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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

The main effects of the pandemic are a kind of "phantom limb" sensation, the metaphor being, you are used to the mask, and now, when vaccinated, you feel the need/ anxiety for same, even though 1) you are fully vaccinated, and 2) CDC has said masks for fully vaxxed people not necessary when outdoors. A sense of guilt, when living in a high-compliance area, sets in: it's becoming a token of politeness, of humility, of belief that it's not really over. Anxiety has become like shoes-- you simply wouldn't leave the house without putting on. At the same time, there are my "six degrees of separation" connections to people in India, my husband's former co-workers, our neighbors, a friend of mine who is married to an Indian. So so much helplessness and sense of being deliberately lied to by their government.