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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Having had the privilege to work remotely teaching first year college students during the pandemic, I had no reason to return to campus. Until last week. My boss finally called for an in-person meeting.The goal was to gear up for the fall semester. Although I was thrilled to see colleagues beyond a Zoom screen, it was a bit strange. But not as strange as entering my campus office. It had been 16 months. The calendar was turned to March, 2020. My memorabilia -- photos from my daughter's wedding, another of my husband and me on a fishing boat, a postcard from the Adirondacks -- were tacked to the bulletin board, untouched. So were the energy bars, packets of tea & a bottle of Advil I stored in a small basket. Untouched. A perfect time capsule. I am certain this is a scene repeated all over the world. People returning to abandoned work places, like explorers discovering ancient Pompeii. The eerie feeling. The disbelief, as in, what just happened here? I bundled up that blustery day in March and headed home with the expectation of a 2-week hiatus. Who knew? How could we ever have known then what awaited us? If we were lucky enough to live through it.
July 17, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I wrote earlier that I had cut off some of my conservative friends early in the 45 Regime. One of them was particularly hard to let go of. At the time, it wasn't so much that person themself, as it was their scary, threatening, racist reactionary other friends who I didn't want learning too much about my other loved ones or me. I had indications over the last few years that, now that all their remaining friends were reactionaries, this friend had become more like them. And I can be cold, here, because even if I were completely alone in the world, I would still draw the line somewhat short of hanging out with Nazi and Klan sympathizers. Last weekend I found out this old ex-friend had died recently after a few weeks of battling COVID. That hit me pretty badly. Like, maybe if I had stayed in their orbit, I could have been that lone voice of reason that might have prevented them from taking risks with this pandemic. Because I found footage on social media once I went hunting for it that, no, this person was not being particularly careful. Normally, I can be pretty cold-blooded and say, "This person was an adult who chose the side that sympathizes with genocidists and disregards sound pandemic science. They did it to themselves. Don't waste energy on feeling bad about this." But right now, I just remember the friend I once had. Work is hard, still overtime and probably will remain so for months. In spite of many more tests run last week, my county's percent positive was at nearly 10%. Last week, because nobody in the few places I must go into is wearing a mask, including children who can't possibly have been vaccinated yet, I started wearing a mask at work again, even though I don't have to since I'm vaccinated. (We still have a lot of other pandemic rules in effect.) There's just too much chance that I could wind up an asymptomatic carrier of one of these more-contagious variants, and masking back up settles that anxiety. I double-mask and disinfect if I have to go anywhere besides work, because people are acting like this thing's over, even though it clearly is not.
July 17, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Right now my life feels pretty much the same as it has for the past year. My children and I are mostly staying at home and when we do see others it is in an outdoor setting. We continue to wear masks if we do need to be indoors shopping or at the library. I am a Covid Long Hauler and so my health (though slowly improving) is not what it was pre-pandemic where I could do anything and not think about it affecting my health. So, our days are spent mostly at home and are fairly slow and easy. We take care of our animals, work on the kid's schoolwork, do some reading, take a rest, perhaps work together in the garden and then prepare a meal together. I like to let the sheep out to roam around and graze after dinner. It's relaxing to watch them graze while I catch up on the news via The NY Times or NPR. I also use this time to see if there is any new breakthroughs with Long Haulers by utilizing Body Politic's Long Covid Group on Slack. By 9 pm the kids are settling in to bed, the sheep are returned to their pasture, the chickens are roosting for the night and I can catch up with my husband, read a little and get ready for bed. I miss my work, which is in full swing right now at a living history museum, but overall, I am appreciative for this time to let my body heal, to rest my mind and enjoy the great life that I have.
July 18, 2021
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Facing aging in the pandemic has been my challenge. It might be easier if there was no pandemic, but there's no way to know that. I just feel sad and lonely this week. And even more sad about the world in climate change and the lack of vaccination among ridiculous Americans who could easily get vaccinated but refuse, and the other people in the world who can't get vaccinated due to lack of access. We are victims of our own stupidity.
July 19, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I am beginning to feel like things are getting back to normal. I went to NYC this week, trains were more crowded, the museums were packed, the library was busy. It feels good. Very few people are wearing masks. People look a lot happier without masks, people can smile again. I am feeling happier.
July 19, 2021
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July 19, 2021
July 19, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I like the word liminal. It's from the Latin word limen, threshold, and it means the ambiguous zone between two states of being. I like the way the word sounds, and I also find it describes situations I often find myself in. The beach is liminal, with tidepools that are sometimes wet, sometimes dry. Fog on the mountain is liminal. Airports are liminal. Some life phases are liminal. Adolescence is liminal. We are experiencing a liminal phase now, with the pandemic receding and our post-pandemic lives forming. Transitions are exciting for some people. I don't always enjoy being in a liminal place. Uncertainties unnerve me. But it's sure not boring.
July 19, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
1. I think the coronavirus pandemic affected me in many ways. During the pandemic, I was working 12-to-16-hour shifts as a 911 dispatcher. There was no staying home and no working from home. We had a lot more domestic violence calls and a lot more suicidal subject calls. It was all the effects of the pandemic. I loved my dispatch job but when the pandemic first started, I became very ill. I can recall getting so physically sick whenever I would get to work or whenever I would leave my house. I did not think much of it. I even went to the doctor asking her what she thought it could be. She decided that it was a sensitivity to food. I asked her if it could be stress related since I was feeling more uneasy about leaving my house and she did not believe it was that. I continued to work but it was hard to focus on work when I felt so sick to my stomach every time I went to work. Shortly after it was my mental health that began to struggle. I was working more 16-hour shifts than ever before. I did not mind the shifts I was working with, but it began to take a toll on me. I felt trapped. I felt like it was something I could not get out of. This was such a dream job for me, and I could not think of leaving but something had to give. I was working more shifts because we had so many female workers off on maternity leave. The co-worker I was covering for went off on maternity leave in May and as the months went by, it did not seem like she would be returning to work. I was hoping people would step up and help with the enormous amount of overtime there was but not too many people wanted to help. From that, it caused me to work so many hours. I knew whenever I would get a text it would be from a shift leader ordering me for overtime. I did not have to even read it anymore. I knew what it would be, and I would just break down and start crying. While this was going on, my best friend who was on my shift, and who was pregnant, tested positive for COVID. I was with her for well over 12 hours face-to-face. I began feeling sick with a dry cough, nasal congestion, chills, and an awful headache. I let my PCP know and she told me I needed to be tested. I let my director know and he got so angry with me that he hung up on me after telling me I needed to tell him when I tested negative. It was my work weekend (Friday through Sunday) and he removed me from the schedule. I did not ask for that. I just wanted him to know what was going on. When I finally tested negative, he ordered me to come in for my shift and to cover the overtime. I was still very sick and had just been in contact with someone who was positive, but I guess no quarantining for dispatchers.
July 19, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
We were able to be at our new home which is close by our family. Seeing them is wonderful!
July 20, 2021
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Have any government policies had a direct impact on your life lately? If so, talk about the policy that’s affected you most and the impact it’s had.
I am glad to see the funds being distributed to non-rich families with children, even though it doesn't impact me personally. I guess the government action that impacted me personally the most was the actual distribution of the vaccine to the states, because the Former Guy hadn't really put much in place for that part. The current Administration fixed that. And I got vaccinated months before I expected to. I may be worried right now about the rising case numbers, percent positives, hospitalizations, and variants. I may be anxious that being vaccinated raises my chance of being an asymptomatic carrier of one of those variants. But at some point, I was going to get exposed - this virus is just out there, and I have to be with people from nearly a hundred other households in a big building on a near-daily basis if I want to earn a living. At least now I'm not defenseless. I may not ever even know I got exposed to it.
July 20, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Another death in my extended family due to covid
July 20, 2021
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Think about the people closest to you. Tell us about how the coronavirus has affected them, and their life.
This week I wanted to relax and watch the sunset from the window. Sometimes I stress over my youth days not being as exiting and fun as my parents once did.
July 20, 2021
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¿De que manera el coronavirus le está afectando su vida en este momento? Cuéntenos sus experiencias, sensaciones/emociones, y pensamientos.
Según los noticiarios han incrementado los casos de Covid y Covid-Delta en varios lugares del mundo. Me tiene muy inquieta el hecho de que mis familiares más cercanos vivan en riesgo. El desgaste emocional ha hecho que la gente se cuide menos y no siga las medidas básicas de prevención. La pregunta sigue siendo ¿Cuándo acabará esto?
July 20, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
The coronavirus has been going on in Korea since February 2020. This period is too long. My family and most people around me, including me, hope it ends soon. I am so overwhelmed by the restriction of activity. Coronavirus is a blue virus. My mind is getting depressed. So do the others. At times like this, families and people often need to communicate and solidify.
July 21, 2021
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What do you think was the biggest news event this past week -- either in your community, nationally, or globally? Talk about why it’s a big deal.
The biggest news this week was the climate conditions of drought, wild fires, and floods. I hope we all wake up soon and realize that we need to live in harmony with nature and not greedily deplete all the natural resources and destroy it by lifting sanctions for big companies so they can feel free to pollute. Seeing 2 billionaires fly to the moon this week got me thinking about how much damage they caused by the resources used to accommodate their desires.
July 21, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I am mostly feeling worried and confused about the delta variant.
July 21, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
The virus was not a major factor again this week, similar to last week. Our numbers in the area continue to stay low and are not increasing. Covid-19 is not really a concern to me personally. I have had both shots and feel quite safe in most situations. That being said, I still wear a mask when shopping or when in large groups. Canada will open our borders in a few weeks to American visitors who are fully vaccinated. Based on what is happening in many areas of the US, I worry that the reluctance that so many Americans have to the vaccine and belief that the entire pandemic is a hoax could create more issues for Canada. I'm concerned unvaccinated Americans will attempt to cross the border. This week my focus is still on the wildfires in our province. Right now, the wildfire crisis feels much worse than the height of the pandemic. Fires have the potential to create a much larger disaster than Covid-19 did at its peak. There is not going to be a vaccine for climate change. The fires have been emotionally draining on my family with concerns over loss of life, homes, evacuations, and disruption of our lives. I know the pandemic is the focus of the journal but for me Covid-19 isn't a concern for me. Hopefully, Covid-19 remains off my radar. The wildfires are causing enough stress.
July 21, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
After what feels like a brief reprieve, cases are going up again. I feel bad about taking things away from my child that he's gotten used to, like going to the public pool and going inside the library. I will have to have a talk with my partner about what our threshold is. It's depressing that the door opened a little and now it is closing again.
July 22, 2021
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I feel more burned out after going on vacation than I did before. Now that we're back in town, we're making it a point to get ahold of vaccinated babysitters and do more fun things as a couple. Who knows how long we'll feel safe to do anything? The delta variant is very worrying, and I just can't wait until my son can be vaccinated. We'll never be able to "unclench" completely until that happens. I'm still going to the gym, even though I'm less confident than I was before that it's entirely safe. The benefits of getting out and working up a sweat have just been so great, I don't want to give it up. My employer just announced that we'll need to provide proof of vaccination in order to come in to the office, and I think that's great. The key to getting as many people vaccinated as possible is to make not-doing it harder than doing it. Our numbers are still low, but slowly ticking up. I can't bear the thought that we could have a third wave.
July 23, 2021
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Does this time of the year feel different than it normally does, or different than it should? If so, give some examples of what feels different.
A lot. To be honest, this has been the worst year of my life, even worse than the first year of pandemic. We should be having winter vacation by now, enough time to do something just a little bit different that we don't have time to do on normal days. But everything is still a mess, we had a lot less break time due to the days we had lost by the beginning of the year of quarantine. I just feel exhausted and totally not ready to get back to my daily duties
July 23, 2021