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Brian Lehrer: We'll finish off on the Brian Lehrer show today with your calls. Segueing out of that conversation. Listeners, what aspects of everyday life have not returned to normal since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic for you? 212-433 WNYC. We ask because we've just hit what The New York Times is describing as, and maybe you saw this article on the last day, a positive COVID milestone. The number of people dying every day from any cause is no longer historically abnormal. In other words, there are no longer excess deaths occurring in the United States.
At this moment in New York City, we're averaging about one death from COVID per day according to the City Health Department. What a far cry from April 2020, of course, the peak of the pandemic, where the city saw more than 800 deaths in one day or even, and maybe more relevantly to our current mindsets at the start of this year, January of this year when the average was 30 COVID deaths a day in New York City now it's one really meaningful progress. That number of people dying every day in the United States is no longer historically abnormal or another way to put that, we have the same number of deaths per day in the United States now as if COVID was not a thing.
That doesn't mean that the pandemic is over, but it certainly means that there's been meaningful, meaningful progress this year. At least with respect to deaths, which doesn't address Long COVID and other things, the rates are way down. We ask now that our death rate in this country has returned to a pre-pandemic normal what in your life has not. Call or text us at 212-433 WNYC 212-433-9692. Of course, remote work is one thing for many as we were discussing in the previous segment. We got this idea from a trending post in the Ask NYC subreddit that asked the same question and some of the answers were to be expected.
The top comment comes from User Long Island 1995, who says simply inflated prices, fewer places open late. Those two things inflated prices and fewer places open late. Along these veins, many noted higher prices in restaurants and grocery stores, as well as fewer late nights calling New York City, the city that sleeps at 11:00 PM, not the city that never sleeps, the old nickname. Now it's the city that sleeps at 11:00 PM according to this Reddit poster. Does this track with what's new for you in your own life, your own activity patterns in your own neighborhood?
What else has seemingly permanently changed about New York City, about your particular neighborhood, or just your life since the beginning of the COVID pandemic and persists for you, even if you're not as afraid of dying from COVID as you may have been even six months ago? 212-433 WNYC 212-433-9692. Few other examples from that Reddit user Jolie A. Renee shared that her marriage never returned to normal after the start of COVID. Other answers like this include people's sense of optimism never returned, social skills never returned, their weight never returned.
What has changed about you? What has changed about the context of your life? What aspects of your everyday life have not returned to normal, even if you're not afraid of COVID anymore? 212-433 WNYC. We'll take as many calls as we can in our remaining time right after this.
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Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and now to your calls and texts on what has not returned to normal for you, even if you're not so afraid of COVID anymore. You know what? I'm going to talk to my producer for a minute now. The caller board and the text board had just flipped off my screen for a minute, but it's back. Listener writes, "Both my local multiplex and local art cinema have closed permanently." Yes, there are definitely still effects on the culture and entertainment audiences all over the area.
Listener writes, "I'm still actively trying not to get repeat COVID infections because I don't want the disabilities and hardships that come with that." Listener writes, "Hi Brian. Since COVID, my socializing has dropped and my social skills have gotten slightly rusty. My family reunion seems to be one of the largest casualties, although it was sliding beforehand." All right, let's see what Sherry in Long Island City has to say. Sherry, you're on WNYC. Hello?
Sherry: Hey Brian. How are you?
Brian Lehrer: Good.
Sherry: I work in a hospital and before COVID if a person needed a priest because they were dying, you just simply called the priest, told them where to go, and they would go. When COVID started, you had to call the priest, but ask the phone caller, is this a COVID patient or not because there are specific things that the priest has to do and I don't quite know what those are if it's a COVID patient. I am still asking callers, is this a COVID patient or not. I'm still doing that.
Brian Lehrer: Sherry, thank you very much. Report from the front lines of the healthcare field. Also on the front lines of the healthcare field in a different way, I think is Elmo in Englewood. You're a dentist, Elmo. Do I have that right?
Elmo: That's correct. How are you?
Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?
Elmo: Let me say this to you, I lost 38 patients to COVID.
Brian Lehrer: Oh my God.
Elmo: I lost also one of my receptionists to COVID and her husband all within the 1st March of 2020. My office still required people to come and wear masks. We all wear masks continuously, but the thing is never going back, well, I don't know. I used to go out to dinner all the time. [unintelligible 00:07:03] was the first time I ever have gone out to dinner inside in years. I still get the heebie-jeebies about going into places that are crowded because I have some patients that have Long COVID that have really gotten dementia. They don't know where they are.
Brian Lehrer: Elmo we're going to leave it there for time, but you've made some dramatic points there. People have fears some people more than others, obviously about doing things in crowded indoor spaces, the masks. We can't forget about Long COVID. Somebody else writes in a text. My priorities have permanently shifted. I used to prioritize my life around my work. Now I prioritize my life over work and that shift feels permanent. Another person writes that-- Now this has moved down because we're getting so many texts but I'll summarize.
A person texted that I now am very aware of the tenuousness of life. Just as a reality check, we're going to take Ben in Brooklyn next. Ben, you're on WNYC. Hi there.
Ben: Hi Brian. Thanks for taking my call. Yes, I am calling from quarantine because I tested positive for COVID about four days ago. I have a two-year-old daughter, so I've not seen her all weekend. I guess what scares me is just, there still seems to be so much unknowns around Long COVID and the potential long-term effect. I'm still doing everything I can not to spread it, particularly to my family. I don't know. It remains very frustrating and the unknowns continue to worry me.
Brian Lehrer: Ben, thank you. I hope you get well easily. I know two people just in the last two weeks in different portions of my life not related to each other. They live in different boroughs who've gotten COVID. They're still alive as far as I know. COVID is still a thing. Of course, even though the death rate has declined in the US to the same total death rate in the country as before, COVID no excess deaths in that respect. One death per day in New York City on average now is very good. It's not zero and we don't know if there's going to be another surge.
Ben says the unknowns and there are certainly unknowns. Stew, in Manhattan. I think you're going to get our last shot here. Hi. What's not gone back to normal for you?
Stew: The quietness of my street and the quietness of where I live. I have three dining sheds right outside my window, which nonstop noise till 1:00 in the morning. My block is a quiet block. There's a quiet Greenwich Village block until right after the lockdown. Since the city's going to make that permanent they've done it to me.
Brian Lehrer: The outdoor dining debate goes on in the village and elsewhere. Stew, thank you. Thanks to everybody for your calls and texts on this. The new normal is definitely a new normal and we also don't know how much is permanent, right on the medical ends of this and on the lifestyle ends. That's it for the Brian Lehrer Show today, produced by Lisa Allison, MaryEileen Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen handles our Daily Politics podcast. Our interns this summer, are Brandon St. Luce and Katarina Engst, Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio control. Stay tuned for Alison.
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