What are positives you see coming from the pandemic?

I think you are right that with current risk levels, it is not appropriate to have kids in live schools in many or most places, but I do think that the in-person aspect of school is valuable, and that it’s not just parents looking for “babysitters.” To the extent parents are looking for “babysitters,” it is probably helpful to realize how many parents are facing dire work circumstances, and that there isn’t an alternative public infrastructure for child care. I have also heard numerous reports of teachers requiring parents to be in the room for online education, which is onerous for both working parents and parents with more than one child.

Parents and teachers need to stick together and be patient with one another, or public schooling isn’t going to survive.

Hours of saved sanity from avoiding traffic and commutes for my husband going to work. Which means more time for being outside and exercise. I think this could greatly benefit Americans in their health.

We bought a small lake condo and a boat - we would have never pulled the trigger on that if it weren’t for covid.

Telehealth doctors visits for check-ups and check-ins!

People buying less, traveling less, making do with what they have.  Our planet cannot continue with humans current level of consumption so I hope in the long run people adjust.

And my take on education is the exact opposite of yours. My kids have missed their teachers so much. They realize more than ever just how influential and inspiring they have been in their lives. Even the less favourite ones. They are irreplaceable. They are so ready to go back to school this week and learn and see different perspectives on things. At home, all they really get is our family's experience. It's so confining and restrictive. They go to schools with diverse teacher and student populations and I think it makes them better human beings. School has never been about babysitting or just curriculum. We've run into teachers a couple of times over the summer and it's shown me how much my kids idolize and look up to them. I thought they were going to ask them for autographs a couple of times, LOL.

My family has thrived during the pandemic. We've formed a really tight bond. We're supportive of each other and we've learned just how very much we love each other. We are fortunate not to have suffered financially and it really has made us to be more appreciative of what we do have. I'm hoping we never go back to mindless spending. We don't need very many things to be happy.

The planet was granted a tiny respite with less car travel, less industrial pollution etc for a short time at least and the ozone layer healed itself a little. Id people continue to work from home more a degree of reduction could be permanent.

I hope they start to give more money to health care research!

I can't really think of many positives. I have enjoyed no obligations! But I am sad my kids will miss their senior years (hs and college) and no pom and dance team season. And my college daughter will miss traveling to all the away ACC games.

Well... DH now works from home (he doesn't even have a desk at the office anymore) and doesn't have a 40+ minute commute to deal with. He's had time (his lunch break) to exercise and has lost a lot of weight. I haven't lost any weight, but good for him!

Our house is less cluttery due to our local Buy Nothing and no-contact, it's on my porch come get it-ing a ton of stuff we don't need anymore. We also took a load to the dump, two loads to the wood recycler, and have a pile for Goodwill.

After six years (and five months of pandemic not feeling like working on it) but I'm now in full writing mode and very close to finishing writing a novel. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

We adopted two guinea pigs a few weeks ago from someone giving them away. We have plenty of time to give them unlimited loves and attention these days. They are fun!

This time of year I'm usually super busy with PTA, and running our 1st fundraiser of the year and am running around like crazy. This year we've been told we're not allowed in the building, so we aren't doing much PTAing right now, so for the first time in four years I get to enjoy September... well as much as I can while virtual schooling 4 kids starting in about a week.

It's the little things...

May I just say this has been an interesting and uplifting thread, and several items I hadn’t thought of before,(school shootings)

Not having to deal with my cousin/his family, expect for the random drunk calls at 1 AM. I dread spending time with them.

I have also been going to more yard sales more, instead of going inside thrift stores. Been trying to support local businesses too by going to the farmers' markets.

Also got rescue dog leash trained. Only took a year. (We think he was tied up and beat so he had bad reactions to even the sight of the leash).

Also been going through more stuff to donate to Goodwill. All we do here is pop the trunk. Has been like that for years.

It is under 1% and has been. What store were you in? We still have mask mandates for stores here in New York State. That has not changed even though we do have very very very few cases. And we are at the lowest they’ve ever been with hospitalizations. I’d be curious to know where you were in New York State. Many of the stores here have never had a limit on the number of people inside with the exception of smaller stores like Trader Joe’s or Michael’s or Joannes or PetCo. We worked our butts off here to get to the low rate.

Wegmans in Syracuse

It's gotten me out of some group things I didn't want to attend. I've turned into an introvert over the last 20 years.

More pets have been adopted from shelters. That makes me really happy!

I agree with lesserknownpea, this is an uplifting thread.

Wegmans has never done the aisles with arrows nor have they limited the number of people. I shop at the one near me and have done so since the beginning. I have never ever felt unsafe at any Wegmans.

The bicycle industry is up 75% from last year
Sewing machine sales are up.
It seems the whole country is learning to bake sourdough bread
There's been a huge increase in the number of people taking advantage of outdoor spaces (parks, hiking trails, etc.)
Families are cooking/eating more together at home
Businesses who swore it was impossible to allow telework are finding out they were wrong.
Home Gardening is booming around the world
People have time to pursue their hobbies and sometimes even turn them into businesses (a local disabled vet in my town started building outdoor furniture and has been very busy with custom orders despite never having done any woodworking pre-pandemic and a local children's boutique started manufacturing special sidewalk chalk for kids and have expanded to sell state-wide!)