Category: Covid-19

I wonder how many people have been happier during these last ten months than they were before the pandemic. Some of my close friends are in that category and that’s made me wonder how many others are in the same condition. Of course, there are millions of people for whom the pandemic has been devastating….

There’s an opinion piece by Timothy Egan in this morning’s New York Times entitled “The Next 3 Months Are Going to Be Pure Hell.” He’s not so much referring to what the winter will be like for people who get sick with or lose loved ones to the coronavirus, or even those suffering economic adversity. He’s talking about the mental and emotional toll of the pandemic on everyone else as a consequence of being prisoners in our own homes, a lack of social contact, and the challenges of juggling full-time childcare and full-time jobs. I’ve made similar observations in this blog a couple of times over the last few months, particularly in a post on July 1. So it was surprising when, as I read Egan’s piece, I realized that I no longer believe that we’re in for a hellish winter. . . .

I was struck by a letter to the editor in yesterday’s New York Times. Reader David Berman wrote that “journalists have done us a tremendous disservice by often failing to clearly distinguish human behavior from virus behavior and who is responsible for what. . . . There will be no ‘dreaded winter virus surge.’ What there will be is a human holiday travel and festivity surge. The behavior of the virus won’t change the slightest bit. It is the human behavior that will be responsible for the tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths.” Reading Mr. Berman’s letter led me to imagine a hypothetical analogy to the coronavirus. . . .

During the warmer months this year, a lot of creativity was applied to getting people together outdoors in ways that satisfied their social needs while keeping everyone safe from Covid-19. Now that it’s getting colder — at least, here in the northeastern U.S. and similar climes — outdoor socializing is becoming less practical. I suspect that will result in much of the creative energy that has been directed at finding ways to meet outdoors being aimed instead at inventing new opportunities to meet virtually. . . .

The news has been full of articles about how the pandemic has likely hastened the demise of movie theaters, the decline of brick-and-mortar retail, and the growth of working from home, but I wonder how many other changes, big and small, will persist once the pandemic is over. . . .

My mother came across the hymn hymn parody below on her church’s Facebook page. It was written by R.G. Huff, an actual composer of hymns. Here’s what he wrote to accompany the sheet of music . . .

I dropped off my car to be serviced yesterday at my local garage. The owner, a friendly old curmudgeon with whom I’ve been doing business for years, wasn’t wearing a mask. His shop is less than half a mile from my house, he does a good job and charges a lot less than dealership service departments do. Bottom line, I was inclined to cut him some slack for not wearing a mask when dealing with customers. His garage is a big, open space and we stood well apart from each other. But then I went to a local jeweler . . .

So, Jennifer and I have scaled back our plans for Thanksgiving. We weren’t going to have a big group. Aside from my mother, we had only invited two other people, friends whom we consider to be part of our “pandemic bubble.” We’re all being careful. But here’s the thing about pandemic bubbles: everyone in your bubble probably has other people inside their bubble. . . .