Julia Duncan: Pandemic reflections

It’s been four years since the pandemic hit, yet sometimes it still feels like 2020. I was in a store in Greenfield recently where a young woman was shopping with two small children. All three were wearing masks. I think that’s child abuse, but I said nothing because it’s none of my business. In 2021, a masked woman scolded me in a store because my face covering was below my nose (and it felt good!). I told this busybody to mind her own business (and it felt good!).

2020 was the year of lockdowns, mandates, and social distancing. The tin-pot dictators (including our clueless governor, Charlie Baker) had a field day scaring gullible Americans, but they didn’t scare me. I remember President Donald Trump having to stand on stage and listen to that blowhard, Dr. Anthony Fauci, drone on and on day after day. Trump deserved a medal.

It’s perplexing how so many Americans seem to have forgiven Democrats for what they put us through. I blame Democrats for that bleak period when businesses went under and kids were thrown out of schools. Many of us were forced to stay home, which was unnecessary and unhealthy. Walmart was open, yet you weren’t allowed to visit loved ones in nursing homes. How many elderly people died alone in 2020? Sadly, many young people took their lives (“Youth suicide rates increased during the Covid-19 pandemic,” March, 22, 2023, nimh.nih.gov).

Remember 15 days to flatten the curve? It felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I wasn’t terrified of contracting the virus, but I sure got sick of hearing about it. After all, Covid is just another virus.

Julia Duncan

Northfield