In recent months, COVID-19 has taken over grocery stores, retail, restaurants, and other businesses, leaving slim pickings for the general public. All nonessential business, such as bowling alleys, movie theatres, hair salons, and malls have been shut down with little to no hope of reopening in the future. 

Those who are still open, however, have learned to adapt to the new health code conditions. 

Stores such as Walmart and Kroger have made masks essential for all employees, leave hand sanitizer bottles out for the general public, and have workers sanitize all carts after being placed back in their original spots. Kroger has even taken extra safety measures by adding a glass or plastic covering on each checkout aisle to protect their workers from the virus. 

With the threat of losing business or closing down, restaurants and fast food have offered curbside pickup, or drive through options to allow the public to still be able to order food to take home to their families. 

The conditions aren’t ideal at the moment and fear has overtaken the world due to uncertainty. However, these failing businesses aren’t necessarily a bad thing. They have been deemed unsafe for the public, which is in the best interest of everyone. In short, the effects of the virus are going to take some getting used to.

As of now, there’s no telling how long a vaccine will take to finalize or how many more deaths this disease will cause, but the only thing all of us can do right now is wait it out. Times have been rough and the economy is plummeting due to the amount of businesses closing, unemployment and reduced population, although, however bleak things may look, it is best that the community keeps moving forward, continues to practice safe, COVID-19 precautions, and remembers to look on the bright side of things. 

Now is a time to connect with family. To clean. To focus on things we were too busy to focus on before. We just need to adapt as a species to fight this virus and win. Everyone in the world has been trying to go back to semi-normal lives, but for now, this is the new normal. As I mentioned earlier, there’s no telling if these businesses will reopen or if current business will go back to the way it once was, but as long as the public continues to stay quarantined and practice healthy habits, there is still hope. We all miss the things we are no longer able to do, but that is the price of a safe world for now. Hang in there, guys. Everyday we are a step closer to getting our lives back.