The frightening, post-election COVID surge is making everything feel strange, different and unsettled all over again.

Why it matters: With Thanksgiving cancelled, doctors quitting their practices and grocers limiting purchase quantities (again), Americans have the ambient sense that our safety net is unraveling. Not only are things not returning to normal, they may not return to normal for a long time.

The people and institutions we look towards for guidance and leadership — like elected officials and medical authorities — seem as flummoxed by the pandemic as we are. They issue new rules day by day (closing schools, restricting shopping, issuing curfews), yet look helpless and flailing as infections rise.

• Our comforting touch points, like family get-togethers and holiday rituals, are suddenly off limits.
• There are fewer entertainments and distractions, with movie theaters closed and our appetites for TV-bingeing satiated a long time ago.
• For those who derive comfort from their faith, remote worship offers less fulfillment.

Strangely, CEOs and corporate America have been serving as a rare anchor in this unmoored reality, attempting to provide some moral suasion and fueling the engine behind the stock market’s rally.

• Companies like Pfizer and Moderna are looking like the heroes of the day — though their vaccines can’t come soon enough to allay our worst fears.
• Meanwhile, the restaurateurs and merchants who form the pillars of our communities are suffering with growing intensity before our eyes.

Economically, the nation is heading into uncharted territory, with COVID-related uncertainty obliterating all forecast attempts.

• While many Americans are doing fine financially, it’s hard not to think that a lot of people’s personal finances may be poised to head off a cliff — and the promise of federal help is looking questionable.

Politically, the standoff between President Trump and the rightfully elected new administration has left a vacuum.

• By all accounts, the situation is thwarting efforts to attack the coronavirus.

Socially, we feel isolated and trapped in our pandemic ruts, not even permitted to savor the promise of holidays we’ve been looking forward to.

• Doctors say pandemic-induced loneliness will shorten life expectancies.

Culturally and intellectually, the arts, concerts, films, and literary output that we rely on to enhance our lives are dampened or depressed by pandemic strictures.

Emotionally, we worry about ourselves, our loved ones, and all of our futures. How will the pandemic stunt my child’s education, my career trajectory, my experience of the world? And what if I get sick, and there’s no hospital bed available?

• “Thousands of medical practices have closed during the pandemic,” per the NYT.

What’s next: “Next Thanksgiving will be different,” Dr. Anthoni Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday.

• Americans who persevere through 2021 will, we can all hope, weather this turmoil and see flourishing times ahead.