It was six years ago this week that the local government enacted the first shelter-in-place order in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the beginning of the hunkered-down lifestyle: some working from home, some not. Lots of comfy clothes. Ordering everything for delivery. Canceling plans: travel, concerts, and eating out. Creating your Covid bubble of safe people to socialize with. Learning how to Zoom. Getting your school-age children to focus on their online classes.

At that time, we really did not know what we were in for. Setting politics aside completely, I think it is easy for people to forget that the reasons local authorities across the country enacted the shelter-in-place were threefold

Let me share something personal. A year ago, I had a routine medical screening done. Needless to say, I physically felt a little, shall we say, mishandled by the technician who conducted the screening. Not a lot, but just enough to make the experience mildly startling. I promised myself that this year, when I went to get that routine screening again, I would inquire about trauma-informed care.
When I arrived in the room this year, I asked the technician (same facility but a different technician from last year) if they were trained in trauma-informed care. This technician, as kind and as proficient as they were, told me they did not know what that was. I was more shocked about this year’s technician admitting they did not know what trauma-informed care was than by how I felt physically mishandled last year.