For Covid's 5-year anniversary, just get out of the house

Try as one might, it’s been impossible to avoid incessant reminders that this week marks a full five years since the COVID-19 pandemic started walloping New York City in earnest. The Times has a look at the unexpected heroes who got us through that moment, and another piece on the endless physical reminders (old stickers, masks, social distancing signage) that still pockmark a city that’s otherwise mostly moved on.

This is all important historical documentation, but frankly, I haven’t wanted to see or read a damn word of it; why would I want to be plunged back into the absolute darkest, most depressing and terrifying moment of my life to date? I now fully understand the “grandpa who refuses to talk about the war” mentality, or why the culture largely memory-holed the Spanish Flu.

Cards on the table, Team Groove has struggled to come up with an angle on this one too. It’s exhausting to contemplate, and how much is there to say that hasn’t already been said ad nauseam? Especially in a moment with other fresh horrors looming and when it’s clear that we’ve well and truly lost any of the positive upshots of the pandemic — to-go drinks, bustling open streets, outdoor dining sheds and free health care, to name a few.

One not-completely-awful way I’ve found to reflect has been going through my March 2020 camera roll and finding assorted bizarro detritus from that moment. May we interest you in a Spanish-language dancing Shrek handwashing PSA?

Or some highly specific screenshots of Cuomo tweets, delivery drinks menus, Zoom karaoke, and the city’s health department beseeching everyone to just stay home and masturbate:

My personal avoidance aside, there is of course value in collective processing, and across the city, various people and organizations are finding ways to mark this bleak anniversary as well. To name a few:

Go look at some pet-related art

The New York Historical Society’s “Pets and the City” exhibition, which studies hundreds of years of New Yorkers’ pet ownership, including the upticks in pet adoption seen after 9/11 and the onset of the pandemic. It’s up now and runs through April 20.

Reflect at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

A sound installation that first ran in 2021 will return to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from March 15-30 to commemorate the pandemic’s fifth anniversary.

Learn about the mishandled mysteries of long Covid

Long Covid Awareness Day, which will feature both panels and reading discussions at the Nonbinarian Bookstore in Brooklyn, with virtual streaming options as well. It takes place on March 18.

Share your own reflections at an LES storytelling installation

REFLECTIONS: Processing the Pandemic runs at the Lower East Side’s City Lore Gallery from March 29-April 27.

Listen to stories of the city’s frontline workers

Manhattan Borough Historian Robert Snyder will discuss his book When the City Stopped, featuring stories of the city’s frontline workers, with Epicenter NYC co-founder S. Mitra Kalita at a hybrid event on April 2.

Just get out into the world and enjoy it

This isn’t a specific event, but the Times had a heartening story this week about audiences for Broadway shows and other live events coming back, though movie theaters and museums are still struggling. If nothing else, may we suggest getting out and enjoying some piece of culture this weekend, as well as the freedom to leave your house to do so? Yesterday I was exhausted, grouchy and tempted to skip a friend’s show in favor of zoning out at home. Then I started thinking about what I was doing on this day five years ago, and immediately put on real clothes and dragged my ass out the door to be in the world. No surprise, I had a great time.