Recurring Nightmare
Recurring Nightmare
[Megan, standing next to Cueball, is gesturing with her arms wide.] Megan: I keep having nightmares that I show up at school, and then suddenly panic as I realize– Cueball: –that you're naked? Megan: That I'm in a crowded room!

This comic is the eleventh comic in a row in a series of comics about the COVID-19 pandemic .
Megan states to Cueball that she keeps having the same nightmare. As she begins to explain that in her dream she shows up at school and panics as she realizes something, Cueball interrupts her to suggest she has turned up at school naked. But instead, Megan says that she finds herself in a crowded room at school.
It is an allegedly frequent dream-trope to be in a situation of otherwise polite company and discover oneself naked in the midst of the crowd. This can be added to something such as a general " forgotten to prepare for the exam you're sitting " to build upon various levels of worst-case scenario anxieties amongst your peers, parents or other persons who will judge you badly for your faux pas .
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, Megan is obviously dreaming up her problem of being in a crowd (at school), as most schools have stopped holding in-person classes (at the time of this comic, most schools in many countries had switched to online instruction or have completely closed due to the pandemic).
Social distancing has been widely practiced around the world as a way to slow the spread of the disease. In the title text, Megan finds relief in dreaming that she's naked, as her nudity, perhaps similar to the actual real-life 'health tip' of eating excessive garlic, has the unintentional but beneficial effect of having crowd members back away from her personal space out of shock and/or mutual embarrassment.  This may somewhat mitigate the viral transmission by droplets from coughs, although to be more protected, Megan should dream that she is at least wearing a face mask, or that she is going to thoroughly wash her hands as soon as possible, in case she has touched any contaminated surfaces.
Nightmares about school were also the topic of 557: Students , specifically stating that people have dreams about school, even when already having graduated.
[Megan, standing next to Cueball, is gesturing with her arms wide.] Megan: I keep having nightmares that I show up at school, and then suddenly panic as I realize– Cueball: –that you're naked? Megan: That I'm in a crowded room!
