Monday, July 22, 2024

The Corona Chronicles: Chapter 23 - Whoops

 It's been a long time since I've added a post to this series -- almost as long as it's been since the CDC last reported statistics.


So you can probably guess why I'm posting again after so long a hiatus. 

Four years, four months. Four vaccines/boosters. But it finally caught up to me. Yes... recently I got the faint double line on my Covid test. 

It started out as a fever/body ache thing, progressed to chest congestion/cough, and then seemed to get better... and then got worse... and then better! And then worse. You see where this is going.

I know I was not as careful as I could have been. I should have worn masks more. Used more hand sanitizer. Avoided indoor spaces when I could. But I didn't. I got lazy. 

So that's that. It's going around again. Take care.

* * *

I've been thinking about all the things that have changed, for better or for worse, since the pandemic began. 


Things That Have Gotten Better Since 2020 and Have Stayed (Arguably) Better:

*Some of our schools got air filters.

*Options for legit online education have expanded, allowing kids who aren't thriving in a traditional classroom to try another method.

*Food delivery options have expanded.

*Mobile ordering is now widely available.

*So many new options for streaming content.

*Churches now doing streaming services.

*Credit cards/Paypal/Venmo/Cashapp etc. being accepted in more places.

*Doctors now offering virtual visits.

*You can now pump your own gas in Oregon, should you wish to.


Things That Got Better For a While, Then Went Back to Blahsville:

*People keeping their distance in public.

*Stores limiting the number of people that can be in the space at one time.

*Hand sanitizer stations, or bottles, being available in public spaces (at least after the initial shortage).

*Distance learning. Okay, I'm not on the popular side of this argument. Most people didn't like this, but I did! The ability to MUTE THE CHILDREN, my goodness!

*Virtual work meetings. The number of times this past year when we had an in-face meeting where all they did was tell us something that could've been handled by email... I get grumpy just thinking about it.


Things That Got Really Annoying For a While, But Are Better Now:

*Trying to follow one-way arrows taped to the floor of store aisles. I'm all for not crashing into other customers, but the pieces of tape were NOT doing the trick.

*Libraries being closed.

*Doctor's offices having no chairs in the waiting rooms.

*Having to stay away from all your loved ones.

*Not being able to travel.

*Toilet paper, Lysol, and hand sanitizer shortages.


Things I Thought Would Get Better, But Have Gotten Weirdly Worse:

*The kids I work with, despite having spent one-half to one-third of their lives in a pandemic, don't seem to give a flying fudgesicle about keeping their germs to themselves at school. In the past year I've witnessed biting, spitting, kissing, candy sharing, lip gloss/makeup sharing, and food sharing (one incident in particular sent a kid to the hospital.) The safety pendulum really did a wild swing there.


Things I Miss About the Pre-Pandemic World:

. . .

Okay, maybe the naive, careless bliss some of us lived in to certain degrees.

At one point I would have said "buffets," but I've decided I don't miss them that much after all.