NMDA Journal Winter 2020-21

nmdental.org 17 COVID by the Numbers On a scale from 1 to 10, please rate the level of stress your student loan situation placed on you personally BEFORE the COVID-19 pandemic. All Respondents 649 Responses 1 4 7 10 5.9 1 4 4.5 On a scale from 1 to 10, please rate the level of stress your student loan situation has placed on you personally NOW. All Respondents 649 Responses 1 4 7 10 5.9 1 4 7 10 4.5 younger dentists at risk even prior to the pandemic, it should not be surprising that the added burden of temporary or perma- nent unemployment would contribute to higher levels of anxiety and stress. By the Numbers Surveys and statistical analysis tell an important part of the story of the pandemic, but it is only a part of the story. They pro- vide an objective view of people’s subjective experience, but tell us little of what that experience really was. A year from now, we hope that the pandemic will be over and that some level of normality, whatever that looks like post-pandemic, will begin to take hold. People will recall the pandemic through the filters of their own experience. HPI’s time-lapse snapshots may provide added insight when added to the colorful personal stories we have to tell. Any story of a disaster must include the recovery. The innovations, adaptation, and resilience of those that lived through it will be the most important lesson to be remembered.