Five years after Virginia's first COVID case: What's changed and what hasn't
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It's been five years since Virginia declared its first COVID-19 case and made us all sadder, weirder and more reclusive.
Why it matters: The weirdness has stuck around even as most Americans have moved on.
For Virginians who lost their friends, brothers, sisters, parents and soulmates, there's a grief that lingers.
- Students haven't bounced back from the learning losses that at one point put a national spotlight on Richmond.
- Day care costs made some parents quit their jobs, we're paying $5 for a carton of eggs and now you need nearly half a million dollars to buy a home.
- Some restaurants we love don't exist anymore. Others are still struggling to survive.
Zoom in: We'll likely never look at toilet paper — or someone dry coughing — the same way again, either.
- And remember when we cut our own hair?
Yes, but: Good things came of the chaos, too.
- Many of us became amateur bread bakers — and a few have persisted.
- People were fully convinced a walk outside would cure everything — and they're still believers.
- We met and helped out our neighbors — and the patio hang is still a thing.
Plus, we can take margaritas (and any other cocktails) to go — permanently as of last year.
- And it's not weird to work from home in your pajamas or see people wearing masks when they're sick.
What we wish would come back:
- Six foot distancing in grocery stores. We do not need to be getting so well-acquainted in the Lombardy Kroger check out line.
- I-95 and I-66 not being parking lots.
What stayed and people kinda hate:
- QR codes replacing physical restaurant menus.
- Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
📢 This isn't an exhaustive list, so tell us what we missed.
- What do you do differently now that you didn't do pre-March 2020, and are you glad it's stuck?
- Reach out to [email protected] with your responses.
Axios' Karri Peifer contributed.