Mental health experts offer advice on how to handle the return to indoor life the cooler weather will bring.
Abby Guido is dreading the winter. The cold will force her family back into the same kind of lockdown they faced in the early days of the pandemic. “It’s constantly on my mind,” said Ms. Guido, 41, an assistant professor of graphic and interactive design at Temple University.
Ms. Guido’s husband, Chris, has lymphoma, so the family needs to be particularly careful. He’s in remission, but since chemotherapy has weakened his immune system — potentially elevating the risks of Covid-19 — the family stayed in lockdown until the weather grew warmer in late May, allowing safe outdoor activities. At last they could ride bikes with their two children, explore the park and picnic with friends.
Soon this will end. The isolation will return. Ms. Guido recently began taking the antidepressant Lexapro to calm the looming anxiety, “kind of in preparation for the feelings I know will be coming this winter.”
Millions can relate. The summer brought relief for many — outdoor brunches, rambling walks, beers on the stoop — yet in the latest of 2020’s cruel twists, the plunge in temperature may cause a surge in infections and stress.
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