Featured Refresh
Text & Image
How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
9:00am Tuesday before Thanksgiving: I drove to get a nasal swab PCR test before hosting family, including my nearly 96 year old mother in law for Thanksgiving. The testing site was by appointment only, and still there was a line of cars. But it moved quickly. My husband and twenty-something kids also got tests before we all gathered for the holiday. We all got "negative" results and felt more comfortable in hugging, eating and just plain being together. It was wonderful to have a "normal" Thanksgiving after last year's holiday and all the other missed occasions. (And I've been tuning out the news of a new variant out of S. Africa.... I feel like I just can't deal with this pandemic continuing.....)
December 1, 2021
Text Only
How do you think the pandemic has affected the way people around the world see the U.S.?
Absolutely. I read that many nations and people who use to look up to the U.S., especially in terms of scientific and medical leadership no longer feel that we are worthy of emulation or even respect because we have so screwed up our national response to the pandemic. Yes, we did well in developing the vaccine, but we failed as a nation to protect each other, to act in concert and with respect to stem the spread of the virus. The polarization and fighting over masks and social distancing and now over vaccinations repel people. Our reactions and even policies especially some state policies to the pandemic are a deterrent to people who have choices about going abroad to study or work. We are not their first choice, and we will suffer from this. This trend had begun prior to the pandemic but our behavior in the last 18 months has exacerbated the movement away from the U.S. as a desirable place to live or work.
October 26, 2021