Empty roadways. Empty restaurants. Empty movie theaters and shopping malls and schools.
On March 19, 2020, the world was grappling with the newly emerging Sars-CoV-2 virus. A day earlier, the state had seen its first COVID-related death. Then-Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto announced the city was further restricting “face-to-face interactions” between city employees and residents. Across the country, as isolation set in, more people began reporting signs of depression.
Four years later, as the roads fill with commuters again and restaurants reopen for in-person dining, people have had to grapple with the rapid reorganization of their lives — first in the lockdown portion of the pandemic and then again as they emerged back into a changed world.
For many struggling with their mental health, the crisis and the rapid changes brought about during the recovery served to amplify deep-seated problems. The rates of depression and drug overdoses that spiked during the early days of the pandemic remain stubbornly, dangerously high.