A friend and I were just having this very discussion when the alert that you’d published this article popped up. Her best friend of 30 years died yesterday (was sick pre-COVID, not sure if her death was ultimately related or not. She was early 40’s) and the thing that sucks so much right now is that we cannot even grieve these losses the way we normally would. People are dying alone in hospitals because family can’t come in to see them. Funeral services must be postponed because you can’t gather to pay respects. And technically — unless these families all live together, they shouldn’t even be embracing each other with comforting hugs.

I think daily about the collective mental health of our population when all is said and done. For some, this is merely and inconvenience. For many, this is a highly traumatic event that they may never recover from. Mentally or financially.

If anyone really believes “we’re all going to be ok in the end,” this is a good place to check your privilege. That simply isn’t possible. Those of us who are fortunate enough to survive will be gravely changed.