-
2020-08-09
When this virus started, I did not think much about it. I was naive and was one of those people that believed that it would not affect me. Boy, did I receive a wake-up call and fast. I live with both my parents, my older sister and her two boys. My youngest sister also lives with us when she is not at college. It started with my oldest sister having to work at home and not going back to work. Then, I got the notice that I my hours at work would be getting cut and I would have to file for unemployment. The same happened to my mom. If that was not enough, graduation got “canceled” and I was not able to walk. Something, that meant the world to me. Overtime, I began to get used to new reality we all were living in. Well, I thought so, until we were hit with the most gut-wrenching news. My tio (uncle) Raymond, was getting rushed to the hospital, he had stopped breathing. A week earlier, him and my tia were diagnosed with COVID-19. Later, we found out that my tio had a heartache in the ambulance and three more while at the hospital. He was not responsive, and they had to put in a comma. My family and I leaned on our faith more than ever during this time. In the end, my tio was still not responsive. My cousin – his daughter – was the only one allowed in the hospital. His entire family had to say goodbye to him over a facetime call... Majority of my family lives in Arizona, my family and I are the only ones that live in Colorado. We have not been back to Arizona for a couple years now. I have not seen my tio in a couple of years and we did not even get to say anything to him. My tia and cousins, were then left with the financial responsibilities of his funeral, the hospital bills, rent, the essential bills, food, etc. The only issue was, there was no money. My tia has been fighting for my tio’s retirement, his life insurance and pension. We have been trying to raise money for them for all the essential needs, but mostly his funeral. One month to the day, we get even more heart-breaking news. My tia’s father, had just passed away from COVID-19. This is the same family that had just lost their husband and father, now lost their father and grandfather. I lost my grandfather way before I was born, so my tio Boa always acted as my grandfather. My family could not get a break, every time we thought we could breathe, we would just get the breath knocked out of us. Two more tio’s passed away after that, this time on my mom’s side of the family. More and more of my family in Arizona are getting COVID-19, and we fear if they will be strong enough to make it through. My nana (grandmother), then recently just ended up in the hospital. This pandemic has dropped my family to their knees plenty of times. Though we are terrified for the uncertainty, we clench to our faith to get us through it.
-
2020-08-09
struggling with alcoholism I found a outlet in cooking, this post shares some of the things that I have made over the last few mouths. I wanted to showcase some positive notes of this pandemic and how it has brought mental wellness to the forefront.
-
2020-07-04
It shows the impact of this virus on my family's lives as well as my own. I feel my experience is one story to the many that can provide context on the interesting times we live in.
-
2020-08-08
This photo is literally a sign of the times. A graphic like this makes me feel more secure knowing that masks can help prevent spreading the virus. I think it is a perfect reflection of what everyday life is like and will serve as a relic for future generations looking at the archive.
-
2020-08-09
Dear son,
I am so sorry you are having to live through these crazy times. You are only three and don't understand why we can't go see your grandparents and your friends. I know that it sucks that we can't play outside and living in an apartment makes it even worse. It will be over some day soon. I am so proud of you wearing your mask anytime we have to go somewhere. I am so glad you're in such good spirts at all times. When all of this is all over we will go and visit family and friends. We might have lost a year but my love we will go on vacation and see our family and friends. Just a little longer and we won't have to wear our masks. Until then my son keep strong and we will get through this.
-
2020-06-04
After months of isolation and spending time away from direct contact with large groups, I could not help but feel a sense of anxiety and fear of the repercussions that others and I myself may have to deal with by taking part in this march. There is no escaping the news of this pandemic. News stations, social media, coworkers, friends, and family have provided me with daily reminders about the severity of COVID-19. So why am I, along with thousands of other residents of San Diego, leaving the safety of our homes and breaking the rules of our lockdowns to combat this deadly virus?
Unfortunately, we could not unsee what the police had done to George Floyd. There was no erasing those eight minutes and forty-six seconds from our memory. Witnessing this reminded us of Breonna Taylor and the lives of other Black Americans who have lost their lives from mistakes made by the police. Although we were in harm’s way, we felt like this is where we needed to be. We needed to show the world that enough was enough and taking this risk was worth sending a message.
With every step, I felt my sense of fear about the COVID-19 began to subside. In its place, a sense of purpose began to take over. After nine miles of marching, I did not feel like an individual dangerously swimming through countless transmissions of the virus. I felt one with the people.
-
2020-04-06
As the Covid-19 pandemic began to spread in Boston, museum interpreters at the Paul Revere house looked to the archives to learn more about how Boston has responded to wide-spread illness in the past. This blog post from The Revere Express blog explains how the smallpox epidemic effected the Revere Family and ways that 18th century medicine responded to the illness.
-
2020-04-30
A blog post from the Massachusetts Historical Society blog The Beehive, this post studies how Abigail Adams responded to the 1776 smallpox epidemic. Looking through primary sources in Adams' own words, the author studies how Abigail Adams responded to an epidemic in her own time period.
-
2020
This webpage invites audiences to include their perspectives of the Covid-19 pandemic. Individuals can write a few sentences about their experiences and help build a database of responses. Functioning as a digital journal, the Massachusetts Historical Society collects how Boston residents respond to certain prompts pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic.
-
2020-04
This memo was released in the beginning of the stay at home orders in Massachusetts (April 2020). As a response to the state-wide quarantine, MASSCreative released this statement explaining ways they will continue to support the cultural communities. This message is important as it is from the start of the Covid-19 responses in the state.
-
2020-08-06
With Corona, parents have to cope with working from home, providing full time child care, homeschooling, planning, shopping for and preparing all the meals, and all of the household chores.
This playset for kids shows how they can act like their parents in these days of quarantine. Children always like imitating their parents. Now they can do that during this "new normal."
-
2020-07-30
Melting Through Time is a drawing by my 13 year old daughter who felt that this depicted how she feels being in lockdown stage 4. I feel that it is an accurate representation of how many people are feeling irrespective of age: trapped, powerless, confused and wondering how to find purpose and maintain their identity.
-
2020-08-08
Hi. Before I share my story I am going to share some other things about me. I play sports, will be graduating in the class of 2021 (-_-) and I study sometimes. Maybe more than sometimes but you get the idea. Well here I am having a normal quarantine life- waking up, eating, sitting down, eating, studying, eating- yeah you know the usual. I do hear stuff about the outside world every once in a while, but not too worried about it despite- the numerous amount of casualties from RONA, hospitals being flooded, countries being ... you get it, the usual- but I WAS calm. Like how could I of all people get corona when I haven't been past my garage in the past few months. Just before this gets going I want everyone to know that I DO wear a mask everywhere. My FAM doesn't mess around. Well fast-forward to the 1 day I interact with civilization outside mi casa on August 6th. This 1 special occasion, the one *** time I stepped foot outside my realm WITHOUT a mask was to get groceries from my grandma who at the moment had a mask on. These groceries were from.......... COSTCO. This is that 1 day I realized on AUGUST 8, I knew that I ****** up. Yes. You're probably thinking something near the realm of me being... well just plain stupid, but it gets even better. Today (August 8) I am starting to realize that I have touched every god dang snack in the cabinet. I may have given my WHOLE family corona-virus. My symptoms seem to be mild but who knows they may get worse as the disease progresses. More importantly I am praying that none of my family members nor anyone exposed to me has been given corona-virus. I'm sorry to everyone going through anything right now. Stay healthy and Stay Safe. No matter what wear a mask, speaking from experience- the consequences can be life threatening- A.O
-
2020-03-13
My girlfriend and I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona, during ASU's spring break this past year. There was a good amount of news regarding the rising pandemic, but it didn't seem to scare us too much at this point. ASU sent out an email stating that classes were under the question of returning after spring break, but we didn't take it all too seriously, thinking this whole thing would blow over as Ebola did. We had an amazing time and enjoyed dining and shopping at all of the fine shops and restaurants in Sedona. We didn't have a care in the world. We just enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed the many sights of Sedona. As we were packing up to return home, my girlfriend's parents called us in a panic that all of the grocery stores surrounding their home were empty or close to empty. There were no paper products, and the food isles were nearly cleaned out. We had not prepared for this at all. We just didn't think that we needed to prepare for Covid-19. On the way home, we stopped at every single grocery store, Walmart, convenience store, and target to find much of the same thing... people by the hundreds stocking up on everything in the grocery store. We got as much as we could and rushed home to consolidate our goods with her parents to find that we needed to make another trip tonight. We barely had anything to prepare for the virus, and that led to a stressful few nights of stocking up as much on as we could find. This marked the start of the panic, but we didn't even know for sure that we should be panicking about the virus. A few days later, the announcement came that school would be going online for the next few weeks. A week after the announcement from ASU, the president shut down the country. This was the start of the quarantine, and it still feels like we are quarantining to this day.
-
2020
We are living through a historical period with COVID-19, there is no doubt about that. This meme is about a dad who was probably a teenager during quarantine helping his child with homework in the year 2040. He discovers a meme he posted in 2020 has made its way into the history book!
-
2020
This one will appeal to all historians. It is written like an opening paragraph in a serious literary work which makes it funnier. The joke is about all the hoarding of the toilet paper that went on when Coronavirus first hit. Finally, 33 years later, the last of the toilet paper stash is about to be used up.
-
2020-03-15
The photos show the antinomy of what the media said people should do (not go out, quarantine) vs what people actually did (go out, pictures were taken at a bar). It highlights the irresponsibility but also the humor found in the middle of uncertainty. This was taken in a bar that had a very special, special- Buy a Corona, get a free toilet paper roll. At this time toilet paper was hard to find in stores, and in this point in time, I needed it. People also were not buying Corona beer because they believed it was related to the COVID pandemic. Please note that after this night, I did quarantine and realized how serious the situation was. I do not reccomed going out during a pandemic.
-
2020-08-07
I have uploaded a written story about how my university adapted to the Covid Pandemic. I wanted to tell the impact it had on my academic career, my personal life, and how my professors adapted to the change.
-
2020-08-08
I found this picture showed how one aspect of our life has adapted to this crisis. What is more interesting is what this picture may say for our future. My daughter's daycare requires all children 2 years of age or older to wear masks. They understand not all children will wear the mask at all times or possibly at all. The daycare's hope is to introduce the children to masks in a fun way to ease the transition of wearing a mask. It is this change in mind set of our children I find most interesting. It is this unknowable, not knowing how long our life may be impacted that has made us do this change. This adaptability we display I find most hopeful to these unknown times.
-
2020-08-08
I experienced the deaths of two loved ones, between April and May 2020, as a result of Covid-19. They died in the hospitals and no loved ones were present to care for them as they passed. It has been a painful experience for my family and me. We could not honor them after they passed in the ways we are accustomed to. I created this image with their smiling faces; the way I remember them in life. Vibrant and loving beings who are now Angels watching over us all.
-
2020-08-06
As California releases more and more incarcerated people to slow the spread of Covid-19 in the prison population many victims advocates are worried and hurt. This news story covers one woman's reaction to the early release of the woman that murdered her brother when he was 23 years old.
-
2020-08-08
Human Challenge vaccine trials
-
2020-08-06
This Tweet and series of replies shows people talking about there not being electricity in at least parts of San Quentin Prison in California.
-
2020-08-07
In this video Phil Melendez discussed the impact of Covid-19 on incarcerated persons and his belief that violent offenders should also be considered for early release to slow the spread of Covid and protect the inmate from receiving a defacto death sentence.
-
2020-08-08
This Tweet from a restorative justice advocate indicates incarcerated persons may be planning a hunger strike, or protest of some type on August 14, 2020.
-
2020-08-01
It may seem strange to reference a study about obesity and H1N1 but if you are a member of the fat community it makes complete sense to reference medical mistreatment to understand what is happening to fat bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity is said to be one of the risk factors with the highest death rate for COVID-19. As a fat asthmatic, I find it hard to believe that my body fat will be the death of me faster than my inflammation prone lungs. What I and others living in large bodies know is that medical professionals carry a traumatic and often dangerous bias against us. We swap war stories in the comment section of social media posts about the multiple times doctors have mistreated, ignored, or nearly killed us due to their often blatant ignorance. This study shows just how that bias has resulted in the death of patients before and how that bias may be the reason more obese patients die from COVID-19 then thinner patients.
-
2020-08-07
While everyone has had to adjust. As a parent of a Senior in high school I felt a sense of loss for my youngest son who had to make a series of adjustments. 2020 did not start off on a great note for him. He was supposed to leave for college in January but that ended up getting pushed to Fall of 2020. He quickly adapted and took some college courses at the local college and decided that playing club soccer one last season with the boys he has been with for ten years wasn’t that bad. He had decided that heck why not try to win Nationals this year. They did once before, and the team looked pretty good. He would be leaving for college to start practicing for his college men’s team in July anyway. Then March came. Our school district shut down for what was to be two weeks. I was out of a job temporarily or so I thought. His college classes went online. Soccer practice was put on hold until they could figure everything out. I guess it was good that he did not make it to college in January since he would have been coming home in six weeks had he gone. The two weeks soon became 2 ½ months. Club soccer tried to start getting some practices in and there at one time was talk that we would be playing some games this summer. Our travel schedule spans several states in the Midwest. Covid-19 hotspots started popping up everywhere we were supposed to travel. Soccer fields were closed and locked. That did not deter they boys just jumped fences and hit the fields. Erich had me jump the high school fence so I could take video of him practicing for his college coach. I must admit – it was fun. College soccer was put on pause. The Division 1 athletics is still trying to figure out what they are going to do about the fall. Meanwhile, the boys are moving in August 12th. They will be tested twice when they arrive and once a week for who knows how long. Just recently one D1 school suspended three players and dismissed 3 other players from their soccer team for having an off-campus party where 29 students (most athletes) tested positive with no symptoms. While this may seem harsh student-athletes are given many opportunities that other students do not have; however, they also have a responsibility to behave in manners that other students are not held up to either. I feel the disappointment of my son in not being on the field, trying to practice and maintain his skills. I never played a sport, but I have been there since he started – in the past 15 years this is the longest he has been without playing. He broke his leg and he was only out 4 months before he was back. For me, the toughest part has been seeing the things that he missed that his brother and sister were able to do – prom, senior ditch day, a graduation with the family, his final soccer season, college orientation, getting to go down to school early, and celebrate his birthday with family and friends. As many people say this group of kids started their childhood with 9/11 and ended their childhood with a pandemic. I pray that this does not turn them into weary adults but adults with resilience. Being awakened to the fact that disappointments happen, and adjustments need to be made may just make this group one that will make changes and not be passive about their futures. In the meantime, I still do not know what is happening with my job with the school district. Hopefully, I will know by mid-August if the students are going back in-person or virtual.
-
2020-08-07
This Tweet explains that inmates who save gloves, given to them by the prison, have received disciplinary action for having the gloves.
-
2020-08-07
One inmate at San Quentin Prison in California has been keeping his press contacts apprised of the situation during the pandemic via letters, many written on a typewriter. Kevin Sawyer, serving a sentence of 48 years to life is also the prisons newspaper editor, though operations stopped in March when prisons in the state went on lockdown in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. He wrote 8,000 words during just the first seven weeks of the pandemic. His goal is to document what is happening inside the prison during the pandemic.
-
2020-08-07
This Tweet from REFORM Alliance explains they have gotten six million masks into correctional facilities across the nation by using the 10 million dollar donation from Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey. And 50,000 people have been released. The accompanying video explains that if the nations 2.4 million incarcerated people become ill and go to outside hospitals there will be no hospital space for anyone else. If that isn't enough to make you care they pose the question, do any incarcerated people deserve a defacto death sentence?
-
2020-05-14
"The state purchased 300,000 oral swab tests from a months-old California company. So far, only highly-infected prisons are using them for mass testing." The test has a 10% rate of false negatives. This test was given a rapid approval by the FDA and they have said anyone with symptoms and a negative test should be retested. The worry is without accurate testing of most inmates that the virus will spread widely and quickly due to unsanitary and cramped conditions.
-
2020-05-04
Texas appears to have the worst outbreak of any state prisons across the nation and many relatives of incarcerated people believe the count is low. Inmates fear telling staff they don't feel well, infected and healthy people are taking showers together. As of the articles writing 1% of inmates across the state have been tested and 70% are infected with Covid. Many worry what effect this will have on the larger communities outside the correctional facilities.
-
2020-06-05
Two inmates filed suit in late March asking for better practices to protect them from covid. The judge sided with the inmates but by that time the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had already enacted similar protocols across the state, though many argue they are not followed.
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, is also quoted in this article saying, he "felons deserve personal protective equipment over frontline warriors." This is the same man that was quoted on new across the nation as saying that older people should be willing to die from Covid to keep the economy open for the benefit of their grandchildren.
-
2020-06-16
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.
-
2020-07-14
"Two Texas prisons each have more than 670 inmates with active coronavirus infections, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the highest counts seen at any state lockup since the pandemic began." What makes this Covid so scary in a prison is that if caught it can turn a short sentence into a defacto death sentence. For this reason many advocate early release for nonviolent offenders but Texas Governor Greg Abbott does not agree.
-
2020-07-04
A former Texas teacher was sentenced to a few months in prison to go through a rehab program after committing repeat DWIs. While incarcerated he contracted Covid and died. Texas has the highest mortality rate in its prisons, higher than even the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
-
2020-07-23
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.
-
2020-08-07
One prison unit in all of Texas still doesn't have any confirmed Coronavirus cases in incarcerated persons or staff. The Roach Unit attributes this to being located in a community with a low population and following the rules set out by the state for corrections facilities. Ironically, this facility is also where soap and hand sanitizer is also made for prisons. Though most prisons will not allow hand sanitizer to be given to inmates because it contains alcohol, they could drink it or use it as an accelerant to start a fire. While the warden states he is just following the rules, others say it is his strict adherence to the rules that has kept everyone healthy. Other facilities could possibly use this facility to learn from.
-
2020-08-02
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.
-
2020-08-06
When the bubonic plague or black death went through Europe small windows, just big enough for a glass of wine to be passed through, were used. People in Italy today are using them again in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
-
2020-08-07
Because correctional facilities are not built with social distancing in mind the facilities often rely on solitary confinement as a place to quarantine people. This was happening with other contagious disease before Covid but as this graphic shows the number of people being sent to solitary confinement for Covid quarantine is very high.
It should also be noted that a person sent to solitary confinement for quarantine due to illness is treated no different than a person sent there for disciplinary action. Imagine having Covid and being locked in there with no medical attention.
-
2020
An initiative that started in 2014, Create the Vote is a nonpartisan public education campaign that encourages voters and lawmakers to support art and culture. The Create the Vote Campaign 2020 serves to encourage citizens to support arts and culture with their vote to encourage creativity in Massachusetts
-
2020
Supporters of artists and cultural institutions, MASSCreative asks their Twitter audience to write to their federal lawmakers and urge them to remember the creative community when creating pandemic relief. This tweet specifically discusses the Heroes Act and the Heals Act
-
2020-08-07
A cartoon produced for the Toronto Star newspaper which shows two sqaure "stickers" surrounded by lines suggesting perforations for seperating them. Above them it reads "BACK-TO-SCHOOL STICKERS!" The top left square mimics a School Zone street sign in it's yellow background an black lettering and boarders and reads "CAUTION SCHOOL ZONE" with a drawing of a virus cell underneath it. The Top right square mimics a School Drop-Off Zone street sign with its white background and red boarder and lettering. It reads "STUDENT DROP-OFF, PICK-UP & DISINFECT" with a red arrow underneath. The bottom left square mimics a school crossing street sign with its blue background and white figures. It shows two figures hunched over, one in a skirt and the other in pants, carrying a book each, with a double ended arrow between them which reads "6 FEET." The bottom right square mimics a bumper sticker announcing a child's accomplishments (such as "my child is an honours students). I thas a red background and black and yellow lettering which reads. "MY CHILD TESTED NEGATIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS!" in a smaller font underneath it reads "TODAY, ANYWAY"
-
2020-04
Personally, COVID-19 hasn't changed my life too much. I work at Starbucks and did online college before all of this hit. Work stayed open, we do have to wear masks, we have plexi-shields up and take extra precautions with sanitization.
-
2020-07-07
I wrote an account of the moment I knew I was positive of COVID-19 and my long and winding trip to the isolation facility. I want the readers to have a glimpse of it and understand what that felt like and not to be overcome by fear once they find themselves about to embark on the same journey.
-
2020-07-25
This describes another take on being a bride during a pandemic: a bride worried if she will walk down the aisle, or into a jail cell, or be wheeled into a hospital bed
-
2020-07-24
These poems document the quarantine adjustment period: the first fifteen days. They are news reports, coping methods, and dreams. They reflect the terrifying and the mundane. I began this project on Twitter, aware that we were entering into what would be an important historical event, and assuming that this project would be what would keep me sane. Soon, cabin fever got to me and I lost my motivation, so I set them aside, hoping that they would eventually contribute to the growing body of pandemic literature. If I don't make it through this pandemic, please remember me through these poems.
-
2020-03-16
Marami ang naglabas ng panawagan na tulungan natin ang mga fronliners natin sa iba’t ibang pagamutan dahil kapos na kapos na sila sa gamit at sila mismo’y naka salang na sa peligro ng COVID19. Maraming mga health workers ang napabalitang kinakikitaan na ng sintomas ng COVID19, ngunit patuloy pa rin sa pagganap sa kanilang tungkulin.
-
2020-08-05
This article, written by a currently incarcerated man at San Quentin Prison in California, explains what it is like to be incarcerated during the Covid Pandemic and their lack of information. He asks if it is justice to leave people in prison during the pandemic, explains the stress and helplessness so many feel, talks about the racism that landed many of them in prison, and the very low recidivism rate of lifers.
