It has been over a year since the pandemic began. The time for pretty words and pats on the back has long passed. Painting superhero-like portraits of essential workers and sharing quirky political cartoons of Zoom life got old very quickly. It’s been over a year and enough time has passed to reflect on a glaring question: Who the hell asked for this?

The pandemic, for all its tragedy, has made the severity of global wealth disparities abundantly clear, especially in the United States. While the majority of the U.S. was coping with the “new normal” regarding life with COVID-19, social media has shed a light on the cushy lives of the rich.

We are at a point in time when your Twitter timeline can have GoFundMe and Change.org campaigns back-to-back to celebrities and rich elites shitposting about how they miss going to Hawaii – or, if they are particularly tone deaf, vacation photos with maybe a follow-up disclaimer detailing how they’re taking precautions.

But that was at the pandemic’s height. Now, we have vaccinations and better testing procedures, and we get to celebrate a “return to the new normal,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. 

Once again, it’s the people who have no social obligations to change and fit into the “new normal” who congratulate us for persevering.

But let’s take a step back and look at our new normal. What does that truly mean?

Well – masks. Personally, I don’t mind the mask mandates and recommendations. Although The U.S. adopted the practice of mask-wearing to combat COVID-19 transmission, it’s shown to be effective in stopping other airborne pathogens as well! Also, it is an awesome accessory that is both gender non-conforming and isn’t restrictive to body types. I am definitely on board with masks.

Secondly, Zoom seems to be staying. Well, not in all academic settings – cough, cough, Hofstra – but many professional workplaces have enjoyed the transition to online meetings and even indefinite stay-at-home work.

Third of all, permanent burnout. Phrases and language like “Keep up the good work,” “Thank you for persisting in these trying times” and “Return to how it was before” serve to remind us of how being commercially productive in a capitalist hellscape is exhausting. Even a global pandemic could not stop the mass-production machine that is the American workforce. Sure, some of us got stimulus checks for a little bit, but most of us still had to work, maintain GPAs or prove in some fashion that we still could offer something to the one-percenters who are in charge of our employment status. 

The mental repercussions of this pandemic are still being investigated and a year later we are starting to see the cracks materialize. Many articles and studies have been done in the past few months regarding COVID-induced burnout. Everything points to late-stage capitalist dystopia – we are praised for killing ourselves over money and shamed for wanting wellness.

Now that school is back in session for most of us, and most establishments are trying to come back to ubiquitously in-person classes, the stress is packing on. Any leniency granted in the past year does not seem to apply anymore, even though we’re still reeling from the effects and aftermath of “unprecedented times.”