Just overheard a conversation from a teacher on school closings during the pandemic

[haele]

55. COVID PTSD is a real situation we all have in one degree or another.

I have difficulty remembering the first 8 months of COVID. I, Laz, and my older granddaughter actually caught COVID in the US before that cruise ship was quarantined and the Media was made aware there was a pandemic happening.

I especially have problems remembering the early pre-vaccine situation. I know they were there, but my near photographic memory has blanked out a lot that happened, and whenever I try to visually remember what was going on, I feel numb or axious.
Supply chain issues, companies facing bankruptcy, empty store shelves. Dealing with the overwhelming number of serious hospitalizations and fatalities. Families loosing their elders and vulnerable kids. Long Covid impacts to family and co-workers, picking up the slack if one could work from home or was considered "essential".

People freaking out, being stuck at home. Neighbors being unable to pay rent or mortgage because their jobs were no longer there.

The inability to access doctors if one had a chronic condition, especially pain management.
Or get a "non-critical" surgery.

The empty roads.

But what I do remember, when the vaccine came online, was the push to "Back to Normal", and the overwhelming rage a lot of people were expressing when they couldn't just go back to normal.

We all lost a year. Some people lost health, jobs, family members or friends, homes...things that couldn't be gotten back. Game over. 2020 was gone. Welcome to the new Normal.

I'm lucky, I've been able to cope. I can fall back on my education - my understanding of history, and experiences honed by a transiant childhood (family travelling to pursue jobs that would result in a permanent household income) and years in the Navy, where "Normal" changes every couple years as duty stations change.

But there's too many people who lost their damn minds because they just couldn't return to December 2019 and start over.

Haele