The Best Things to Do Once Covid Lifts
With the recent news that Pfizer and BioNTech have developed separate vaccines that are anywhere from 90% to 95% effective in preventing the spread of Covid, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel. We might finally be able to go outside again soon! We can see friends we haven’t seen in months!
Go to a Bar and Celebrate!
It’s been SO. GOD. DAMN. LONG. Even longer because roughly half of our country were selfish enough to spend a pandemic not wearing a filtered piece of fabric over their faces. But once it’s over, there’s really only one proper way to celebrate. Drinks all around! Who ever thought that they’d be nostalgic for sweaty, claustrophobic college bars where striking out with girls and getting thrown up on was considered a good night?
But now I find myself wanting to be there more than anything else. The shitty reality is that there are a lot of people who are already there, and they’re the same people who aren’t wearing masks, so I’ll take a pass right now. But once we get a vaccine, it’s back to ordering overpriced cheap beer and listening to a bunch of white girls scream the lyrics to “Mr. Brightside” at the top of their lungs. Ah, the good old days.
Play Sports
I was so happy when professional sports made a return to TV. The brief couple of months where they were gone felt incredibly empty in their absence. It wasn’t meant to last (there wasn’t a single league that wasn’t affected in someway by Covid because, as it turns out, skin to skin contact while sweating, spitting, and generally excreted body fluids are a great way to spread an infectious disease during a global pandemic. Who knew?), but it did remind me how out of shape I had gotten over the lockdown.
As restrictions lift once Covid begins to be eradicated, take advantage of the situation by getting healthier. Whatever sport or activity it might be (basketball, baseball, volleyball, spikeball, bowling, bocce ball, shuffleboard, quidditch), get back out in the fresh air and break a sweat, because it is once again safe to sweat in the company of others. Although admittedly it is still gross.
Go to a Concert
This is the one activity, more than any other, that I’m desperate to get back to. I lived, breathed, and occasionally almost died suffocating in the pit of live music concerts, and there’s nowhere that I’d rather be than getting jostled around in a small club to stupidly loud music.
Artists of all kinds have been suffering during the pandemic as their entire livelihood has been upended. Most have adapted in some way, whether it be live streams or other creative outlets, but there’s not a single performer who wouldn’t give everything they had to be on stage one more time. With any luck that day is coming soon, and to be able to scream some lyrics over ear-shatteringly loud music is the catharsis that just about everyone needs after Covid.
See A Movie
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Covid ends up being the death kneel for major theatre companies like AMC and Cinemark. The rise of streaming services were already a bad omen, and once studios began releasing movies either simultaneously or exclusively on video on demand, there seemed to be little reason to get into a car and drive all the way to a cinema.
But just like a live concert, there’s something about an in-person movie experience that just can’t be replicated in the confines of your home. This is especially true for IMAX movies or big premieres. Movies can still be major events, and once it’s safe to occupy a large theatre again, it would really be a shame if that experience disappeared forever. Personally, I can see theatres adopting a rental system where entire theatres are reserved for small groups to experience “cinema”, sliding more into novelty status than being a norm to see the newest Marvel movie. But until that happens, go back and enjoy a film in a theatre again. While you can.
Go on a (non-virtual) Date
Hey, remember restaurants? Those places where you could sit down, order a meal and a drink, and talk to someone over the table about their life, interests, and job?
Virtual dates weren’t bad, but they were no substitute for the real thing. It was hard to establish any kind of real connection when your relationship was entirely based on your wifi connection. There was no way to make it not awkward in some way: it’s like your professor trying to get people to talk during a zoom call. In other words, it’s like pulling teeth.
Even those who might have been socially anxious or date-averse before the pandemic have to be feeling the desire to get back out there. Honestly the biggest mystery to me is how so many people were able to start relationships during the pandemic? Was the zoom call that romantic? Or did you actually go out and meet a stranger in person, risking a deadly infectious disease just to get laid? Actually I shouldn’t be surprised at all, now that I think about it.
Regroup the Brunch Gang
Hey, remember restaurants (again)? Instead of jumping into a Tinder date, gather the friends together on a nice Sunday, section off some time in the late morning/early afternoon, and order some mimosas. You deserve it. You survived Covid. You (hopefully) did your part by staying socially distanced, wearing a mask, and not licking doorknobs. You deserve a fruity drink, some crepes, and an early nap.
Brunch isn’t for everyone. Those of us more prone to, say, binge drinking, might have difficulty slowing down and finding the proper mixture of champagne and orange juice. Also, somehow there are people in this world who don’t like crepes, even when they’re slathered in Nutella (my guess: psychopaths, geriatric geezers, and people whose taste buds don’t work). But if you get a chance, brunch can be a haughty and supremely silly slice of Sunday fun. And you know what? You’ve earned a little bit of silly fun after Covid.
