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2020-03-13
It was March 15, 2020, and everybody had been hearing about this crazy virus in China that was killing people. The first American had gotten it and brought it over. Everybody was scared. Back in February my schedule was normal. I'd wake up at 7:00 AM and get to school at 7:45 AM. I remember the morning on the 15th where we had been hearing about this virus getting serious and then when I came downstairs and my told me that the school had just sent an email that we had 2 more days of regular school and then we'd go online. They said that we would come back before the end of the year but I knew that wasn't going to happen.
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2020-12-10
My life in February was normal and pleasant. I was starting the baseball season and wrapping up basketball during this time. I remember on Valentine's Day a couple of friends and I went to the mall to hang out and have some fun. We were running around not knowing it would be the last time we would be allowed to. I mean just think about a normal 13-year-old boy's life. It was the best time of my life in 7th grade. I would hop around with my two main friend groups and talk about what teenagers talk about, sports, sleep, weekends. My friend Easton would run around on campus going up to random people and well actually you never knew what he was about to do. That's what I love about my friends, always lively and enjoying life. My normal day looked like getting up at 7 then getting to school around 8 and hustling to first period. Then after listening to people talk about math or something like that go to the next class, until we got to break. When we got to break and had just about the most intense games of basketball that you have ever seen. After a couple more classes we did the same thing at lunch. Then after like two more classes, I think, we headed on down to the locker room to get changed for baseball. We always had clean practices, little to no errors, and great hitting. Then I would pretend to do homework when I got home then I would actually do homework. Then I was in bed by 11:00. Then on March 13 we showed up to school and people were talking everywhere and the teachers met in the pod to talk some more, we didn't know what was happening so we went with the genius idea to tell everyone to go home and buy toilet paper. When I heard that a virus from a bat was spreading from China I knew something was wrong. Really? They can do better. It actually came from a lab because in China there are 1.4 billion people and because they are a communist country they don't care about their people. Also, think about it, corona only affects older people or people with respiratory problems (mostly old people). Making you think yet? Put the pieces together. Comes from a government-run lab, kills off older people, 1.4 billion people, a communist country, population control. It didn't come from a bat, you people are being lied to, there is a safe, cheap cure; hydroxychloroquine. They don't want you to know that because they want you to rely on the government. Sounds a lot like socialism. People don't think about the facts (99.92% recovery by the way), they just trust whatever they are told, whether that be through social media, TV shows, news, and other platforms. Do you know who wants to divide, break down, and control? The government and the devil. The situation we are in now is making the government look like a savior to us. Because WE (we being the government) have the vaccine, WE can flatten the curve, WE can be together by staying apart. See what I'm saying with this? They are seeing how far they can push us. No normal life before this matters until we know what's happening now. If we the people don't do something about this we will never go back to normal. I know that it was supposed to be about normal life in February but I want the facts in the history books.
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0020-12-10
My Life before COVID was simple and organized. I had a schedule of what I would do everyday. First I would get ready for the day and go to school. After school, I would get something to eat and then play basketball at the YMCA. Life was normal before COVID-19.
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2020-12-10
In January of 2020 I first heard of Corona Virus. I only jokes and memes about it on social media. All I knew was that it was a sickness being passed around in China. I really didn't take it seriously and neither did anyone else at school, but I really wish I had. In march my peers and I were informed that the virus had reached the US and even penetrated California's border. Yet still, we did not take it seriously. My teachers told us that they were being prepared to give us an online education, but that it probably would not be necessary so we were not concerned. I continued life normally. I went to school, soccer practice, I hung out with friends careless of what was going on in the world. That Friday after being informed that my teachers were being prepared to educate us online, my fellow students and I were told that school was being canceled and in the coming week we would be receiving a virtual education. The week after all we did at school was learn how we would be learning from home. I was actually a little excited because I would get to sleep in, do less work, but that excitement did not last long. Within a week I loathed online school entirely. I lost all motivation to learn and do my best. To add on to this, my family began to fight 24/7. Resentments grew among each of us. Everything was closed and we were put on lockdown, the government ordered us not to leave our home. At this time I wished for nothing more than to go back before the Pandemic.
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2020-12-04
I watched her go through the entire pregnancy from October-April and in these months, COVID-19 was introduced, declared as a pandemic, and was being researched while we all quarantined. Giving birth is never easy, and for Brittany (the mother) this was her third pregnancy, her first child being born prematurely with complications, her second a C-section, and was hoping for a more smooth experience for her third but then the pandemic happened. She feared getting sick in the hospital but also not being ready to be home and just take phone calls in case of emergencies or appointments. This is an Item of interest to future historians that helps illustrate something particularly significant about the year 2020, because it is a first-hand experience of what happened inside the hospital, before, during, and after giving birth. This will help historians better understand a mother's mindset and the regulations implemented in the hospital. This item holds a voice recorded experience that was lived in an important time in history.
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2020-02-20
My name is Athena Errico and I am an 8th grade student at Oaks Christian currently, but at the time I was in seventh grade. It was January-February, I love to ski and I have been skiing my whole life, recently I have been trying to get into racing. I had just heard of the corona outbreak in China and was instantly worried. I had my first compition coming up for skiing and my parents told me I couldnt go because it was Chinese New Year and many people from China go to that specific ski mountain every year to celebrate. A few weeks later at school I had heard about schools in the area shutting down due to corona. Then about a week later I noticed my teachers canceling quizzes and giving very little homework. At lunch many off the kids talked about corona and the group of people who went with a teacher named Mrs. Hacker to Italy over break, there where roomers they all got COVID. Then a girl was not in school and many poeple thought she had COVID. Thats when I new things where going to change. COVID! COVID! COVID! that was all anyone ever talked about. Soon my parents wouldnt let me go to the grocery stores with them and wouldn't let me go to friends houses unless they new the parents well. Then my school shut down and that's when everything got really strange.
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2020-12-10
I heard about the pandemic around March at school and I thought that it would just go away like the flu and people were overreacting about it. Then after a few weeks after I heard it I went to the store and hand sanitizer was running out and so was toilet paper. There was absolutely no toilet paper in the ailes because people got scared and started to hoard supplies thinking that the supply chain would reduce considering the virus and fewer facilities being open. Then they started putting signs on restaurants and grocery stores that wouldn't allow you to enter places without a mask. And after that Governor Newsome (the Californian Governor) put huge crazy restrictions where you can't go to some restaurants and small businesses. After this, we were told we would go home and do online classes for a month which I thought would take much longer because of how everyone described the virus and the news, and how California was shutting down everything because it is primarily a Democratic state. ( not trying to be political but most Democratic states shut down sooner than Republican states.) Which though seemed like a good idea wasn't because it hurt the economy and overall mental help of many people. Drug usage, suicides, and alcohol usage were at what feels like an all-time high and most Republican states stayed open and still had the same if not fewer cases of Covid as the Democratic states who locked down. Australia locked down as of now for about a year so far and their economy is down about 7% and ours has stayed less locked down is only down 2% thanks to president Trump for not shutting down absolutely everything. It is important to me to submit this because many people think our country should shut down and I disagree because Australia for example has lost a tremendous amount of the economy and still has near the same amount of cases, even after the long lockdown.
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2020-12-10
It's thanksgiving in November 2020 for me it's a very casual day during the lockdown. seems like Joe biden won the election, King Von dioed not too long ago, also Kobe, Chadwick Boseman and Pop Smoke died recently. My family doesn't celebrate thanksgiving but this year we decided to go to my uncle's restaurant Novikov Miami but other than that nothing was really that special. Im in miami because my dad came here for his work but my school is online so it wasn’t really a problem and im going back to California soon. I like to go to the gym daily also i play Xbox with my friends almost every day. I play games such as Fight Night Champion, GTA 5, Warzone, UFC 4, Watch Dogs Legion and 2K.
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2020-02
Before the pandemic, I had a typical life. I had to wake up at around 6-6:30am to be able to get to school, which was 40 or so minutes away from our house. I drove in our new Tesla with my dad who worked at Joni and Friends. I also had begun carpooling with my friend Carly. We would sit in the back seats together as we talked about a fandom that we're both in and met through. Sometimes I would draw on ibisPaintX with my iPad mini with a stylus and a glove I crocheted that goes around my wrist and only extends over my pinkie finger so that when I rest my hand on the screen it doesn't interfere with the program. Sometimes I would crochet little dolls. After school, I would either have volleyball practice, go to Carly's house, or go to my father's work and do homework, play games, or read fanfictions while he finished his work day. If I had volleyball, I would sit at the pickup place while I waited for my dad and he would come pick me up and take me home. At home, I would eat, shower, read a bit possibly, and go to bed. The fist clue I got about my life changing was the news of the quarantined ship from China. At the time, it was just another 'oh look at them, that must suck, oh well' news report but it soon escalated into 'everyone is quarantined now'
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2020-12-10
It is currently February 12, 2020. I am on the plane to go to Italy for 2 weeks on an extraordinary adventure with my friends from Oaks Christian. I land in Paris at first and I see the Eiffel tower as it is my birthday today. I couldn't have imagined my 13th birthday any better than to be in Paris. I have a great week touring all over Italy and I had np idea that my life was going to change forever. As I got to the airport in Italy to go back to California, they took my temperature and I thought it was very strange because they have never done that in the past. The security guard said because a new virus is appearing and they want to be cautious. I was kind of scared but I just looked past it. Then as we were in the airport one of the people in our group started throwing up everywhere and I got really nervous that they might have this new virus. I later realized she was fine but it was still scary. When I landed back into California, they I couldn't go to school for 2 whole weeks because the quarantined me because I was in Italy. I looked on my phone at the news and realized that Italy is surging with coronavirus cases. I ended up not have COVID-19 but it was still a time in my life I will never forget.
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2020-02
Compared to my life back in February, my life now is exceedingly different. I was still attending in-person school at Oaks Christian, and I had no idea how drastically my life would change. For example, back in February, I was on a track team called the "Thousand Oaks Flyers". My practices for that track team would later get cancelled in March, but back then I was having the time of my life and running with one of my best friends, Olivia. I was also participating in a swim team called Class Aquatics, which practices, or used to practice, at the Oaks Christian High School pool. I did not enjoy being on the swim team, and I would later get the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to quit. Back in February, I was always busy on the weekends and weekdays, from hanging out with my best friends, to always being at a sports practice. One sign that something was wrong, or about to be wrong, is that my parents, my dad is a surgeon and my mom is a nurse, were constantly talking about some kind of virus that was growing and spreading throughout Asia and most of Europe. When I asked them about it, they said that it was a virus that originated in China and was spreading. I initially laughed it off, and thought that I had nothing to worry about, when some relatives that live in Asia shipped my family and my grandmother packs of N-95 masks, and told us all to "be safe". Shortly after that, my first Covid-19 cases were reported in the U.S. and also in California. My parents were starting to get worried, but I wasn't until some teachers at school told me that the school might have to shut down if more Covid-19, or coronavirus cases were diagnosed. Shortly after that, in March, Oaks Christian switched to an online learning school program, and my family and I went into a "quarantine lockdown". That is what my life in February, and early March, of 2020 was like, and some events that were happening in my day-to-day life, and also all around the world.
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2020-11-26
During my COVID-19 Thanksgiving, I only gathered with people I have been in touch before. Thanksgiving that day never felt like a normal Thanksgiving, but it felt forced like we were supposed to act normal and there was not a pandemic. The restrictions for covid were not even allowing us to have family over so technically my family. During the day, I had some fun with my cousins(they live across the street) and had the weirdest Thanksgiving dinner. I could barely gather with anyone and it was very quiet-my family has already been around each other so we really had nothing to talk about much. Overall, I am hoping for change and I do hope people stay at home more to get over this pandemic so we can live we did before this whole situation.
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2020-12-10
I think that it is good to have texts that talk about the lives of people that are not so upper class as they are living through this pandemic, since that is what future historians will use and they need to be able to access more sources.
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2020-02-21
In February I knew nothing about Corona. My older sister Megan went on a mission trip with our school to Molokai Hawaii. My mom and my twin Emily heard about corona and how it was spreading from China to Italy and beyond. We got really scared because Megan was flying home the next day. Thankfully she got home. But after her trip she got sick for 1 week. Then each person in our family got a little something not as bad as Megan though. February was basically normal, sports, school, theater, friends no worries. We knew that this was going to be big when Megan came home sick.
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2020-02-09
Everything started out fine, but as the month progressed volleyball games got canceled, toilet paper started going out of stock, and people started going crazy for canned food. Everyone stayed far away from one another and were trapped in a prison that we call home. We all got confused as to why everyone was also going crazy over cleaning supplies. Little did all of us know that this was just the beginning of the travesty.
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2020-12-10
In February of 2020 I was 13 living my best life. I was playing beach volleyball everyday and going to school. I was allowed to go outside and play with my friends and I never thought that would change. No one wore masks but now I can't imagine life without them. I was doing tournaments at the beach every weekend but now I'm lucky to be doing even one. There was toilet paper on the shelves. If you even get a roll now it seems like you have won the lottery. Everyday before felt different new opportunities and new goals to achieve. Ever since, it's all the same. Everyday feels like it goes by so fast and yet so slow. On March 13, 2020 was when it started to feel real. We were in class and everyone was preparing to shut down. In each class we were preparing and problem solving for the next few weeks online. Well what we thought was a few weeks. A longer spring break turned into 10 months. I remember saying goodbye to all my friends even though, we thought we were coming back but, we hugged each other like it was the last time. And it was. Friends I thought I would know forever just drifted. My first day of online school was ruff. I had a hard time logging into zoom and my eyes hurt at the end of the day. Now it's a part of my daily schedule. It is my new normal.
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2020-12-10
In February I was doing what I usually do. I go to school and I play sports with my friends. The first time I looked at the news I saw something called the coronavirus. I didn't know what this was. It was new to me. The news showed that it was an illness in China. I didn't think it was going to be so big. It was just a normal illness in China. Until it spread to other countries. Then continents. It spread to Europe, then Australia, then eventually the USA. They started shutting everything down. I got a little scared but not as much. I still got together with my friends to play sports and hung out with them. Then they shut down the school. We had to do online school, but I got used to it after the first couple of weeks. Instead of doing sports in leagues, my friends and I would play in the park instead. The thing that affected me the most was I couldn't travel to Europe this year. If you wanted to travel in airplanes, there would be a lot of precautions and we would have to wear masks the whole time, so we figured out that it wasn't worth it to go and we would have to wait until next year. In conclusion, the coronavirus was scary at first, but after a month or two, everything went back to normal for me and wasn't as scary.
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0020-01-01
Early into the year (January-March) this all began, and I was thrown into a world of change, excitement, and difficulty, but before all of this, I myself knew 2020 wasn't going to be a normal year. For me, it started out great, I was on a ski trip after new years and was just relaxed because I was out of school and having fun, but in these times I kept hearing of terrible things happening in the world, one of these being the coronavirus, I didn't pay any attention to it and expected it to be a problem only in China and other countries far from California, but as the year progressed, stuff started to get more severe, and by late February/early March, stuff started to get serious as it got into the USA, and March 13 is now a day I will forever remember as the last normal day in 2020, after that, online school started, which was easy to begin with and it was fun because I was still able to go to my local store and talk to my friends online, the last semester of 7th grade was easy and fun, and Summer came around and I was able to hang out with my friends a little bit, then 8th grade started, and it started out fun, but as we entered December, everything is starting to get worse and the cases are increasing because the virus likes colder weather, so much has gone wrong this month, my. yearly ski trip that I mentioned art the start is cancelled and so much is going wrong, lets hope 2021 is better, and we can get this stuff behind us all.
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2020-12-10
This year's Thanksgiving was different than most years. My family and I usually spend Thanksgiving in Lake Arrowhead and luckily we were still able to go its year. We also still got to spend thanksgiving with my cousins, aunt, uncle and nana like we usually which was fun. One of the things we love to in Lake Arrowhead is shop in the village but this year some of the stores in the village were going out of business because of the coronavirus. In the other shops that were still open we had to wear masks and there were lines outside of some of them. Another thing that was different was that a lot of our favorite restaurants were closed for seating and instead we had to pick up the food. Our family still had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and we ate turkey and all the normal foods we would usually eat. However, when we went to the local grocery store they were sold out of all of food and the grocery was packed even more than it usually is because people were getting worried about not having another food while were in lockdown.
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2020-12-10
On Wednesday, the 2 days before my school told us we were going online, I had my oaks Christian interview for going to school the following year. I remember going to my interview and then everything covid blowing up in my face the same day. I got accepted to oaks Christian the day I had my interview, and then the next day we were told starting Monday we would be going online. That Friday, we were working on setting up for online school, all of the tests and quizzes were canceled. My friends and I didn't think it would get this far, we thought we would go do online school for 3 weeks, and then come back. We thought we would be able to hang out at each other's houses and do online school there. We were told that the flu was worse and that it was a big deal and that it would be over soon. We quickly were put on lockdown and we didn't see each other for months.
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2020-12-10T10:52:28
My life before Covid-19 was going very well. I was traveling for competitions and doing sports, actually going to school in person normally, and I was able to see the rest of my family. I was very happy, and then everything began to fall apart. Back in January, I found out about the virus, and how it was in China. Everybody thought that it was a joke and we would all laugh when someone talked about it, but we never thought that it would spread to the USA, or cause an emergency global pandemic. I was actually at a competition the weekend before everything shut down, completely unaware of what was about to happen. We got home from the competition and the next day at school, I began to hear that other schools were shutting down and canceling school temporarily. That is when it all hit me. Our school was shutting down, stores were shutting down, restaurants were shutting down, everything was closed, and I thought that the world was ending. Who knew that right after coming back from a normal competition and a regular life that everything was changing. I definitely didn’t. The worst and funniest part about everything shutting down in an emergency rush, was the outage of toilet paper. Everyone was stalking up on toilet paper, for a reason I am not aware of, causing almost all stores and online websites to be completely out of it. People began to panic for this reason, and that is when people began to hoard things like dry foods, toilet paper, water, and that is when getting essential items became a huge struggle. Everyone basically had to fight to get the things they needed. Covid-19 changed the whole world, and it was definitely not expected.
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2020-03-31
I chose this because I think it was actually really significant during the pandemic, and also just in 2020. TikTok is an app where people create 60 second videos, it can be dancing, making food, doing pranks, whatever you want. TikTok started becoming popular in 2019, but it really blew up in March when we were all stuck inside. I know from myself, I spend endless hours on TikTok, so did the rest of my family, even my parents. I haven’t met anyone who didn’t go on TikTok, or at least see TikToks online during lockdown, it was everywhere. I think this is significant to the pandemic and 2020, because it was how most of us kept busy, around the world. We were all watching the same videos, doing the same dancing trends, cooking the famous food for that week, etc. TikTok now has 850 million users.
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2020-02-26
It was a regular time of day, at least in my head. Everything was fine, everything was normal. There were hints of something occurring that would not end well, though. I heard some of my friends on campus at Oaks Christian Middle School theorizing on what infected China. I had no clue what they were talking about, until they should me a map of infections for Covid-19. There were a couple hundred cases in China at the time. I figured it was just a jump of a flu. I was dead wrong. Every day, I can see my friends looking at the screen in horror at the numbers jumping up. It went 300, 800, 1500, 2600 every day. I then just forgot about it to save me some un-wanted pressure. A week passes now, and my friends beckon me to take another look at the map. When I looked at that map, it was when I knew Humanity would take a bullet. I look to the top-right of the screen. Total Infected Cases: ~1000000. All of China was red. Italy was starting to bleed of the vile color. Europe was not looking so good either. And then, the worst part. My friend zooms the map to Los Angeles, roughly close to us. Total Infected Cases: ~300. From then on, I knew this was the beginning of the end...
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2020-04-09
I think this item is really interesting, and it does fill an archival silence, about musicians and what they did in lockdown- if they stopped producing music, if they were even more eager to, etc. I first heard this song in the lockdown, and it made me feel like I was connected to the band- he was singing about the same things I was experiencing, I realized everyone was going through similar things in quarantine. I had never thought about what musicians and singers were doing, for some reason I thought their lives didn’t change much, but they did. I thought it was really cool Twenty One Pilots saw that people were down, stressed, etc. and wanted to relieve some stress with a song about the pandemic.
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2020
In February my life was pretty normal. There were no signs of life changing. It was in March when everything started to pick-up. School shut down on Friday, March 13 and from then on we've been online. This experience has been a very odd experience.
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2020-12-10
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.
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2020-12-10
In January, one of the best basketball players to ever live died in a helicopter crash. After that, everything went downhill. Covid caused everything to close and we couldn't even hang out with friends because of how bad and fast it went to everywhere. Everything in my area closed up and most businesses went bankrupt and had to close. Now wherever we go we have to wear masks just to protect us from the virus. The cases keep raising and more and more people keep dyeing from it. This is my story
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2020-03-19
During the pandemic, I was an intern at a nonprofit, LEAD Inc., where we created online courses and webinars that give people tips and tricks to dealing with anxiety, working from home, and things to do during the pandemic. I think this item amplifies the voices of a marginalized group, people who struggle with anxiety already, and who struggled even more during the pandemic. It is also a great example of a small non-profit who took an advantage of the pandemic, and worked to try to help people during an unprecedented time. A lot of items I found were just things people did during the pandemic to pass the time, but at LEAD, we actually put together an online course to inform and help people who struggle with the anxiety of uncertainty, and we give lots of information and tips in the course.
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2020-10-07
Since I wanted to focus on hobbies in quarantine, and finding ways to pass the time, this article gives a lot of useful information on why having a hobby during the pandemic can do wonders for our mental health and stress. “And that's important in the middle of a pandemic, said Jeanine Parisi, an associate scientist in the department of mental health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. ‘Everything seems a little out of control. Activities are the one thing that could provide structure and give you back a sense of personal control.’” (Merschel, 2020). I really resonated with this because everything did feel out of control for me, and my hobby, painting, really did give me a sense of personal control. I think this can relate to my generation during the pandemic, because we are used to having a schedule- whether it be school, job, etc. Getting rid of that schedule and having no structure was really difficult, and we all had to come up with ways to pass the time and provide some sort of structure. I think this responds to the needs and considerations of an ethical archive, because an archive needs some sort of facts and research, not just items that people made or hobbies that they did.
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2020-04-15
During quarantine, we were all very bored and going a little stir crazy. I really wanted to get into painting because it is relaxing for me, and it takes up a lot of time. This is important to me because it was something during lockdown that made me feel relaxed and calm. It was a stressful time for everyone, and we all had to find hobbies that would keep us busy, which is important to understanding 2020 and the lockdown. I think that is what this says about the pandemic, we had to find these little things to keep us going throughout the long days stuck inside, and painting really helped me do that.
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2020-12-10
My life before COVID was nice. I could go places, see friends, and have a fun time at school. However, when I heard about COVID - 19, I thought it would go over quickly like the flu. But it turned into something much greater. And it was terrifying. But with the help of family and friends, we can make it through this pandemic together.
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2020-09-24
Christopher is the administrative aid at the African American Museum of Nassau County. He works with museum director, Joysetta Pearse, to promote understanding and appreciation of African American culture, art and tradition through education, interpretation, exhibitions, collections and programs for the enrichment of the public. Chris discusses his work, as well as how we hopes to come out stronger, on the other side of COVID. He also discusses the loss of his uncle and getting a diagnosis of his own during COVID.
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12/09/2020
The following submission is a brief statement on the experiences of myself and the thoughts I had until the end of the year. It will show the progression within one area devastated by the virus.
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2020-12-10
My thanksgiving was similar to a normal thanksgiving. The only big difference was not having other family members there. We got all our food like turkey, potatoes, etc. We cooked up a feast and played games. It was just my family and I, but we still had a good time!
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2020-11-28
My thanksgivings was not exactly normal however it was a holiday and a change from the normal grind of school so that was a good thing. At least I got a chance to take a small break before going back. However, with covid raging everywhere we weren’t able to have our grandparents or family over like we normally do. Instead, we decided to have Thanksgiving with a family that we are close friends with and had been exposed to. However, even that was a bit weird no handshakes, no high fives nothing that brought people too close to one antother. Besides that our thanksgiving was relatively normal except for the fact that we had planned to be outside in a well ventalted as recommended, but that changed as it was too windy to eat outside. All in all, it was a pretty weird thanksgiving, but it could have been a lot different.
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2020-12-10T09:31:50
I remember the day Friday March 13th clear as day. I do because this is the day that literally changed everyones lives. I was in school and Just thinking to myself "cmon just like 20 more minutes of class and then I'm done for the day." Rights as I get out of class the school has been notified that the state of California will go into a state of emergency. The tv's just lit up with the hazard sign. Everyone in my grade just starts going bonkers because us kids had no idea what was happening. I left school just thinking what the world is. Then it was the weekend. you might've thought this was a normal weekend but, no. Saturday we hear from the school saying we will not be having regular school days anymore. Now this, this hit me hard. Everyones thinking whats going on whats happening. No answer. At the start of 2020 everyone said "oh this is going to be our year nothing bad's going to happen." We seriously just jinxed it. How could quite possibly the worst pandemic happen right now? Jut why now? Why cant it happen when Im older or something? These questions wont get answered. I kid you not the past what 8 months of been extremely boring. I know kids say this a lot but Im sure pretty much everyone will agree on this one. Have you ever watched the "Simpsons"?? Well, if you haven't already got caught up they predicted another event. Im not joking. They had workers working in a factory in China and they had a bat that was contaminated and they shipped it to the united states for a project or something. They had the same bat concept as Covid 19. And that episode came out months before Covid or even a couple years. Search it up. June, July just went by so fast but also its like it slowed down reality at the same time. When august comes around school starts back up. It is the hardest time yet. Zoom classes all the time no going back to school.Okay, Im a huge Disney freak so you're gonna want to hear this. This is the third time in history in HISTORY that a multi billion theme park has closed. This is the first and the very first time Disneyland and every other Disney park has been closed for more than a day. This is history. Can you really believe that Covid has done all of this?? Oh, too any store or marketplace that sold toilet paper in March, April, and May were all sold out because everyone was so panicked that they couldn't restock on stuff like that. Can you believe my generation seriously that they would run out of toilet paper?!?!? Then on that note, may 2020 rest in those that are essential workers and my generation.
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2020-12-10
In the months before most of the world shut down due to COVID-19, my life was social, fun, and happy. During January of 2020, I had recently gotten to lease a horse for Christmas. I was getting used to riding my horse and going to the barn daily while developing friendships through horseback riding. In February of 2020, I had made friends and bonded with my horse at the barn where I did not have to wear a mask or even be aware of cleanliness and sanitation. When March of 2020 came around, it became a task to be careful of who you’re around and where you go due to the cases developing in the United States. School went online around the middle of March, but my barn was still wide open and did not require masks, temperature-taking, or sanitation before entering. This made life feel normal despite not seeing school friends daily anymore. My barn closed to outsiders from April-May, but for only one month. I was able to see my friends, still without rules such as wearing masks, but only for a two-hour limit due to capacity limitations. From May-November, life was great. I saw my friends often, did well in online school, and maintained the barn as a big part of my life. Now, December of 2020, my barn requires masks, but they are not strict about it. I am still getting outside, staying active and healthy both physically and mentally, and keeping a social life. Although I am doing well in “quarantine,” I would much rather be at school in-person and be doing activities without safety precautions and limitations. Life is different, but I’ve developed entirely new perspectives and these new situations have helped me grow as a person.
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2020-12-10
For Thanksgiving this year in 2020, my family stayed home and my mom made us Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Restaurants had closed, preventing us from eating out on Thanksgiving like we’ve done every year previously as a tradition. For my mom’s first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner, we ate turkey, stuffing, biscuits and gravy, and miscellaneous vegetables which all tasted great. It was a new experience for us and it didn’t feel the same as going out to a restaurant with outside family or occasionally family friends. The day of Thanksgiving was a normal day except for not having school and my parents being home instead of at work which made nice family time. Thanksgiving at home was different, but still plenty enjoyable and delicious.
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2020-12-10
My experience during this whole pandemic has been devastating. I know a lot of my friends and family who caught the virus. Thankfully they recovered quickly and are okay but it was scary knowing they had it. Other than my friends and family getting the virus many other people caught the virus and sadly some of those people didn't make it. It's really sad.
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2020-12-09
This is a photo of my roommates and I on our last night all together before we go home for the Holidays. We were tested for covid before going home, and we are planning to wait a couple of days and get tested again once we get home before we see anybody. I would feel absolutely terrible if I spread it to someone that I love at home, so I am taking the necessary precautions. My roommates and I will be reunited again in late January.
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2020-11-26
This is a picture of my roommates and I behind an entire Thanksgiving meal we made just for the three of us. We all go to USFCA, and all of our homes are out of state, so none of us went home for Thanksgiving. It was a bit emotional for me because it was the first Thanksgiving I spent away from my family. However, I was grateful to have my roommates with me who I love!
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2020
This particular screenshot of an episode shows Squidward looking through his blinds at Spongebob and Patrick as they seem to be enjoying themselves and having fun. So, the reason why I decided this best expressed my experiences during the pandemic is because it shows mine and many others efforts to stay-at-home to lessen the spread of COVID-19. I remember the first time when the pandemic affected me. I was a member of the Ventura College History Association and we were having a meeting around mid-March of 2020. There were rumors that the college was gonna shut down due to the pandemic worsening, even some of my professors warned us about the potential of having to switch to online classes. So, during the meeting, the advisor of the association received an email stating that the college was indeed gonna close the campus and switch to online classes. This was the moment when I first realized how serious the pandemic was getting. So of course from this point on, many people and I have been adhering to the guidelines and restrictions that have been placed to stem the tide of the outbreak. Meanwhile, those who ignore the guidelines go outside and sometimes don’t take the necessary precautionary measures like mask wearing or social distancing risk getting infected with COVID-19 and risk infecting others who may be at a higher risk of the disease. I’ve personally only met with friends about twice during the whole duration of the pandemic when it was a bit safer to finally hang out with them, albeit with social distancing and mask wearing of course. Now with the rise in cases going up exponentially, especially as the United States is entering winter which could potentially increase the spread of the disease, we have been issued a new stay-at-home order here in our region of California. But again, the cycle of those adhering to the guidelines and those who don’t has been repeating again.
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2020-11-13
When the pandemic caused many local annual events to become canceled or adjust their presentation, I did not think of how it would affect the Christmas Holiday events in Virginia. The Norfolk Botanical Gardens, "Dominion Energy's Garden of Lights," has kicked off its holiday light display and events with a walkthrough known as the "Million Bulb Walk," tram rides, family events such as crafts, and readings of the Polar Express for over nine years. Due to local Covid-19 restrictions, many of these events are now canceled or offered with limited capacity. Generally, the week before Christmas until January 2 is reserved for drive-thru only. However, the garden has canceled the Million Bulb Walk and open the Garden of Lights as limited capacity tram rides or non-contact drive-thru only events. My family and I drove through the drive-thru event last month, and the garden was figuratively dead. Usually, traffic is backed up blocks away from residents anxious to get into the gardens, particularly on the weekends. Despite choosing a peak time on a Saturday, I only saw two vehicles. What usually is a 90 minute to 2-hour event was finished in less than 20 minutes. With so many events canceled and places shutting down permanently due to operation costs exceeding incoming cash, I have to wonder if low turn-out will forever alter the Garden of Lights. The NBG is a non-profit organization, and the Garden of Lights is one of their primary fundraising sources. An underwhelming turn-out could cause financial strain on the garden that could hinder future events.
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2020-12-05
In this story I would like to share some of my experiences working at a Hotel that was converted into a quarantine facility for the US Military. I am a civilian employee of a US Army Lodging facility on a US Army base overseas. As a part of my job, I assist soldiers in finding temporary lodging during their permanent change of station (PCS) moves, as well as finding lodging during temporary deployments in our area. In many ways, our facility works as a hotel with an emphasis on long term stays for guests. By early February we had begun to take measures of tracking where people were traveling from and if they had any contact with people who had be sick or were sick themselves. In March, as the pandemic was heating up in Europe, many local hotels were forced to close, yet to support the military mission, we remained open and even converted a portion of our facility into a quarantine facility for US Military personnel. Establishing the new standard operating procedure for handling quarantine was difficult since we needed to coordinate it with local German Laws, Garrison policy and the policies being set by the local combatant commands. This often led to confusion and frequent changes in daily routine and standard operating procedure. When coming to work, things would change almost daily. While the Garrison went to partial manning as those who could work at home did, I was working double shifts to help in the conversion of our facility and the writing of the new SOP’s to deal with our changing circumstances. Large plexiglass windows were added to the Front Desk and all our office spaces. Per garrison orders mask wearing became mandatory throughout the facility except for guests inside guest rooms. Wearing masks for hours on end, and frequent sanitation runs to wipe down the stairways and elevators and lobby became the norm. Given the importance of maintain health and readiness, the Military took the situation vary seriously in terms of sanitation and protection measures. When One of my colleagues had tested positive for COVID, the others she had direct contact with were placed in Quarantine and sent to be tested as well. They were required to have two negative tests 5 days apart before they could leave quarantine. When I became sick with flu-like symptoms, I was sent to be tested for COVID. The Garrison established a drive through testing area. The test consisted of a nasal swab, which could be done either as the less invasive swab just inside the nose, or the more invasive same day test which required the swab to be taken deeper in the nose for 10 seconds. After filling out a questionnaire, they determined that I needed the more invasive test. After reaching the end of the line, I leaned out of the window of my car they tested me. It was a rather painful experience. Within 8 hours of the test, I was able to access my test results online. Luckily, I tested negative. As it turns out I had only a regular seasonal flu. If I had tested positive, I would have been contacted by a training team on the same day of my test, and the colleagues that I worked with would have had to enter quarantine as well. Since I tested negative, I only had to remain at home away from work until 48 hours after my last symptoms. Attached is a copy of the COVID testing information sheet provided to me after my test.
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2020-12-08
2020 is not a year that we dreamed of. The cover of this video was people counting down the New Year in Wuhan, celebrating the year of 2020 is here. Then, the pandemic stoke. Reporter in live news cried because there was not a single car running in the street in Wuhan; a 23-year-old healthcare worker said she couldn’t cry because that will make her goggles misty and she won’t be able to see. Doctors cried because the president do their hospitals was exposed to COVID-19 and sacrificed. 2020 has been a year of heartbreaking. But, when there is love, there is hope. Together fighting the virus, Wuhan lifted the lockdown and families were reunited. The loving and caring from the society also showed in many other aspects; police man wished the students good luck with their college entry examine, a grandma bragging her flowers to her grandchildren through her security camera every morning. I couldn’t help but cried when watching this video. Like the subtitle in the end, “2020 has been a hard year, but thank you for showing your love and kindness.”
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2020-12-09
I live in a rural part western Washington about one hundred miles from the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 in Seattle. Even though I live in a county that voted Republican in 2016 and 2020 (the first time Grays Harbor County voted Republican for the first time since 1928 when Herbert Hoover was elected) people took the restrictions seriously. As we hear about the supposed difference in Covid-19 outbreaks between Red and Blue parts of the country I thought it would be interesting to show the county-by-county numbers for Covid-19. The file attached shows the health department web pages for each county. This shows how serious this region took the outbreak. The file is static, so anyone interested should follow the web addresses to see current numbers for active contact tracing, active Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths.
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2020-12-09
This is a collection of all of the western Washington Native American tribe’s Covid-19 information. Unlike other parts of the country, western Washington tribes have a low Covid-19 rate.
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2020-12-08
People were lining up at the metro station waiting for the next train. They strictly followed the social distance and wore face masks
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2020-05
This presentation provides the history of police brutality towards POC, what led to the protests and the changes that being implemented
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2020-12-07
These are my students who are training at Northeastern University to become Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) The pandemic has created restrictions that have made training the healthcare providers of tomorrow more challenging than ever before. Students must be in full personal protective equipment including a facemask, faceshield, gown, and gloves. Between faceshield fogging, trouble breathing in the masks during more rigorous physical components to training, and many other obstacles to their learning, the students have shown inspiring levels of resilience. Their strength during these difficult times serves as a constant reminder to me of the ability of the human spirit to overcome any and all challenges, and inspires me to continue to try and find ways to mitigate the effects of the challenges due to the pandemic. Students deserve a proper education and experience, and it is up to educators to match their students efforts in overcoming the barriers that Covid-19 has constructed.
