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But on Wednesday, the state said bars could open at 30 percent of their indoor capacity on Friday. With two days’ notice to reopen, he called former employees, eager to return to work, and restocked inventory. Then, on Friday, it opened its doors and once again welcomed regular customers he hadn’t seen in a year for a drink at the bar.
“It was an exhilarating feeling to see this happen,” said Mr Medford, who is also president of the state bars and taverns association. “It was really the first time in a year that I got up and was excited, I had something to look forward to.”
After some counties in Washington state allowed theaters to reopen, Nick Butcher, 36, made up for lost time by attending “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy screenings for three consecutive nights. He bought some M & Ms’s at the concession stand, sat away from other onlookers and said he felt like things were almost back to normal.
“I’m actually getting optimistic, overall,” said Mr. Butcher, a software engineer at Microsoft who recently recovered from a case of Covid-19, along with several relatives. “This week is one of the first times that I have walked into my office almost since the start of the pandemic.”
A return to crowded offices and schools has left other Americans both excited and worried.
Amanda Sewell, a teacher at Tates Creek High School in Lexington, Ky., Will welcome students to her classroom next Monday for the first time in a year. Decorations from last year’s Mardi Gras celebration are still hanging in the classroom. The date on her whiteboard still reads March 13, 2020 – the day school closed and she returned home, convinced it would only take a few weeks before she and her students were back in class.
Ms Sewell is now fully vaccinated against the virus and said she was delighted to see her students in person after teaching Insensitive Squares on Zoom for months. But she knows things won’t be the same as before.
“I’m still a little suspicious in the sense that I feel like some people think that because we have a vaccine the pandemic is over, and it definitely isn’t,” Ms. Sewell said. “I have the impression that we are still several months away from getting closer to normal.”
Dave montgomery contribution to reports.
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