Coronavirus first appeared in the USA on January 21, 2020, in Washington State. On April 3rd, 2020, the CDC recommended that people start wearing masks and social distancing. COVID-19 became the shorthand for the disease.

Since 2020, people have been wearing masks to protect themselves from getting sick with COVID-19. On May 19, 2022, masks became optional, except for places with a sign saying so or in any medical building/place. Six in every 10 adults (60%) say that they haven’t fully returned to the activities they did pre-COVID. 42% of people say that they have only returned to some of the activities they did prior to the pandemic. Only around 14% of people have gone fully back to normal.

Even though 68% of the population in the USA are fully vaccinated, 60% of people still think that masks should be mandatory everywhere. On the other hand, 48% of people think that nobody should be wearing masks. More than half of people have worn a mask in the last month. 

Schools were one of the most affected places during COVID. All schools went virtual in March 2020. In the school year 2020-2021, some people were either hybrid (went to school for a couple of hours a week) or just fully virtual. During the school year 2021-2022, schools were back in person, but masks were still mandatory until spring of 2022. Students who got COVID in 2021-2022 school year, went virtual until tested negative or until quarantined for the required time. This school year, everything seems to be going back to normal: nobody is virtual for school and most people at school don’t wear a mask anymore. 

After much deliberation, from my standpoint, no, I don’t think that we are finally back to normal. COVID-19 is still affecting so many people. In my opinion, there is a new “normal” now where people are gonna wear masks and COVID will still be around. So, what do you think? Are we back to normal… or will we ever go back to normal?