament in Fort Worth on Friday, Mar. 11, there were no masks, no capacity limits, and no cancellations - a far cry from where things were on this date two years ago.

Brian Gerth, back this year, was here from Cincinnati when that happened.

"They were supposed to start the games on Thursday. We heard all the games were cancelled. We went to the botanical gardens on Thursday, they said they were closing on Friday. We went to the art museums on Friday, they said they were closing on Saturday," he said.

This spring, Gerth arrived to find everything back open. He's one of millions of travelers some surveys show could return to pre-pandemic numbers this year.

Masks across three-quarters of the country are gone. Parking lots once filled with test and vaccine facilities are empty again.

But the impacts aren't over; inflation and supply chain problems still linger.

But as some doctors like Dr. Robert Gottlieb of Baylor Scott and White Health predicted weeks ago, "spring is going to be refresh... we know our numbers can be dramatically lower. We're going to be on the backside of this."

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