Kerr: What did you do during the Great Pandemic, Grandad?

“What did you do during the great pandemic, Grandad?”  Unlike similar questions asked by grandkids a couple of decades ago about World War II, when it comes to the pandemic, that’s going to be a tough one to answer.  Mostly, because no two people seem to be experiencing it the same way.  Some are coping better than others.  Some have jobs that put them in the front line of the fight against COVID-19, some have lost friends and loved ones to the virus, others have lost their jobs, some are working from home and some are quietly going stir crazy.  However, there is one thing we all have in common.  We all want it to be over.

How are people experiencing this pandemic?  What has changed for them personally, and what, if anything, are they going to do differently when it’s over? 

One woman in Fairfax has felt the crisis on a personal level.  Two very good friends of many years, both older men, but in good health, lost their lives to the coronavirus.  The shock of losing such close friends, in such a short period of time, has hit her hard.

There is one woman who said she is trying to make the best of being at home.  She would much prefer seeing her friends over lunch at a restaurant or meeting with coworkers at the office.  But, since that’s not possible, she said that seeing them on Zoom is better than not seeing them at all. 

A friend from high school, who lives in Falls Church, recently lost his beloved wife.  In his loneliness, he said he is finding solace and comfort in trying to be closer to God.  He says that the peace this has brought him has helped a lot.  

Another story concerns a lady who has stage 4 cancer.  It’s disturbing.  She described this entire pandemic experience as being heavily laced with fear.  She and her doctors manage her disease through regular CT scans, which doctors use to decide on necessary treatment to keep the cancer in check.  Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis has made getting the scans a challenge.  Now, she fears that with her doctors unable to maintain their normal surveillance of the tumors that the cancer, in its insidious way, might be silently getting the edge.  

Not every story is sad. One woman in Woodbridge got a new job working for a public affairs contractor.  She wasn’t expecting it.  But, her skills in the business are extensive, she has a lot of government experience, and that’s what the company needed during the pandemic crisis.  She says she feels almost guilty for doing so well, but she is also glad she is making a contribution.    

Then there is a fear, as one Maryland woman put it, of “getting mundanely sick.”  Which she did. In this case it was an acute infection.  She said her condition was serious.  However, with the focus of our area’s medical system entirely on COVID-19, she had a lot of trouble finding anyone to look at her. Fortunately after searching most of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, she did get seen, and it probably kept her from becoming dangerously ill.

Another woman said she went to Florida to visit relatives, wasn’t able to get a flight back, and so she decided to weather the pandemic with her family.  She is helping out her older relatives by running errands and doing chores for them and hoping she is taking enough precautions to avoid getting sick or spreading the coronavirus.

And proof that reporters can’t stop being reporters, there was a note from a woman who used to work for a newspaper.  She is retired now, but years ago she used to regularly edit my work.  She said she spends a lot of her time fact checking Facebook posts and making sure Facebook knows when something is blatantly wrong.  Good for her.

A number of respondents talked about their priorities from here on out.  It reminded me a little of how my father talked about his plans after World War II.  Life all at once meant a little more than it did before.  Some are going to get more serious about going back to school or training for a skilled job.  A lot of people have enjoyed getting to know their families again.  

What I found was that when asked what they did during the “great pandemic,” or how it changed them, very few people had the same answer.

David Kerr is an adjunct professor of political science at VCU and has worked on Capitol Hill and for various federal agencies for many years.