What has changed since 'The Day That Everything Changed' five years ago today?

On 3/11/20, the COVID-19 pandemic crash landed on us

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Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

Did anything really change after The Day That Everything Changed?

On the second anniversary of March 11, 2020, what I and many others had come to refer to as “The Day that Everything Changed,” I wrote that the experience was frightening but novel — kind of exhilarating in the way that, say, paralyzing blizzards are exhilarating. This was especially true since it seemed like the isolating, distancing and keeping our hands off our faces would last only a few months before the danger passed.

We followed the rules, took care not to waste toilet paper, learned about Zoom and, those of us who could, began working almost exclusively from home. We celebrated front-line workers and rolled our eyes at President Donald Trump’s fatuous, feckless cheerleading and denialism.

But the novelty wore off along with our optimism as the domestic and international death tolls mounted. The new normal turned somewhat soul-crushing, even for those of us who avoided the virus in that first wave and weren’t close to anyone who’d died.

COVID-19 disrupted or cancelled most of our rituals. As the months wore on, it drove an ugly wedge into our society, widening a cultural divide between conservatives — those who resisted public-health measures in the name of personal freedom — and liberals — those who embraced those same measures in the name of collective action for the common good.

Any hope that Americans would come together and set aside petty political differences to battle a common, outside enemy evaporated. This was a disappointment but should have come as no surprise to anyone who’d been following the debate over climate change.

The irony is that patriotism, a value that conservatives insist they hold dear, is about a love of country that exceeds a love of self. But when public health officials asked them to wear masks or get vaccinated to protect their neighbors and co-workers, their putative patriotism vanished in an indignant explosion of skepticism and insistence on rights over responsibilities.

In May, 2023, the World Health Organization joined President Joe Biden in declaring the pandemic was over.

We are mostly back to normal now. Immunocompromised and hyper-cautious people still wear masks in public and working at least part of the week from home has become normalized among white collar employees. Long COVID remains a concern and so far unsolved problem, and the virus is still killing more than 100 people a month in Illinois. When I tested positive for the disease several months ago — for the second time — my physician advised me to treat it as I would a common cold, which I did. My symptoms subsided more quickly than my usual cold symptoms.

The idea has faded that the old, odd, unsanitary custom of shaking hands would permanently go by the wayside and be replaced by fistbumps or polite nods of the head.

The speedy development of a very effective vaccine was a scientific triumph that, somehow, increased skepticism about science and vaccines in some quarters, which I find alarming given the inevitability of other pandemics in the future. The frenzy of the vaccine skeptics and the non-maskers solidified my despair that the population will ever come together to address global climate change.

No one close to me was among the 1.2 million Americans who succumbed to COVID-19, so my additional despair and dread about the future are the main lingering effects.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Mr. Johnson goes to Washington

C. Pittman -- I watched the entire U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing last week with the sanctuary city mayors, and I agree with your take on it. Besides noting how much sharper and more natural Boston's Michelle Wu and Denver's Mike Johnston were, I couldn't help but notice how our insecure mayor had to constantly say "under my leadership". While Wu defended Boston and Johnston would say "we," Johnson kept puffing himself up as the savior of Chicago.

That said, while there is a real discussion to be had about local governments circumventing federal laws, the testimony of David Bier, director of immigration studies at The Cato Institute, was actually the most informative part of the hearing. And the absolute hatefulness and grandstanding on the part of many of the Republicans made all the mayors look good!

Zorn — I agree that the particular passions excited by this issue have obscured the fundamental question of when and how local officials should be able to defy federal laws. How might those of us on the left feel — heck, how will we feel — when local governments are defying federal laws that we agree with to achieve ends that we find objectionable?

Medicare for all veterans

Marc Martinez — While it’s true that simply slashing jobs at the Veterans Administration will cause significant damage and disruption and is no way to increase government efficiency, my issue is that the VA itself offers a poor way to provide standard health services to vets. A free or subsidized healthcare plan would be more efficient. My dad and uncle both had to travel long distances to VA facilities for care that was readily available in local health care facilities, and it took a long time to get appointments. It makes sense to me that the VA is a good way to address unique, specific service-related needs in both care and research. But geriatric services and long-term care might be better delivered elsewhere.

Michael Gorman — Free healthcare for veterans would be socialized medicine, no? Probably why I am in favor of it.

Trump’s speech

David Leitschuh — Perhaps unsurprisingly, you made scant reference in last Thursday’s issue to Trump's address to Congress and the idiocy displayed by many Democrats in attempting to register their opposition to the president.

Despite House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries admonishing the Democrats caucus in advance to avoid props and maintain decorum to avoid becoming the story, congressional Democrats became their own parody of juvenile resistance to Trump with paddle signs Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania correctly derided this display as 'A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance."

Democrats refused to stand with everyone else to honor:

First Lady Melania Trump

A 13-year-old pediatric cancer survivor

An American returned from 3 1/2 years of unjust Russian imprisonment

The widow of a New York City police officer murdered in the line of duty

The widow and daughters of the man killed at the Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally

Two mothers of murdered daughters

A young man who was informed that he was accepted to West Point

Democrats would be much better advised to debate Trump's policies with reason and alternatives instead of acting children throwing a tantrum. Their actions certainly gave the appearance to most reasonable-minded people that the Democrats have no viable alternative plans.

A reputable poll recently showed strong support for much of Trump’s agenda:

81% support deporting criminal illegal immigrants.

76% favor a comprehensive effort to eliminate fraud and waste in government.

76% support strengthening border security and enforcing stricter immigration policies.

69% believe men should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

68% agree that the government should recognize only two genders.

65% support ending race-based hiring in government.

63% advocate for freezing and reassessing all foreign aid expenditures.

61% back reciprocal tariffs on international trade.

60% favor direct negotiations between the U.S. and Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

59% support reducing government spending previously approved by Congress.

57% endorse lifting the ban on new offshore drilling.

But my fond hope is that Democrats continue to embarrass and marginalize themselves with this infantile conduct in the coming months. Meanwhile, most observers gave Trump's address high marks.

Zorn — I offered several references to the Democrats’ lame response — see Quotables — but it’s no surprise to me that the speech got high approval rating in the snap polling, as pretty lies often do go over well. The lies about Social Security were especially troubling given that it has been widely reported how false they are. Yet Trump left them in his speech. You and other Trump fans seem willing to consume huge helpings of bullshit in order to deport criminal aliens and further marginalize trans people. What else do you think you’re going to get out of Trump? Lower prices? A booming stock market? How’s that working out?

As for that poll, I’m not surprised by any of those results but I’d like to see the questions based on what Team Trump is actually doing — deporting otherwise law-abiding residents, cutting budgets indiscriminately, imperiling lives overseas with immediate cuts to certain foreign aid programs, screwing up the environment so we can be even more energy independent than we already are and imposing tariffs that are almost certainly going to result in an inflationary trade war.

That said, I cringed as hard as anyone at the feckless response of Democrats not only in the chamber that night but in the days before and after the speech. They should have at least offered polite applause to the human props in the audience even though it’s deeply cynical to offensive to exploit a kid’s cancer while you’re cutting funding to research into curing childhood cancers.

Steve T. — Spare us the pearl-clutching over decorum in the chamber. This administration’s policies endanger millions of innocent people who are relying on their govt. to fund studies of disease, climate, health care, the elderly, and veterans. After hearing endless commentary about how Trump voters don’t care for his behavior but they like his ideas, I’d think you’d understand why the strange pomp of a President’s address means nothing when the actions of the President and his craven billionaire appointees and hangers-on rifle through our public goods.

Laurence E Siegel —No matter how much inflation increases and good people lose jobs, Trump took the dangerous step of defending our southern border from poor people escaping death and poverty in their home countries. So now the immigrants can die in their home countries and we can get pushed into poverty here.

Orwell was right!

Mark K. — Your use of the term “newspeak”to refer to President Donald Trump’s insistence that The Associated Press use “the Gulf of America” instead of “the Gulf of Mexico” was a fitting allusion to George Orwell’s 1949 novel, “1984.”

I'm currently reading the graphic novel adaptation and it's astonishing how much of it is painfully relevant and prescient. Doublethink, the internalization of hypocrisy, the erasure of facts and history, the general mood of the country descending into aggressively yelling slogans, the vilification of knowledge and science and so much more.

I first read the novel in high school but reading it now is blowing me away, not to mention depressing the heck out of me.

Rick Weiland — Seems to me that simply saying “the Gulf Coast” and referring to the body of water as “the Gulf” would be fine.

Zorn — Yes, and I expect that I’ve made that sort of reference myself, though now I’ll make an extra special effort to say “the Gulf of Mexico.”

Unpopular opinions?

Seeing red about the wearing of the green

Reader L. Meyer writes:

My opinion, which is sure to be unpopular among your Chicago readers, is that St. Patrick’s Day sucks. First, it’s out of scale because it celebrates those of Irish descent with far greater fuss and enthusiasm than is allocated for those of us of other national origins. Second, the related festivities encourage reckless drinking and perpetuate an unfortunate stereotype of Irish Americans.

For some perspective, yes, according to the Census Bureau, 7% of Chicago’s population claimed Irish or Scotch-Irish ancestry, compared to 7.3% claiming Polish ancestry and 6.5% German ancestry — populations smaller than those who claim Hispanic, Asian or African ancestry.

Nationally, 9.5% of the population claims Irish ancestry compared to 12.7% German, 4.8% Italian and 2.5% Polish. And yes, there are observances of Polish, German and Italian Pride (quick, can you tell me what the month of the Steuben Parade honoring German heritage?*) but St. Patrick’s Day dwarfs them all.

But it’s mostly all good fun, right? And if you’re among the lucky people who look good in green ….

*September

Last week’s result

452 votes

Peter Zackrison — Parades and entertainment value? You miss the main point, it is suppose to be participatory, not “entertain me”.

You cheer for the flag, you cheer when family members pass by and can boo or cheer as politicians roll by.

It has been a while, but the Mardi Gras parades I went to involved cheering “Krewes” and catching beads and coins etc. You were part of the experience.

We need more people to people contact in our society, we need parades to be a celebration of things we all share.

Well, yes, the more time I’ve spent in New Orleans these past two weeks, the more into parades I’ve gotten. Caught more beads (and cups and toy footballs) than I know what to do with, and I didn’t even have to lift my shirt.

This occasional Tuesday feature is intended to highlight opinions that are defensible but may well be unpopular. If you have one to add, leave it in comments or send me an email, but be sure to offer at least a paragraph in defense of your view.

NewsWheel

Inspired by the WordWheel puzzle in the Monday-Friday Chicago Tribune and other papers, this puzzle asks you to identify the missing letter that will make a word or words — possibly proper noun; reading either clockwise or counterclockwise — related to a story in the news. The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

I’ll be conducting a few reader surveys in the coming weeks to guide my editing choices. Here’s one:

The week’s best visual jokes

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Quip of the Week poll!

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Info

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Contact

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Answer to the NewsWheel puzzle

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