Two friends of mine shared with me recently that they’d caught COVID — they said that they were no longer ashamed of hiding it. Then a handful more people I know opened up on social media and in professional settings. 

Within the span of about two months, I knew 12 people from across the country who caught COVID in the past year and had recovered — well, sort of. 

With the exception of one person, the rest are not in healthcare or frontline work. They were all living normal lives, some with kids and some without, some in their 30s and some in their 40s, and some living in dense urban areas and some not. Then COVID hit. And life hasn’t been the same since — for them and their families. 

They were responsible about wearing masks and distancing. They didn’t host large parties. Most caught it at a time when they hadn’t had their first vaccine dose, s