Suzy Margueron, a retiree in Paris, usually walks five miles a day, so she knew something was wrong when she barely had the energy to make it to the grocery store in the spring. As it turned out, she was infected with COVID-19. She spent a week collapsed on her couch in March.
Even after recovering, the effects of the pandemic continue to create particular challenges for her. That’s because Margueron lost nearly all of her hearing as a young woman — and trying to communicate with people wearing face masks makes daily life exceedingly difficult.
“It’s a drama for all the hard-of-hearing people,” she explains. “I can hear your voice and understand you if I can read your lips. But if you have a mask, I can’t understand anything. It’s horrible. I must guess. All the time, I must guess.”
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