Pandemic

Like many, I'm thrilled the mask mandate is gone for now. Returning to 'normal' life is the catchphrase. Could we keep one part of our pandemic lifestyle?

"It's been a tough couple of years for students and their parents" is one of the great understatements of our current times.

According to the experts, it's not just turkey that could be in short supply around here, it's chicken, too.

The big topic of conversation is whether or not elementary, middle, or high school students will be required to wear masks during the upcoming school year.

It seems like nothing really says that it's time to rejoin civilization quite like a run on all those things we need to make ourselves feel better about how we look after a year of near isolation.

As it's set up currently, Illinoisans collecting unemployment insurance receive an extra $300 a week from the federal government, which is intended to help them through the pandemic. Since individual governors can opt their states out of that particular benefit, 18 governors have done just that, and more are seriously considering it.

COVID-19 had a lot of families back home together again for the first time in a long time. People who thought they'd never be living at home again found themselves posted up in their parent's basement. College kids who dreamed of going off to school found themselves doing online school from their bedroom...

Let me just share a meme I saw the other day that heavily described how I feel about shopping during the pandemic. Actually, I'm going to share several. But most importantly, this one - Here's some statistics shared by Rehabs.com about Americans and their pandemic shopping habits - I mean, personally, I'm incredibly guilty of what I like to call "retail therapy"...

It's crazy to think that we've made it far enough into this pandemic that we're looking back on early pandemic memories. Life before the pandemic seems like forever ago, and now, it actually kind of was. Remember at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when a grandma in Rockford went viral for a video using a hugging machine to hug her great grandkids...

So, many of you here in the Rockford area found yourself among the millions of Americans who were forced to make a change during the pandemic lockdowns and closings, and you started working from home.