Things are starting to look and feel a little more ‘normal’ as we head into Summer and some are more comfortable and eager to get out and about unmasked than others.

After being forced to stay home, to adapt to new ways of doing almost everything, most are ready to leave the COVID era in the rear-view. But is there anything you’d like to see remain?

Here are seven things from COVID I’d like to see stick around…

So many people would go out and about when they were sick, or too soon afterwards – work, the store, social gatherings (“it’s just a cold!”), spreading germs all over the place. During COVID there was an increased awareness about how easily germs spread.

The recommendations, and strict requests, continue to ask people to stay home if they’re experiencing any symptoms or have in the past 24 hours. While inconvenient sometimes, it’s one of the many things we wondered, “why wasn’t everyone doing this already?”

Granted there will always be people who lie for one reason or another, but let’s keep our germs to ourselves by staying home, recovering and resting before venturing out into the world.

In addition to first responders, doctors and nurses, there has been more awareness of all essential workers. From other healthcare workers to jobs we rely on in our day to day like teachers, grocery store workers, delivery drivers, mechanics, gas stations workers, construction workers, the restaurant industry, retail clerks, and all kinds of other service providers.

We were forced to identify the essential jobs our country needs to keep running. These essential workers were people that were not just wanted, but needed, to report in person to provide products and services we all depend on.

Thank you again and again to those who went to work and did what needed to be done, while others stayed home, all for the greater good.

I mean honestly, were people really not washing their hands well and doing disinfecting level cleaning before?? I appreciate the emphasis on keeping our germs to ourselves and properly disinfecting.

This is another one that we should have all been doing already, but good to have additional emphasis for personal hygiene and homes and perhaps requirements for public places.

For those of us who have jobs that are able to be done remotely, working from home has some major advantages. COVID proved that more employees than ever were more than capable to not only work from home but under such extraordinary circumstances.

As someone who was already working from home some pre-COVID, I could go on and on as to the benefits which so many others now appreciate – and don’t want to give up!

• Time! No commute = lots of time saved. Time that can be used for other things, like working out, sleeping, housework, time with family, less time off for appointments, less time off to stay home with symptoms.
• Money! Save on gas, parking, lunch, childcare (depends), clothes.
• Flexibility! Multi-tasking and management between home and work life. While difficult for some, it’s a Godsend for others. Laundry, repairman windows, accepting packages. The ability to help kids get ready for school and also be there when they get home.
• Morale! A natural byproduct of all of the above is increased morale but also from simple pleasures like listening to music, having the TV on in the background, taking a break to go on a walk with your dog, wearing whatever the heck you like.

While it’s nice to have things to look forward to, and I definitely appreciate the need to plan for some things, the empty calendar was nice. We try not to over schedule our family as it is, so it was nice for that to be the norm for a while.

Even though I was already home and able to spend lots of time with my family on a daily basis, I still appreciated the additional time together without outside visitors or plans.

Yes, all being home together all day, every day was challenging at times (and made us cry and want to quit), BUT we figured it out as best we could. We were very fortunate to be able to do so and have that time together, bonding and creating memories that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

I understand that many businesses, like restaurants, may be eager to increase their capacities for revenue. However, from a customer standpoint, I have loved and appreciated the reduced capacities and spacing due to social distancing for COVID. Whether it be between tables at a restaurant, chairs in a doctor’s office, or a salon waiting area – heck even waiting in cars instead at some places – a little more space for customers and employees alike was nice.

The reduced capacities in some schools also had its benefits. The kids who were able to go to school in person but with reduced numbers in one way or another received more one on one attention from teachers, and teachers in turn had less kids to manage in person. Win-win!

The need for social distancing also raised the question of what may be full capacity for fire code versus what may be a more reasonable and manageable number in order to provide quality services and optimal experiences moving forward.

Checking on your neighbors, friends and family took on a whole new meaning during COVID. Did you interact with your neighbors more, albeit from a distance, since everyone was home? I sure did!

Did you or someone you know porch drop food, cleaning supplies or toilet paper? (Yep!) How about do something out of your norm to entertain or bring a smile, maybe mailed a package to a friend or sent a funny video? Perhaps even porch dropped medicine?

Despite all the bad that was going on in the world, people were helping their neighbors.

People were also standing up for what they believe in and speaking out against injustices. People were trying to do good and trying to figure out how to improve so many of our country’s systems of which COVID helped to reveal fractures and deficiencies.

People showed up for one another. This is the greatest of all the things we must continue to do.