| The friendly skies are less friendly in the age of coronavirus. Face coverings are required on planes. People must stand six feet apart when boarding. Snacks are delivered in paper bags. I took my first flight in four months on Saturday. After debating whether to risk it, I decided to take the plunge. I spent weeks procuring masks and gloves and planning every move from when I left my Manhattan apartment to when I arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Surely, everyone was equally as nervous and cautious as I was, right? Sort of. Most people I saw at LaGuardia Airport early Saturday morning were wearing masks, some even donning goggles to protect their eyes from viral intruders. But a handful were not. One young woman at my gate sat barefaced until we began boarding.  Disinfecting a Frontier airplane at Denver International Airport in Colorado. Photographer: AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images People respected the markers on the floor telling them to space out while boarding. But just a few steps over, a line of stressed out passengers waiting to rebook their flights stood tightly together. How can you possibly enforce social distancing at an airport? Whose responsibility would it be anyway? In the air, people seemed to obey the requirement to wear a mask. The second we pulled up to the gate, everyone scrambled to the aisle so they could retrieve their bag from the overhead bin, tossing social distancing aside and reverting right back to their usual behaviors. I sat in my seat in the last occupied row while everyone else deplaned. Upon exiting, I found the first bathroom and immediately washed my hands and changed my clothes. Meanwhile, my fellow passengers proceeded to baggage claim. The experience seemed a microcosm of American life today. Within months of lockdowns across the country, people are resuming their lives in this new normal–some living with more fear than others.—Angelica LaVito | 
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