SARS-CoV-2 - Then & Now (2021)

At the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020), I documented impacts at several locations.  This past Spring (2021), I returned to those same spots to capture how things have changed in a year’s time.

An Important Note About Timing

Although I’m posting this Then & Now in late Summer, all of the “Now” photos in this post were captured in April and May of 2021, to compare to those images from “Then” in the same months of 2020.  I’ve been behind in posting to my Blog and social media accounts, so although I captured and edited these photos earlier in the year with the intention of posting immediately, work and life got in the way and I’m catching up and sharing this comparison with you now.

Please keep this in mind, as some things have changed, locations have updated even further, and more retailers have reopened in the months between these pictures being captured in Spring, 2021, and being posted in late Summer, 2021. Because of this gap and the rapidly changing landscape in the midst of COVID-19, pictures in this post from 2021 may already be out of date and not accurately represent current operating status - please refer to the appropriate respective website or physical location for the most up-to-date information.

In my original 2020 posts, I documented the shelves at numerous local retailers, but I’m not including a Then & Now comparison for these in this post because this is a well-documented difference everyone witnessed to some extent or another.

Fairfax County Neighborhoods

In 2020, I captured several local playgrounds which had been closed following national, state, and county level guidance and executive orders closing parks.  Although orders to close were mandated by Governors, state health departments, and local governance and property owners alike, many people flagrantly disobeyed, tearing down barriers and signage to access parkspaces and playgrounds.

A closed Fairfax County playground in Spring, 2020.

Today, these parks and playgrounds have been reopened, the barricades removed, and temporary signs replaced with permanent signage displaying rules for use including social distancing, and waivers of liability.

A reopened Fairfax County playground in Spring, 2021.

Airports

Washington Dulles International Airport

Airports across the World were hit hard as travel became unsafe and oftentimes impossible with sweeping flight cancellations and suspension of air service for many carriers.

Washington Dulles International Airport was hit especially hard as almost all international travel was halted for the majority of 2020.  At the Main Terminal, the normally bustling Departure Level had no cars present whatsoever.  Inside, all ticket counter stanchions had been stowed to open up a the freshly cleaned terrazzo floor.  All but one security checkpoint was closed due to so few travelers passing through and needing to be screened.  An eerie silence filled the spacious building as background music had been turned off to save on licensing fees, and the only people present were a handful of employees.  Only the drone of HVAC filled the space.

With very few flights scheduled, FIDS screens were replaced with guidance on proper handwashing techniques.  Social distancing signage was hastily printed and posted on Travelers Aid desks, but the now-ubiquitous 6ft spaced floor stickers were only present at the lower level Starbucks.  No guidance on masking was posted anywhere at this very early point in the pandemic, although I was already wearing an N95 at this time.

Downstairs, the Arrivals level was somehow even more vacant.  Signage pointed United employees to a dedicated temperature screening area, mandatory for each employee to visit prior to starting their workday; remember, this was even before COVID testing had been developed, let alone rolled out en masse.  At the time of photography, this screening station was unstaffed, as vacant as the rest of the lower level.

Washington Dulles International Airport in Spring, 2020. Security checkpoints close and passengers are scarce as airlines suspend operations at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Today the departure level is once again bustling, with traffic wrapping all around the “racetrack” in the afternoons (although this isn’t shown at the time I photographed this follow-up set), and passengers crowding the interior during morning and afternoon banks such that social distancing is frequently an impossible task.  International air travel has resumed along many air routes Dulles serves, and in some cases new domestic and international routes have been added in as demand has changed - the entire aviation landscape has shifted in a year’s time.

FIDS are still not completely filled like they were pre-pandemic, but are well above the 50% mark once again, with the dead space now showing directions to retailers that are currently operating.  On all entranceways, permanent signage has been added displaying that all persons entering are required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

The lower level was even busier, with visitors once again awaiting loved ones aboard resumed international flights, and passengers gathering their luggage from baggage claims.  Mirroring the social distancing stickers placed on the Departure level floors at ticket counters, each baggage claim how has decals asking travelers not to crowd around the belts as luggage arrives.

Washington Dulles International Airport in Spring, 2021. Security checkpoints reopen and passengers return as most airlines resume operations in 2021.

Ronald Reagan National Airport

When SARS-CoV-2 surged in Spring of 2020, DCA was similarly impacted.  Upon arriving, the first indication that this wouldn’t be a normal airport experience was the empty parking garage.  Inside, National Hall wasn’t strictly vacant like at IAD, however the only people present were employees.  Airlines that had suspended operations had dire messages reading “Closed due to COVID-19” displayed on their check-in counters.

All information desks were closed, with signage simply stating Shopping & Dining retail hours had been adjusted, but with no further details.  On a nearby column, a “COVID-19 Hand Sanitizer” dispenser was placed, and nearby ad space instead displayed messages encouraging social distancing as a lone unmasked passenger walked by.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2020. Passengers are scarce as airlines suspend operations at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Since DCA is a smaller and much more densely laid out airport, it was even more visually apparent seeing all concessions closed together, many still decorated for the Cherry Blossom Festival which had come and gone several months prior.  Many showed evidence of their hurried closure, with signs hastily printed and posted crooked on storefronts.  Some had more permanent signage on display.  Most had no signage at all, including some which had just newly opened several months before the pandemic.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2020. Restaurants and retailers close as a safety precaution and as required by law at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Most striking was the closure of security checkpoints and the entire concourse behind them.  As many airlines cancelled flights, operations were consolidated to other terminals, cutting back on manpower to screen passengers and maintain sections of the airport.  Stanchions were stowed away opening up the terrazzo floor’s design in the sunlight as CDC guidance displayed overhead promoting proper hand-washing.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2020. Security checkpoints close as airlines suspend operations at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

Today, DCA’s parking garages are almost as difficult to find a spot in as before the pandemic, and National Hall is once again filled with people; masked passengers trickle in to departures, and flock through terminals as flights arrive.  Some airlines are still not operating, though most have resumed operations or are near original operating capacity; some have even added new routes.  Check-in desk signage has been updated to the much more succinct and less ominous “Closed.”

Travelers Aid desks have reopened, with the early-pandemic signage replaced by airport-wide mask usage advisories.  Some things have remained the same; hand sanitizer stations are still present and still branded with COVID-19 labels, and some of the original social distancing signage remains - that was good advice from the beginning.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2021. Passengers return as most airlines resume operations in 2021.

Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons, some of the retail stores and restaurants have not reopened.  Some that have remained closed still bear the same printed paper signage, though someone has come along to straighten or update the “temporary” notices.  Others, sadly, are completely gone a year later; vacant and awaiting a new tenant.  Since I’ve worked closely with the concessions programs at IAD and DCA for almost the last decade, photographing every single store and restaurant at both airports, the sweeping closures have been truly saddening to see, but it’s hope inspiring to see the majority of concessionaires one again open and serving passengers after witnessing last year’s necessary pause in operations.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2021. Most restaurants and retailers reopen, though some remain closed for a variety of reasons in 2021.

Most concessions, however, have reopened, and construction has completed on an entirely new terminal with new concessions gradually opening inside it the rest of this year.  At Terminal C, which was closed in 2020, the TSA screening checkpoint has reopened in 2021, with the same CDC hand-washing signage still cycling overhead as passengers stroll toward their flights.  The picture below was taken just one day before the new Terminal C expansion was opened for public flight operations, so the dustwall shown below is now open to public at time of writing.

Inside the new 14 gate Terminal C expansion, departure boards are filling up quickly as the new gates are already being utilized by American flights.

Ronald Reagan National Airport in Spring, 2021. Security checkpoints reopen and passengers return as airlines resume operations in 2020.

XpresSpa & XpresCheck

The XpresSpa & XpresCheck retail space merit a closer look.  This is a location I didn’t specifically capture last year because when I captured my Before pictures in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, XpresSpa hadn’t transformed into the clinical testing chain it would become later in 2020.

XpresSpa opened at DCA in 2015, offering massage, mani / pedi, and other relaxing services to pamper yourself before or after a stressful flight.  The interior featured massage chairs, manicure stations, and two private massage suites, as well as cosmetics and personal care items for sale.

These images were photographed in 2015 upon XpresSpa’s opening for marketing and press release purposes.

Today, the entire XpresSpa has pivoted their business to COVID-19 testing, and rebranded as XpresCheck.  In 2020, XpresSpa had locations at 80 airports across the nation; flash forward a year, and only two XpresSpas are currently open - all others have closed or converted to one of the 13 XpresCheck COVID-19 testing clinics located at 11 US airports.  XpresCheck at Reagan National is equipped to handle 300 tests per day, and 500 per day at Dulles.  At $250 for a Rapid PCR Test, the move that took a mere 75 days to execute from inception to deployment not only saved the brand in a year where the personal care industry was upended by the need to social distance, but in fact is more profitable, even with less than 1/5th the locations.

These images were photographed in March, 2021 upon XpresCheck’s opening for marketing and press release purposes.

Inside, XpresCheck has 4 private screening rooms, and offers Rapid Molecular NAAT Tests, Standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Tests, and Rapid PCR Testing.

Rapid tests are processed on-site, with results delivered within an hour; crucial for travelers en route to national hotspots and foreign countries with entry requirements including negative COVID-19 tests.

You can read more about XpresCheck’s services and schedule an appointment on their website.

These images were photographed in March, 2021 upon XpresCheck’s opening for marketing and press release purposes.

Like at DCA, the XpresCheck testing clinic at Washington Dulles International Airport is also pre-security, so individuals do not need a ticket to be screened for COVID-19.

XpresCheck at Washington Dulles International Airport, Spring, 2021.

Final Thoughts

Everyone can agree that 2020 was not a normal year; the pandemic changed everything in Spring, 2020, but a year later, although the World is different, it has adapted and risen to the challenge. 2021 has shown that although change can be big and fast, and things may be different, we can achieve and overcome almost anything with a bit of time and ingenuity, even if things aren’t quite what we imagined a year prior. Just like the shelves at our local supermarkets that were once empty, in 2021 the World has adapted and created solutions to 2020 problems.

SARS-CoV-2 - May

In keeping with my last post, I’m compiling all the unusual (or usual by now) sights I’ve spotted in my quarantine outings. Honestly, beyond the requisite safety precautions, “quarantine” seems like an American misnomer compared to the much earlier and more comprehensive prevention protocols in other countries; so much is still allowed and considered essential.

Retail

While March and April saw widespread shortages of staple commodities such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer, May is seeing these items make a gradual reappearance in stores. In fact one store I visited at the end of May, while following a tip on disinfecting wipes, had a cornucopia of TP taller than me, and larger than a pack of cars.

All images shot and edited on iPhone.

Although I had a limited supply of disinfectant wipes, I’ve been trying to secure a few more containers so I don’t have to outright ration their use on my gear, etc. In the last two weeks alone I’ve found disinfectant wipes in stock at at various websites, but they’ve sold out by time I’ve made it to the shopping card 5x now. Then, I managed to get an order to process for one before it sold out, but when I received the shipment from Amazon proper, I was delivered an unopened shipping bag empty except for a piece of scrap cardboard; the stocker had obviously not placed my item in the bag - what happened after that; my guess is probably the same as yours. However, since then, between the help of some close friends and a little luck, I’ve secured what I need for now.

Restaurants

For takeout, I’ve mostly done curbside or drive-through, but those that I’ve gone inside… it’s still weird seeing once bustling places empty and quiet.

All images shot and edited on iPhone.

Burke Lake Park

Virginia’s county, state, and national parks have been closed for some time now (and as of this writing, they are still closed for anything but recreation - the facilities are still shuttered and offices are not open for business). With gyms closed, I’ve been endurance training harder than even the season following my knee surgery rehab, and Burke Lake Park offers a lot to me as a runner - at 4.5mi, one lap can be stretched to 5mi, two laps easily stretches to a 10 miler, and 3 laps is just over a half-marathon. So though I’m not hiking every other weekend with friends like a normal Summer, here’s a little nature for you.

All images shot on EOS R and edited on a color calibrated computer.

Playgrounds

Following that, although county, state, and national parks have been largely closed, not all people or organizations have understood the orders, or have flagrantly ignored them - locally, this has emerged as people disagreeing about the usage of playgrounds. For some HOAs, it took legal threats from the Department of Health to finally close recreational facilities restricted by Executive Orders. Here is what that looks like in some places.

All images shot on EOS R and edited on a color calibrated computer.

SARS-CoV-2 - March & April

As you are more than well aware, quite a lot has changed since the last time I posted.

Right around the time some family health issues that had taken most of my time were finally settling down a bit, the newly infamous novel coronavirus hit the US. You can learn more about my professional response to COVID-19 and subsequent service changes here.

This is a collection of photographs I have captured since SARS-CoV-2 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization to today’s mid-May posting. As I am a caregiver to someone at very high risk, my outings since before quarantine even began have been limited to grocery / food / fundamental shopping, healthcare and pharmacy visits, and my regular trail-running (hey, I stopped going to the gym due to the high risk before they even closed - I’ve never been up to half-marathon distance so early in the running season - I’ve already run two 13.1s and one 10 miler this year, on top of my standard training regimen).

Grocery

By now it’s not just common; it’s an expected sight - barren paper aisles, empty soap sections, cold medicine picked over and packages haphazardly ripped into, the contents stolen. It was only after weeks of this that stores even began limiting purchase quantities on high-demand items.

I’ve been lucky and have thus far been able to source everything needed to stay safe with the help of friends. Some hard-to-find items I’ve even had enough to safely share with friends or give to their high-risk or frontline-working families.

As an aside, the health and legal implications of COVID-19 have disrupted the paper industry even for printing - print production for most things like prints and albums have halted from almost all printing partners - it’s an odd industry impact I’ve been continually watching.

All images shot and edited on iPhone.

Restaurants

Quarantine food has mostly been a case of creating meals with what’s available at the grocery store a given week, which is fun because it has forced some creativity, while sometimes also leading to frustration when you have every ingredient but one - at one point I was searching for garlic for over 3 weeks!

There have been occasions where grabbing food to-go while out has either made more sense, been more convenient, or has simply been par for the course (birthdays, holidays, etc). I’ve been doing contactless curbside pickup for all of this, except for the two instances below, which show what the interiors of some restaurants look like in response to not allowing dine-in customers. For reference, Panera Bread and Jason’s Deli are among the many restaurants offering grocery orders and delivery.

All images shot and edited on iPhone.

Airports

Washington Dulles International Airport

Finally, while my business is currently limited in what it can do (click here to read how my business is impacted and responding to COVID-19), basic operations still must go on. One of the most fundamental of business operations is maintaining currency of security training and credentials. I visited both Dulles and Reagan in order to renew my security training and badges, and documented all changes I saw while on-site. I only stayed pre-security since I did not have need to enter the SIDA for my renewals, and am not taking unnecessary excursionary risks.

Noticable changes are Dulles are the nearly empty parking lots, completely empty Terminal loops (which are usually bustling), consolidation of security checkpoints, closed ticket counters of airlines that have suspended operations, and to me most notably is how clean the floors look - I don’t think I’ve ever seen the terrazzo so brightly polished and shiny. The departures level has been cleared of most stanchions, and background music has been turned off, leaving only the ambient rumble of HVAC noise - walking the Terminal, with nobody around but a few other employees, reminded me of my days in Dulles’ engineering department, doing facility walkthroughs in the back-of-house corridors surrounded by nothing but the buildings’ natural sound and your own echo.

All images shot on EOS R and edited on a color calibrated computer.

Ronald Reagan National Airport

Reagan was the same story - I did my renewals as required by FAA / DHS, and explored the impacts pre-security. Because there was no traffic, it was easy for me to capture photos of the Ronald Reagan statue I’ve never gotten before.

Impacts that were most apparent were immediately being greeted by a nearly empty parking garage, the people in National Hall were almost entirely employees - incredibly the handful of passengers arriving off a flight were all maskless.

The saddest part of this, for me, was seeing all the shuttered concessionaires. At both airports only a handful of concessions are operating at time of writing - this is sad for me because I’ve photographed each and every single one of these. What is most striking about the closed retailers is how abruptly they closed - many are still decorated for the Cherry Blossom Festival, the height of which is when most quarantine orders took effect, or have Now Open signage on their closed storefront hastily left in the rapid closures. It saddens me to see so many beloved stores and restaurants closed for the time being.

DCA, like Dulles, has prominent signage encouraging proper mask usage and hand washing. One difference, however, is, although both airports have the same hand sanitizer dispensers, DCA’s are COVID-19 branded.

All images shot on EOS R and edited on a color calibrated computer.

Spottings

Although I’ve had opportunity to see friends and even use private gyms if desired, I haven’t taken any of these opportunities because I know how lackadaisical (read: virtually non-existent) the social distancing was. That being said, I’ve had a few chance run-ins while out and about, which, although brief, has been a nice break in the monotony.

You may recognize David and Tiffany from their engagement session and wedding I shot last year. By the way, that picture of the Dulles Main Terminal over my shoulder is a photo I shot in 2012.

All images shot and edited on iPhone.