This week, we asked readers their thoughts on life one year on from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“I just want this [expletive] to be over with, I just want to go back to school. I just want everything to go back to normal. No, I didn’t think it was that serious when this first started. I thought it would [have been] over by now and it hasn’t – that’s how serious it was, and how many people have died.”

Aameenah Islam

West Farms

 

“I just came out of the nursing home, and I was with people who had all types of oxygen machines, even the big, giant ones, and they were dying in there. So, now I’m home, and have 14 different home attendants. I was around the virus, but I didn’t know what it was. Now, the home attendants are keeping me locked in my room.”

Alice Snake

Bedford Park

 

“I lost a lot of people; the virus sucks. Thanks for [President Joe] Biden to get us fixed and better now. I’ve been working from home, which sucks. I haven’t got the vaccine yet, which sucks. I’m not eligible for the vaccine yet; that sucks. I’m just making sure that everyone I love is being safe and careful.”

Kevin Jones

Jerome Park

 

“One year later, I feel a little better because we now have a plan going forward. We have the vaccine going forward and now, we’re trying to target certain communities so that families can go back to work and we can get back to some normalcy. There’s some hope now, some light at the end of the tunnel that we can get back to where we were before. But now, we have to be more open and educated and wise about our environment. How many people died – 500,000-plus people? If that doesn’t make you more aware of what can continue to happen on a daily basis, then I don’t know what else can be done. Life hasn’t changed forever, but one of the things I’ve missed are fans in a stadium for sports, because it makes it a lot more exciting. When no one in there, it can get really boring. I also miss going out to eat and dining with my wife.”

Jason Holloman

Norwood

 

“I’m a special education teacher and I was hospitalized in April 2020 with COVID, pneumonia and developed sepsis. I was hospitalized again in September, in the ICU. COVID had filled my lungs with blood clots. I required emergency surgery. They removed six clots; the largest was over two inches and was blocking my pulmonary artery. I haven’t been back to work since. I spent three days in the hospital again last week. My mild-to-moderate asthma is now moderate-to-severe. I have since been diagnosed with COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] and emphysema [a lung condition that causes shortness of breath]. I finally got approved for in-home, skilled nursing and physical therapy.”

Mariana Pineda

Babylon, N.Y.