We expect summer fog in San Francisco, but this year has been particularly foggy. It’s disorienting to see no landmarks, to have a nearby street or the entire Bay invisible in the mist. Of course, if one keeps going, the streets and hills do come into view. You find your bearings, choose your direction, and move forward.

When the San Francisco Bay Area shut down in mid-March of 2020, I was almost relieved. The previous few weeks had involved way too many unaccustomed choices: Should we be eating in a restaurant? How close should we get to other people in the grocery store? Were we really going to that concert, or was it going to be cancelled?