BLUE RIDGE, Ga.—On a gray yet sunbeam-pierced afternoon in Blue Ridge, Georgia, many Americans said they feel weary of COVID-19 concerns. For many visitors and residents of the small tourist town, 2021 was a year spent overshadowed. Their individual hopes and dreams for next year hid behind COVID-19 worries like faces behind masks. “With COVID and all that’s going on in the world and sickness, it’s just changed the way we’re doing things,” said Dana Hayden, a Cumming, Georgia resident visiting the town. “This year has been much quieter than previous years.” From Hayden’s description, 2021 was a year defined by what didn’t happen. Her family couldn’t visit relatives in Canada. They did less at home too. From 2021, she said she learned: “To enjoy what we have and who we’re with, and that you never know what’s going to happen.” Hayden’s words sound more appropriate to surviving a tragic …