As weeks turn into months, Washingtonians try to make sense of the pandemic. Every walk of life has been upended by COVID-19, and as cases continue to multiply, we have tried to learn how to adjust. We've faced changes to rituals, celebrations, work and play. Elections and another national reckoning with institutionalized racism merged together with the health crisis to present unprecedented challenges, isolation and adjustments.

It’s adapt or disappear in the pandemic economy.

Prospectors headed to the 1897 gold rush in Alaska had to bring tons of provisions with them. Some imagined the possibility of airships carrying freight and gold back and forth to the Klondike, and suddenly, airships were being "seen" all over the world.

Erin Simmons is a front-end manager at Central Market in Mill Creek, Snohomish County. Daily life at the store has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition to having new safety measures such as plexiglass at checkout stands and employees sanitizing carts, Simmons says the store's atmosphere feels tenser than before. 

Local supermarkets aren't typically thought of as dangerous places. However, during a pandemic, stores become front lines. Customers continue to shop and people need to eat, casting everyday essential workers like Simmons into cornerstones of society.