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 | | Daily reported coronavirus cases in the United States, seven-day average.The New York Times |
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Your 50-word pandemic stories |
The Omicron variant, which is now dominant in the United States and spreading faster than any variant yet, has already pushed daily coronavirus case counts higher than the peak of the recent Delta wave. By most estimates, the country is in for a significant winter surge. |
Families are struggling to find tests before they meet or travel, and booster shots are in high demand. It's not looking great. But if you've been reading this newsletter regularly, you know most of this already. |
So for our final edition before Christmas, we asked you, our readers, to tell us one pandemic story in just 50 words (ish). |
When I sat down to read them, I cried straight through. It all feels so heavy right now, as another Covid Christmas looms. So, thank you all so much for your candor, your care and sharing intimate glimpses of your family. |
We had our first date at Central Park right before the lockdown in March 2020. He shared his hand sanitizer with me, when there were none left to buy at drugstores. Right there I knew he was the one. We are now engaged to get married in July. — Ashana, New York City |
Married forever but stuck in neutral. And then my husband retired and Covid hit. A disaster in the making became a new lease on life as we approached our 50th anniversary. Love rekindled, a relationship awakened, so happy together. — Terri Stanley, 70, Raleigh, N.C. |
Jatin, my cousin, died alone in April in a Bombay hospital. It was at the peak of the second Covid wave in India. The crematorium demanded 10,000 rupees ($133) to cremate him. "Otherwise cremate on the road," the attendant said. — Mayank Bhatt, 59, Toronto |
As an I.C.U. nurse, I watched a robust, weight-lifting, bike-riding, healthy-eating, unvaccinated man in his early 60s progressively deteriorate from Covid pneumonia. So many patients were dying, but this time I dared to let hope in, thinking, "If anyone can make it, this guy can." He didn't. — Kathy Duffin, 48, Newberg, Ore. |
As Hurricane Ida churned menacingly toward the Louisiana coast and I frantically made plans to evacuate, I was hit with the all-too-familiar grief. It was the first storm since my grandmother passed from Covid-19, and she wasn't going to call to check on me this time. — Ashley Neto-Mannina, 34, Metairie, La. |
The first wave canceled the first version of our wedding. Delta canceled the second version. We got married at the courthouse and turned the old wedding deposits into my dad's 60th birthday party … which got canceled by Omicron. Our rescheduled honeymoon? Oh, it's in a few weeks in South Africa. — Hannah Baker, 29, New York City |
The first minute of the New Year, my husband and I dancing in our tiny apartment with the windows and doors open wide, wild, laughing and sweaty, to Andrew Bird's rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" — ready for whatever was coming next. — Tory, 34, Los Angeles |
Friendship and opportunities |
My family was very locked down before vaccination. We had no idea that our 6-year-old would form the sweetest friendship through our fence with another 6-year-old that we had never met. The most beautiful and needed friendship, in the darkest of times, gave us all hope. — Meggan Fletcher, 44, Mansfield, Texas |
As friends in a small group Bible study, we mourned the departure of two beloved members who moved out of state. But when Covid hit, Zoom brought them back. We could now see them, study with them and pray with them at a time when we'd never needed them more. — Suzanne Wilsey, 72, San Carlos, Calif. |
Having lunch at school one day, my friends and I asked each other if, in the future, we would say, "Remember when we had to wear masks everywhere because of Covid?" or if we would say, "Remember before Covid, when masks weren't a thing?" — Rina, 16, Texas |
Getting to see my new best friend's face for the first time without a mask. We met in class this semester and I'd never seen the bottom of her face. It's kind, just like her eyes. — Kaya, 21, Bethlehem, Pa. |
I'll never forget spotting my mom at arrivals when I landed in the U.S. for the first time in two years. I ditched my suitcase and ran to hug her, sobbing through my mask. After all the canceled trips and Zoom holidays, I could hardly believe we were together again. — Alicia Sanders-Zakre, 26, Geneva |
It's because of the pandemic that my sister contacted me after years of estrangement. She called, upset that one of us could die without us reconciling. We've talked and visited many time since her first call last February. We've put the past behind us and are moving forward with love. — Cathy LaForge Tonkin, 67, Duluth, Minn. |
Flying again. I'm a pilot as a hobby, and stopped my training during the winter surge in 2020. I no longer felt safe being cramped into a cockpit with my instructor. Two weeks after my second shot, I climbed into an airplane and took to the skies once more. — James Grube, 24, Wichita, Kan. |
After two years, I finally went to a live holiday organ recital at the Redford Theater featuring three of the best local Detroit organists. There is nothing like the feeling in your chest when the organist plays the low notes. Sorry, YouTube, it just isn't the same online. — Allen Salyer, 65, Detroit |
June 1, 2020: Two men were using a water machine to blast graffiti from Gilmore Bank. The man with the hose saw me and stopped spraying. The sidewalk was blocked by their machine. "I'll help you," he said, and just like that, the first human being was touching me since the lockdown. — Jennifer Westmoreland, 74, Los Angeles |
My family doesn't believe in vaccines or Covid. In April 2020, my aunt died with coronavirus symptoms in a nursing home. No one wanted to admit the cause. Fast-forward to Thanksgiving 2021. My mom announces: "We really haven't been affected by Covid." I wanted to scream, "What about your sister?" — Bronwen, Chicago |
I knew something was off that morning in January when instead of smelling the coffee brewing that my daughter made, it was the sound of activity in the kitchen that woke me. — Wes Powell, Knoxville, Tenn. |
In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Christine and Ricky tested positive and quarantined in their home. Wanting to cheer them up, we drew a happy face on a roll of toilet paper, stuck it on the neck of a bottle of vodka, rang their doorbell and ran. — Tad Reynales, 72, Solana Beach, Calif. |
Watching my daughter, an I.C.U. nurse, walk out of the house over and over again to go to her 12-hour shift in the Covid unit. Watching her determination turn to despair as the I.C.U. has filled with unvaccinated young people who have died, leaving behind spouses and young children. — Teri Piechocki, 63, Carmel, Ind. |
I walked to Astoria Park every morning, just to get outside. One morning, I saw a couple of ambulances parked inside the park. I walked over to see if anyone was hurt, only to realize that all the ambulances were filled with sleeping E.M.T. workers. — Olivia, 24, Queens |
In February, after feeling sick for a few days, I tested positive and began isolating. I couldn't separate from my baby, so she came with me into lockdown. As I lay exhausted on the couch, my biggest joy was watching her learn to crawl toward me, checking to see that her mama was OK. — Kendra Anderson, Queens |
"My Goldfish taste funny," my 7-year-old son said to me while riding in the car. My stomach felt sick. I knew. "Turn the car around!" I yelled to my husband. My hands shook as I administered the at-home test to my son. Tears streamed as I watched it turn positive. — Katie Mark, 39, Minnetonka, Minn. |
My husband had two-thirds of a lung removed in 2019 due to cancer, so he is high-risk for Covid. I had spent hours online trying to get him a vaccine appointment and finally succeeded on Mar. 2. I burst into tears with relief. Me, a former anti-vaxxer. — Sharon Blick, 61, Eugene, Ore. |
In the parking lot of a Sikh temple, waiting my turn for this triumph of science, medicine and the human spirit — the nurse wheeled her cart over to me, her radio playing quietly. Then the pandemic ended for me, to "Video Killed the Radio Star." — Annie Schnackenberg, 30, Escalon, Calif. |
The baby we yearned for arrived in April. I didn't cry at his birth, I was absolutely awe-struck. The tears fell one month prior when I received my second dose of the Covid vaccine. The firefighter who inoculated me squeezed my shoulder as I sobbed in utter relief. — Tiffany Thompson, 33, Fort Worth, Texas |
Absolutely struggling to decide whether to vaccinate my young children without long-term studies on mRNA vaccines, another mother told me she isn't worried about the virus and her kids getting it. Then, it dawned on me: I will vaccinate because I care if they get it. Problem solved. — Sarah Cooper, 46, Martinez, Calif. |
What else we're following |
- The New Year's Eve party in Times Square will be scaled back to 15,000 masked and vaccinated people, instead of the usual 58,000.
- The health ministry in Israel is weighing whether to approve a fourth vaccine dose.
- AstraZeneca said a booster dose of its vaccine raised antibody levels enough to suggest that it may protect against Omicron.
- China has told spectators at the Winter Olympics in February to clap — but not shout or cheer — in support of athletes.
- Dozens of people aboard a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus after it set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday.
- Older Americans are approaching the holidays with worry, and resolve.
- Testing is a mess: Some people are struggling to get a swab; others just don't want to know. Contracts to purchase the 500 million tests promised by the Biden administration could be signed as soon as next week, but relief could be weeks away.
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- In Minnesota, an ambitious initiative is training hundreds of National Guard members to become certified nursing assistants and relieve burned-out nursing home workers.
- European countries, seeing record case spikes, have imposed tighter restrictions and approved pediatric vaccinations.
- The Supreme Court will hold a special hearing next month to assess the legality of the Biden administration's vaccine mandates.
- The virus is surging in New York City's homeless shelters.
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Let us know how you're dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
| We're off Christmas Eve, but we'll be back in your inboxes on Monday. Enjoy the holiday! |
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