Interactive: How the Coronavirus Has Changed Our Lives

From furloughed workers to front-line responders, Americans from all ages and walks of life wrote in to describe their new, bewildering reality. View an interactive display of responses below

Isolated. Unemployed. Worried, anxious and afraid. This is the bewildering reality for millions of people across a country that has found itself a new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.

From furloughed workers to front-line responders, Americans across the spectrum wrote in to describe their new lives.

More than 2,500 readers responded to describe their experiences with the coronavirus as cases of COVID-19 in the United States spiked exponentially. Most worried about their elderly parents and grandparents. Others wondered how they would pay their bills, rent and insurance with sudden, widespread unemployment across the board. School seniors ask if they would see their friends and the community they've known for years for the very last time.

These are their stories.

Have a story to share with us? Tell us here.

Development: Nelson Hsu
Interactive: Nina Lin
Editing: Dan Macht
Additional reporting by Noreen O'Donnell

Responses have been lightly edited for context and typos.

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