Now and Then: A Look at Dallas During Lookdown and a Year Later

A little over a year ago, Dallas joined the rest of the country and went into in a hard lockdown. Businesses closed and workers were sent home. Schools were shuttered and airlines stopped flying. Bars stopped serving and musicians stopped playing. In many ways, it was The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Back in March of 2020, we reported on the surreal silence in the empty city.

Fast forward one year. Almost 50,000 Texans are dead from COVID; who knows how many small businesses lost, along with high school graduations, family gatherings, vacations and the now horribly underrated opportunities to hangs out with friends. Almost a year to the day, Gov. Abbot declared that Texas is back and 100 percent open. No state mask mandates, and no capacity limitations.

But, let's face it; This was a tough 12 months. While numbers continue to trend in the right direction, the virus is still out there. People are still getting sick and people are still dying. While some folks want to declare victory and get right back in the swing of things, others are far more cautious. Very few have been left unchanged by the experience of the last year.

Have we won the war or just the latest few battles? Will we ever party like it's 2019 again? Or are we locked into a new normal? We went out to some of the same locations to look for clues. Eleven pairs of pictures, each separated by 13 months.