Fast Out of the COVID Gate at Churchill Downs

It was just a sidewalk. But after more than a year of cocooned isolation, it might as well have been the DMZ. Opening the car door, my foot came to rest on the curb. All I needed to do was cross over, back to my old life, before COVID-19 changed everything.

Our Uber driver had dutifully dropped us at Logan Airport’s Terminal B, under the colorful signage of Southwest Airlines. Pre-pandemic, this would have been a moment of joy and excitement. I love airports. I love scanning the monitors, searching for my flight. I love swimming upstream against the hordes of new arrivals headed to baggage claim. I love treating myself to a copy of the New York Times and a chocolate bar as I make my way to the gate. The airport is a liminal and magical space for me, where the whole world is just a boarding pass away.

When the pandemic began last year, I was about to start a new job. I was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles the morning of March 10, 2020, but news of the virus made me uneasy and so I canceled my flight. The very next day the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Fifteen months later, I still fret over air ventilation, the possibility of sitting beside a non-compliant passenger, and a new found hesitancy to use the plane’s restroom. But I was back — just a few feet away from the…