“When are we going to get back to normal?”
It’s a question heard repeatedly as the pandemic stretched over a year, case counts climbed and society changed into something altogether unfamiliar.
Take-out has replaced dining in, working from home has taken place of the brick-and-mortar office, and masking up has become as commonplace as putting on shoes before venturing out to the store.
As vaccination rates rise, the question becomes, will we stick with those practices we adopted during COVID? Or will we drift back to life as it was pre-pandemic?
"'The new normal,' I think it's a heightened awareness of how my actions impact the community at large, and taking the time to value and experience what I enjoy most," said Juliet Dunham, who runs a marketing and communications business in Pocono Pines and has seen a fair share of change in her life due to the pandemic.