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This is interview from Edward and Jeannie Lehew focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic experience in the United States. The Lehews, both born in the 1930s, provide an enriching interview connecting the current pandemic to past historical and personal events ranging from the Great Depression to the loss of an infant grandchild. The Lehews detail many personal life experiences and offer their opinions on the current political and healthcare issues in the United States by explaining how the current presidential administration is at fault for the lack of medical supplies in America.

Mark Larson resides in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin by Lake Wissota and currently works at Market and Johnson in the safety manager position. In this interview, Mark talks about how COVID-19 has affected his job and the different programs he is involved with at Hope Lutheran Church of Eau Claire. In the interview he discusses what activities that he and his family have done to stay busy during the uncertain times and talks about how COVID-19 is bringing back family time and how there has been some positives to this pandemic in that aspect.

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The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, was first officially reported on December 31, 2019, by Chinese officials in Wuhan, China. Since then, the lives of people around the world have been dramatically transformed as the world’s population fights one of the deadliest and most contagious pandemics of modern history. Archivists of all different backgrounds quickly began engaging in what is known as rapid-response collecting—the archiving of historically important, donated artifacts and the collection of oral accounts from volunteer witnesses. Milwaukee resident Deshawn Lee was willing to sit down with Westley Hart, a student at UW-Eau Claire, and participate in the university’s effort, in collaboration with the Journal of the Plague Year Archive as well as the Chippewa Valley COVID-19 Archive Project, to engage in rapid-response collecting of oral histories from the Upper Midwest region. Deshawn comes in direct contact with the virus every day as he works, transporting patients from place to place at Froedtert Hospital and Medical College. He is also a hard-working student, pursuing a career in counseling while raising his 1-year-old daughter together with his girlfriend on the south side of Milwaukee. The purpose of this interview is to document the dynamic impacts that the coronavirus pandemic has had on Americans in the year 2020, particularly those of the Upper Midwest. His account touches on his personal interactions with the virus in work, school, and public, the actions that his local government has taken in response to the virus, as well as the virus’s interaction with the nationwide public protests that followed a series of high-profile police brutality tragedies, with an interest on the impact felt by his local Milwaukee community.

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This interview was recorded as part of The Covid 19 Oral History Project, a project of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute associated with The Journal of a Plague Year: A Covid 19 Archive. This interview was conducted through the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of credit for HIST3158 under the supervision of Dr. Rebecca S. Wingo.

In this interview the interviewee wished to be anonymous. In the interview we will be interviews a gentleman from Bulgaria in Eastern Europe. He works in a for a tech company and had to move into the city to find the job away from his small hometown. He tells us what it like in the city and why he would rather be in his hometown. As well he talks how COVID-19 has affected his job and family life and life around the city. In addition, he gives on interesting perspective on how the Bulgarian government is handling the pandemic. As well as what many people in Bulgaria think of the virus such as conspiracy theories and protests not things he personally believes but what citizens around him think at times.

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It illustrates what college was like during the pandemic

It says how educating yourself on the past can always provide insight on current struggles.

This interview is about our thoughts and understandings of the Covid-19 pandemic after having taken a semester-long course about the history of pandemics spanning from the black plague until the Spanish flu. We've discussed how we think the world could have handled this pandemic differently, the similarities and differences between this pandemic and previous pandemics, and how this pandemic affected our personal lives.

Christine Bethke interviews Charlene Bethke. They discuss vaccinations, what Charlene’s career has been like as a public accountant, COVID fears, COVID guidelines, the news/media, social distancing, and dealing with anti-maskers/COVID skeptics in the workplace.

Liz Haynes discusses her life pre-COVID and how she has been affected during COVID as a cancer survivor. She talks about her love of travel and hopefully future plans, politics (local and federal), and ends with positive outlook for the future.

Rose Yang is a dental assistant and licensed realtor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rose is interviewed by Kristopher Strebe in regard to her work, personal life, and role as a healthcare provider during the pandemic. Rose goes into depth about her jobs’ protocols against the pandemic and defends why she believes that pandemic will never be truly over for health officials working in healthcare.

Indiana University advocate, Joanna Reese interviews Atlanta photographer, Nina Karetova.

Jeff Litsey is a resident of the Fountain Square Neighborhood in Indianapolis with his wife and two children. Jeff discusses how the pandemic has affected his family life and schedule while also discussing how the neighborhood dynamics have evolved during the pandemic. Jeff talks about the challenges of running a small, locally owned, coffee shop during the pandemic in the Fletcher Place neighborhood of Indianapolis. This includes revenue, business plan evolution, government assistance, adjusting employee’s hours and pay, and helping employees and customers feel safe during the pandemic. He also illustrates how the neighborhood community helped his employees through tips that rolled into a community employee assistance plan. Additionally, Jeff discusses his anxiety that increased during the pandemic from running a business and worrying about how his shop could affect others and himself. This extended to worrying about his family. He discusses how the hobbies of art, hiking, and birdwatching helped him feel better. The interview ends with his hopes for all people to have healthcare and a home.

Tamara Harris was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and is now a retired teacher of the Chippewa Falls Middle School living in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In this interview, Tamara describes how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected her daily life, relationships with long-distance family, and participation with the community. Tamara also describes how attitudes have changed during the pandemic and how she has dealt with these changes. Tamara has 7 adult children, 9 grandchildren, as well as many other family members spread throughout the Midwest.

[Curator's Note] Abby Sobolewski talks about her family, education, and work. She then answers questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her job as a teacher, her everyday life, and her family.

University of Wisconsin Eu Clair student, Glenn Walborn interviewed Tyson factory security worker Kevin Secker. In this interview Secker discusses how the pandemic has impacted his life. Secker is also a student and discusses how his classes have changed to accommodate online learning. Also discussed is Seckers new job as a plant security guard for Tyson factory in New London, Wisconsin. He discusses the changes that factory workers had to adhere to and their reaction to all those changes. He also discusses his opinions on government response to the pandemic and skepticism he experienced in the factory. He briefly discusses conspiracy theories he has heard and remedies that some factory workers have been sharing. Secker finished off the interview with hopes for the future and lessons he hopes we as a society have learned.

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This interview is done with Gary Lato who is 69 years old and has lived in Stanley, Wisconsin his whole life he is a retired mailman of 34 years. Here I discuss with him how COVID has affected those around him in his community as well as how it has affected him. Primarily I am getting his thoughts on the entire issue since he says he lives a mostly hermit lifestyle. During the interview, he spoke as an observer of all these things going on in the community and what he is noticing from his perspective. From Garys’s point of view as an older member of the community, he sees all this as something that is going to pass and just run its course. He also touches on how most in his area in the country are mainly just staying out of it and going about their lives as normal and not worrying about it in general. He also goes on to note how this is affecting people in a big way, due to there being restrictions on many aspects of life. He ends the interview with his own spiritual view, that if you have spiritual views may agree or disagree with them.

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Keely Berg interviews Jeremy Amble, a 51-year-old entrepreneur who was paralyzed due to a spinal injury suffered in 1991. During the course of the interview the two discuss Jeremy’s disability and how it has impacted his life over the past 30 years and how that changed during COVID. Then the two discuss how COVID has affected small businesses, farming, registered nurses, and the working from home craze. After this, they discuss family life, recreation, and hobbies and how these common aspects of life have changed due to COVID. Later skepticism of COVID by family and friends is discussed and how maybe social media and political figures may have played into aspects of vaccine skepticism and mask wear refusal. Lastly, Keely and Jeremy discuss experiences with the vaccine and the future of life post-COVID.

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The sometimes overlooked part of this pandemic has been the experience of the educators and their side of the story. Here I sat with my mom to gather her experience and thoughts on what's been a rough year. We talked about the changes she witnessed and how it affected not just the kids but herself and the teachers around her as well.

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University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire student Jack Nord interviews a Minneapolis-based six-grade teacher, Sue Buettgen. In this interview, Sue discusses her initial feeling when she first heard about the COVID 19 pandemic and how it changed her day-to-day routines. She discusses her transition from classroom to online teaching and all the new struggles that presented. She talks about her fears for her student’s safety and their individual home environments are affecting them. Sue dives into discussing social disparities and how the pandemic has highlighted the issue. Sue also discusses science experiments that she was trying to still make fun for her students and how her community has come together to help others. The interviewer, Jack Nord, also chimes in to briefly discuss his life as a college student. They both discuss farming and agricultural problems that have arisen. Sue finishes off by discussing how her home life has been impacted, how her family is coping and keeping safe. She discusses her hopes for the future before ending the interview.

This interview consists of a perspective of a white male from Vermont living in Florida for the school year, whom has experienced COVID from the rural suburbs of Vermont, to the maskless warzone that is Florida. His perspective is one from a gamer, only knowing the interviewer though playing videogames together.

Professor Damir Kovacevic was born in Bosnia before coming to the United States. He has lived across the midwest but currently lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Damir works as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a focus on international relations. In this interview, Damir Kovacevic discusses how the pandemic has affected his life, profession, and emotions. Damir provides insight into how the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has handled the pandemic with testing and closing the college for the remainder of the Fall 2020 semester. Damir also touches on how Eau Claire, the state of Wisconsin, the United States, and foreign countries on the international scale handled the pandemic. He discusses how teaching as a career has changed and adapted to the pandemic. He discusses topics such as the media and misinformation when it comes to healthcare and the virus, but also the general decay in trust.

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.

In this oral history interview, Alexander Michalski interviews Mike Michalski in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Mike discusses his job and how it was affected by covid, the impact the virus has had on his friends and family, and home life. He touches on media and how the news is covering the virus. He also discusses local and federal government responses to the virus as well as his hopes for the future.

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.

In this interview by Karen Kilby, a government contracts manager Nancy Campbell discusses how the COVID 19 virus has affected her life. She discusses the toilet paper shortage, the changes in her family dynamic, social isolation and the shortage of hand sanitizer and cleaners. Nancy also discusses her life as a senior citizen living in a rural area, the economy and her opinions on how government has delt with the virus.

In order to get a better understanding of the situation in schools during these trying times I felt that we needed to talk to teachers. Getting their side of the story is just as vital as talking with students because in many cases they were just as new to this virtual world as us. So I sat down with my dad who has been a teacher for 20 plus years. I wanted to get his perspective on the situation and talk with him about how teachers felt during this period of transition.

This is an audio interview of Zaragoza director Sanaa Abid. She gave a behind the scenes looks into how the student orientation was organized working with other campus facilities to ensure a safe program for students and parents. She offered insight as her roles from a new student, a student leader, and a student director. From this interview, we are able to gain a better understanding of what the directors did during Zaragoza and how they accommodated to Covid-19. Students were able to still have an experience that allowed them to connect with other students and their families while still having a safe experience. From this interview, we can tell that the St. Mary’s Community came together to understand the different actions that were taken to ensure the program ran smoothly. Furthermore, Sanaa offered her unique experience from attending Zaragoza as a new student prior to Covid, a first time Zaragoza leader during 2020, and finally as Zaragoza Director during the summer of 2021.

The interview I conducted was with an individual who was prior military -- lived through the pandemic while enlisted and upon returning home what his experience was like with COVID 19 now that he has returned home-as a civilian. Face to face interview. This interview allowed me gain more insight to learn how other people really feel about the pandemic and how they survived and are thriving throughout the lifespan of COVID.

I interviewed a co-worker from S. Mary's University and wanted to get her input on how this pandemic has affected her from working from home and getting adjusted to coming back on campus. Angelica Coronado, has been employed with St. Mary's for about two years now. When she began working here the pandemic hit and she was not prepared for what was to come at all like so many others. Getting adjusted to not coming to work every day changed for everyone and getting costumed to working online was hard on some people. But after a year once again everyone was back at work in campus and trying to keep the campus safe people were required to get vaccinated. But most importantly trying to get back to normal and making sure the students felt safe is St. Mary's priority.

Dr. Sara Ronis, a theology professor at St. Mary’s University, gives us a faculty perspective on how she believes the university handled the COVID-19 pandemic. She feels that despite being in such difficult positions, the university made the decisions they knew would be best for the St. Mary’s community. As a professor, she immediately thought of her students when COVID cases began to rise and the possibility of being sent home became an even more real possibility. She admires how St. Mary’s students, new and returning, have adapted to these new learning environments.

Chelsea Osorio is a commuter student at St. Mary’s University and among the many personally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In her interview she highlights key points about what changes she noticed around the university that were used to protect our community. From a student perspective, she explains how safe she felt at school, especially with all the guidelines that were put in place. This goes to show how St. Mary’s students, faculty, and staff were committed to ensuring not only a healthy online environment but also making sure we returned to a safe and healthy community.

It is obvious that the covid-19 pandemic has changed the college experience for all students. However, what was it like for those who do not know a pre-covid college experience. For some students, all they know is a covid campus. For Amanda Swan, a first-year resident assistant, her unique experience and the pandemic have allowed her to better relate to her residents. Having experienced a senior year of high school online and isolated gave makes allows her to better understand residents who have had similar experiences. Many residents who have not been on campus or have not been given the opportunity to experience a pre-covid college semester have been left to readjust to more social life. On top of many responsibilities of a resident assistant and academic duties, Amanda Swan is a very involved student navigating her way through college. Despite being her first time as a resident assistant and her first time living on campus, Amanda Swan has been able to serve as a resource for residents at St. Mary’s University.

Maria Del Mar Aponte Rodriguez is the new Director for the Center of International Programs at St. Mary’s University. After a semester of being in charge, Aponte tell us more about her experience as the new leader in the office and her future goals to make the CIP Office more open and warming for international students. As COVID has impacted several levels of the office, Aponte comments how she overcome these issues and how she is preparing a new plan of action for Fall 2022.

Paula Ferradas Hiraoka is an international student at St. Mary’s University from Lima, Peru. After applying last year to St. Mary’s, Ferradas has come to the U.S to start her dream to become a good professional. In this interview we ask her experience as a new international student and how the resources in the university have given her the possibility to grow.

As an international student, I believe international professors also had it rough during the pandemic. For that reason, I interviewed Dr. Cortina, a professor at St. Mary's University. To show students that we all have a story to share with the world.

Alexis is a senior at St. Marys College majoring in political science. In this monologue she discusses her initial reaction to the COVID 19 pandemic, her employment status and how it was affected, and the economical effects she has witnessed due to the pandemic. She also discusses her family and home dynamic and her siblings response to online learning. She touches on social issues like racism and politics effect on society. She describes how she felt when she contracted COVID and how she spread it to her family. This monologue ends with her last thoughts and hopes for the future.