Two years ago, we launched The Check In, a place to collect your thoughts and feelings about living through a pandemic on our pandemic broadcast In It Together. This week, Tori Bedford checked back in with host Arun Rath about how we’re faring after all this time.
It’s been two years since Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts due to COVID-19.
As we all navigate the same flood in very different boats, one major theme we heard from all of you remained consistent: we are all so, so exhausted. Some of you have tried to cut back on work, many are struggling to “do basic life things” after two years of constant change.
One thing we don’t miss? FOMO. “Thinking that I'm home alone and everybody else is off doing something fun and exciting,” Susan from Salem says. “In the pandemic, at least I'm lonely and I know everybody else is lonely, too.”
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We talked about systems that have fallen apart around us — and how we rebuild now as the world attempts to “go back to normal” under circumstances that continue to be anything but.
Eric from Rhode Island says his daughter got to go to school without a mask for the first time, and she celebrated that. But with two kids at home and two parents working full-time, childcare continues to be an issue as people are now expected to go to work as if nothing has changed.
“It just kind of beats you over the head with this idea that our country does not care about your problems as a parent,” Eric says. “Despite America being a place where they really want you to work a lot and work hard, despite all that, every signal I've gotten basically says find a way to have one parent stay home if you can.”
Brandon from Allston says that means we're now faced with an opportunity to change those systems.
“Now we're two years on, and the world keeps going,” he says. “We need to keep pushing for more equity ... and create a better world than we had two years ago. We have the opportunity to fight for the society we want.”
