Items

• 
  05/07/2021

  Aleah Anderson Oral History, 2021/05/06

  C19OH
• 
  2021-03-03

  Conditions of Residency – HIST30060

  This three-page document is an agreement that all residents of Ormond College had to sign upon their move in at the commencement of 2021. It details a number of expectations of behaviour of all students living on campus– including testing and self isolating when experiencing flu-like symptoms, ensuring social distancing is maintained, and acknowledging that any breach of said conditions could result in being asked to leave the college. Such a document indicates the changing nature of residential institutions, and the systems needed in order to limit the chances of an outbreak. While many of these conditions would have been unimaginable in early 2019, in 2021, many of them were simply seen as the norm for a communal living institution. HIST30060.
• 
  2020

  International Discussion

  This conversation was interesting to me because it is an example of how the internet has been able to give people an idea of what the pandemic has been like in other parts of the world. It also presents a strategy some leadership enacted to control the spread of the virus.
• 
  2021-10-03T16:30

  Ryan Nordstrom Oral History, 2021/10/03

  I was interviewing the life of a lab pack chemist in Massachusetts during the midst of the Pandemic, from daily routine to personal feelings.
• 
  2021-02-15

  One of my COVID-19 Case Investigations Experiences

  I work as a medical investigator for my county, and I'm primarily tasked with asking detailed medical interviews and surveys of local patients (cases) who have recently tested positive for COVID-19. The second call I wanted to share regards an elderly case who had been admitted to the ICU shortly before I spoke with her. Her COVID-19 infection began approximately six weeks before our call, and she had long since recovered. Her husband, however, had not. He passed away in a local hospital, and she had only recently begun adjusting to her new life without him. She described him as the kindest man she had ever known, and stopped the interview several times to share heartbreaking stories of the wonderful things he had done for her and their family over more than six decades of marriage. She explained she had fallen in her backyard, broken her hip, and laid in the cold rain for about two hours before anyone found her. That's what landed her in ICU, NOT a COVID infection. She cried several times during our two-hour call, and I occasionally joined her. She explained that she had no COVID-19 symptoms, but still tested positive when the hospital administered their required test. I explained shedding and what that meant for her circumstances, which was the first time she remembered having been told that information. As she had not been contacted before to complete the survey, she graciously agreed to speak with me long enough to do so, all the while laid-up in ICU with a broken hip and awaiting a very unknown future. Among her greatest hopes that day was to make it through surgery well enough to go home to her son's gourmet cooking. She hadn't seen anyone but medical staff since her admit as the hospital disallowed visitors at that time. After we disconnected, I sent a Get Well gift to her hospital. She spoke several times of her Christian faith and belief in her husband's salvation, so I had a carved wood angel sent to her room from the hospital gift shop. We never spoke again, but I hope she understands how much she helped me that day by letting me help her in some small way.
• 
  2021-02-15

  One of my COVID-19 Case Investigations Experiences

  I work as a COVID-19 medical investigator for the Arizona county in which I live. I recently called on a monolingual Spanish speaker who turned out to be a retirement-age mother of adult children and infant grandchildren. The first time we spoke, she very politely agreed to complete our medical interview by phone, and I began working through the initial demographics section. As she answered my questions, she began asking questions of her own regarding her potential experience and that of her family, all of whom were ill by that time or presumed to be positive due to extended close contact. The pace and tone of her speech evolved as her volume increased, and her intense emotional distress required no common language to comprehend. The primary source of her concern was her adult daughter who lived at another location with her two children. Our case feared her daughter had to have immediate help to even dial a phone, much less to care for herself and her children. The case wanted to break isolation at her home to travel to her daughter' home to aid her child and grandchildren, but, with the interpreter's help, we worked through her fears, established an action plan that allowed the case and her husband to stay home, and connected her daughter with medcal professionals to evaluate her circumstances and need for urgent intervention. The case and I agreed those needs superseded the interview as she was both aware and isolated, and we agreed to speak the following day. On callback, her emotions had completely turned around in that day, her daughter had been evaluated over the phone, acquired the information and guidance she needed, and the case believed her child and grandchildren were now safe and well. Throughout the roughly 90-minute translated interview, she repeatedly expressed her gratitude for our having called and helped her family and information and guidance. Despite the number of times our patients/cases have expressed anger, outrage, suspicion, or worse at our medical investigation and contact tracing efforts, this series of calls made them worthwhile.
• 
  2020-04-05

  Anxiety lingers as N.L. officials trace majority of coronavirus cases to funeral home

  Funeral home in Newfoundland was linked to a superspreader event
• 2021-01-25

  Statistics and Additional Thoughts

  Total Number of COVID Cases Worldwide - 99.3M Total Number of COVID Deaths Worldwide - 2.13M New Cases Reported 1/23/21 Worldwide - 600,790 New Deaths Reported 1/23/21 Worldwide - 15,846 Total Number of COVID Cases in LA County - 1,073,533 Total Number of COVID Deaths in LA County - 15,260 New Cases Reported 12/23/21 in LA County - 8,224 New Deaths Reported 12/23/21 in LA County - 98 These numbers are so big. Most of the time I am annoyed with the slowness of the reopening, but looking at the numbers makes me think that maybe we do need to be cautious when it comes to reopening everything. Pretty soon, the number of cases and deaths will start going down. I know this because now they are going to change the way that they count cases. It will be harder to get a positive test result, because instead of just looking at the results of the PCR test (you can get a positive test result but have a viral load so small that you aren't contagious) symptoms and contact tracing will be examined as well. If this change had been made before, then my high school friends would probably be attending school again. Small businesses would be reopening already. But I can't be bitter about that, because it doesn't lead anywhere productive.
• 
  2021-01-24

  Doctor On What It's Like To Fight The Coronavirus On The Navajo Nation

  Interview between NPRs' Ari Shapiro and Chief Medical Officer of Indian Health Services, Dr. Loretta Christensen. Dr. Chirstensen discusses some of the challenges in covering an expansive area which includes Arizona, Utah, New Mexico.
• 2021-01-21

  Life with covid

  I have been lucky enough to not have many people close to me get infected with covid. However there are a couple people I know that did get it. One case that affected me was my orthodontist. He got diagnosed a few days after I had an appointment with him. So obviously I had to quarantine. I got tested and tested negative. But I still took the necessary precautions. That whole week I could not leave my house. I missed soccer practice. I couldn't hang out with my friends. It was lonely and boring. Luckily no symptoms ever appeared and all was well.
• 2021-01-21

  How covid affected me

  I was driving back from Mammoth when my mom got the email that someone in my church that we see every week got covid. I immediately got worried because I was spending time with them at church. After we got that email, we realized that we had to be more aware of how close the virus was to home. We all got tests the next day and panicked until we got the results that we were all negative. This experience was very stressful and I do not think I want to relive that feeling.
• 2021-01-21

  My story about a friend who got Covid

  One day I was just hanging out with my friend having fun. Then 2 days later he tested positive for Covid. I wasn't really that worried but if I did actually have it then it would be bad, also I was going on a trip with other friends in a week. So I went and got tested and luckily I was negative.
• 2020-02-05

  .

  One of my dads friends that we were with tested positive for corona. Thankfully, my family and I never ended up getting it. We had to stay home for two weeks, and miss a bunch of activities. I got bored really easily and it wasn't enjoyable. I am glad its over.
• 2021-01-10

  COVID-19 Possible Symptoms

  [REDACTED] Covid-19 has been a thing for quite a while now, and the vaccines for he virus had come out. On Thursday, when my _________ teacher, ______________, did his daily COVID-19 test, he came up negative for COVID-19, but on Friday, he came up positive, making anyone who was in his class on Friday need to stay at their homes for a week and a half. On the Zoom Room that he used to come into the class without actually being there, he discussed he had a light fever, and he coughed excessively. It was nothing bad in his case, and he will be able to survive it just fine, despite his age.
• 2021-01-21

  Covid 19

  If you happen to get covid, there are a couple of symptoms that you get. One of them is lost of taste. Also you get a fever. Luckily I don’t know anyone that got covid, but my history teacher, Mr. Newman got it. Some people that have him as a teacher, had to stay home for 2 weeks.
• 
  2020-12-03

  Massachusetts Contact Tracing Log

  At the restaurant that I work at, the host plays a larger role than just taking people to their tables. There is a designated “sanitation specialist” that clears the tables and wipes down the tables with peroxide and another liquid so that we can seat guests in an orderly manner. There is also the job of the main host to take down people’s phone numbers in case a coworker reports having COVID symptoms so that those in the restaurant can get tested for the virus. This connects to the civic purpose of history as this was one of the new contributions to the people in order to keep them, hopefully, safe from the pandemic and a need to reform how we think about our information in public spheres. I think that this item is something that “ helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020”. This is through the tracking log as we’ve often seen people protest the government having our information as seen with the microchip scare with the vaccine, but this has become something of a norm at work. Every so often, there is that person that will give me a fake number or protest their information being leaked because “they will call us”, our only defense is that we get rid of the paper after a month before getting our manager. The blurb at the top does a better job at explaining than I do.
• 
  06/02/2020

  Canada's Nunavut: A vast territory with few people - and no coronavirus

  Nunavut remains the only state-level jurisdiction in North America not to record a single case of the virus that has sickened millions and killed more than 375,000 people worldwide. Every other Canadian province and territory and every U.S. and Mexican state has reported at least a few.
• 
  2020-12-14

  Canada Crushing the Curve

  A video showcasing Canada's early success in preventing the spread of the pandemic compared to the US
• 
  2020-12-07

  Untraced Outbreak Causes Stress on P.E.I.

  A statement from Prince Edward Island Public Health Department concerning a recent outbreak with no known source
• 
  2020

  COVID Alert App

  The Government of Canada created the COVID Alert App to breaking the cycle of infection. This app can let app users know of possible exposures to the virus before any symptoms can appear. Thanks to this app, we can reduce the spread of infection, take care of ourselves and protect our communities.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Coronavirus outbreak: Alberta launches contact-tracing app to fight COVID-19 spread

  Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw provided an update on the most recent numbers of COVID-19 cases in the province Friday and the government's ongoing response to the pandemic. She also announced the launch of a mobile contact-tracing app for the province, called ABTraceTogether, to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
• 
  2020-11-23

  Colonel Varman Chhoeung Oral History, 2020/11/23

  The contributor of this item did not include verbal or written consent. We attempted to contact contributor (or interviewee if possible) to get consent, but got no response or had incomplete contact information. We can not allow this interview to be listened to without consent but felt the metadata is important. The recording and transcript are retained by the archive and not public. Should you wish to listen to audio file reach out to the archive and we will attempt to get consent.
• 2020-10-28

  Taiwan's 200th day COVID-19 Free

  I was born in Taiwan, so I was happy to see that my home country is doing so well in the pandemic. Despite their close proximity to China, Taiwan cracked down on COVID-19 very quickly and was never heavily struck by the disease. I asked my mother about this, and she said that Taiwan already has experiences with pandemics (the SARS outbreak). I think that coupled with the political tension between Taiwan and China prompted Taiwan to tackle the coronavirus outbreak very aggressively.
• 
  2020-10-08

  COVID-19 in Lebanon

  An article outlining the COVID-19 situation in Lebanon and how it is straining the already fragile healthcare system.
• 
  2020-09-24

  Female World Leaders’ Pandemic Lessons

  Author Kara Cutruzzula cites Avivah Wittenberg-Cox’s assertion that four principles successfully guided women leaders: trust, decisiveness, tech, and love. The six lessons from female leadership are as follows: 1) Include everyone, 2) Be authentic, 3) Tell the truth, 4) Be decisive, 5) Embrace technology, 6) Leaders of every kind can learn from these women. This article highlights COVID-19 responses that are of international importance. The decisions these women made for their respective countries are of great historical value. The article also provides a contemporary opinion about the positive reception these decisions received.
• 
  2020-10-21

  CDC Expands Definition of "Close Contact"

  The CDC expanded its definition of "close contact." The article states, "The CDC had previously defined a “close contact” as someone who spent at least 15 consecutive minutes within six feet of a confirmed coronavirus case. The updated guidance, which health departments rely on to conduct contact tracing, now defines a close contact as someone who was within six feet of an infected individual for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period, according to a CDC statement Wednesday."
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  2020-05-22

  CLASS CERTIFICATE

  The course was on knowing about the virus, how it is transmitted, who is at risk, as well as precautions and social distancing. It also covered how to deal with Covid reporting and is a preparation for someone interested in working for public health in Covid reporting and contacting those who may have been exposed. Again this is important to me because it's about the exposure of persons to the virus and myself, my spouse and friends are members of at least one high risk group.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Anonymous Oral History, 2020/09/18

  This is an interview that I did with a fellow Northeastern student about the pandemic.
• 
  12020-06-11

  HERMIT HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 38

  pandemic and racial topics
• 
  2020-05-19

  Plans for the Fall Semester

  Boston College, like many other universities across the world, was forced to close prematurely due to safety concerns over the potential spread of coronavirus. In various student groups across social media, the question has been whether or not classes would commence in person come the Fall, or if there would be an effort to continue on with distance learning digitally. President of the school Father Leahy announced that students would be returning to campus come the Fall, will further updates to follow as they become available.
• 
  2020-05-08

  Hunting Season Makes Social Distancing Difficult in Russian Native Village (В Хангаласском районе выявили 4 новых случая заражения коронавирусом)

  “Over the past 24 hours, 4 new cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in the Khangalassky district . Over the entire period, COVID-19 was diagnosed in 8 people, according to the operational headquarters of the republic. New cases of coronavirus in the Khangalassky district are associated with an ophthalmic hospital. After the coronavirus was discovered in the clinic, a resident of the Khangalassky district, who had previously been treated in this clinic, was placed in the observatory….The headquarters has established over 100 contacts. Of these, 93 people were in contact with the first cases, 9 people - with a patient in an ophthalmological hospital….As the head of the district noted, among the contact persons there are also those who met with a resident of the city of Yakutsk, who later confirmed COVID-19. Despite the order of Rospotrebnadzor to observe the regime of self-isolation, the townspeople went to his relatives in the village of Ulakhan-An of the Khangalassky region for hunting, after which he returned to the capital of the republic. Here he was informed of the positive results of the analysis. Today, the local resident, with whom the sick man was hunting, is placed in the observatory, the remaining 4 people are on self-isolation at the place of residence.” #IndigenousStories
• 
  2020-05-12

  Covid-19 Safe App

  HUM402 The Australian Government has created an app that allows people to see if they have come into contact with a Covid-19 positive case. This is an advertisement on Facebook raising awareness of the app and encouraging people to download it.
• 
  2020-05-08

  NC Department of Health and Human Services: Corona Virus Guidance for Persons Under Investigation.

  I am a young Asthmatic woman and I was was sent to the emergency room today to be tested for COVID-19. This image is a photograph of paperwork I was given upon discharge from the ER. The paperwork itself was written by the NC Department of Health and Human Services on March 16, 2020. It was put in my hands on 5/8/2020
• 
  2020-04-26

  COVIDSafe Phone App

  Despite some concerns about privacy, the Australian Government has just launched the COVIDSafe app to help in contacting people exposed to coronavirus. Around a million people have downloaded the app n the first day