Faris Danan and Hridaya Patel Oral History, 2021/12/09

How our viewpoints on Covid-19 have changed after learning about past pandemics.

December 9, 2021

Faris Danan

Hridaya Patel

oral history

English Education--Universities

English Emotion

mask

vaccine

class

cooperation

guidelines

college

College COVID Stories

12/10/2021

03/28/2022

05/25/2022

12/09/2021

Hridaya Patel

Faris Danan

Hridaya Patel

Faris Danan

Boston

New England

United States of America

Audio

March 2020 - December 2021

English

00:08:10

0:07

Danan, Faris:

So my name is Faris Danan.

0:10

Patel, Hridaya:

And I am Hridaya Patel I'll be interviewing Faris Danan about the COVID-19 archive project second interview. Do you give consent?

0:28

Danan, Faris:

I do give my consent.

0:33

Patel, Hridaya:

And can you state the date and time, please?

0:35

Danan, Faris:

Today is December 9, and it is 12:20 pm.

0:40

Patel, Hridaya:

All right. So my first question for you for this project is, how has COVID-19 been around Boston and the US? And has it affected your studies or your college life?

0:57

Danan, Faris:

I would say it has affected my studies and just college experience, in general. I think the biggest thing would just be like not being able to see people's faces at all, to any extent, really, like, I was hoping that coming to college, I would be able to, like not have to wear masks everywhere we go, um, since colleges are able to require the vaccine, and high schools aren't. Um, but honestly, I think in terms of like being able to get my work done, I don't think it has really affected me because at this point, I feel like I'm still able to get everything I need to get done.

1:31

Patel, Hridaya:

Right. So you're saying that it also has a positive effect on you? Yeah. Oh, my next question for you would be, what have you learned from other pandemics that you might want to implement during this one, or maybe the next one that might happen?

1:51

Danan, Faris

I think probably the biggest thing I've learned from other pandemics in the past is that really the most important thing is just like global cooperation, and just getting everyone to work together instead of making it feel like it's kind of like one country or one continent versus another. So I think something that I could do to help with that is just kind of encourage people that I know, to follow guidelines and get vaccinated or just make sure that they're wearing masks if that is something that helps.

2:28

Patel, Hridaya:

All right. Yeah, that makes sense. And what do you think about the new variant omicron?

2:35

Danan, Faris:

I think all omicron has potential to be pretty dangerous. But I mean, it's been around for a little while now. And we haven't really heard anything about if vaccines do or do not treat omicron? Well, you know, I mean, I'm hopeful, especially with the boosters out now that the boosters in the vaccines will be effective against Omicron.

3:00

Patel, Hridaya:

And how well do you think humans have equipped or learn from the past experiences?

3:08

Danan, Faris:

In all honestly, I don't really think humans have learned that much. If we did, I don't think we'd be having pandemics. This often, especially since pandemics have been happening more often than they were in the past. I think sanitation would have improved a lot if we really did learn anything. And we haven't.

3:29

Patel, Hridaya:

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I guess this is it for now. Thank you.

3:39

Danan, Faris:

Thank you. And now I, Faris Danan, will be interviewing Hridaya Patel. Do you give your consent?

3:48

Patel, Hridaya:

I do.

3:49

Danan, Faris:

And can you state the date and time?

3:52

Patel, Hridaya:

Um, today's the ninth of December at 12:22 pm.

3:58

Danan, Faris:

So just to start, how's your general overall college experience been with COVID?

4:05

Patel, Hridaya

I think it's been pretty good, considering and literally doing all my mundane activities. Except I'm just wearing a mask right now. So I think it's kind of the same, and something that I would expect having. But it does kind of get difficult sometimes. When I'm trying to speak in class or with a large group of people, because it's kind of congested then.

4:39

Danan, Faris:

Yeah, no, I totally agree. I'm just gonna get more into the topic of the interview. What do you think some of the similarities and differences are between past pandemics and the current law?

4:50

Patel, Hridaya:

I think the similarities would be the feeling of helplessness because while we spoke about every pandemic In the past, this feeling of helplessness always conquered us. And I think that's bound to happen.

5:11

Danan, Faris:

I think it is to.

5:13

Patel, Hridaya:

Yeah. And the differences would be maybe how some people have started trusting people and being there for people these days. Yeah, no, I see. Yeah. So I think it's been a good evolution where people are just there for each other and kind of listen to each other, irrespective of tough times.

5:47

Danan, Faris:

And then, do you think humans have ever really equally distributed like a vaccine or different treatments around the world during pandemics?

5:57

Patel, Hridaya:

Honestly, I don't think they've distributed vaccines and other medical equipments all around the world very quickly, because every country has its own fair share, and loss. And there are still countries who haven't been fully vaccinated, or they still don't have the proper care. And facilities to accommodate people have COVID-19 and conquer the virus. So, yeah, I think there's a really sloppy distribution of vaccinations are going on, irrespective of how each country or like, every company has founded their own vaccine.

6:50

Danan, Faris:

And then finally, after learning about past pandemics, are you more or less hopeful that the current pandemic will end soon?

6:58

Patel, Hridaya:

Oh, I think it'd be No. So the past, pandemics have lasted for a long time. And it's just been like two years since this started. And the more we get in and the more time passes, it's just getting more complicated. So I think this will last for two to three years, I guess, because it's going to take time for people to also adapt to the new changes. And I think it's just getting worse. So it gets better. And then it gets bad again, which also happened in the past pandemics. So I think, I don't think it'll ensue. But I think that if we take the right measures, vaccinate ourselves and stuff, there is a fair chance and possibility that it will.

7:55

Danan, Faris:

Yeah, so that kind of connects back to the other question. I asked you about vaccinations. That's interesting.

7:59

Patel, Hridaya:

Yeah. Yeah.

8:02

Danan, Faris:

All right. Well, that's the end of our interview. So thank you.

8:08

Patel, Hridaya:

Thank you.