Items

• 
  2020-02-25

  Covid journal, 2020-2023

  From the beginning, I was aware that this was a world historical event and I wanted to be very attentive to how it played out, both in the news and in my personal life. I read that diaries were scarce in the aftermath of the 1917 pandemic, so it could be useful to scholars to create one this time. I reviewed it before submission, and it reminded me of many things I had already forgotten. Once I started in February 2020, I wrote every day until mid-2021, when entries began to thin out.
• 
  2020

  From Upward Momentum to a Downhill Plummet

  Before the pandemic, things were going really well for me. I was in the second semester of my Masters program at Columbia University, putting together an exhibition that was to be displayed at the American Museum of Natural History, and had just started an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Pandemic started, and I flew home to Louisiana to quarantine with my family. In June, I realized I had two months to secure a job to stay in my apartment in Jersey City. After vacationing in Gatlinburg, I returned to spend my 24th birthday in the big apple. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure a job, forcing the breaking of my lease. I returned home October 1st.
• 
  2022-04-11

  COVID-19 Testing

  This is an Instagram post by medrite_springfieldnj. This is a PSA welcoming people to get free COVID testing. It says that no appointments necessary and walk-ins are welcome. Since the start of the pandemic, rapid testing and PCR tests have become more available and free of charge in many places. The reason many of these are free is due to state and federal governments subsidizing the costs of the tests, in addition to people volunteering to help them get done.
• 
  2021-01-30

  A View from My Window

  During a difficult time in which we are separated from one another, it is important to make the most out of every small moment. We don't notice all the tiny things that pass us by each day. This is my view.
• 
  2020

  A New Yorker's Perspective on Life During the Pandemic

  I wrote because I felt compelled to, to chronicle what was happening to try and make sense of it and help me process it.
• 
  11/13/2020

  Craig Zehms Oral History, 2020/11/13

  The interviewee, Craig Zehms, discusses how the pandemic and lockdown has affected people’s day to day lives and his initial reacions to the pandemic, stating how he believed that ony the tip of the iceberg had been hit as far as severity goes. Craig then elaborates on his day to day living in Jersey city and his heavy involvement in the community and how important contact with others is. Craig then dives into employment issues overall and then into his own experience and how a new job in real estate has been during the pandemic. Craig then talks about the importance of discipline during isolation and the challenges with keeping in contact with family and friends. At timestamp 00:37:11 Craig gives a very human example of sharing during the pandemic. Towards the end, politics are discussed that include Craig’s opinion that the federal government should have had a specific unified plan instead of having States figure it out and how he was lucky that New Jersey came up with good policy and that most of the populous followed said policy. Lastly, Craig concludes with how important family and friends are and how sharing experiences can make the hard times easier.
• 
  05/05/2021

  Jocelyn Penagos Oral History, 2021/05/05

  Jocelyn Penagos was born and raised in Columbia until the age of eight when she finally followed her older brother's footsteps and moved with her family to Florida. Leaving Colombia was a callous but necessary thing that she felt she had to do. Upon arrival in America, she began watching a movie and listening to music to better learn English. After being fluent in both languages and graduating High School, Jocelyn joined the armed services and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. She is still currently enrolled in the Marine Corps and is going on her ninth consecutive year. Jocelyn shares her experiences with covid from a military point of view. She offers great insight into what had changed or been created because of the lockdown and the virus. Jocelyn also shares with us her struggles to see her mother in Columbia because of fears that she could be the reason for her death.
• 
  2021-12-07

  Marc Carolla and Niccola Lutri Oral History, 2021/12/07

  Marc & Niccola discuss their experiences with COVID-19 and relate it to past pandemics that they learned about in class
• 
  2020-04-17

  Swimming as an Essential Activity

  While Florida is not predicted to peak until the first week of May, some cities are reopening closed beaches now, in mid-April. This hit the national news with much controversy, spawning the hashtag #floridamorons on social media. The day before I saw this article, I spoke with my parents who are at the New Jersey shore. They told me one man there was ticketed for walking his dog on the beach and a couple was ticketed and threatened with jail time for being on the beach.
• 
  2021-02-09

  MEDS disinfection system

  This article is about a new sprayer disinfection system used in the back of ambulances that had potentially covid positive patients in them. The video features Neptune Township New Jersey's ambulance personnel explaining the system and its benefits. The MEDS system uses electrostatic energy to charge the disinfection spray so that it will cover more surfaces effectively. This is ultimately better and safer for our EMS crews and their patients to combat against the Covid-19 virus. Disinfection is an important process in proper medical care, and this system is effective and quick which allows our EMS personnel to do their job better and safer.
• 
  2021-03-02

  'Persistent gap' nationwide in COVID plans for people with disabilities, advocates say

  This story resonated with me. While I was able to get the Covid-19 shot because I am a teacher, my disabled husband is not covered in any Tiers for the shot. We have no idea when he might be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine and it is scary for us. Why on earth would they not consider such a vulnerable population as a priority for the Covid-19 vaccine.
• 
  02/22/2021

  Layne Williams Oral History, 2021/02/22

  This interview is with medical profession Layne Williams who speaks about a positive aspect of the pandemic they noticed.
• 
  02/22/2021

  Robert Williams Oral History, 2021/02/22

  This interview is with Robert Williams who speaks about how working from home during the pandemic had some positive impacts.
• 2021-01-22

  Covid-19 Symptoms

  So far, I have only know two people that have had Covid-19. One of them was my uncle who lives in New Jersey, and the other was a friend of mine who is my age. My family from NJ came to visit us two weeks ago(which included my uncle), and my uncle told us that a few months he had covid-19. He said that he had no symptoms at all, the only way he even knew he had it was because he had to get tested to go back to work. The test came back positive, but he still had not even one symptom. I also have a friend who had covid-19 over winter break. He said that he had no symptoms except for he lost his taste and smell for three days. Those are the only people that I've know who have had covid-19.
• 
  0020-10-22

  Saved By A Crippling Providence

  My wife stopped walking on February 18th, 2020. On February 17, 2020, We had dinner at a friend's house in Paramus NJ. All was well. We had a great time of fellowship and drove the 1.3 hrs to drive home. The next morning when my wife got up to go to work, she had difficulty walking. It was MUCH more than difficulty, she could NOT walk at all. She screamed out in pain as she tried her best to 'still go into work'. To no avail, when I heard her cry in pain, I whisked her to the hospital. She was diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis. This was the first of two major hospital visits. Her MD MADE her stay home. February 27th....things started shutting down and by March we all know the history of what happened and is still upon us in this NOW PANDEMIC. Whether it was Providence of God or Life, My wife and I were homebound and 'quarantining' before the rules went into effect. It is now October and we are still in the 'woods' with this pandemic but my wife is doing better. This image I took in May of this year 2020. She was just starting to get back to walking. 3 months of pain and misery to be saved from the Plague of this Century. Saved by a Crippling Providence!
• 
  2020-04-16

  Lazer's Beam

  The article is one person's anecdotes about the effect of COVID restrictions on religious and lifecycle events, separating family, and postponing weddings.
• 
  09/19/2020

  Katarzyna Kumor Oral History, 2020/09/19

  This interview was conducted and uploaded for the purposed of a class at Northeastern University centered around the study of pandemics. This interview goes a bit into the experiences of a college student during their last semester before graduation. It is focused largely on interning before graduation and transitioning from student to working adult.
• 
  09/19/2020

  Teah Bordick Oral History, 2020/07/19

  This interview is a documentation of what life was like before the pandemic and how drastically life has changed since. It is also a reflection on our global reaction to the pandemic and a prediction of how life will be altered in the future.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Alyssa Fell Oral History, 2020/09/18

  This audio interview expresses Alyssa Fell's emotions and perspective on the pandemic throughout its course from March to now. The questions reflect her opinions and understanding of responses and changes due to Covid-19 in social, political, and financial regards.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Annie Schaller Oral History, 2020/09/18

  Annie, a university student in Boston, shares her perspective about how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled both when it began to take hold in March and now, as a student who returned to campus with hybrid classes. She also discusses how it affected her living situations, her experience with the Canadian response to COVID-19, and compares her situation to that of her brother's, who also attends university.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Sophia Press Oral History, 2020/09/18

  Audio interview with Sophia Press, a freshman at Northeastern University. She shares her experience with Covid-19.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Emma Clifford Oral History, 2020/09/18

  I am interviewing Emma Clifford from my HIST1215 class at Northeastern University on pandemics. Emma is from New Jersey so I asked about life and how she adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• 
  2020-09-10T07:30

  New Jersey School Bus Stop, September 2020

  My 11 year old was not interested in doing a first day of school photo like we've done in the past. I get that it's embarrassing since "nobody else's parents walk around with big cameras." But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to preserve the moment for posterity, so I snuck a picture with my phone and cropped it afterward. I think the photo says a lot about the moment without words- the American flag, the masks, and the way the two girls are talking to each other while staying at least six feet apart. The flag represents, to me, the event that broke the idea of American exceptionalism for Americans in denial. Despite my prediction that Trump would screw up the response to the virus back in March, I was sure we'd be back to normal by the fall. I thought someone would get Trump to do the right thing. All I can say is I'm glad to live in one of the few states with strict rules that have brought our March and April infection rates low enough to have safe, hybrid, public education.
• 2020-03-25

  Covid-19 Through The Eye of A Teen

  My experience with Covid is very weird. My middle school shut down towards the end of my eighth grade year. At first, going to school was weird because the normal school day was cut in half. Also, we now go to school through a laptop that gives you the option to essentially not even be there.(Turning off camera and microphone). To add to the mayhem, the governor of New Jersey issues a statewide stay at home order. Our president also declares a national state of emergency. So, as I am proccesing this, I am not scared of the virus, I am scared for the future and how things will return to any sense or normalcy. And to be completely honest, I don't know if that will happen soon.
• 
  2020-04-08T18:22

  Holland Tunnel

  My life has been greatly interrupted by the Covid-19. As of March 12th, 2020, everything around me came to a screeching halt and it was the last time I drove my car into Manhattan. New York and New Jersey began working in partnership during the Corona pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy and Governor Andrew Cuomo closed the states to prevent the spread of the Corona Virus. They both did a marvelous job in managing the spread of the virus and kept the public well informed. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is run by the Government with an office in Weehawken, New Jersey. They keep the region moving by, land, rail, and sea. Critical healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential workers were the pulse of cities, keeping the communities alive and functioning. As of March 22nd, the Port Authority began collecting tolls exclusively by electronic and suspended cash toll collection between the states at the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and Holland Tunnel due to the safety and social distancing. I live in the Newport Waterfront Development, a bedroom town just across the Hudson river, I am steps away from the Holland Tunnel. The tunnel was built in 1921 and it is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River, and it connects Lower Manhattan in New York City to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. Normally over 100,000 vehicles pass through the Holland Tunnel daily. I was incredibly happy about the many reports concerning the air quality change and pollution were way down. With all health clubs and gyms closed, I began daily walks and it struck me that there were very few cars traveling into lower Manhattan during rush hour. What a sight to see, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 6:22 PM
• 
  2020-08-10

  The nature got some rest.

  We have all heard the phrase "a pictures tells a thousand words". This is a picture of a park I visit in Jersey City, NJ, USA every day in the evening. When the pandemic began the parks were shut down due to the geographical location of Jersey City, NJ so close to New York City, NY, being the city with the most cases in the US. Slowly but surely NYC started going into the reopening phases. This photograph was taken in phase 2 of reopening. People can be seen coming back out to enjoy the sun. But, the most intriguing part of the picture is how nature has had a chance to recuperate from human impact. I am a 3rd year medical student, was doing clinical rotations, when the COVID-19 pandemic closed down the whole world. I was forced to be confined to my home. I could not just sit by while all healthcare workers were being overworked with little to no sleep at all. 3 weeks into the lockdown I decided to use my acquired knowledge and get a job as a medical assistant/Scribe. I wanted to contribute anything and everything I could to save lives. After saving my first paycheck and receiving my second check, I decided to spend it all $798.00 on buying masks and gloves from wholesalers. Because of shortages of these supplies was so critical to all essential workers. I was able to donate the supplies to hospitals, clinics, religious institutions and homeless people (that are forgotten through these times). When I started going back to the park for my evening runs, I had to take a photograph of how beautiful the nature is and how we take it for granted on a daily basis. I am still working at my job and still donating all my earnings towards supplies that I can buy so we can all stop the spread of the virus, and come back out of our homes to really enjoy the nature that we had taken for granted in the past.
• 
  2020-04-12

  Park Closures

  All New Jersey county and state parks have been closed to ensure the public safety. Due to the park closures it has been hard for us to go out for walks and to play.
• 
  2020-04-10

  Food Delivery

  Going out to eat out in restaurants has become so difficult due to the virus that to keep us safe restaurants have contactless delivery.
• 
  2020-04-10

  Amazon Delivery

  I was ordering masks on Amazon for my family and I saw this message. I noticed while shopping that there were either massive delays or that there was none in stock.
• 
  2020-03-21

  Flattening the Curve

  I was walking through Princeton University area and near the old movie theater I saw this poster. I thought that this would be a great thing to share on WhatsApp to help keep my friends and family safe during this time.
• 
  04/17/2020

  David Mavro Oral History, 2020/04/17

• 
  2020-06-22

  VICE News: Inmates Dying of Covid

  As inmates across the US die, many families are not sure if they have died from covid-19 because inmates are not being tested and finding out after the inmate passes requires families to pay out of pocket for an autopsy. This video follows families in New Jersey, a state whose prison population has been hit hard by covid-19. Covid has shed a light on many inequities across American society and the inequities suffered by inmates and families are terrible in normal times but are even worse due to the pandemic.
• 2020-05-24

  Sen. Cory Booker: Why Are We Voting On More Trump Judges Instead Of Coronavirus Relief?

  ‘All of us have been at work, in our states, working on this crisis around the clock.’ — Sen. Cory Booker blasted his colleagues after the Senate reconvened to vote on Trump judicial nominees rather than COVID-19 relief." I included this tho show the divisiveness that exists in our government during the pandemic. We are divided as citizens and it is reflected by or as a result of our government al leaders' attitude toward it
• 2020-05-22

  May 22 Topic: My Take on This Moment in History #4

• 
  05/17/2020

  Thank you, Key Food window signs

  As I walked past the Key Food grocery store in downtown Jersey City, I saw hand-made signs in the windows of an apartment across the street. Normally these would be expressions of gratitude to health care workers, but these were directed at the grocery store. It expressed how hard it has been to get food at times during the lockdown, and how much we have learned to appreciate the people who work in grocery stores.
• 
  2020-05-02

  Mask

  My husband and I visited Brookdale hoping to take our puppy to the dog park but it was still closed. The first day New Jersey reopened its public parks. Photograph taken by Andrew F. depicting Sakura (Instagram: @asavageheart).
• 
  2020-04-27

  NJ to SC

  Yesterday, I spent hours driving on I-95; I started in NJ and went down the coast. In NJ it is required to wear masks and to 6 feet apart from each other; I was curious to see how strict other states were. When arriving in South Carolina I notice that it was a different atmosphere than in NJ. People were living there everyday lives, some taking the precautions need while others were not. In NJ it is spring, and where I live it has not stopped raining or been over 50 degrees for weeks. I noticed that I had different emotions living in South Carolina for 2 days then in NJ for the past 7 weeks. I wish I could have stayed there and laid in the sun for hours. Hopefully the rain will stop and the sun will come, I think everyone up here will benefit from it.
• 
  2020-04-24

  Friday, March 13th

  Quarantine personal story
• 
  03/31/2020

  Messages for a Quiet Highway

  This is a photo taken on the highway during what is normally rush hour. Driving down a nearly empty highway, we passed lit up signs flashing information like "Avoid Non-Essential Travel" and reminders to visit the NJ website for more information on COVID-19. It was immensely eerie.
• 
  2020-04-18

  Diary in the Time of Corona

  I woke up this morning and decided to write. Why today? What’s different about today than yesterday, or the day before? I have no answers to these questions. It’s Day 25 of the quarantine. The sky is dull gray and it’s raining, my windows streaked with wet wavy lines that make them look like etched glass. Today is not so different from yesterday, except yesterday it wasn’t raining. And yesterday we went to the supermarket. That place fills me with terror. The aisles are not wide enough to keep the required six feet social distance. In the produce section it’s inevitable that two or more people will end up inspecting the bananas or the lettuce at the same time. When that happens we move apart as far as we can but we don’t walk away, as if the lettuce or the bananas or whatever are a territory we refuse to surrender. We do avert our eyes, ashamed to look our adversaries in the face. Upstairs in my bedroom I hear the rain against the roof, a soft, steady patter. The marsh is enveloped in a fine mist with ochre and green grasses and a few trees yielding small mauve flowers. I’m waiting for phone calls from the dead: my father, who passed away nineteen years ago and my mother, who passed away three years ago. Why do we want what we cannot have? Or is this the nature of grief, that after the sharp stabbing pains of loss a knot of slow sadness begins to form and 2 wind itself around our hearts, once in a while tugging so hard we’re reminded sharply once again of those who are gone? Maybe that’s what writing is for: not the documentation of what we have but the recovery of what we’ve lost. I’m reading a book by Lydia Davis called The End of the Story. It’s a novel about a woman writing a novel about a brief but intense love affair that ended thirteen years earlier. She can’t finish the novel because she can’t find the right way to end it, or so she says. But we know she can’t finish the novel because finishing it will end her connection to her lost lover, and she doesn’t want to experience such pain and grief all over again. The rain has stopped and the sky has shifted to a softer gray. The yellow and dark greens of the leaves are startling and bright in the thin light. Lydia Davis is a descriptive writer. She paints vivid pictures of the natural world: sound of ocean waves, piquant scent of eucalyptus, aggressive jade plants. But in her obsessions and delusions and isolation from friends she is not the best companion for me right now. ** Day 26. I am a witness to the pandemic. Everyone is a witness. But I’m not risking my life like the nurses and doctors and other workers on the front lines. I feel like a coward. 3 Today is sunny, with a cloudless sky of soft, washed blue. When you are quarantined weather becomes very important, like a prophecy or a sign of progress, or stagnation. On fine days I could go outside for a walk but usually I don’t want to. On the days I’ve gone for walks there’s an unspoken tug-of-war on the sidewalk when others approach: who will be first to step out of the way. My husband and I are always first to move. We agree we tend to give a wide berth earlier than necessary. Still, each time we veer into the street so walkers can pass I feel we’ve offered a consideration that was not reciprocated. This gives me a feeling of victimization that makes me even more irritable than I already am. On a recent walk I couldn’t help noticing that everything in my neighborhood reminded me of the virus. Small shrubs with crimson buds. A mask in the middle of the asphalt, awaiting asphyxiation. Street signs that say Dead End. I never realized there were so many dead ends where I live. When I’m overcome with anxiousness I prepare a meal. Before the time of corona I was a reluctant cook, and we often ate dinners at the local trattoria. But of course that’s no longer possible. I don’t have the patience or creativity to be a decent home cook. But now I find comfort in assembling a dish or two. I experience a sense of accomplishment in completing what feels like a meaningful activity. Food is no longer readily or easily available. If I’m missing an ingredient I won’t run to the supermarket wearing with my mask and disposable gloves. With every trip to the market comes the risk of 4 additional exposure. Grocery shopping demands enormous amounts of energy. So I try to plan ahead, which isn’t easy when you’re anxious all the time. Today’s side dish is quinoa tabbouleh with scallions, tomatoes, feta, and fresh lemon. Even writing the word “fresh” refreshes my depleted spirits. Before preparing the tabbouleh I looked out the window, my gateway, my connection to the world outside my home. My attention was drawn to a single orange-breasted robin stepping across the grass. I watched for a while, since now I have time for such contemplative activity. The robin began to peck at the ground, circling and wandering, circling and pecking. I had the idea he was searching for food and not finding any. I turned away. Things I never noticed before. The whiskered tips on the scallions, like a man’s white-gray beard. The amount of plastic and paper towels I waste even though I claim to be pro-environment. I think of my mother growing up during the Great Depression with barely enough food and not enough money. I have coats in the closet, sweaters in the drawers, a stocked refrigerator. Was I really so clueless and ungrateful? ** Day 27. Be mindful, stay in the present. I am trying to be present but the news on the morning radio announced 40,000 Americans are dead from the virus. How is this possible? The future has become our dystopian present. 5 Last night we visited with our kids on Zoom. Such interactions are one of the challenges of this particular moment, the physical separation from loved ones. These meetings in cyberspace reinforce the sense of enforced isolation: my adult children isolated in their homes within an hour or so of mine. I miss them. They might as well be living on the moon. I’ve heard stories of doctors and nurses sleeping in their garages so as not expose their families. This is worse than my experience, much worse, because their lives are in imminent danger. Nonetheless, their experience does not erase the pain I feel as a mother and new grandmother who can’t touch or hug my children. In my home state of New Jersey, 40 percent of more than 4,200 coronavirus deaths have been linked to long-term care facilities. My mother was a dementia patient in one such facility for six years. I thank heaven I do not have to worry about the virus killing my mother in a nursing home. The past seeps into the present. The present is the future, for the time-being. I’m reminded of the words of T.S. Eliot: “Time present and time past/ are both perhaps present in time future/ And time future contained in time past.” Perhaps our sense of separation between past, present, and future was always illusory. My brother contracted the virus a few weeks ago and was ill with a fever that spiked as high as 102.8. Mercifully he is recovering well. Past, present, and future, they are merged into the nightmare of the virus. I just read about a 25-year-old woman, a Latino grad student studying marriage and family therapy, who died of complications from the virus which she 6 likely contracted while working at a clinic for Latinos in one of the corona hotspots in Queens. I am overcome. I can’t write anymore.
• 
  2020-04-20

  Swimming as an Essential Activity

  While Florida is not predicted to peak until the first week of May, some cities are reopening closed beaches now, in mid-April. This hit the national news with much controversy, spawning the hashtag #floridamorons on social media. The day before I saw this article, I spoke with my parents who are at the New Jersey shore. They told me one man there was ticketed for walking his dog on the beach and a couple was ticketed and threatened with jail time for being on the beach.
• 
  2020-03-28

  COVID-19 Archive Alternative Final Assignment, History of Public Health, NJIT

  This is an alternate final assignment created for the course HIST 380: History of Public Health, an upper level history course at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Given the challenges of transitioning to online-only instruction, the upheaval of the pandemic, and the reframing of the course to address historical precedents of COVID-19 more explicitly, students were given the option of creating content for this archive.
• 
  2020-03-20

  COVID warning on TV

  Image from weather channel showing a warning for COVID-19
• 
  2020-03-30

  Hospital IV Machine

  The bottom of the machine that was connected to the IV from Hackensack hospital in NJ. #FordhamUniversity #VART3030
• 
  2020-03-19

  Decon

  Taken on the day of an antimicrobial ULV fogging at a school in Brick, NJ.
• 
  2020-03-25

  "Mullane: Aboard the River Line in Burlington County, life chugs along despite coronavirus"

  Story about riders on a New Jersey Transit Light Rail that travels between Trenton and Camden, NJ
• 
  2020-03-18

  Returning to New Jersey after a nonessential stay at home order in the Tri-State Region

  On March 18, 2020 at approximately 8:45 I drove the Pennsylvania Turnpike eastbound out of Ohio coming home from Michigan on the day of the New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania nonessential stay home orders due to COVID-19. I was returning from my grandson's christening in Michigan on the Canadian Border. I have never seen an empty turnpike on a weekday at 8:45a.m.
• 
  2020-03-16

  Layoff Announcement

  This is a screenshot of the announcement that wait staff would be laid off from a local restaurant in NJ for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 and the orders from NJ governor, Phil Murphy.
• 
  2020-03-21

  Empty Shelves at a Wegmans Supermarket in Bergen County, New Jersey.

  Shows the reaction people are having to this pandemic, many people are hoarding essential household items.
• 
  2020-03-14

  Hoboken, New Jersey imposes city-wide curfew and closes all restaurants and bars

  Cities taking measures to enforce social distancing