A Pandemic Perspective from an Insider Reader

Two weeks ago, we requested your retrospective thoughts about the pandemic. Here's another submission.

Why the Pandemic Changed Me Forever

I lost 10 friends to Covid from March 29, 2020 to May 17, 2021. The loss was immeasurable and still is. The eeriness of Zoom funerals; the lack of information about what was occurring; the idiocy of an administration so devoid of feeling as to downplay every minute of the devastation. It was so exasperating knowing that then-President Donald Trump had gotten the most up-to-date treatments to fight his own infection but wasn’t letting members of the public avail themselves of those same treatments. 

Watching the same hypocrisy today and worse is overwhelming and makes me a person who challenges pretty much everyone I meet to question their willingness to make sure to understand what the current administration is doing, to fight back against the cruelty of this regime, and to think of younger generations and their futures and try to ensure that the water they drink and the air they breathe are clean and safe. 

I’m a changed person because of the pandemic–more of a hermit, much more introspective, and obviously, much more political.  I’m also glad to be–a great Andrea Sachs term–a NOVID.  I am saddened to know that I probably won’t be alive when this country finally gets back to where it was just on January 19^th, 2025, but I’ll keep working towards that goal. 

Julie Kraus / Southfield, Mich.