Acid rain on my parade
A great variety of slag falls on the Earth in this period. The danger is much like when the Columbia disintegrated above Texas. No one really wants to be outside with twenty-four hour meteor showers going on. Most material did not survive reentry. Unfortunately, the mass of influx exceeded the easy dispersal capacity of our winds. All countries suffered ashy weather for a time. California readers can recall the discomfort and ubiquity of the ash from the fire of 2003. Larger objects survived, some even remained intact (hull fragments). Dredging will recover some ‘useful' artifacts, toothbrush and battery analogs. The possibly intact technologies remain in orbit, a double flash fry stint proved too much for desired hand cannons or medical equipment.
Despite the sturm und drang of the ejecta, people ventured outside. They had to do all we did during those fires. The drifts built up but a day's fall could be as little as a centimeter. I daresay, rare couples even got a thrill from doing it outside in alien soot (coprophiliacs?). But farmers swept family fields, soldiers trained, and students rushed in between classes. In retrospect, Mexican agricultural orientation amongst indigenous people accounted for its high rates of exposure.
Hidden in the haystack of filth, canisters barely survived the descent and often spilled and vaporized a mutagenic suspension. (Let's ignore that the liquid would scald after the tube warmed at terminal velocity.) Only much later, after the period of orbital recovery, did anyone have samples to study. The physical empowerment of its victims spoke clearly enough for the initial period.
Writing so brief an account feels strange. I could write fifteen pages of all my planned backstory, but I would collapse long before then. I see these posts last the perfect length to come home and type shortly before going to bed, whilst ensuring enough depth that they inspire other areas. (I see apocalyptic movements/cults from these conditions but hadn't yet realized it.)