Retour à la normale ?
And crucially, we haven’t all weathered the same storm. Certain communities have been forced to shoulder the worst effects of the pandemic: people of color and those in poorer areas have suffered the most. And for many, a forced return to normalcy means returning with a disabling, life-shrinking condition: It’s estimated that 1.3 million people in the UK are living with long Covid, a term to describe a case of Covid that stretches on for weeks or months, with symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
For some, there is no return to normal. For Nick York, the loosening of restrictions for others means tighter restrictions in his own life. York, who is in his late fifties and lives in the Midlands in England, has been living with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, a cancer of the immune system, for over a decade. His condition means his body doesn’t mount a response to vaccines; it struggles to defend itself against any pathogen. For York and other immunocompromised people, a government’s declaration that society will “live with Covid” means it will be living without them. The dropping of masking requirements means he is largely confined to his home. He can’t go into shops. He can’t travel. He has spent the past two Christmases alone. He struggles to see his own daughter. “It’s essentially removed a swathe of society,” he says of the easing of restrictions.
York describes himself as pretty resilient, but he says he feels forgotten—by his own local community and by the government. “The feeling of isolation, the mental health side of that, it’s hard to manage,” he says.
One of the consequences of the government lifting restrictions is that the onus to take health precautions will fall from the collective to the individual. “As we move to thinking about Covid as an endemic risk instead of a pandemic, it comes along with this shift from a public health approach of ‘What can we all do to help reduce the systemic impact of this event?’ to this being one of all the risks that we’re trying to reduce for ourselves,” says Downs. “And it’s going to take a while for people to reorient and make their own decisions.”
Politicians Say It’s Time to Live With Covid. Are You Ready?
As countries declare endemicity and drop restrictions, how does a battered and bruised society embrace a sudden return to normality?
▻https://www.wired.com/story/living-with-covid-new-normal
