I had my first hip surgery just as the 'rona panic was starting (Feb. 2020), but it took place as scheduled without incident - no masks, no testing. A couple of weeks later, and they would have been forced to postpone it for at least six months, by which time I would have been bedbound and completely immobile. The surgery center was shut down for quite a while. Fifteen months later, I had the second hip done. I first had to get Covid tested. They wanted me to sit in the car and wait for them to call me in. I told them I didn't have a cell phone, so they let me in the building.
I remember our church being shut down in March 2020 for "
two weeks three months to flatten the curve," so that no in-person worship was permitted (Pennsylvania's response, led at the time by Rachel "Dick" Levine, was draconian). The pastor had to scramble, and started parking lot services with a radio feed, which ultimately led to live streaming, which continues to this day. There were no Easter services that year. Thankfully, we resumed in-person but masked services around Fathers' Day. We were sanitizing like mad and having our temperatures checked at the door.
And then there's haircuts. For the first several months, hair salons and barber shops were shut down, and we all went around looking like mops. When they were permitted to reopen, we had to wear masks while getting our hair done, so the stylist had to maneuver the scissors without snipping the ear loops.
Restaurants were closed, and many failed. When they finally reopened, we tried to patronize them as often as we could. They were required to reduce capacity, taking out tables and chairs. We went to a brewpub in Washington, Pa., and they had little signs on every other stool at the bar saying, "This seat reserved for Gov. Wolf."
Our local public golf course had a notice at the clubhouse telling people not to touch the flagsticks - just leave them in. As we all know, thousands of people contracted the virus from flagsticks.
