August 28, 2024.   Sticker Shock.

The COVID-19 disaster is not anything I want or need to be reminded of. But vestiges are still everywhere. This photo was taken in a jet bridge at the Honolulu airport a few weeks ago.

Back during the height of the pandemic, the permanent-ness of these stickers, brand-new at the time, was pretty apparent. Clearly they were intended to last, and that worried me. No one was paying any mind, it seemed, to the idea that things like “social distancing” might only be temporary — to the notion that we could be normal again. It was scary.

I’m unsure at what point during that stretch we hit peak insanity. It may have been the moment in 2021 when I was flying from Bogota to Santa Marta, in Colombia. (I managed to take two or three vacations during the pandemic, and this was one of them.) After takeoff, the LATAM crew made the following announcement:

“In accordance with the directives of the Colombian health ministry, we have eliminated onboard service. Due to the risk of saliva droplets, we also ask that passengers remain silent for the duration of the flight. Please refrain from speaking or laughing.”