Before Covid-19, life was normal. I went to school every day. I could actually stand closer than 6 feet apart to my friends. I didn't have to wear a mask everywhere I went, and people could actually eat inside. Businesses were open for business. Everything was normal and enjoyable.

My thanksgiving this year was different than what I’m used to; my family has always had large gatherings at a grandparents’ house. This year it was just us, we made a small meal and had fun but it felt off without my entire loud crazy family.

It was Thursday, November 26, 2020. Thanksgiving day. It was unlike any other Thanksgiving I had ever had. My usual Thanksgiving day would be me going to each of my grandparent's houses for dinner. But this year was different. We decided to go to only one grandparent's house this year. So we went to their house and instead of walking inside and having dinner, we had to stay in our car. My grandma came out with a little tray of food and handed it to us. It had turkey, gravy, salt, pepper, and pie. It was very hard for me to do this because I couldn't hug my grandparents (or anyone for that matter) and I couldn't go inside the house. This Thanksgiving was much different than any other.

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the object of this is to show people how i managed to stay safe during the pandemic

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My life before COVID was just going to school, sports (tennis and dance), then going home to eat dinner and going to bed so I can repeat the process the next day. Now during COVID I wake up and go straight to my computer to start school, after I finish school I practice online dance lessons and sometimes play tennis and then I eat dinner and go to bed. I think I knew things were going to change when my sisters school shut down and my friends and I started talking about this new disease that is spreading.

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For my COVID Thanksgiving, I was able to drive 7 hours to see my cousins who I haven't seen in a while. We cooked a small meal and all ate it together on Thanksgiving day. We weren't allowed to have any friends over and we weren't allowed to leave the house that often. In the end it was fun but it got boring from not being able to do much.

This post about a Canadian nutritionist reveals an individual's experience gardening this past summer during the pandemic. The caption includes how this person picked up gardening as a new hobby during lockdown and found how rewarding it was. This post will serve as a valuable story in how gardening became a popular activity for Canadians and offer one person's journey, including challenges, in starting a garden.

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This photo illustrates how one Canadian business is hosting paint parties for those who are either beginner or experienced painters. These Zoom meetings connect people not only across Canada, but beyond where a community partakes in one of the most popular hobbies during COVID-19.

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The 90-year-old woman, Maggie, became the first person to received the fully tested and approved COVID-19 vaccine as the United Kingdom became the first country to approve the vaccine. This was remarkable due to how fast the vaccine was developed. This could be considered the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

The maritimes remained isolated largely from the rest of Canada during lockdown, and Nova Scotians pre-occupied their time with not only gardening, but crafts and puzzles, much like the rest of Canada. This article enquires into the sudden obsession with puzzles and wonders if this trend will remain popular post-COVID-19 or become a one-time event?

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Across the United States, hospital I.C.U. beds are at near full capacity. The article states, "More than a third of Americans live in areas where hospitals are running critically short of intensive care beds, federal data show, revealing a newly detailed picture of the nation’s hospital crisis during the deadliest week of the Covid-19 epidemic." Covid-19 deaths are rising and the capacity to care for the sickest individuals is dwindling. The winter of this pandemic could be considered the worst and most difficult time in the whole pandemic.

Canadians jumped on the baking bandwagon in the spring with both new bakers and expert cooks experimenting more in their kitchens. The photo caption states how baking was viewed as one of the most popular hobbies early on in lockdown and later became a mainstay in homes throughout the summer, although it became less popular as the summer progressed. This Instagram influencer's husband asks her if the COVID-19 baking trend is still popular as of August, 2020. The photo depicts a coffee cake loaf.

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Just because someone gets vaccinated does not automatically mean that they are completely immune to COVID-19. The article states, “A lot of people are thinking that once they get vaccinated, they’re not going to have to wear masks anymore,” said Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University. “It’s really going to be critical for them to know if they have to keep wearing masks, because they could still be contagious.” People can be vaccinated and still contract and spread the virus.

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On December 9, 2020, the United States broke a single-day death record with over 3,000 deaths in 24 hours. These deaths come as a result as the huge surge in cases the United States is seeing as winter sets in.

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Hello, I am a 14-year-old girl in 2020. Before the virus hit the United States it was really normal. I got up at 7:30, went to school, got home at 2:55, then went to swimming practice. Me and my friends already knew that this was not going to be a normal year. Before covid, a few other things happened. Australia burnt down and World war 3 almost started. This happened in a really short amount of time. The first time I heard about the virus is when the kids on a school field trip to Italy came back. None of them were sick, but they got out of there just before Italy shut down. There were a few rumors about how the virus started. At first, I heard it was from a snake then I heard it was because someone in China ate a bat. The second one turned out the be true. I was not really worried about the virus at first because I thought that China would have the common sense to lock down their country the second they realized how bad it was and how quickly it spreads, but no of course they don't. Before my school shut down I was at a golf tournament for school. Some of the other school teams did not come because their school had already gotten shut down. On the fourth hole, some of the girls on the other team got an email from the school that they were going to shut down. At that point, I started to get a little worried. By the end of the round, I felt a buzz in my pocket. I knew exactly what it was about, and so did everyone else.

This post reveals how Canadians chose to spend their time outside during the summer in a socially distanced way. This maze was an activity for families to participate in, and this photo shows just how important it was for Canadians to spend time outside during the global pandemic.

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So when this whole thing started people knew what it was but no one really thought of it. Nothing really changed besides that people started to use sanitizer and things like that to stay clean. After a while there were rumors that things were going to close down. Then those rumors became true, school started to go online and everything started to close down. People were buying toilet paper and necessities and it was hard to find those things in any stores, masks were mandated and everything was closed and we were on a mandatory lockdown. I am a person that loves going to restaurants and taking out food just wasn't good, so i was trying to make food a lot at my house and I have almost burnt down my house multiple times. Life was really boring and you couldn’t see friends or family. U would facetime with relatives and friends all the time because of this. That is basically what happened from my perspective of the pandemic.

Before COVID I didn't really like my life. That was mostly due to lack of sleep and the fact that I had been spending way too much time analyzing the social hierarchy of my seventh grade class. I felt alone at that point in February. Now I laugh at that feeling, because I didn't know the true meaning of alone. In early February I had started practicing for the track season and I was acing all of my classes. The closure of everything and the cancellation of sports was made worse by the fact that my high jump coach had told me that could potentially jump 5' 5" this year (that easily qualifies you to go to state championships in high school). Right before Kobe Bryant's death I first heard the word coronavirus. I dismissed it knowing that I never knew anything about current events and that it would pass. The week after the basketball legend died in a helicopter crash, I heard that unfamiliar word again. This time I asked what it was, and nobody could tell me much. All I got out of my friends was that it was a flu-like virus that was tearing through China and soon after that, Italy. My first inkling that this virus was going to be a big deal was when my best friend's mom went to 3 different stores to get 20 bottles of hand sanitizer. Of course it was a joke at that point, but after that the 'jokes' came fast and furious. First, panic over a group of students that went on an art history trip to Italy. Next, one of my classmate's parodies to the song "Break My Stride" based on the coronavirus (he sang it during English class and our teacher seem rather unnerved by it). After that, the first documented cases in the US and the beginning of the toilet paper shortages. Then, a joke about the coronavirus solving the problem of overpopulation in Asia. All of this leading up to a phone call in which my family was informed by a doctor that our school would be closed down within the next two weeks.

Everything was going great, I was doing good in school and I loved being able to go to the beach and spend time with my family. When all of a sudden I got a news alert on my phone about an outbreak about something called COVID- 19. I ran to my parent's room and asked them what it was. They told me it was a disease with flu-like symptoms that has already affected thousands of people. Places had started to shut down and the next thing I knew there was a stay-at-home order. During this time I was making a move from Puerto Rico back to California and was scared about having to fly. We wore masks the whole flight and weren't allowed to take them off unless we were eating or drinking. Once we landed in California we walked through many doors that had built-in thermometers that we're taking our temperatures. Fast forward a few months I had been accepted into Oaks Christian and was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to make new friends and try out for the dance team. A week later we had gotten an email saying that school was shut down until further notice and that we would take our classes via zoom. As expected I was bummed out because I was starting my eighth-grade year in a new school online. I couldn't make any connections and had/ still have to stare at my computer for 80 minute periods 4 times a day. Overall, COVID-19 had made my eight grade year very different than I had hoped it would be.

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It was in February of 2020 and that's when things started to change. It was a morning, I don't remember the exact day, but I was watching the news and I heard that resturants, stores, and almost everything was closing in China due to a virus that was rapidly spreading. It was chaos, airports were closing and no one was allowed into the USA from China. Later on in March, the virus started spreading here in the USA too. Schools had informed us that we would close for a week and then we'd most likely return after that. Meanwhile, grocery store shelves were close to empty and toilet paper was gone, no one could find any. Then, my parents got a call from my school saying that we weren't going to go back to school for a month or so, but eventually we never returned for the rest of the year. It was a hard ajustment. Currently, it is December of 2020 and we still don't know when we will go back to school or even when this virus will be gone for good.

This photo includes two plants, and the caption describe the new restrictions enforced for Albertan residents. This post offers an individual view into how Canadians, particularly city dwellers, grew plants in the midst of COVID-19.

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I was scrolling through Tiktok just like a normal day. Everyone was talking about this virus from China, so I felt the need to do some research. This is where I found out what it was, and how to protect myself.

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In February, I was in school. People started talking about this virus that started in China that was killing people and getting people very sick. It was in China so I thought that it wouldn't reach the U.S. Then when I got home I asked my parents about it. Then a couple weeks later they said that the virus got into the U.S. The virus spread all around the world.

It was a typical day for me. I had finished my homework and went to check my phone. I went scrolling through Tiktok but noticed something was off. There was a new virus in China all over Tiktok, so I felt the need to look it up. I did some research and realized how quickly it was spreading and to how to stay safe.

In late February headlines broke out of a virus in China that was killing masses of people, I think most people in the U.S. thought that we were safe at first because there was a whole ocean in between them and us. Then, word spread that hoards of people were getting the virus in Europe. Then I think that a lot of us were starting to get worried. Eventually, in mid-March, we started having cases in California and we had to go to school online. This was unfortunate because it was right as the Spring sports season was beginning, it was fine though, because everybody thought that we would be back in school by mid-April. And here we are in mid-December, still not back in school.

When I first heard about the Corona virus I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought that scientists would find an antidote and it would go away after a few weeks, but I was very wrong. The first time I realized COVID was a big deal was when school was canceled. At first I thought it was cool, we were gonna get a few weeks off of school, but what i didn't realize was that we would be quarantined for over 10 months. Everything started closing, restaurants, movie theaters, and sports. We switched to online school which was very hard. The school work was easier but many students had no motivation anymore. it was very annoying to have to stare at a screen all day. The Corona virus pandemic was very boring time to live in.

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This is a photograph of a Canadian ICU physician calling a patient's family to inform them of the patient's passing. The photo highlights the impact of the second wave which has hit Alberta badly in November and December 2020.

Canada's garden industry exploded during lockdown as citizens searched for new ways to remain productive. This article explores one woman's experiences gardening in Ontario and how she extended her garden's life throughout lockdown. This article will provide additional context to the role gardening had in Canada and the many benefits people reaped from a socially distanced activity.

One study from Dalhousie University reported that "pandemic gardens" became a thing this past summer as thousands of Canadians across the country spent more time outside growing their own food. This article also reveals the reasoning behind why people took to gardening as one of their main sources of entertainment during lockdown and even afterwards. The study shows that Canadians gardened for a multitude of purposes. Not only did they want to spend more time outside, but some were also concerned about food affordability due to the shortage of produce. This article will further illuminate how Canadians viewed gardening as one of their favourite pastimes during COVID-19 through an informative survey.

Not necisarily a story just the experience of me and the people around me. During the lock down, a lot of my friends' mental health, myself included started going down. Our day to day life was unexciting, boring, and for whatever reason, negative emotions felt amplified. Not being able to see friends anymore, not going to actual school, not interacting with actual people made us feel real lonely. At least thats the way I felt.