7 Things I Learned From Being in a Pandemic in Montana

The Center for Disease Control has announced that on May 11, 2023, they will end the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration. This doesn't mean the virus has gone away, it means that it will no longer be considered a health emergency. The past four years have been rough and historic. Here are 7 things that I learned about Montana surviving an epidemic.

Montana is a great place to be- I always knew Montana was a great place to be. I've lived here my entire life. Montana was a major destination for people wanting to escape during Covid, we were actually number one when it came to people moving here.

Montana supports it's health care workers- I will never forget the pots and pans, the yelling, the neighborhood dogs howling to support our health care workers. I can't remember ever seeing that kind of support for anyone in our communities.

Montanans still help each other- When the shortage of supplies started happening like, toilet paper, baking yeast, milk, or eggs, social media groups would post and help people find what was needed. It wasn't a perfect system, but it was an example of neighbors helping neighbors.

Montana's land is very precious- When people wanted to get away from everyone, they hit the woods, hard. Campgrounds were full. RVs were flying off the lots. People wanted to get away from the cities.

Montana internet needs upgrading- When "remote working" became an important part of everyday lives, and with the increase in people moving here, we saw lots of internet infrastructure issues. In rural Montana, we need to invest in getting a reliable and fast internet.

Montanans still hate to be told what to do- Montanans didn't like to be told to wear masks. We didn't like to be told businesses or schools had to be shut down. We didn't like to be told to get a vaccine. This was a level of government we weren't used to in Montana.

Montana is the only place I want to be during a Pandemic-  I came to the conclusion that if I ever have to live through a pandemic again in my lifetime, I hope I am lucky enough to still be in Montana.

Hopefully we won't have another pandemic in Montana ever again

This pandemic will be officially over in the next few days. It was hard for many Montanans. I was lucky that I was able to work through the pandemic. It wasn't easy and it wasn't all good, I lost good friends in the pandemic. Hopefully we can move on and not have to live through another pandemic ever again.