On the state of the world – three years later

photo credit: Sincerely Media via Unsplash

Yup, it’s that time again my friends. Do you remember Covid? On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.  A week later, California issued the first statewide stay-at-home order and I transitioned to a full-time work-from-home posture on March, 17.

It’s been three years since the start of the pandemic that nobody really talks about anymore, although it is still very much present in the back of my mind. I still don’t leave the house without a mask in my pocket, I continue to wear masks when I go to the store, and I will not fly without one. I am still wary of places with a lot of people, and I have hand sanitizer in my car and in my purse. I try to keep up this routine that has become second nature in the last three years.

I will admit though that the last six months definitely felt a lot more normal. I have traveled, I have met up with friends, and I have definitely let down my guard a little bit. Of course, it has to do with the fact that I had Covid by now (back in the fall) despite ALL my precautions, and that I am twice vaccinated and boosted. I guess we’re at a point where we truly have to figure out how to live with this virus. I knew the restrictions weren’t going to be kept up forever, and neither did I want them to be.

We still get Covid updates at work and guidelines on how to conduct our work when Covid levels change in our county. I appreciate that there is still some level of concern here.

What still scares me a little bit is that I know people who have gotten infected repeatedly now and we still don’t know what the long-term consequences of these infections are for certain people. I feel like we have arrived at a point where it comes truly down to the “survival of the fittest”, and maybe that is in the end how it’s always going to be with any new illness. It’s just a sad thing to think about because despite vaccinations and treatments available now, it’s not something people can really actively have control over.

How do you feel about Covid these days?
Is it in the rearview mirror for you, or is it still very present in your life?

  1. I wouldn’t say Covid is in the rearview mirror for me, but also I wouldn’t say it is very present in my life. I have let a lot of things go. My sons are both in the public a lot; my older son has a job with the public and my younger son goes to a school of 2500 students. Neither wear a mask anymore, so I feel like if it’s coming for me, it’s coming through them. I wear a mask quite infrequently these days, and mostly my mask-wearing is for consideration of other people, rather than concern for my own self – like, cashiers in grocery stores who are around the public constantly, I will wear a mask for them, if that makes sense. Mostly I just try to live my life calmly and not in a state of anxiety, and mostly I succeed in that. I guess I feel like I’m “endemic” now, just trying to live my life with Covid humming in the background softly.

  2. Well, it’s definitely present in my every day. I hope that someday I won’t think about it daily, but for now I’m still doing a risk assessment for every activity I do. Neither my husband nor I have had it yet and we haven’t been sick in years and we sort of like it that way! However, I also wish that I wasn’t so nervous about doing things where lots of people gather indoors and could go back to the carefree me of February 2020!

  3. I still worry about Covid but usually not in the sense that I worry about getting seriously ill from it. If I didn’t get booster vaccines, I probably would. I trust the vaccines and the data about them and there also seems to be quite some immunity out there from infection. Something must be going on since we’ve had two winter months with cold weather but still very low numbers compared to previous winters. I mostly do what I did before the pandemic, except I might worry a bit when the spread is high – you never know how it’s going to hit you and there’s the risk of long Covid, still too little knowledge and the treatments aren’t available for everyone. But it’s with us and won’t go away, and as I see it you need to balance the risks against your quality of life and mental health.
    That being said, if I were to visit someone really vulnerable, such as my parents, I’ll be very careful and probably isolate before going.

  4. For me, Covid has really become like the flu. I will get my shots when I’m eligible and I will stay home when I’m sick, but otherwise, my life has reverted to what it was like pre-pandemic. I don’t think about it very much. I will, however, be masking on airplanes going forward because that is where I got Covid the one time I *did* get it, so I’m not taking chances anymore!

    1. I think I mostly am curious about upcoming inquiry’s about how covid was handled here as a larger public health issue. When I think of the pandemic I mostly get angry because of the harms with have been done and not talked about. Where I live primary school attendance has dropped to 80% (from 94%) but when separated by affluence only 65% of the poorest children are attending school anymore. I get so sad about this type of thing because I feel like we are now loosing another generation – we protected some but I don’t think we are really acknowledging the costs of it all. But this is probably because I’m in the UK and I think the lived experience was much different in the us.

      I don’t really think about Covid in my daily life anymore but I do prefer to be on trains and busses with windows open!

      1. Oh and I love that I can work mostly from home now! So that’s pandemic plus for me.

  5. Isn’t it a strange combination of the new and the old? For some things, like you said, riding on the bus or train, being in certain crowded areas, some grocery stores etc. I still wear my mask. However, there is definitely a slow letting down of the guard, especially if you compare things to two and a half years ago. I mean, on one hand, I can’t believe that when my brother and I finally met up with my parents for Thanksgiving of 2020, we slept outside and we wore masks and we put our dinner chairs (also outside) six feet apart! On the other hand, I don’t feel strange at all walking around with a mask on in public (do you remember the first uncomfortable feeling of wearing your mask out!?) and in fact sometimes forget to take it off when I get off of BART and am on the streets. I find it strange how things become part of real life when they were so hard to wrap your finger around at one point.

  6. It has become a bit more of background noise. I have started ditching the mask in stores. I even took a train ride without one. The husband still tests every time going to the office. So do I before I go. And when meeting people specially pregnant or sick but other than that I am more relaxed now. Which is a bit surprisingly since I still haven’t had it – and not plan on getting it – and had my last vaccination in Dec. 21. But I have been 4 days at trade fairs and not caught it. I don’t know… it is strange. Not sure how to feel about it…

  7. Covid is more in the background for me these days. I am not throwing caution to the wind but we have mostly returned to ‘normal’ or a new normal. I’m immune compromised so I am mindful of the risks and I still mask on planes. And we always test if one of us is feeling off or has a runny nose.

    It’s kind of hard to believe this all started 3 years ago. It’s been the longest shortest 3 years… a lot has happened for my family since added a kid during the pandemic. It was hard having young kids during the pandemic but overall I think it was less hard than having kids in school, like kindergarten age. I can’t imagine facilitating school for a young child. So overall I feel kind of lucky that my kids won’t remember this time. But if course I will, especially having a high risk pregnancy and dealing with others in my family who felt we were being too cautious… I think that was the hardest part by far for me.

  8. You and I are pretty much exactly the same. I’m not the most careful person but I am more careful than most. I have given up masks at work. The students can’t hear me, and I hate shouting through a mask. Plus, they make my nose run, which… no. I can’t do that for hours, thanks! So I do forego it there. But I no longer take the bus. And I will never, ever fly again without a mask. If I were on a train or subway I’d do the same. Public transportation is a petri dish. :)

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