As we (finally!) move on from 2020, I hope it doesn't get lost to history how profoundly this pandemic has affected even those who never got sick. I hope we remember COVID as a catastrophic health crisis and also more than that; that it touched every part of the human experience.
This year, I set out to document how ordinary people’s personal lives, family lives, and work lives changed due to COVID—in ways big and small, temporary and permanent, health-related and not.
Here are some of my favorite stories I wrote about everyday life in the COVID era:
Here are some of my favorite stories I wrote about everyday life in the COVID era:
When professional sports were canceled, so were many stadium and franchise employees’ paychecks. Families that depended on the sports season for income were suddenly empty-handed. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/opinion/coronavirus-baseball-season.html
Weddings had to be canceled, postponed, or dramatically downsized. Couples were devastated, and vendors and venues worried about going out of business. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/05/coronavirus-could-change-weddings-years-come/611716/
Even dog-walkers felt the acute economic impact of COVID: When offices closed, newly homebound workers walked their pets themselves. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/11/06/dog-walker-dc-pandemic/
In hospitals' labor and delivery wards, patients had to deliver their babies alone (or with only one support person) to minimize exposure risk. Some scrapped their plans to give birth in hospitals at all. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/giving-birth-during-coronavirus-pandemic/608320/
When schools went remote, parents and teachers became much more visible to each other during daily instruction; in some cases, relations deteriorated. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/11/12/parent-teacher-relationships-covid/
Medical-school students, suddenly without classes or rotations this spring, formed volunteer babysitting groups. While healthcare workers treated COVID patients, the babysitters watched their kids. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/03/who-is-taking-care-of-hospital-workers-children/608848/
In lockdown, bored, restless exes started texting each other. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/04/why-exes-are-reconnecting-coronavirus-quarantine/610081/
Some couples realized while quarantining together that they wanted to get married. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/12/17/engagements-proposals-pandemic-coronavirus/
Other couples realized while quarantining together that they wanted to split up. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/opinion/coronavirus-relationships-decisions.html
Some couples got pregnant during the first few weeks of lockdown in March, and then welcomed little “coronials” in December. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/12/24/first-pandemic-quarantine-babies/
Meanwhile, domestic violence and child-abuse victims found themselves in a worst-case scenario: trapped at home around the clock with their abusers. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/05/challenge-helping-abuse-victims-during-quarantine/611272/
Friendships broke up because of disagreements in how seriously to take social-distancing protocols. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/04/friends-are-breaking-up-over-social-distancing/610783/
Etiquette changed; not only did hugs and handshakes fall by the wayside, but people began to feel uneasy about the customary greeting "How are you?" https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/04/should-i-still-say-how-are-you-during-a-pandemic/610639/