It's been over a year since the Covid-19 Pandemic shut down the world. It has been a WEIRD last year. Masks, schools being closed or happening over zoom, people working from home, movie theaters and other public places closed, hand sanitizer for days, toilet paper and clorox wipe shortages, close contact quarantines, people filled with fear and panic. I don't want to downplay the seriousness of what this pandemic has caused. Many people have died and lives have been changed forever because of it. Jobs have been lost. It's been a challenging and difficult time.
Over the last few months things have finally started to look more normal. After doing the first half the year school year bouncing between hybrid learning, online learning, and in-person learning, our kids finally went back to in-person school full time for the last few months. It has been great! The kids haven't particularly loved that they have to wear masks all the time but they've managed. Three safe and effective covid vaccines were approved in record time and been distributed over the last few months. There are a variety of side-effects people have experienced from these, but they are said to have a 97% effective rate. Jon has been fully vaccinated for a couple months now and has been able to ditch his mask and I just had my second shot about a week and a half ago! (They say it takes until 2 weeks after your second shot for full vaccine effectiveness.)
Church has lifted the mask mandates (though it is still strongly encouraged) so Jon and the kids have gone mask free the last couple of times and I will join them when I hit my full 2 weeks! Last week the CDC announced it was now considered safe for vaccinated people to meet in groups of any size inside or out (this seemed obvious but oh well) and then just this week the governor of Iowa signed a law that the schools can no longer mandate mask wearing and that the cities can't force businesses to require masks. I had 3 very happy kids go to school Thursday with NO MASKS, the first time for the 2020-2021 school year! It was Zach's first time ever going to school without a mask, since this was his first year of school, and he told me, "I can't believe my dream came true!"
So then, is it over? Is the Covid craziness finally coming to an end??
Well.....sort-of, a little bit, maybe, kind-of......
Numbers are definitely going down. Numbers of Covid cases, covid hospitalizations, and covid deaths have all been dropping pretty steadily. The vaccines have proven effective and more and more people are getting them. New laws are opening things up more and pushing more towards normal, but what even is "normal" anymore. Here's the thing: so many people are still afraid to go back to pre- covid "normal". Each time the church or government has made a move to life restrictions, there has been blowback. People don't think it's safe to take off masks yet, people are worried about the kids, what about the people who aren't vaccinated yet- etc., etc. etc. The fear and super low-risk tolerance are crazy! It's almost like people have forgotten that there are other sicknesses out there besides covid, and always have been. Yes, there is still a risk to the kids- a small one- smaller than perhaps many other diseases that we are not taking measure for. Yes it is still possible to get covid after being vaccinated, but it's highly unlikely. It can be so frustrating for Jon and I to try and understand people's reasoning and logic these days.
I texted a friends who I knew had been pretty cautious with covid, but who I also knew was starting to get out a little more, about meeting at a park for our kids to play. She told me that she wasn't allowing her kids to "mix" with any kids who were in school full-time. Another friend wouldn't meet us at a park because there were too many kids there. The risk to kids is very small. The risk of spreading and contracting covid outdoors is very small. And yet, people still can't get over the "what ifs?" After the governor said no more masks in school, some people still chose to have their kids wear masks, and then were upset because since most kids were NOT wearing masks, their kids felt uncomfortable. So they want everyone to be wearing masks again so that the few who still feel they are necessary can feel more comfortable. It's strange.
I'm not sure what the new normal is going to be. I'm not sure how long its going to take the majority of people to feel comfortable again. I am grateful that vaccines are available. I'm grateful that we've been kept healthy. I'm grateful that schools and businesses are open and things seem to be trending towards "normal" again. I guess we will have to continue just taking things one day at a time!
