It’s been nearly 5 years since COVID slammed into Westport.
And the world.
This week half a decade ago, we had moved from obliviousness about “the coronavirus” to concern.
A few days later, we were fearful. Then came the lockdown, and a tsunami of emotions all the way up to panic.
At the same time, we had all the time in the world to process it.
We weren’t going anywhere. And neither was anyone else.
The final 3 months of the school year were conducted online, haltingly and not very happily. Staples High School’s graduation was a drive-by affair.
A parade of cars passed in front of Staples’ main entrance, during the drive-by graduation ceremony. (Drone photo/Ryan Felner)
Six-foot social distancing signs appeared everywhere: Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop, CVS, banks. We washed our hands obsessively, humming 2 stanzas of “Happy Birthday to You.”
Restaurants pivoted to takeout only. Gyms closed. Even doctors cut back on seeing patients.
Amid all the misery, there were unexpected upsides.
Neighbors gathered at the ends of driveways (socially distanced, of course) for drinks and conversation.
Westporters discovered Sherwood Island State Park, for strolling and solace.
Kids painted encouraging messages on rocks, created helpful apps, and helped senior citizens. Families bonded over board games. A “yarn bomber” decorated trees. The Remarkable Theater drive-in popped up (all cars socially distanced, of course).
The yarn bomber strikes at Compo Beach, near the Soundview Drive parking lot.
“06880” started a “COVID Roundup.” It evolved into today’s daily, all-inclusive (and non-COVID) Roundup. We started the online art gallery that first week of the pandemic too.
Some of that seems like it happened 5 centuries ago. Some of it seems like yesterday.
Now — half a decade later — “06880” wants to know: How has COVID changed you, and your life in Westport?
If you lived here a long time, has there been a lasting impact on your relationship to this town? If you were one of the “COVID people” who moved here because of the pandemic, how has that worked out?
What are the permanent changes we’ve seen, now that the virus has receded? What were some that did not last, but maybe should have?
Please email your experiences and insights (and photos, if you’ve got any) to 06880blog@gmail.com. We’ll post them soon.
In the meantime: Stay safe.
But enjoy the world, and Westport, every day.
You never know what lurks around the corner.
(“06880” is your place for hyper-local news — and community conversation. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Not for all, but it was a glorious time for my husband and I , we started the pandemic becoming grandparents. Our daughter and her husband moved from the city into our home … thinking it was only temporary she was having their first beautiful baby girl.They ended up purchasing a home in Fairfield. Meanwhile, to make a long story short, we had five grandchildren, four of which were born during the pandemic and one five months before. So that’s how our life changed all for the better it gave us an immersion of love and family time. During Covid, we did not get Covid but last summer in July we all got it…. That’s our family covid story 💜❤️🩷💙💚👶👶👶👶👶 PS no twins
I was a “COVID person.” My husband, our son (who was 3 at the time) and I moved to Westport right before official lockdown. We didn’t know a thing about Westport, only what our realtor told us. We didn’t have much time to decide so moving here was definitely rushed. Turns out, moving to Westport was the best decision, we discovered a few years later after restrictions loosened and we could really discover the town. COVID was the worst thing to happens to us in a very long time but it led us to Westport and for that, we are thankful!
P.S. – although masks are no longer mandated and many continue to look at masks as making a political statement, I believe they still should be used when needed because they do work in minimizing virus transmission (viruses of all kinds). Maybe if more people (who are sick) wore masks around this time of year where sicknesses are being spread like wildfire, we wouldn’t have an epidemic of various illnesses like we do now shared amongst us….maybe…
Well I am isolating at home with COVID for the 3rd time so happy anniversary indeed! There are so many viruses around at the moment and so few people wearing masks in crowded situations …
Great prompt, Dan! I’ve been thinking about this- if 5 years ago I would predict what would change. We definitely experienced grand plans interrupted- our daughter was studying abroad in Cannes, excited for the culmination with the Cannes Film Festival celebration (she’s a cinematographer), our son was a senior at boarding school and navigating college acceptance and revisit days. Some amazing trips booked for my hubby and I. All of which cut short with kids returning home- the lovely silver lining to the covid cloud.
I personally managed group purchasing contracts with hospital systems across the country, working for a molecular diagnostics company- we manufactured systems/kits for infectious disease testing at hospitals, VA’s, clinics. Needless to say, I was part of the pandemic response trying to allocate kits we were in no way prepared to manufacture at a rate beyond understanding. We tried strategies… diverting one kit’s manufacturing for covid. Who thought STDs would be in demand with everyone home? Oh… right… Praying the new lot would pass to avoid that bad news call… It was insane. It was heartbreaking empathy. And just when we thought it was subsiding, the surges would hit again, and again.
Five years later- kids graduated, happy, and working. Squeezed in a few trips with my hubby. Me? A real-life “Hallmark Story”- I left the covid-induced crazy corporate life, having gratefully served the pandemic response that culminated a career in diagnostics, to open a chocolate shop, in Connecticut of course! Life is sweet with a little bite of happy. It’s a working movie title…
Don’t fall for it a second time.
Don’t fall for it? You mean like the 1 million dead from Covid Americans, that “fell for it”?
God Forbid it ever comes back, or anything like it – but if it does, Mr. Colapietro, I think you should be the Guinea Pig for Donald Trump’s bleach spray remedy, gosh darn it that didn’t work last time but next time maybe it might, and/or the veterinary medications the Trump physicians then started pushing on people, gosh darn it those didn’t work either. But thank God we now have RFK Jr. and he will be ready to give you a full treatment of leeches to cure you. They worked in the Middle Ages, right ? You can be the Guinea Pig for that. Maybe the leeches will work. You can be the Guinea Pig for all that. Meanwhile all the sane people can thank their lucky stars that America has the world’s best pharmaceutical industry and that we have a deep bench of really extraordinary physicians and researchers, nurses, and medical technicians; and while you are “testing” the Trump bleach spray remedy, and the veterinary medications recommended by the Trump physicians – horse vaccines and the like, and the leech treatment from RFK Jr., the sane people will get their medications from actual legitimate drug companies, and the vast majority of those people will be cured, and you won’t be.
In April, during the beginning, my wife and I were blessed with our first grandchild and then had to visit while standing outside of their sliding glass doors of their home. We had our second grandchild 2 years later but we still had to do all of the precautionary steps. We then had to visit my wife’s aging parents at the nursing home while standing outside of their window, thankfully they were on the first floor. When we opened back up at work, we went from having gallery exhibits to appointment only due to the social distancing regulations, which the framing clients actually liked, so we kept with that for a while. Now, I take appointments if the client prefers but it is “walk-ins welcome” again! I keep masks on hand and sanitizer if that makes a client feel more comfortable.
How did it change me? After the two shots and one booster, I have a constant white noise.
I think every student, no matter where they are from or which school they graduated from, can all have their 2020 class reunions together as the pandemic united them all.
Glad you’ve joined the community, Cubie, and thank you for following the science. Even now Covid’s no picnic, and Long Covid (though largely ignored) can be hell.
We really never changed our lives. We entertained, got together with friends, traveled again to Croatia and several other international destinations .. easy to use points. No crazy panic as in the US, life continued, kids went to school and learned. It was just another illness like measles and diphtheria….except this escaped from a Chinese lab and globally spread because of global travel.
Just another illness like measles? Measles was effectively gone from the United States by the year 2000. Too bad it’s making a comeback in Texas and in other fiefdoms throughout the confederacy while Worm Brain and Manbaby ignore it. We’ve already had one child die from a completely preventable disease.
And there’s been no conclusion that the “china flu” originated in a Chinese lab, but it sure gives FoxNewsNation something else to misinform their audience about.
Real estate market prices of home values have sky rocketed.
Long after COVID was over, Westport was exponentially higher than other neighboring towns to move to. More commercial spaces are occupied as well, lot of growth in town plus the population increase.
Lot of new residents, excited to live here and find that, “home” feeling but also get use to the constraints of living in a town that was first settled in the 1600s by the Bankside Farmers.
Fridays in town during “rush” hour is a reminder of the relaxed Covid days, but before that, going from Westport to Greenwich or the NY border in under 30 minutes was heaven. No traffic.
Towns have their ups and downs. Can we continue to keep climbing, or will the demand soften and relax and slow development, enrollment rate and demand to live here? 🤷🏽♂️
Great post Dan, and since partisan politics are eroding my overall enjoyment of your blog, I will avoid them.
The permanent change is to mental health, and I’m not sure it recovers. If you Google “US School Shootings”, post say 2022 is pretty horrific. 115 and 116 in 2018/19/20, 327 in the school year ending 2023. Isolating kids, not great, although many Fairfield county towns did a nice job opening fall 2020 classrooms.
Adults haven’t fared much better. Employers have had to threaten and/or beg their employees to come back. Many of us have big jobs with big responsibilities and big benefits so we comply, but large swaths of America are still entrenched at home even in 2025. Good for some, bad for most.
It’s easy to second guess all the decisions, and there were bi-partisan wins and losses.
I remember on 9/11/01 thinking that was the most traumatic thing I’d go thru, in some respects the lingering effects of the pandemic have been way worse.
The largest percentage, 42%, of school shooters are students of the affected school. And most of the firearms used in their shootings were “obtained” from their home.
Want to keep your school, your child and your family safe? REMOVE ALL FIREARMS FROM YOUR HOME. It is not a fool proof system, but neither are airbags or seat belts. How about saving some lives instead of saving none?
Russell drives a Tesla.
Gee, and to think you had the opportunity to offer 06880 readers a witty retort, but you couldn’t put together a coherent sentence that articulated a coherent thought. Kind of reminds me of a movie I saw once where the character self reflected, “…I’m very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say…”
Care to play another round? I’ll give you extra credit if you can identify the film I quoted.
Annie Hall the movie and great response to Mr. Hilts:)
You’re two for two so you’re batting 1000! Congratulations!
Go yanks!
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, I was living with my husband in a very. comfortable house. He had a heart condition,
but we enjoyed what we had, and managed to do many things.
Then Covid struck, and I learned that my best friend from High School was one of the first 1000 Covid deaths.
In May, we decided to move to a Senior Housing domicile. It was beautiful, and well-maintained. My beloved husband lived there for five days; then he passed (from his heart condition).
A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with Covid and quarantined for fifteen days in a new home where I knew no one and was totally isolated.
So, all in all, I can’t say that the pandemic treated me favorably. I’ve gotten all the shots I could possibly need to protect me against the next outbreak of something — I hope.