Looking Back On COVID

Lucky Trump got us all back to work with Warp Speed efficiency. And then immediately disowned it, his only accomplishment.

The worldwide cultural and economic effects will take a few generations to comprehend. Look at the Black Plague in the 14th century which is parallel, It created the middle class. We don't know yet what Covid created in our culture.

We never came to terms with the Spanish flu epidemic. These things get swept under the rug, collectively speaking.

COVID created?? Assholes. Entitled whiney assholes who can't show up.

I still think it's wise to wear a mask on a plane. I've gotten sick too often after flights - not sure if it is surfaces in airport or being in the plane.

But the few times I did wear a mask on plane the past few years - no illness afterwards.

A few hundred people still die of COVID each week - more so in Jan (1000 a week) due to holiday exposures.

I have long covid. Its been hell. Lots of fatigue and dizzyness.

We live in a cul-de-sac so every night we went to the road and drank cocktails with our neighbours. . First lockdown March/April 2020. Enjoyed the peace and quiet overall, except at the supermarket where it was a chat fest. Covid happened and we just got on with it, no blame on anyone. Sh*t happens!

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

We got married. Talk about red tape. It was the right thing to do, even with mother-in-law moving in. We all got it but not severely. We reminded ourselves how fortunate we were. My husband learned how to make bread and is good at it. The animals were happy having us around 24/7.

A happy little cocoon until a storm knocked out our satellite tv and it took forever to get fixed.

The toilet paper shortage was peak stupid.

I keep greater physical distance from other people. Really, medical personnel are the only people I have any physical contact with.

R5 In a plane it's a mask you're worried about?!

Too many people decided my area was a safe refuge from Covid and housing and rent prices skyrocketed. They never came down.

My nephew was in high school and two years of online classes changed him from an outgoing kid with lots of friends to a depressed anorexic. He’s recovered from the anorexia, thank god but when i was finally able to travel, I cried when I saw him. My friend is an educator and she says it messed up a lot of kids.

I don’t personally know anyone who died. As far as I know, I’ve never had it.

It's the one thing you can control r11.

R11 - Yes. Too many people fly while they are sick.

I can't count how many hacking coughs and sneezes I've heard - guess how far that shit travels?

You can get sick if someone coughs within 6 feet of you (if they are sick). Sneeze can blast 25+ feet.

It's not people's fault they are sick, but sitting that close to each other is just asking for it.

I remember being checked for body temperature before being allowed to go shopping.

Of course toilet paper was scarce. Then kleenex, then paper towels. I remember listening to a plumber on a phone-in radio show complaining about people trying to flush Bounty-style paper towels.

We already had a bidet but that took some getting used to. Temperature. Also a hand-held shower with douche options. We were long past the longing for anal but they came in handy and I don't think I will ever go back.

I’ll never get over the flagrant disregard many people showed society/their fellow man.

I am a teacher, and I loved teaching online from home. I came up with all sorts of little games and ways to get students to interact on Zoom. I didn't have to go anywhere! Then the next year, half the kids came back and I felt like I was going to die due to the number of unvaccinated MAGA nuts.

THat's interesting you say that R17. I have an aunt who is a elementary school teacher, and a friend who is a college professor and while both liked working from home, both have said to me on-line teaching just does not work. Not even a little.

The college professor mentioned multiple studies that backed this up. Professionally, I can say that the people we hired, and went through training virtually/via Zoom will never "get it". They suck, and I don't really think it is all their fault.

I still notice supply chain issues. Pre Covid, my Kroger was never out of anything. It just didn't happen. Now it isn't unusual to be out of random (yet common) things.

I am a morning person, and I liked going out for breakfast and 6:00. I'm now lucky to find a place open at 7:00. Many open at 8:00. I assume it is staffing issues.

I'm horrified at the long term "damage" that vaccine mandates did - and I don't mean from the vaccines, but the batshit reactions a lot of people had resisting them. Millions will die long term from not getting other vaccines (flu, MMR, etc.), and it was crackpot people on social media (with no medical degrees) that were peddling this fear for the most part.

I am sure it didn't work. There are a lot of studies showing students didn't learn much, and social skills were a bit delayed when students came back full time for a year or two. But people claiming their kids were permanently delayed by the lockdown are full of shit. Within two years, kids were back where they needed to be in terms of academic achievement. I taught wealthy high school students and we had scheduled classes. They had to show up for the zoom meetings or their parents would kill them. Also, they had nothing else to do. It was fun for me because I liked designing things on the new tech platforms. Most every other teacher hated it.

I never had it, so lah-di-dah.

Or fiddle-dee-dee. Take your pick.

I became very close to the friends I podded with. We had Friday night dinners and inner tubed with a cooler full of beer on weekends. When my brother died they all rallied around me. All of us live in different places now, but we see each other once a month.

I think people got meaner as a whole. Driving sucks. People get right up your ass and speed. The whole regard for others went down the tubes. It also completely changed the atmosphere at my office. We went as remote as possible…and most of (except management) realized we worked better as a team out of the building.

There's actually more evidence that it came from the animal market than from a lab accident.

People definitely got meaner and just changed the way they interact in general. There is a whole phenomenon with Gen Z not greeting people, even when in a service role like restaurant hostess (they call it “the gen Z stare”). While some of that is obviously smart phones, I blame COVID as well. It changed us so much, in ways I’m not sure we understand.

I got COVID on an airplane in summer 2024. Guy next to me coughing for a few hours. It was the first time flying that I didn't wear a mask since COVID.

Honestly, I knew of no one personally who had it or died from it.

Trump had way more to do with people getting meaner than COVID ever did. I’m gonna start F&F these idiots on DL trying to rewrite Palin and Trump.

R25, that is surprising. Almost everyone I know got it, quite a few more than once.

I know dozens of people who got it. One person (in his late 30s at the time) was put on a ventilator and came very close to death. Several people, including employees who manned the desk, died of COVID at the assisted living place my mom was staying at the time. Most of the people who died refused to be vaccinated. Several people I know got long COVID. I may have gotten it in March 2020, but I was not allowed to be tested because my symptoms didn't match what they needed to to be tested at that time. Subsequently many of those symptoms became standard. Once there were vaccines, I was vaccinated regularly. I have been exposed, but never got it.

Apparently you didn't get out much, r25.

My sister and I have had Covid about 3 or 4 times each. My octogenarian mother and obese 70-ish friend never got it. I believe it's gene-related. I lost a cousin and possibly a car to it.

I don't know anything about 'lockdown' or kids learning online or getting unemployment money or avoiding public places... I have an essential job and worked every day, shopped, wore a mask.

<- cat

I have a close friend, a long ago ex, high school, who went on about, "but who do we know who actually died?" when we talked about it. I had no answers at the time but since then the five year death toll has revealed an alarming number of old guys like us, from our graduating class, dead during covid.

For me it felt like the 1980s all over again when so ...nevermind

I knew three people that died of COVID. I keep coming across masks I had stashed in bureau drawers or stuffed in the glove compartment. I was spending a lot of time in hospitals during covid, but for cancer treatment and a broken knee, so I accumulated a lot of different varieties of masks.

I remember finding two rolls of toilet paper in a little out of the way convenience store and it was like I struck gold, it was that exciting.

^^^the three that died. I accidentally deleted the rest of that sentence. Two were acquaintances, but one was the grown son of friends. I know probably six other people that got COVID and were very ill but made it through.

Looking back on Covid, I think we all totally overreacted, blew up the economy, and our major cities. The lockdowns, keeping kids out of school, and social distancing were huge mistakes. We turned the world upside down for a bad cold that was taking out old people and people with comorbidities. In the beginning when there were a lot of questions and unknowns, it made sense, but we carried things too far.

I blame it all on Trump, who didn't know what the fuck he was doing and threw out Obama's pandemic playbook, because it was Obama's playbook. Then you geniuses decided that he needed another term. However, as fucked up as Trump's response was, the democratic overreaction didn't help things either.

The resulting inflation raped me of 30% of my net worth and I have a sneaky suspicion it's still not over yet.

The pandemic shutdowns in March 2020 led me to take in a foster puppy from the shelter for what was initially going to be two weeks. I saw how well he helped socialize my other scared, skittish dog I had adopted the year prior. After two weeks I went back to the shelter to tell them I’d like to sign permanent adoption paperwork. He’s here on the couch by my feet now five years later.

That’s the happy part of it. I also acquired a bit of extra alcoholism in the process of it all (living through 2020 and 2021) but thankfully - with some help, have been able to reverse that habit.

My mom died at the beginning of it

I wasn't allowed to mourn with my emotionally unavailable family

I actually was better off work wise during Covid and then I've been over the last year. I'm hoping to find some contentment in these final years.

[quote]Too many people decided my area was a safe refuge from Covid and housing and rent prices skyrocketed. They never came down

No one moved to my area and yet rents and home prices went up by 50%. It's all just a giant scam at this point.

Rents skyrocketed everywhere

Collusion.

COVID is still here, it continues to mutate and poses a truly serious threat. The cognitive dissonance that dismisses this as a cold really bothers me but I don’t spend energy on it.

The lockdown strategy had a chance of containing this IF it had been implemented earlier in China (eg no Chinese New Year global travel in 2020). Hong Kong was able to contain SARS in 2005 by vigilance, contact tracing and quarantine measures. I know, I lived through it.

Caught it March 2020 was very unwell but lucky not to be hospitalised. Had a version of long Covid before it was even named but that involved so-called brain fog which sounds benign but very much isn’t. Was exposed in my own home in 2022 by asshole workman we’d requested wear a mask but he took it off.

When I finally flew again caught it on plane in 2023 and again in 2024. I have a very bad case of long Covid now. Some days I fear I won’t recover.

The long Covid is concerning. I was lucky to have just a mild case in early 2022. The brain fog was interesting. But I have all the shots.

It just seems like we can take all the protocols available and these idiots who ignore all the warnings sabotage everyone. I’m sure the flu I had earlier this year was caused by that. I had the vaccine but I was working in a place where a lot of people refused it. Flu B knocked me on my ass.

Covid accelerated changes that were occurring. Social media already had ill effects on both younger and older people. For example, attention span is out the window these days. Anyone over 18 should be able to sit through a college class that lasts an hour and twenty minutes. No more. They must get up to "use the bathroom." They're checking their social media and just can't keep attention for that long. I saw beginning before Covid. Covid accelerated it.

Social and communicative skills for younger people are shot now. Getting a discussion going in a classroom is almost impossible.

[quote]I have a very bad case of long Covid now. Some days I fear I won’t recover.

[quote]The long Covid is concerning. I was lucky to have just a mild case in early 2022. The brain fog was interesting. But I have all the shots.

I may or may not have long covid. I am so tired so much of the time. I sleep more than I have ever slept in my life. I'm in a brain fog state fairly often, too. I'm participating in a long covid study at the local university hospital. So far, there's no cure.

I had three wonderful years of working from home.

The all the downtown real estate owners started a campaign about how we’re losing so much by staying home and blah, blah blah. Fuck them

As a reminder, in mouse studies, the mice all died after getting covid 10 times.

And now RFK Jr is restricting the vaccine…

Year, OP???

[quote] As a reminder, in mouse studies, the mice all died after getting covid 10 times

Not true.

[quote] We live in a cul-de-sac so every night we went to the road and drank cocktails with our neighbours.

Are their names Karen and Mac and Laura and Abby?

Fuck you R49!

The lasting effect? The realization how tenuous the grasp on reality is for a large percentage of people. It made me realize that, pre-COVID, a lot of them struggled to keep their shit together when interacting with the people in social situations, at work, when socializing in public, etc. Once that in-person contact was removed and they were no longer under the social pressure to act sane and polite, the cheese slid off many a cracker. And we're living in the aftermath of that.

The double whammy of COVID and Trump made me grasp how deeply, irretrievably stupid many Americans are. It was a sad and sobering realization.

I fucking loved lockdown.

I got heaps of work done, and loads of free time because I finished my work by about 11 in the morning thanks to not being bothered my bored colleagues and slept amazingly.

I also learned to knit and bought an Instant Pot.

"Physics Girl" Dianna Cowern got a bad case of long COVID, to the point where she was bed-bound and could hardly do anything for about 2 years. But she is a lot better now. My point is that those suffering from long COVID have reason for hope.

R5 Planes have the cleanest air anywhere. It is literally HEPA filtered and the entire cabin’s air supply is changed out every 2-3 minutes. Turn on your air nozzle above and point it at your face and it’s a HEPA air shield that is more effective than any mask.

I flew constantly through the entire pandemic - multiple times a week usually. Never got COVID then.

[quote]Planes have the cleanest air anywhere.

The only time I've been sick in the past 20 years is after a plane flight where I sat next to a man who coughed and sneezed throughout. Thankfully, it was just a simple cold.

I wonder if the people who hoarded beans and rice and toilet paper and all have ever actually used it all.

I still subconsiously check the paper products aisle to make sure they have toilet paper. My local FB group would post what stores had it. I remember getting up early and waiting outside a local Target because we knew they'd just gotten a shipment.

I have a fucking house FULL of masks! The ones I ordered at the beginning of COVID got lost being delivered by Amazon. I recevied the about 5 months later. It was a small, soft package that probably got stuck in the truck somewhere.

We were already working remotely 3 days a week so pivoting to 5 days was no big deal. I used to go in on Saturdays to water my plant and print documents I needed. The employees hired during COVID are basically idiots because they don't know where to find the simplest things. The really needed the exchange of ideas that you get in the in-office environment (I know, I know) but I think it's true.

If we ever have another pandemic similar to COVID, we're fucked. Doubly if it happens while Trump is still in office. We have too many ignorant Americans who would refuse to follow any advice or recommendations from medical professionals. They'd rather end up in the hospital or die than ever be inconvenienced. We saw that with mask usage back then and now we have states with laws to prohibit any lockdowns and/or mask mandates.

Spain which suffered badly at the start, including some shameful news if some elderly residence facilities that were significantly abandoned by workers. It responsed with a national quarantine and then a series of regional quarantines on and off over a year and a half.

Most people adopted some form of working from home for the duration. Those who had to work were given priority for vaccinations. The vaccination programs were introduced rather quickly and efficiently; there was almost zero talk of anti-vaxers, etc. People were vaccinated, they wore masks as directed, they minimized outings of all sorts, the particular rules for this tightened and relaxed according to threat levels and diminution of infection levels. Some.might have grumbled a bit at the inconvenience, but they was no real argument over the good sense in following medical advice.

Luke many, I adopted a small circle of friends who were practically my entire non-commercial contact with them outside world. If I socialized, it was with them; if they did, it was with me. It wasn't a perfect system, nor one without risk, but, happily, none of us got sick and it helped maintain some sanity beyond mobile phones and Netflix and walking the dog.

I still see those same people, we are still close even if we now juggle multiple circles and think nothing of going to restaurants or bars or public events. It was something of a special bond, spending that time together.

Otherwise, things drifted back to almost normal in relatively short order. Restrictions were lifted in phases. A lot of cafes and restaurants closed a lot of businesses failed, replaced by new ones. I miss some of the lost ones, though - not as often as one would like- the new businesses were equal or better in quality and atmosphere. Prices rise all around, enough to notice but not a big difference. Now the chance of finding a table without a reservation is gone for many places; I resent that bit of forethought that wasn't required in the past but is now. I don't, however, miss the melancholy (or worse) atmosphere, nor having grocery shopping be the highlight of my day sometimes. I don't miss the grim news, following the daily, weekly, monthly stats, seeing streets empty of people, not hearing sounds of pleasure.

And I didn't miss the vax/no-vax dichotomy and insanity from the US or the sad legacy of ignorant people encouraged to do their own research and arrive at their own stupid conclusions. I didn't miss the dirty looks of people who (for whatever reason or fear) wore masks after they were advised that they needn't do.

[Quote]Was it really a lab mistake?

Or just a remarkable coincidence that Wuhan where COVID 19 originated is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)

I remember the roll out of vaccines when they were first available. Websites crashed. People were crying and raging because they couldn’t make an appointment. I remember writing a text to friends explaining how to get through to make a reservation or the best place to try. I can’t remember the details but I hope I saved it. It was an insane time and someday there will be a Smithsonian museum exhibition with homemade masks and everyone’s stories.

[Quote] We have too many ignorant Americans who would refuse to follow any advice or recommendations from medical professionals

California's governor accused of COVID-19 hypocrisy after restaurant dinner with large group Gov. Gavin

Newsom apologized for 'bad mistake,' but may have lied when claiming meal was outdoors

R62, my sister and I were checking websites daily. We both lucked up on appointments on Good Friday at our respective Walgreen's. We felt like we'd hit the lottery!

[quote] I remember the roll out of vaccines when they were first available. Websites crashed. People were crying and raging because they couldn’t make an appointment. I remember writing a text to friends explaining how to get through to make a reservation or the best place to try.

That happened in badly run areas of the country. I experienced no issues in my county getting an appointment when it was my group’s turn to get it. We had plenty of all the options, so we could easily choose whichever one we preferred.

[quote] the cheese slid off many a cracker.

Never heard that one before. Love it. Thanks, R51

The plague made me realize I’m not nearly as fucked up as I thought and most people suck.

I kept a diary of sorts about everything that was going on, it’s interesting to reread it.

I tried to keep my daily routine of walking the dog, then going to work, although my workplace was closed and we eventually all transitioned to work from home after a month of management dicking around.

A friend in Florida posted a plea for homemade masks for her hospital, so I got to work. I do a lot of sewing, so I was able to make and send about 60 masks in the first shipment and another 40 two days later.

I also made masks for everyone in the neighborhood and the mailman, Amazon driver and the trash collector. I figured if everyone was being so vile, I might be able to counter some if it by being decent

I still have a few that I made for myself and wear them to mow the lawn (the pollen is hell on my allergies, and is too large to fit through a cotton mask).

It was the one time I felt like all of my weird skills and hobbies came in handy and I could contribute something to make a few lives better.

The only change I see in myself is not wanting to be in big social gatherings anymore.

While other parts of the city are bustling, San Francisco's Financial District (including Union Sq.) is still largely a ghost town. Employees are still largely WFH, and the tourists and conventions are only slowly coming back. So many stores, big and small, and restaurants and small businesses in that area are just gone. I don't see any way to fix it, and neither does the city government.

[Quote] So many stores, big and small, and restaurants and small businesses in that area are just gone. I don't see any way to fix it, and neither does the city government.

don't blame it all on COVID

They could try getting rid of the junkies and the homeless and arrest those who rob stores.

The lockdown and ensuing solitude probably kept us from noticing the signs my husband was beginning his decline into dementia—without opportunity for social interaction, we just muddled along (our cats our main company). In 3022, he was finally diagnosed with MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and three years later is in mid-stage Alzheimer’s. We both have had COVID twice and a doctor told me COVID is especially hard on people in a stage of dementia. I doubt we could have “prevented “ the dementia, but perhaps without COVID we could have slowed it down more than we have.

It really is crazy to look back. It was so unprecedented and I had never experienced that sort of general upheaval. I think we should all give ourselves a pat on the back, collectively, for getting through it - even in light of the fact that it caused a lot of discord and division.

I just remember how "dark" and deeply uncertain it was. It's like the whole world shut down (well, it sort of did). I was sent home from work for five months (I had never worked remotely in my life), everything closed super early, I didn't see my friends that much, I couldn't go see my parents because they're old and my mom was so worried about me bringing something to them via the plane. And where I live, it was a very cold and rainy spring when it all started - just to add to the "darkness" and malaise of the whole ordeal.

Good riddance.

We should all write down our remembrances, because it was a unique experience, much as the Spanish flu must have been in 1918. I knew it was coming. My brother is married to a Taiwanese woman who belongs to a Chinese church, and he was sharing videos with me sent by the Chinese parents of one of the congregation in January 2020 of people in Wuhan just sitting down and dying in the streets. How naive we all are in this age of easy international travel to think it wouldn't spread like wildfire.

I was reeling from a number of work events and life events anyway. I'd had a house fire in mid-February 2020 and was also caregiving for my disabled mom, so the end of February was devoted to transitioning her to an assisted living facility. I was living in the basement apartment of one of my brothers. I was involved in a symphony performance situation that was very stressful, had gone out of town to adjudicate in early March, came home with what may well have been COVID and then we started to get word that things were shutting down all over.

My university was in spring break, and suddenly we received an email that said we had to click a link on our computers for a mandatory meeting. (It was the first-ever zoom meeting for the vast majority of us). Our department chair explained how we were supposed to contact our students to invite them via this platform, and that was that. I borrowed a digital keyboard to set up in the basement apartment and for the next 7 weeks, there I was. But I was lucky for those first two months because I was living with my brother and his wife, so at least I wasn't totally alone.

At the end of May, I moved into a rental house I owned (having given my tenants 3 months to try to find a place to live, which they were able to do). I had to buy many furnishings off of craigslist, because most stores were closed. I bought some furniture from an used items dealer who moved his stock to a storage unit and would meet people there after dark! By June I was truly alone in my new place. But by the end of the summer, I had figured out a way to teach private students in person in my home, by admitting people through a pin-pad into my garage and having a very strict hand-washing and face-masking protocol, and piano disinfection, with lots of fans running.. My music studio is on a different level than the rest of my house, so no outsiders were ever in my living space. The university switched to a hybrid mode in the fall of 2020, so half of my university students I saw in person, and the other half online. After vaccinations became available, students were required to get vaccinated and return to school. My recollection is that things didn't begin to return to "normal" until the spring of 2022.

For those worried (with reason) for brain fog related to long COVID, this is a very interesting article. At least they might be able to get some targeted treatments eventually, based upon this research.

I never got it even though I was out and about in NYC during the worst of it (essential employee - fuck that it means nothing now.). Anyway I was vaxed 6 times and done with that. So many of my colleagues and friends got it over and over even though they had several vaxes. Just this morning a close coworker called in sick with COVID, she's been vaxed to the max. I don't know what to say about it anymore.....

Two friends died before there was a vaccine. One was an elderly lady, black, who had preexisting conditions. The other was a friend about 40 with a husband and kids; she was overweight but healthy otherwise. She collapsed in the shower and died on the way to the hospital.

As someone mentioned above, it really curtailed the hours of many businesses. When I travel, I notice that hotels never restored their previous housekeeping, and many hotel restaurants haven't really come back from offering the bare minimum.

I was talking to a neighbor about Covid last week.

His take on it? “Covid broke a lot of people. People I thought had it all together just crumpled and never recovered”.

It was such a surreal experience that happened so quickly. I remember the first few times waiting outside of stores for my turn to enter as others left and my reaction to that, including the social distancing marking on the sidewalks. And early on traveling out of States was not being permitted. I live in CT and Maine. I remember traveling back to Maine after dark and taking back roads getting to get to my house to minimize "getting caught". I have a vehicle registered in Maine that I would use once I landed there but had to first get there with my CT plates. I suppose I was fortunate that I was an essential worker so going to the office every day me kept me somewhat grounded, but even that was radically different as I was mostly alone with everyone else remote. It became a life that I didn't recognize. I think my partner was the only person I saw consistently for months.

R67, you are a kind, warmhearted person who gives me hope for humanity. Thank you! When things got rough, you proved your mettle.

I was among the first in my area to get COVID, in late January, 2020, courtesy of my gym, which had a wide and well-traveled clientele (some were wider than others). Between my illness (Long COVID!) and the gym shutting down for the duration, that gym visit ended my 26 year uninterrupted stretch of 3x/wk gym-going.

[Quote] The lockdown and ensuing solitude probably kept us from noticing the signs my husband was beginning his decline into dementia—without opportunity for social interaction, we just muddled along (our cats our main company).

Sounds like you and your husband had very little interaction with other people; so how did both of you get Covid?

I’m a professor at a university and we had run a “stress test” of online instruction the first week of December, which is odd timing as it was the last week of classes that semester. After finals, I went to Hawaii. My family flew from Honolulu to LAX on Dec 26, 2019, and I saw three people being unloaded from a JAL plane at the gate next to ours into ambulances. I thought that it was odd that there were three people on one flight that needed emergency services upon landing.

We got an alert during Week 1 of Spring 2020 to try to accommodate dozens of international students from China, who alerted the university that they would not be coming back until Week 2. We had two more stress tests in January so I knew something was up. By then the news was reporting about a new virus affecting China and it was spreading. Soon enough, there were cases in Seattle and New York.

The week before Spring Break was taught online, though we were still in our offices. College basketball tournaments were that week and a bunch of my students were already in Vegas when that Wednesday, the tournament was canceled. Spring Break was extended a week, but by then it was clear that we would be online only for the rest of the term. They locked all buildings on campus and you needed to get permission from Risk Management to enter any campus facilities. I was my building’s emergency team leader, so my ID was already programmed to tap in. I went in two days a week for the rest got the semester. We were online 2020-21 and by Fall 2021, we had to teach in person but also online for students who couldn’t move back to campus.

Then the spit tests came out. Students had to be tested every three days; faculty and staff every week. If you were out of compliance, your ID would not let you scan onto campus. We got daily emails from the VP of Medical Affairs with the number of positive cases that day. If a positive case was a student in one of your classes, you got an email to get tested immediately.

Five plus years on, I still recall the absolute uncertainty of early 2020. The total collapse of food supply chains due to hoarding (no meat, no eggs, no rice, no pasta, no milk) but the freeways were free of traffic and the air pollution was gone. I spent hours every day watching streaming services and doomscrolling news sites and Twitter.

Spending months cooped up at home contributed to my divorce; we had very different views on the path forward together; we separated in 2022. Today, I’m happier than I was six years ago, so it wasn’t all bad. To my knowledge, I’ve never contracted COVID. I’ve had six vaccinations to date. That said, I forgot how to have a common cold. I caught one two winters ago and thought I would die. I took COVID tests every day for a week, always negative, even though I didn’t have any of the classical symptoms.

Prior to COVID, I never took off work when I didn’t feel well. Now, I stay home at the first sign of a cold. All of my office’s services are online now, I have moved to 100% administration so my days in the office are processing online requests, answering emails and watching streaming movies between emails. 😂