It is hard to believe that it has been a year since the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. It has also been almost a year since the country began shutting everything down and made masks the new accessory that goes with absolutely nothing.
No, I am not going to be talking about whether to wear a mask or not nor am I going to talk about the politics of COVID, the misinformation, or even about what it has done to the economy. That is all in the past. What I am going to talk about though, is the here and now and what our world looks like going forward.
One of the areas in this country that COVID and COVID precautions have done a number on are our schools. Schools across the country have shut down and gone to mostly online classes and kids have suffered. They have lost true socialization, they have felt confined and many have quit school because, with so many working parents, many high school kids have not had the daily motivation to keep going. Aside from that though, having no school has been hard on the mental health of kids. Kids were not designed to be on lockdown, as they are social beings. Without the social interaction and the ability to have time away from home and family, this causes big emotions in the already hormonal kids that can have side effects such as self-harm and even suicide. We are creating situations that we might not be able to step back from.
In my town last year, we quarantined like everyone else and after spring break, our kids finished the year online. This school year, our school board did their best to stay within the state guidelines and to also give parents a choice of how they felt comfortable with their kids learning. Kids could either do a hybrid schedule, where kids went to school half the day and did online school the other half, or they could do full-time online. Most parents have been satisfied with the choice. Of late, though, with the new state guidelines and things beginning to open up a bit, many hybrid parents have been pressing to fully opening up the schools again. They don't care if the kids have to wear masks and wash their hands 100 times a day, they feel their kids need full-time school, and quite frankly, so do the parents. So, our school district has now offered a new option for the last nine weeks. Kids can go full days or online. The hybrid option is basically no longer on the table. Many parents are jumping at this. Of course, though, there are those parents who are NOT happy with the all-day option as they still feel, it is too soon and the heated "discussions" have begun.
So this brings me to the point of this blog. What is next?
My biggest concern when all of the COVID stuff started was, the fear I saw. Suddenly people became immensely afraid and many would not leave their homes. Those that did could be seen wearing at least one mask everywhere they went and some wore two. Some even wore full-on medical respirators and these people were not satisfied just wearing a mask themselves. They vehemently insisted that EVERYONE wear one too. This caused numerous online and in-person battles and showed the worst sides of people in general. Fear never brings out the best in people and a good percent of the population was scared right down to their skivvies. People were legitimately scared of dying from COVID.
I myself though, was a little put off because of the hypocrisy in the whole mask thing, as many of these terrified people, just a couple of weeks before the mask mandates began, were the same people in stores with hundreds of others, coughing, sneezing and buying up all the toilet paper. The only fear they had at that moment, was that they might not get 25 packages of Charmin. Then, the mandate came about, and suddenly they were too frozen with fear to step out their front door, and definitely not without a mask.
Now here we are all these months later, and there are those who still seem too afraid to even think about letting their kids, back in school or God forbid, going without a mask. So I guess my question is, when will people find it truly safe to get back to normal? What will it take? Will it ever even happen?
Sadly, my guess is that there are those out there permanently scarred by the last year and their fear, now rules them. To walk out into the open without a mask is unthinkable and not unlike many in China, going forward there may be those who never go out without a mask again. It is sad, but that is a choice they are making and if it makes them comfortable, then who am I to say anything?
The problem is, there have always been germs out there and viruses that have the potential to kill indiscriminately. For years, the flu has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and still we ate in crowded restaurants, went to concerts and big events, shopped Black Friday, and gathered in churches and schools, running fevers, coughing on each other, and rubbing our germ-ridden bodies up against each other without nary a thought. We didn't expect others to wear a mask to protect our health, nor did we expect the government, restaurants, stores, or schools to protect our health. This was the world we lived in and going back to normal, likely means going back to some version of this. After this last year though, there are those, that I doubt will ever be able to handle going back to this. Their fear of getting sick will far outweigh their enjoyment of life or a return to normalcy.
For others though, they may have complied with the health mandates when necessary, but every chance they got, they maintained as normal a life as possible. This meant tossing the mask when possible and going out whenever they could, wherever they could. Many of these people also contracted COVID, recovered, and went right back to life. These are the people that have been living for the moment when the mandates are over and they can go to a concert, sing in church and shop Black Friday like it's their job.
Now please don't think that I don't know that COVID is real and in many cases, it has been debilitating and even deadly. It has taken people's health and their lives. But even for those who have not gotten the virus, it has also taken a lot. It has made it so that those in nursing homes have not seen their families and some have died never getting to say goodbye. It has kept families apart and left many who have died, without funerals. It has closed down businesses and left people unemployed. It has left families homeless and allowed the spread of abuse, addiction, and suicide. And for many, COVID has taken security, peace of mind, and the ability to function in a world that 14 months ago had been our norm all of our lives.
So what will our post-pandemic world look like? I can't speak for anyone else, but I know how it will look for me. Before COVID was ever a thing, I wore a mask when I was sick during flu season. I always washed my hands and used good hygiene and I used common sense when I was sick and stayed home. I also tried hard to avoid big crowds during heavy cold and flu times. I imagine that my future looks much the same.
I guess I am different than most. I never feared COVID. I stayed in and quarantined during the times we were trying to "flatten the curve," and I wore a mask out and about, but if others didn't, I never paid much attention. That was their business. I did get COVID, even using precautions and although it wasn't great, I can honestly say I have been much sicker having the flu. Had it, God forbid, killed me though, my family would not have blamed non-mask wearers, the stores I went to nor anyone else. It would simply have been my time and COVID would have been the way.
So I am sure, sooner rather than later, the mandates will slowly fall away and the majority of people will start digging for some small part of the norm they left behind. Others though will fight for their security and be very angry that others aren't doing the same. It will be a sticking point that likely won't soon go away. It will just be part of the mess that COVID leaves behind.
