5 Years After Covid

A magnified look at Covid-19. internet image

While the coronavirus was declared to be a pandemic by this time March 2020, it didn't change my life until a few days later, on March 16 when I went to our east campus as usual, I was told that because of the virus, employees were not going to travel from one campus to the other.

 

A few days later, I wasn't on either campus, I was working from home, using a cell phone with an out-of-state area code to call older adults in the 608.

 

I wasn't the only one at that time who expected that  that everything would blow over in a week, maybe two. If I had a clue at that moment how long the lock down would last, I would have grabbed a second computer screen and supplies before walking out of my office. You can read more about that first week under a Covid cloud here.  

No one at that point expected we would be measuring our lives in pre-Covid and after-Covid terms when we came out on the other side. I worked from home for more than a year. When I did return, it was still a long way from normal as we had to stay six-feet apart and wear masks. Mask-wearing was a fact of life at our senior retirement community for most of a second year. 

In many ways, it wasn't until 2024 that I recognized life at home and work returning to anything close to what I'd call 'normal.'

 

I was never diagnosed with Covid. I took advantage of opportunities to get the vaccine and boosters as they became available. 

 

Covid isn't done; it remains a fact of life and is still a threat. Because of the vaccine and effective treatment options, it doesn't require isolation for as long if you are exposed now. 

 

One side effect for us was that living under the Covid cloud meant we weren't around as many people which prevented the common cold and other annoying illness from doing much damage in the next four years. I don't think I had cold-like symptoms until February 2025.

 

The worst result from Covid was the division that occurred among people. Instead of listening to doctors and scientists, they were groups that chose to scoff because it didn't suit their agenda, exposing people to half-baked 'cures' and endangering people needlessly. There were excesses on the part of local officials at times, and not recognizing the hardship caused when many folks lost the regular human contact that makes life worth living. 

 

Unfortunately, the division continues even as we like to think we're finally living after Covid. I'm not sure if there is a vaccine or potion to get all of us on the same page, even if we disagree. At the beginning of the pandemic, no one thought democracy also might need protection.