Items

• 
  2022

  Pre Existing Chronicles

  Covid is stressful by itself but when you add a pre existing condition such as sleep apnea, Covid can enhance and mutate itself to become a bigger threat for the person with the added pre existing condition.
• 2021-02-17

  Living Like An Immunocompromised Person

  I have been living in fear of getting others sick rather than what will happen if I were to be the one to get sick. My FAMILY MEMBER is immunocompromised, so I have spent most of 2020 in my house. I have not been scared of coming back positive because I have had cousins who have been sick but have had no real issues. The reason I have lived a full year with fear and anxiety is the idea of giving the disease to my Diabetic FAMILY MEMBER. Part of the reason I came back to campus when the semester started was to get away from my FAMILY MEMBER and the fear that I could be the one to kill THEM. Coronavirus has made this past year one full of fear, but the main character of my fear, meaning my FAMILY MEMBER, has talked me into feeling comfortable enough to return to college. I knew people who had impaired immune systems had to watch what they did even before Covid-19 came into the picture. These days, immunocompromised individuals can barely leave their houses so I have followed the actions of my FAMILY MEMBER. If THEY has felt comfortable enough to return to teaching for middle schoolers and working at a camp with young children who were just learning to wear masks during the summer then I can go live on campus. I actually have a close friend in my dorm family unit who keeps me in check. My FAMILY MEMBER and my friend do a great job but sometimes, I think I stay home and away from people more than some individuals I know with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions that put them at risk of dying from the disease. That thought will not dissuade me from continuing with my partially-quarantined lifestyle. I am confused and hurt by those who have not even tried to protect others or change anything in their daily life. With the numbers that are currently being released in the United States and at my college, I will keep living in a way that will not increase my anxiety or the chance of my fears coming true. If my college continues to see rising positive cases, I hope we get put into a full campus lockdown or I have a little warning of being sent home so I can be tested and have a place to quarantine away from my FAMILY MEMBER. Everyone has Covid-fatigue but I will push through and stay as safe as I can. This year has taught me that when this pandemic is over, I need to live my life protecting immunocompromised people even if I do not know them. If I get a cold, I will wear a mask. I never want to be the one to blame for someone else falling sick or dying.
• 2020-11-25

  My Experience with someone who got COVID-19

  About a couple months ago, my friend who I had known for about 6 years tested positive for Covid-19. There was an outbreak in his school, and he got the virus from someone there. I'm pretty sure most of his family got tested, but only he had it. I wasn't seeing him anyway because of the lockdown, but I felt pretty scared for him. He had a heart condition and so did his dad, so he was more vulnerable than most. Luckily, he was asymptomatic and he wasn't suffering. His dad got pretty sick, but it wasn't COVID-19, he is ok now but he wasn't doing very well when he had it. Luckily, my friend was ok and did not have to go to the hospital.
• 2020-10-21

  Spend time doing what matters to you most.

  During the COVID-19 pandemic I have had to surmount multiple extremely challenging situations that were only made even more difficult by the pandemic, including the death of my last grandparent. As someone with pre-existing conditions, I usually have to be very careful about not just protecting myself when I leave my house in Chandler, Arizona, but making sure I don't spread any disease to my family. When I got the news that my Grandmother probably didn't have much time left due to her cancer, it was extremely distressing for several reasons. The main reason was the fact that I was losing my grandmother, but one factor that was just as, if not more distressing, was the question of how to be able to best safely spend time with her. After a long discussion with my family, I made it clear that just being on video chat or on the phone with my grandmother was not enough; I wanted to find a way to travel to her house in Kansas, and physically be there for her. It was not an easy decision to make, especially when one takes into account that my method of transportation was to fly, which made me very nervous as someone with pre-existing conditions. Fortunately, I was able to take a safe flight to Kansas, but I was shocked to find family visiting my grandmother from out of state that not only refused to wear masks around her, even though she had virtually no immune system left. Despite such stressful conditions, I was able to spend a week with my grandmother just before she passed away, even though COVID-19 made it very hard. The fact that I was able to do such a thing is striking to me, especially when compared to the vast amount of people around the world who aren't able to spend time with loved ones infected with COVID-19 before they pass away. Looking back, I am very lucky I did not get sick, and I was even more lucky that flights were beginning to become regularly available again after they had been shut down earlier in the year. Most of all, I feel very grateful that I was able to spend time with my grandmother, especially when so many people are dying alone all over the world, leaving families distraught, and without closure.
• 
  2020-07-14

  "Why We Can't Reopen Schools Without Addressing School Infrastructure"

  From the video description: "As the conversation about reopening America’s schools grows, safety must be a primary concern and it will cost about $200 billion to bring all schools into a state of good repair. Share this video if you think Congress should include dedicated and significant funding for school infrastructure in the next Coronavirus bill"
• 
  04/19/2020

  What's in the way

  Describe the image and what it tells us about the pandemic: I created this drawing because my environmental art professor had asked us to draw the world we would like to see and what's in the way. I wanted to go back to school, see my friends and professors again, so I decided to draw what is in the way. I depicted the lack of COVID-19 tests, the people who claim it is a hoax, the people flocking to Florida for Spring Break, and my own personal lung issues that prevent me from being able to take the risk. I'm sure that are many people who feel the same- and it is scary, and I hate the uncertainty. This image shows some of the many obstacles and challenge facing people amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I made this drawing using paints.