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2020
New England Student in COVID
It seems as though every winter all of the kids in schools get a cold. Classrooms have a chorus of sniffles and coughs until springtime and we all suffer sickness together. At least, that’s how it started. My college sent an email to all students, staff, and faculty, saying the school would be monitoring the COVID-19 situation in other countries on February 10th, 2020 and there was no threat to worry about. Everyone left for spring break on March 8th, 2020, expecting to be back in a week. Instead, we got an “extra week” of the break to make sure anyone who traveled could quarantine, just in case. That week turned into a handful more and started online classes ASAP. Students were given the opportunity to go back to the college in a 3-hour window to retrieve any materials necessary for a few weeks online until the surge dies down. Fortunately, I am studying computer science, so a majority of my professors had minimal difficulty making the change, but others were not as fortunate. Quickly, the handful of weeks became the remainder of the semester. All courses would be graded on the basis of pass/fail if the students elected for each individual course they were enrolled in, due to the nature of this huge and unprecedented turnaround. All exams were online, many professors canceled their midterms to alleviate stress from the students and fears of cheating. We would receive semi-weekly updates from the college, mostly fluff pieces about missing the student body with information that was important sprinkled in. Eventually, we were permitted to sign up for a window of time to go and move our belongings out of the dorms, once the state allowed outside travelers in. In the midst of all of the chaos, I transferred colleges and started the next academic year attending one that was much larger and had more resources at its disposal to deal with COVID-19. This school had planned to welcome students back to campus in fall 2020 with a few expectations in place. They had devised a “COVID-19 Compliance” system to keep the population safe and maintain records of who was following protocol. Students would have a “green badge” assigned to them in the morning if: they had completed a daily symptom check-in that was negative, they were up-to-date on their twice-weekly COVID tests and had not been marked as a close contact to someone who had tested positive. Had one of these not been completed, you would have a yellow badge to mark non-compliance, a red badge for isolation, or an orange badge if you were symptomatic. Students must show a green badge to enter ANY campus building. Some classes were online, others hybrid in-person/online at the discretion of the professors. Masks were to be worn at all times, students must get vaccinated once they were eligible, dining areas were to-go only, the campus was littered with signs to promote 6 feet of social distancing, and a student-run campaign called “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” was started to bring attention to the urgency of staying compliant to stay on campus. We would receive weekly updates about the status of the campus’s overall positivity rate. It felt like a shell of a college experience, as students could not visit other students’ residences, no clubs could have in-person meetings, attendance at sporting events was prohibited, and students reporting other students for non-compliance created an atmosphere of disdain. We are now in the second full academic year of the pandemic and there are a few deviations from what I described for fall 2020. Now, COVID tests are once weekly rather than twice, students can now visit other residences and attend sporting events, all of the dining spaces have opened up to sit-in dining, masks are still required at all times, all classes are in person, and the “F*ck It Won’t Cut It” campaign has been retired. It seems as though we are creeping towards the idea of a “typical” college experience, but it feels like this will have an everlasting impact on the next few incoming classes of students and change college as people know it. -
2020-03-20
The blurry year
I just started at Brooklyn College as a transfer student from Citytech. The semester was only like 5 weeks in when we started seeing reports of the Covid 19. Then the school closed for a day and we were told it only be for a short amount of time, we all know how that went. I haven't been on campus since that last day. There was so much unknown at the time with everything. How long we were going to be away from school, what was the deal with Covid 19, how dangerous was it, and how we were going to survive. At that point, everything closed, and the city was so quiet for the first time in my life. I came out a different person after the lockdown. It was a scary time for a lot of people. It felt like everyone was struggling with something. My biggest thing was just trying to make the best of the situation. and that's what I still do to this day. -
2020
Pet Adoption Statistics 2020
We heard so many wonderful and uplifting stories of pet adoption during the pandemic. If you wanted a dog, particularly a puppy, you most likely had to sit on a waiting list to get one. This anecdotal evidence points toward a huge increase in pet adoption, but what do the numbers tell us? This data report from PetPoint, who has been tracking pet surrender and adoption data nationwide since 2005, paints a slightly different picture. Pet surrenders reduced significantly, so there just weren't as many pets in need of adoption. Pet adoption percentages actually decreased in 2020 from 2019. So the pet adoption boon that we imagined was happening, was not the miracle story that animal enthusiasts were hoping for. As we emerge from the pandemic it will be interesting to look at the final report at the end of 2021 to see if there is a drastic increase in surrenders as many shelters are anticipating. -
2020-08-18
Voices of San Quentin: The inside story of how a prison became the nation's biggest COVID cluster
This article was co written by Popular Information and Voices of San Quentin. It explains how a major California state prison managed to stave off covid-19 until inmates from another prison were transferred into the facility. . . and they were carrying covid, what they did to deal with the outbreak, and how it effected incarcerated persons. -
2020-01-01
2020 CALENDAR
2020 started off with a lot of motivation. I started my university transfer application very early in the year and got accepted to my top school right before spring break. All the stress was over and i was ready to enjoy the spring break in Cancun then... CORONAVIRUS. My daily routine change drastically. I went from being in school and hanging with friends to falling asleep or getting bored during my online classes, eating and sleeping. It has become my new routine. Most students are going through this too. *sigh* When will it be over? -
2020-06-16
Texas prisons will accept county jail inmates again, three months after the coronavirus halted intake
In an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19 inside of the state of Texas correctional facilities all transfers were halted in April but in beginning July 1 Texas will begin transfers. This all happens as the states case count and positivity rate begin to sky rocket. By mid July Texas becomes one of the nations three biggest hot spots. -
2020-07-23
The coronavirus is keeping Texas prisoners who've been approved for parole behind bars
When people are granted parole they often are not released immediately and are required to complete programming or set up things outside of the facility for when they are released. It appears thousands of people incarcerated in Texas are being held in prison because transfers to other facilities where these programs take place are not happening in an effort to slow the spread of Covid. This article gives the details and the difference between what incarcerated people are saying and those in charge. -
2020-08-02
Released Inmates Describe Ordeal Inside San Quentin During Coronavirus Outbreak
This news story talks with three men that were recently released from San Quentin Prison in California to learn about conditions inside the prison during the Covid-19 Pandemic. They all believe that the virus was brought to the prison when inmates from another California state prison, Chino, were transferred in. -
2020-08-05
My Incarcerated Father & Our Family Face Discrimination At Top Bay Area Hospital
A 74 year old man who was incarcerated in a medical facility was transferred to San Quentin in an effort to keep him away from Covid, but the botched transfer resulted in the opposite. He contracted Covid and was sent to a local hospital. While there the medical staff facilitated Zoom calls and the like with his family. After being transferred to the ICU the medical staff said because he was incarcerated they could not facilitate contact with his family. His daughter explains more. -
2020-05
Tweets from Inside a Prison 5/31-6/6/2020 by Railroaded Underground
These images show the tweets from an incarcerated person, using a contraband cell phone to tell the world what it is like to be incarcerated during the pandemic. This week he continues to talk about the murder of George Floyd by the police, protestors and violence against them, his own fear of white officers in his prison which he blames on systemic racism, states his views on defunding police and the need for new politicians and laws, as well as fear of prison transfers spreading the virus. -
2020-05
Tweets from Inside a Prison 5/17-5/23/2020 by Railroaded Underground
These images follow the Tweets of an incarcerated person using a contraband cell phone to educate the public on how coronavirus is impacting people inside of corrections facilities. This week he talks about missing his baby brothers graduation, inmates feeling panic about eighty prisoners being transferred in and their worry they could bring covid with them, the tension and fights breaking out, being in a human cage, and the prison administration. -
2020-04
Tweets from Inside a Prison 4/19-4/25/2020 by Railroaded Underground
These images follow the Tweets of an incarcerated person from April 19th through April 25th, 2020. In them they discuss their feelings of anger and depression, worries about mental health from being in lockdown 23 hours per day, overcrowding, begins defenseless, politics, elections, self medicating, like others on prison wine called "pruno", how they are not supposed to wear masks at all times but the guards are not, and that though it was declared by prison authorities would not transfer inmates due to concerns over spreading covid that has not been the reality. -
2020-06-27
Massive COVID-19 outbreak at a southern NM prison hits just one type of inmates — sex offenders. That’s by design.
While the headline on this article seems extremely alarming it is less so after reading the article but still concerning. This prison offers a sexual predator rehab program and explains why only sex offenders are being housed here. Except that there were still a small number of prisoners that were serving time for other offenses and these people were transferred to other facilities. At this point 80% of the prison inmates have tested positive for Covid-19. While small numbers of inmates have been released early from prison to aid in slowing the spread of covid within the correctional facilities no one from this prison has been released early because sex offenders are specifically exempt from the option for early release due to the public safety risk they pose.