The Pandemic is Exhausting

And there’s no end in sight

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Seven months. That’s how long it has been since the pandemic was declared, and I felt every minute of it.

Seven months of social distancing, mask-wearing, and Google Duo chats instead of visits to family. I was telling someone today, “I just want to eat in a restaurant — indoors — and then go see a new movie in a theater.” It doesn’t sound like a big ask, but I can’t. I’m stuck in my home.

I feel like a kid in the backseat, yelling, “Are we there yet?”

We are not there yet.

In the U.S., we are still in a holding pattern. In March, when I had to pack up to work from home for the first time, I thought that we’d be back in two weeks. Three or four, max. I couldn’t have predicted that I still work some days at home in October. Or that Halloween would be canceled: trick-or-treating is banned in a lot of areas, over concerns about spreading the virus.

I’m now looking at holiday plans, and most of the family agreed that we should not meet to have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner together.

I’m also getting a little sick of masks. I understand the need for masks, and I always wear mine out in public. I haven’t had a cold in 10 months, which I think is a lifetime record, so that’s a benefit. But it can be…