Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Coronavirus: Updates from readers

Coronavirus: Updates from readers

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May 27, 2022

An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

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The New York Times

By Jonathan Wolfe

The U.S. is averaging about 110,000 new cases each day, a roughly 30 percent increase over the past two weeks.
Despite a resurgent virus, millions of Americans are expected to travel over the holiday weekend.
White House officials said they were introducing new ways to distribute Paxlovid, Pfizer's Covid pill.
Find the latest updates here, and check out our maps and vaccine tracker.

Checking back in

When we first launched this newsletter in March 2020, we asked readers to send us their stories about how they were coping with the virus. Since then, more than 20,000 of you have written in to share your pandemic experiences.

We've published many of those responses in this newsletter, and we have often received notes from other readers telling us about similar experiences, offering help, taking issue with what's written or sending their condolences. Many of you have asked us what happened next — so we endeavored to find out.

Today, we're starting an occasional series where we check back in on some of the readers whose stories have resonated with many of you. (If there's a particular person that you'd like us to follow up with, send us an email to briefing@nytimes.com.)

Danielle Lehtinen at her home in Pennsylvania.Daniel Krieger for The New York Times

Making up, and moving on

In December 2020, we published this note from Danielle Lehtinen, from Scranton, Pa.

My husband of 27 years and I got our final divorce paper a month ago. After traveling for two years in Europe, I was grounded by the pandemic and moved to a rental 20 minutes away from our small Pennsylvania house. Even though the ex and I found that we can't live under the same roof together, we admitted that we're both lonely in this pandemic and started making local fitness dates with each other: soccer, walking, or swimming as a "family bubble" at the Y in one lane. We then decided to enjoy Friday pizza evenings together and Sunday supper at the house. I love to see the cats, use the fireplace, and realized my ex can use a little help running the house. Even though we still annoy each other in the same ways, we found that this strange new situation gave us a way to grow a new friendship. And we no longer feel lonely.

In the past year and a half, "Things have been kind of up and down," Lehtinen, 66, told me in a recent phone conversation. "First of all, we got our vaccinations together."

Before getting vaccinated, Lehtinen saw a public service announcement on television explaining the best way to dress for the occasion — with clothing that allowed easy access to the upper arm.

"So I dressed in a pretty little black dress," she said. Her ex-husband dressed up as well, and they took photos and received compliments from the nurses about how snazzy they looked.

"Getting vaccinated was huge," Lehtinen said. "It made all the difference in our relationship, but not necessarily for the better. Because we were kind of back to normal, we didn't really have to depend on each other so much anymore."

During quarantine, "We were both very lonely," Lehtinen told me. "And under extraordinary circumstances, I think an extraordinary thing happened: We were able to coexist in a peaceful way. But once that danger kind of went away, we both, I think, realized that we're better off separately."

Since then, Lehtinen has been working on her art and renovating her house, and she recently had a small group of fellow artists over to her place for the first time since the pandemic. She still exchanges texts with her ex-husband and they are still friends, she said, but she's also glad she has found her own space.

"I really learned to appreciate solitude, as opposed to calling it loneliness," Lehtinen said. "It was wonderful that we were able to rise to the occasion and befriend each other in spite of all the stuff that happened before. But I also found that, ultimately, I emerged from the pandemic being able to much better exist with myself and face whatever the crises might be."

Resuming a transition

In May of 2021, Lief sent us this note from Philadelphia.

I came out as trans to my parents over the pandemic. It's been like pulling teeth to get medical attention. I have been on several waiting lists to have my first trans health appointment for almost a year. I lost my primary care physician back in October. I know I'm not the only one struggling to have my non-Covid health care needs met. It's difficult for everyone right now. But I feel frustrated. Like becoming myself has been put on hold.

"Back then, I was at the point where I was already starting to socially transition, so my boss and my co-workers knew," Lief, 25, told me this week. "But when you're trans, and you say that you're trans in your pre-transition, you feel like people think you're a crazy person. It's like they get it intellectually, but they don't actually view you that way."

After we ran Lief's story, a number of health care providers reached out to me offering their help, so I passed them on to Lief. One of those providers put him in touch with "a really fantastic gynecologist," Lief said.

"It doesn't matter if you're trans or not, going to a gynecologist is not a fun activity," he said. This doctor, however, was "genuinely one of the most thoughtful doctors that I've ever interacted with," he added. Soon thereafter, Lief went on hormones.

"In terms of my transition, thing are going a lot better," he said. "My voice has dropped. I'm starting to get facial hair. And I'm starting to get to the point where I am starting to pass in certain places, depending on how I dress and how I style myself." He said he might even start dating again soon.

Lief, who does advertising and documentary work for a health care system in New Jersey, has had a unique perspective on how the pandemic has disrupted health care in the U.S.

"In general, I've also learned how messed up our health care system is," he said. "You have to know people. It's helpful to have money. It's helpful to have insurance. And the doctors I've spoken to, some of them are so done. They're so overtaxed. They're so tired and jaded."

Recently, Lief used his health care connections to help a friend get access to a special type of surgery. While he was happy to help, the experience left him frustrated — similar to what he felt when he had to put his transition on pause.

"You shouldn't have to be working on doing the advertising for a health care center to be able to get good health care," he said.

Sadie McGraw with her dog Thea near her home in Boalsburg, Pa.Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

Starting high school in the pandemic

In April 2021, Sadie McGraw, in Boston, sent us this note:

Point of view: You're a teen during 2020-2021. Your school has transformed into a tiny computer screen that only sometimes works. Your grades are as low as they have ever been. You're not exactly depressed, but also you find yourself crying at the smallest things. Your group texts have been silent for so long and you don't even know how your friendships will survive this. You're angry when you see other people hanging out, but also envious of them. You can't sleep at night and can't stay awake during the day. You just feel numb.

"When I wrote that, I had a lot of anxiety," McGraw, 15, told me this week. "A lot of people in power and adults and teachers were just like, 'This is new and unprecedented, and we don't really know what to do.' And that kind of scared me."

In March of last year, McGraw, who was in eight grade at the time, went back to in-person learning, under a hybrid model, which she said felt inconsistent. "I couldn't really get used to either at-home learning or at-school learning," she said. The vibe of hybrid schooling was also strange: In one class of more than 20 students, only 3 were in person.

"All of the media we were consuming was like Covid, Covid, Covid, so among students, we wouldn't talk about it," she said.

Last fall, McGraw began her freshman year of high school, where classes were offered in-person full time — and most of the students returned for in-person learning, she said.

"A lot of people had changed — honestly, like, a lot," she said. "Over quarantine, I feel like people had a lot of time to themselves, so that turned into a lot of self-reflection. They were figuring out their identity and ways to express their identity. So back-to-school this year was a new learning experience, because I had to relearn some of the people that I already knew, as different people."

McGraw said she did a lot of reflection, too, but not always in a constructive way. "Instead of thinking, 'What do I like about myself?' it was more, 'What can I change about myself and what do I not like about myself.' And I know a lot of other people who went through that, and that's taken a lot of work to undo," she said.

Overall, however, things are better now, McGraw said. She has a new friend group and spends more time reading, making art and shooting short videos in which she sometimes employs her friends as actors. "There are a lot less periods of numbness," she said. "I'll still go through mood swings, but I don't know if this is just, like, normal teenageness, or if it's worse because of Covid."

Ultimately, she's glad to be back in school.

"Yeah, I had a lot of anxiety, but I think sometimes you just have to do it scared," she said. "And that's what I did."

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Children and long Covid

In many ways, long Covid is still a mystery. Scientists are working to demystify the condition. But while a great deal of research is focused on adult sufferers, less research has been done on children.

For an upcoming edition of the Coronavirus newsletter, we're exploring long Covid in children — and we could use your help.

We're looking for parents with children who have had long Covid to share their stories. If you'd like to participate, you can fill out this form here.