Items

• 2020-11-01

  Traveling to Youth Soccer Tournament During Covid-19 Restrictions

  My youngest son played club and school soccer during the Covid-19 pandemic. His club soccer team frequently traveled for games and tournaments, but those travel games halted at the beginning of the pandemic. In November 2020, the team began traveling again and the first tournament was three hours away in Round Rock, Texas. The team stayed in a Round Rock hotel, which was our first experience with travel during the pandemic. I recall anxiety and trepidation during the check-in process, as there were numerous families in the lobby (all masked) and it was likely the first time most of us had been in close proximity with so many people in a relatively small space. The lobby staff checked us in from behind glass partitions and I recall staff's explanation regarding the hotel's amenities that were not available (ice machines, dining, pool, fitness center, among others). Upon entering the room, my wife and I began cleaning all surfaces that we were likely to touch. These included all surfaces in the bathroom and sink area, the desk, lamps, door handles, and TV remote. We then placed blankets, sheets, and sleeping bags on top of the bed so that we would not contact any parts of the bed or hotel-provided bedding. My wife had also purchased a large, portable air purifier that we brought along and used throughout our stay. The soccer tournament itself was more typical of "business-as-usual" as it was outdoors. However, the players were required to wear masks while on the bench (and some players continued to wear masks while playing). In hindsight, some of these measures seem excessive, but it was fairly typical of our experiences of the time (with the portable air purifier perhaps being the exception!). This story is important to me as it was an important milestone for my son began to regain some of his normalcy pre-pandemic.
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  2021-03-06

  The Unsung Spreader: Touch and Coronavirus

  This story tells about a overlooked aspect of the pandemic. It offers some background into why this person thinks this issue is important and uses eyewitness and second hand accounts as evidence for her position
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  2021-03-06

  Stepping into a New World: Embarking on the COVID Journey

  This story relates how Corona began for me. It is a valuable primary source covering a person's lived experience with how Corona began and covers a unique circumstance.