Early in the pandemic, the phrase “the new normal” started to be deployed with great frequency, almost as if insisting there was some semblance of normalcy about the situation would, in fact, make it so. In the new normal, happy hours took place within the confines of the digital rectangles of a Zoom meeting room, held with the knowledge that inevitably someone’s WiFi would drop or their screen would freeze mid-sip; standing six feet apart during a conversation became a courtesy, instead of a quirk among those among us who are distrustful of close-talkers; and, for a period of time, wiping down bags of potato chips and cans of soda with antiseptic spray wasn’t an activity reserved for germaphobes.
As time has passed, some of our pandemic-era habits have worn off (even ones public health workers and scientists wish we would keep up), though there’s one area where many Americans are still adapting to our current “new normal” — the supermarket.
