Items

• 
  2020

  Humorous memes about 2020

  These memes humorously sum up the way 2020 went for us. We were stuck at home. Many of us baked bread and didn't get dressed for days. Our poiticians told us one thing one day and then contradicted it the next.
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  2020-03-29

  Paranoia to Peace

  I struggled with anxiety around the time the news said there was a pandemic going on, and I healed as time went on and the world around me played a part in that.
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  2021-04-08

  Covid update from India

  A friend shares an update on how Covid is currently affecting India and the new measures put in place to control the spread. He adds information on the US consulate because he is a US citizen living in India.
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  2020-03-21

  COVID-19 1 year later

  I found this tweet to be funny and also interesting as people look back on COVID as it has been over a year since it started. Many people, myself included, were not doing much of anything in the end of March 2020 except for following all the simple rules put out there to keep people from spreading the disease, like you hear when you're 5 (don't put your hands in your mouth, wash your hands, etc). This tweet reminded me of how far we have come from when we were not able to do simple activities we had always done like go to school and work and how people's actions have changed over time, even when the pandemic was still present.
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  2021-02-11

  New Mexico Tourism Department: Tips for Healthy & Safe Travel In New Mexico

  Tips for Healthy & Safe Travel In New Mexico During this time, the New Mexico business community is implementing additional COVID-Safe Practices at their establishments to help ensure the health and safety of their customers. Below are some of the additional safety measures you can expect and plan ahead for when visiting New Mexico’s businesses, restaurants, and attractions. For more information on the status of COVID-19 in New Mexico, please visit the New Mexico Department of Health. red alert NOTICE FOR ALL TRAVELERS: Effective February 11, New Mexico will no longer require self-quarantine for visitors arriving into the state from "high-risk" states. Visitors from anywhere outside of the state will instead by strongly advised to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days and to seek out a COVID-19 test upon their arrival in or return to New Mexico. NOTICE FOR ALL TRAVELERS: Face coverings are required for all visitors and residents in New Mexico. The only exceptions are when drinking, eating, or under medical instruction. Any individual found in violation may face a $100 fine. Guidelines for Travel in New Mexico If you are traveling to New Mexico, please follow all safety guidelines and restrictions. Local governments may impose more restrictive guidelines so be sure to check local instructions before traveling. Please be mindful of the following general guidelines for travel to and within the state of New Mexico: Effective December 2, guidelines and restrictions in New Mexico have moved to a county-by-county basis. Please consult the county map from the New Mexico Department of Health to learn more about specific county restrictions Effective February 11, New Mexico will no longer require self-quarantine for visitors arriving into the state from "high-risk" states. However, visitors from anywhere outside of the state are strongly advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and seek out a COVID-19 test upon their arrival in New Mexico Everyone is required to wear a face covering in public in the state of New Mexico. The only exceptions to wearing a face covering are eating, drinking, or medical requirements. Drive-in events may operate in accordance with COVID-Safe Practices. Effective February 24, 2021, Casinos, Entertainment Venues, and Recreational Facilities may operate in accordance with COVID-Safe Practices within the county-by-county framework. COVID-Safe New Practices at Hotels, Resorts & Lodging Please note that guidelines and restrictions in New Mexico have moved to a county-by-county basis. Please consult the county map from the New Mexico Department of Health to learn more about lodging operations for specific counties. Please note these changes to hotel and lodging operations: Lodging establishments will adhere to the enhanced cleaning procedures outlined by the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Stay Safe Enhanced Industry-Wide Hotel Cleaning Standards. Comfort items and appliances such as coffee machines, irons, hair dryers, extra blankets, etc. may be provided upon request. Housekeeping shall only provide cleaning service during a guest’s stay upon request by the guest. Multiple guests per room are to be limited to “same households” only (individuals who live within the same place of residence). If food service is provided onsite, room service is encouraged as a first option for guests who would like food service with food carts being left at guest’s door to minimize contact. Self-serve food bars and refreshments such as water, coffee, ice, etc. will be closed or removed. Hotel staff can provide these services upon request. Valet service will be suspended. Safe Dining Please note that guidelines and restrictions in New Mexico have moved to a county-by-county basis. Please consult the county map from the New Mexico Department of Health to learn more about restaurant operating procedures for specific counties. Here are some of the COVID-Safe Practices and enhanced health and safety practices recommended by the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC that you can expect to be in place to keep customers safe while dining at New Mexico’s restaurants: In an effort to support contact tracing, restaurants will be required to retain a daily log of all customers and employees who enter their establishment. All customers are required to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms through a questionnaire upon entry of the premises. Reservations, dining parties and private events may not exceed the mass gathering definition. Reusable items such as menus and condiment containers left on tables will be cleaned and sanitized after each use. Items that cannot be cleaned and sanitized after each use will be replaced with single-use items. Animals and pets, excluding service animals, will not be permitted inside the establishment, onto patios, into stores, or other such areas. Responsible Outdoor Recreation Effective February 24, 2021, New Mexico State Parks will be open for day use hours to all visitors. Effective February 27, camping will reopen to all visitors by reservation only. While many parks are reopening, services, activities, and hours of operations may be limited so please consult the current Conditions and Alerts page for each park. Please be aware of the following safety and health guidelines currently in place: Group sizes vary by county, so check the status of the county before traveling to a New Mexico State Park Wearing a mask or cloth face covering is mandatory in public settings Maintain a 6-foot distance between people Visitors are strongly encouraged to carry their own sanitizing supplies and PPE Comfort Stations and restrooms are closed to reduce close contact Vault toilets at some State Parks will be available Check with the National Park Service website for more information on openings, amenity availability, and best practices. Safe Retail Shopping Please note that guidelines and restrictions in New Mexico have moved to a county-by-county basis. Please consult the county map from the New Mexico Department of Health to learn more about retail operations for specific counties. Here are some of the safety guidelines required from New Mexico’s retailers to keep customers safe: High-touch items such as doors, fitting rooms, and credit card terminals will be cleaned and disinfected once every two hours (or more frequently). Safety protocols that allow for contactless curbside pickup and home delivery whenever possible will be established. Signs, stanchions, and/or floor decals will be utilized wherever possible to support 6-foot social distancing, including one-way aisle traffic, and separate entry/exit. COVID-Safe Practices for Museums and Cultural Sites Museums with static displays may operate at limited occupancy in accordance with COVID-Safe Practices. Beginning February 4, state museums and historic sites may reopen under a modified framework. To learn more about the modified operations for state museums and historic sites, visit the Department of Cultural Affairs website. Please contact individual museums and cultural institutions before planning your visit for additional information regarding openings, hours of operations, and available services. Here are some of the safety guidelines required to keep patrons safe: Interactive exhibits and attractions will be discontinued. Use of rental equipment, such as headsets, portable speakers, and strollers will be discontinued unless required for ADA accessibility. Use of coat check areas, lockers, backpack and purse storage, and related storage for public use will be discontinued. Safe Travel Recommendations Outside of the modified 14-day self-quarantine requirement on certain travel to New Mexico (see above), there are currently no domestic travel restrictions to the state of New Mexico. However, visitors to New Mexico should continue to follow the protective measures outlined by the CDC: Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands Put a distance of at least six feet between you and other people Stay home if you are sick, except to get medical care Stay up to date on the latest travel advisories from the CDC, WHO, and the U.S. Department of State
• 
  2021-02-10

  Which Quarantine Deaf House Would You Choose?

  Which Quarantine Deaf House would you choose? You have to pick one 😆🤟🏼 I choose House #4 🧏‍♀️ ☕️
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  2021-01-26

  The 2021 Social Justice Outlook

  NEW YEAR. NEW SOCIAL JUSTICE OUTLOOK. 2020 will be remembered for the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide civil unrest spurred by killings of unarmed Black men and women by police officers. With a new president in office, what will social justice look like in 2021? Get your questions ready and join the conversation tonight at 7:30 p.m. on NBC 6 Voices with Jawan Strader on the NBC 6 Facebook and YouTube pages.
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  2020-04-22

  Understanding the Corona Virus Through the Lens of Racial and Social Justice

  The Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy and the Social Justice Initiative host a conversation on the Coronavirus Pandemic through the Lens of Racial and Social Justice. Moderated by Barbara Ransby from the Social Justice Initiative, panelists include Dr. Linda Rae Murray, Aislinn Pulley from Chicago Torture Project, Ald. Rossana Rodriguez, Ald. Jeanette Taylor, Detention Watch Network's Gaby Viera and Reyna Wences from Organized Communities Against Deportations. This program was edited by CAN TV
• 2021-03-11

  A Year to Reflect

  Today, marks the one-year anniversary since the WHO declared the COVID19 pandemic a pandemic. It is also one year since we as a family began quarantining/hunkering down, social distancing and pausing on activities where being around crowds of people became dangerous. I made a note of this in my calendar. As I reflect on this year, I am first grateful that my dear loved ones are still here and safe. I am also sad for the two family members we have lost. One to covid and another to circumstances related in part to covid. I also grieve for the loss of social interactions and in-person school for my kids. Being online has been a challenge and my kids are doing really well despite the difficulties, but as a mom I am saddened for all of the fun school and friend experiences they have missed this year. I am hopeful change will come soon and they will get back to a more familiar old normal soon enough. When I look back on my calendar from the beginning of March 2020 and the end of February, I see a full calendar of school events, friends, and new beginnings. We had playdates, went to the movies, planned a remodel (never happened of course), went to community events, and I participated in-person in a recruitment event for graduate school. My expectations for what my own personal schooling would be like were drastically altered by the pandemic. In some ways, being on Zoom for school has given me more time for my family life and pushed me to participate more in class. It has allowed me to be more confident because it made participation something I could truly control. I had always struggled with speaking in class, so the Zoom made it easier—people could only see my face. One of the surprising benefits of this last year is really the evaluation it gives us for our lives. We are able to reflect and think on the people and things that truly matter. It gave us time to pause and evaluate on the people who have maintained a strong presence in our lives and those who have not. It also made me appreciate all the social events and normal daily experiences that I had taken for granted. So, for one year out life is starting to have promise again. Several family members of mine have received the vaccine, including my eighty-year-old mom. So, the stress about her welfare and safety is starting to lift. Congress passed the American Rescue Plan yesterday and President Biden will sign it tomorrow. This gives me hope that people who have struggled financially this last year will start to get some relief. It reminds me of how fortunate we are not to deal with the stress of financial despair on top of everything else. More and more people are getting vaccinated with goals being passed ahead of schedule and government officials are increasingly getting more excited about a sooner return to normal. I am thinking about vacations again and making plans. My kids will go back to school next year, that is something I am almost certain about. There is light at the end of this dark tunnel, and I am beginning to see it.
• 2021-03-09

  Covid Saved My Marriage

  Before covid hit my marriage was in big trouble, after years of sitting on "little" problems and ignoring relatively big issues I got tired of living complacently. My husband and I were essentially living a lie, we lived and acted like we were the picture-perfect couple living a perfectly happy life. In the summer of 2019, a tiny issue finally broke the camel's back and we separated. A few months into our separation divorce papers were drawn out and signed by me, he was in Arizona and I had moved in with my parents and children in California. By January 2020 we had already begun hearing about covid but we still didn't think much of it since it was an issue halfway across the globe. All signed and ready to file for divorce we got hit with a quarantine order in California. My husband asked me to move back home so he can be with our kids since we didn't know how long quarantine would last. I agreed and he drove to pick us up. Living together was odd, especially because we had both gotten used to being without one another. After thirteen years of being together, the separation made us realize we hardly knew each other. We had to try extra hard to get along in front of the kids and at least be cordial with one another. Our state of amicability turned into an odd level of friendship. Six months later he asked if I would consider therapy. I agreed and we started therapy virtually. Things got worse in therapy before they got better (as expected) but the divorce papers were eventually torn up. A year later, I can't say were picture-perfect but I can say that we're happy in this phase were in. Since there was a palpable sense of fear last March, we were forced to think about the reality of life without one another, how would we cope with life/death issues alone, and whether we truly wanted that? Quarantine forced us to face years of issues that had seeped into the foundation of our relationship. Divorce would have been much easier, but this outcome we are living in today is so worth it. In short, I'd say covid saved my marriage.
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  2021-03-10

  A Lot More Time at Home

  An interesting consequence from being locked inside day in and day out for almost a year. My collection of books has grown considerably, to the point of needing yet another bookshelf.
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  2020-12-13

  Isolation's Fruit

  Collaborative risograph art zine from ASU ART 394 Fall 2020 about Covid-19.
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  2021-02-25

  Longing to go Outside

  Like people, my dog seems to miss going out to public spaces (like an out door mall, hiking, the patio of a restaurant, even the Pima Air and Space Museum) and getting attention from all the humans that pass by. He too is missing out on the social experiences that he used to enjoy before the pandemic.
• 2021-02-18

  Early Retirement Reflection

  While I am grateful and privileged enough to have quarantined at home with my family, it was certainly frustrating. Once I had conquered my first taste of online learning all I had ahead of me was an uncertain and potentially endless summer. As someone who is a high-risk individual, I didn't feel comfortable going back to my summer job in retail immediately. Thankfully, both of my parents were able to continue to work and I was able to stay home. Being able to stay home for the summer and relax in my hammock most days was unsettlingly different than how others experienced this past summer. I regret not better using my free time to help those that lost jobs and housing and support, while I still had mine. Shockingly the gleam of my extended vacation wore off pretty quickly with my parents. When my parents finally got fed up with me drinking an afternoon coffee in my backyard every day they told me I had better find something productive to keep busy. After sending an unbelievable amount of e-mails and a couple of phone calls with some busy executives I landed an under-the-table research internship. The only issue? Not being able to research through their physical archives. Go figure. While my research wasn't extensive it did keep me fairly busy for my remaining time at home. My early retirement this past summer was a substantial setback in accordance with my previous plans, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.
• 2021-02-09

  Puzzling Pandemic Pandemonium

  A freshly opened, hardly touched puzzle. In a time where there’s nothing, and yet too much going on, I clear my head by putting together an image I connect with, and the exuberance of finding pieces I’ve lost at my feet. COVID-19 brought numbing boredom to a new height, along with finding new ways to challenge myself and my family members. March of 2020 brought the first puzzle, and it’s been a fluctuating number both of pieces and images that include big cities and paintings ever since. I’m piecing my world back together one jigsaw at a time.
• 2021-02-17

  New York, New York- ravaged by COVID-19

  The pandemic made me realize just how no matter how prepared you think you are, diseases don't discriminate. Living in New York, 10 miles from the first epicenter in the state and 30 miles from New York City, my quarantine was different from my peers living in New England. Upon being told on Friday, March 13, 2020 that my campus was closing, and I only had until Sunday to call my parents for them to make the five hour drive to campus the next day, I was instantly filled with anxiety. I knew from the news that New York City had many cases and was only increasing by the day, so getting home with all my things in one trip was a necessity. I did not have the luxury of driving myself home, as I did not have a car with me, so waiting the night before going home was one full of stress as threats of state boarders closing flooded through the halls of my dorm. Upon arriving home, my family quickly hunkered down, trying to figure out what we were going to do in regards to taking care of my parents' elderly mothers. One was in assisted living and the other needed frequent trips to the doctor, so our priorities were focused on them being safe, while ensuring we would not be at risk. This included not traveling outside or near the ten mile radius that was infected in my county and buying non perishable goods for two months while my mother was the one to venture out to take care of her mother and my dad calling every week to keep up with his mother's health. This was our life, staying inside, everyone working within their own rooms trying to adjust to the new normal. That was until my mother came down with a cold. This happened when New York was short on ventilators and hospital beds and doctors had to pick and choose who got the chance of living. This cold turned into a fever, and since our area was short COVID tests, the only place she could get was thirty minutes away and she ended up waiting in a line for two hours- only to yield a negative. But her symptoms persisted, losing her smell and taste, and every doctor she called said the same thing, her test was most likely part of the thirty percent of tests that had false negatives and she did in fact have COVID-19. The worst thing we had heard was an ominous warning from my uncle working in the ICU, where he said not to go to the hospital or emergency room unless my mother was no longer able to breathe on her own because the chances of the hospital killing her if she went in for an in person visit were much higher than COVID-19 itself. This disease that was supposedly "no worse than the flu" quickly turned sour. My mother had isolated herself in my parents' room, my father had decided to sleep on a spare mattress in our family room and we all shared one bathroom so as to limit our exposure to our mother. We would leave food outside her door and use tongs to carry her empty dishes down to be washed and she would text us if she needed anything because talking became too much work. When she started shaking violently and her breathing became more labored after a week and a half, it was then that we were faced with a difficult choice- keep treating her at home with fluids, food and any over the counter things we were told could help ease her discomfort, or take her to the emergency room and let a doctor assess her risk. Luckily, my mother is alive and well. Three weeks after she began showing symptoms, my mother came down from her room, refusing to get within twenty feet of us and spoke very softly that her chills were gone. Things began looking hopeful again. Every day my mother was getting stronger and was checking in with doctors about her progress and we were able to breathe a little easier that we wouldn't need to go to a hospital and be faced with the uncertainty that her life would be deemed less important than another persons'. There is no fear quite like thinking your mother is going to die in the room next to yours and all you can do is sit on the other side of the wall and hope for her recovery. I am forever grateful that my family was one of the lucky ones and we have not lost anyone to COVID-19 so far, but nearly losing my mother made me aware that even a healthy woman in her early fifties can be rendered helpless by an illness that was not taken seriously. COVID-19 was and is a very real threat and with the soaring numbers my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones; I could not imagine being without my mother, so I can barely imagine the pain this pandemic has caused countless people around the world.
• 2020-12-23T18:05:10

  Quarantine Taco bell time

  My quarantine was much like everyone elses experiences, staying inside, self quarantining, not seeing friends as often as I would have liked. Except one day just before Christmas I got a text from my friend that him and his brother wanted me to come and do Christmas shopping with them and then stop at Taco Bell and get food. I had not seen anyone since we moved back home from campus for winter break so I was excited to see my friends. My friends came to my house and picked me up and we headed to the closest target for them to do their late Christmas shopping. Whenever we arrived and parked we went to the entrance and they were limiting the amount of people that were allowed to enter the store and made sure everyone had their masks on. Then we made it into the store and had to walk in certain directions because of the markers telling which way people can go. We ended up not finding what we were looking for and decided to go to the Petco next door to look around for fun. We saw these giant shrimp in the aquarium section and thought they were really cool. After this we went to the Taco Bell drive through to get food since we could no longer eat inside during the pandemic. We ordered our food and got it through the drive through window in a plastic container. One benefit about the pandemic is that fast food service is much more sanitary than before. After we ate our food and sat in the car and talked for a while we decided to go home for the night. Even during the pandemic we could still have fun together going to stores although it was different than before.
• 2020-03-20

  Journal of the Plague Year

  The Corona Virus aka COVID-19 has drastically affected my life as well as the entire world. COVID-19 first affected my life during my second semester sophomore year of college. The beginning of sophomore year was when we first started hearing about COVID-19. At that time, it wasn’t really a big deal. It was more like a myth in a sense; it was happening everywhere else but here. And then, March came. More and more reports of COVID-19 in the United States were being presented. It was starting to become a serious threat. The day after Saint Patrick’s Day, I was with some friends and we were all hanging out and getting lunch. During our lunch, we received an email saying that we had to move off campus within the next week due to the threat and seriousness of COVID-19. We were all so shocked and upset that our sophomore year was cut short. In the blink of an eye, we had to pack up our entire college lives and leave to go home. All of the memories we were supposed to make were gone. For me, all of my friends were at school so going home was very hard for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family but, I also want to be able to see my friends. Once I got home, I had to do the rest of school online and had to be quarantined in my house. Online school was such a new and difficult experience. I had never done online school and neither had the professors, so it was a very difficult transition. Something else that was difficult was being trapped in a house from March until May. I am not the type of person to just stay cooped up in a house. I like to be out doing things and socializing with others but, I couldn’t do that. I was confined to my house with only my family. It was hard finding things to keep us all entertained every day while also trying not to kill each other. We tried puzzles, games, family walks and hikes, movie night, and everything in between. These things worked but only for a short period of time. Being quarantined really does affect your mental health. I also had to celebrate my twentieth birthday in quarantine which was not fun at all, but at least I was with my family which made it better. Then came July. July first was when I was moving into my first house in Pittsburgh for college. I thought that it was going to be such a fun and exciting time. But it was difficult with the whole pandemic going on. It was hard to see my friends, go out to eat, and go to the bars. I was still able to have fun, but it was still difficult to adjust to a new lifestyle. Online school full time was also hard, but I got through it and figured out how to do school efficiently. Come end of October, I got COVID-19. I didn’t realize of shitty COVID-19 was and that I could even get it because I was so young. I had all of the symptoms except loss of taste and smell. I was bed ridden for two weeks; it was awful. After that things were as good as they can be during this time. A week before New Year’s Eve, my entire family tested positive for COVID-19 except me since I had already gotten it. They got really sick and I had to take care of them and grocery shop and run errands for them. That was hard for me to watch them all be so sick. But they got better and became healthy. Yes, I haven’t had this extreme story due to COVID-19 but it did affect my life in ways that I didn’t think it could. I had to change my entire way of living because of this virus.
• 
  2021-02-10

  Ubiquity

  This is a personal piece, more like a little rant, about essential workers and the ubiquity of the virus.
• 
  2020-12-02

  Theatre Workshop presents: The Essential Bronx - COVID Stories, Part 1

  We have preserved in this short film a selection of Theatre Workshop students' authentic experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to share these stories with you.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My mom's quarantine crochet

  These two photos are of a recent crochet project my mom just completed, I just think they’re absolutely adorable – they remind me so much of my first teddy bear from when I was a baby. I’ve been telling her that kids would love if she made more of these, we could donate them or sell some on Etsy I keep telling her – but she doesn’t believe me when I tell her that her work is amazing. I just wanted to upload this to the archive to show how my mom has coped with quarantine life, and how her creativity has exploded over these last few weeks. In a weird way it’s very sentimental to me, because it reminds me of my own childhood and the amount of love my mom gave me throughout my upbringing when she could, I just want other people to be able to feel the love that’s been poured into this object during these unloving times.
• 
  2021-02-04

  My daily view

  This is a photo from my bedroom, and has been what I wake up to every day, and have been waking up to for the last 22 years of my life. I haven’t left my house in weeks aside from running to get groceries or a coffee. I haven’t gone out for a hike, a walk, almost nothing for these months. I’m mainly sharing this photograph to illustrate just how monotonous my life has become, and while this sounds depressing, because it is, I feel like I’m doing my part by not going out – it’s probably the only thing that’s making this bearable. All I do every day, is wake up and begin working on classwork and my internship, and then finish off with some games online with my friends, but I’ve even stopped doing that recently. I don’t really have a drive to do much anymore aside from school work. I feel even worse with the fact that I can’t find any work which would fit with my class work. So largely, I just feel incredibly useless, I take so long to get my school work done, and have little time to just do what I’d like – and on top of that I don’t even know what I’d like to do. Needless to say, this pandemic has really, really put a funk on me; class work is the only thing keeping me going at the moment, or I’d just be a potato in bed.
• 
  2020-12-31

  The Luck of the COVID Draw

  Throughout the pandemic, my family and I have been extremely careful as to not catch the virus. My mother made sure my brother and I always had little bottles of hand sanitizer with us when we went to work or to the grocery store, my mom had multiple masks in the car for herself at all times, and my dad has been social distancing from people since he was born, so he was well prepared to sit in the house in social isolation. Being in PA, Gov. Tom Wolf had just about everything shut down from December 2020 to the first week of January 2021, but despite this and all of the precautions my mother had made sure we all took, my brother had brought it home from work without realizing it. We all realized we were probably going to get it when my brother was sent home from his new job after getting tested for COVID. Honestly, we were all a bit surprised it had not happened earlier, as he used to work at a hospital, but from there, we all started dropping like flies. My mother started getting symptoms around New Years Eve and my father followed suit days later. At this point, I was terrified. All I could think of is how my mother is immunocompromised and that she had it, and that I myself am immunocompromised and I would be next. Worst of all, when I am home from college, I sleep on the couch due to damage in my old bedroom, so keeping myself away from these other people in my house would prove to be near impossible (hence the meme saying “I need to get out of here”). Even if I would have been able to isolate myself, they all felt too sick to take care of themselves or one another, so that job fell upon me. At this point, I am running around the house, trying not to breathe around my family in the last few weeks that I would be able to spend time with them before heading back to school, while also stressing about having to go back to school, as well as having to quarantine for additional time after my family’s quarantine was over. A couple weeks in I start to feel the early signs of COVID, headaches, body aches, coughing, the works. I went to get tested in an absolute panic as to what this would mean for my own health and how it would affect me going back to school, only to get back a negative test. The headaches? I have migraines. The body aches? Well, I sleep on a couch where the cushions come out from under me while I sleep, so you tell me. The cough? I have a cat and a dog that I am fairly allergic to but refuse to stay away from because they are so precious. How I, out of all of my family, was able to avoid getting COVID despite being the college kid with a weakened immune system who played nurse to 3 COVID patients is beyond me. This experienced that COVID is really a gamble. You may have everything against you and not get it, or you may have done everything you could possibly do to avoid it and still catch it. Regardless, I will continue to err on the side of caution and wear my mask and carry my mother’s hand sanitizer with me.
• 
  2021-01-20

  Bernie Sanders During the Pandemic

  During the pandemic all events where canceled, I found myself staying home everyday and isolating myself from all friends and work since I have family members that have underlying medical conditions and have weak immune systems. During the pandemic many people have stayed home and entertained themselves with memes. One very popular meme that recently spread through the internet is with Bernie Sanders at the inauguration ceremony. I created a picture/meme by cropping Bernie Sanders in a bed, similar to how I have been during the pandemic.
• 2020-03-27

  Social Distancing and Quarantine Were Used in Medieval Times to Fight the Black Death

  A medieval Italian legislation document, dating from 1377, reveals that social distancing and quarantine measures were practiced during the bubonic plague. The article describes what measures seaport towns took to screen and isolate ships before their goods and crews could enter these populations Also, it discusses the advent of plague hospitals, how the word quarantine came to be, and 14th century public health structure. As far as medicine and technology has advanced over the centuries, we are still using some of the same practices that were used seven centuries ago. It illustrates how much we can still learn from the past.
• 2020-01-28

  Forced Quarantine

  Earlier this year, during my winter break, my brother was sent home two days before his high school finals. Someone in his class that he sat next/near to had contracted COVID, so as a precaution, he was sent home to quarantine. My brother was less worried about possibly having COVID himself, and more angry about having to make up his finals the next quarter (speaks a lot about our education system). I asked him who was the person that got COVID, and he said it was probably the girl behind him, but she said she didn't have it, and her friend that sat next to her backed it up. We drew out the seating chart and concluded that it HAD to be that girl, because everyone who was sent to quarantine was sitting around her. I told him that she probably just lied about not having COVID, because people would probably get mad at her. I personally would get angry myself if I was prevented from taking my finals, but I understand the girl's reasoning. No want wants to be bullied for getting sick, or called "COVID-girl," or whatever.
• 
  2020-12-17

  SARS-CoV-2 Transmission among Marine Recruits during Quarantine

  This is an academic article that discusses the transmission of Covid-19 among Marine recruits in quarantine. Due to the pandemic, recruits have been forced to quarantine before they were able to begin their basic training. Marines were sent to a college campus where they practiced social distancing for two weeks before going to training. This study shows the effectiveness of quarantining, social distancing, and mask-wearing
• 2021-01-22

  Anxiety of the Bed

  I guess anyone in pre- or post-Covid-19 pandemic would find me crazy when I say I would like to try and sleep in the street given the chance. One thing I take out from this pandemic is that even though I can’t leave it, I absolutely despise my bed. Oh yes, I am talking about my bed, the object that shoulders my tiredness; and the sheets that keep me warm and cozy at night. But also because of that warmth and coziness, that I had been late to my 0 period class three times in just one semester. For the record, in my entire life in America, I had never once skipped or arrived late to any class, even when I had to wake up an extra hour and bike along the freezing cold mornings to get to school. Now I understand what my family means about the danger that lurks behind idleness. It is not common for me to be at ease in the mind, especially when time is not on my side. But when my mind tells the alarm clock to snooze for another 15 minutes or so because I can quickly get up five minutes before class instead of 2 hours back in the old regular pre-pandemic school day, now that is trouble. Flashback to being in my Medical Core class and studying the histories of pandemic at the time, I somewhat already know we were going into quarantine very well soon because well, let just say, humanity never learns from history mistakes and also because the United States’s healthcare is already a dead end. I’m not going to further criticize the horrible leadership of our soon-to-be-impeached-twice president. But remembering back to the life before the pandemic, I proudly shake hands with my past-self for knowing how to enjoy every moment in life. That day when our school principal sent an urgent quarantine message, I was on my way home carrying a bag of snacks that probably lasted me for a week after hanging out with my friends on our usual Friday afternoon, before being cooped up in the room for more than a year, possibly more. It’s laughable now that I remember the exciting and joyful reactions of spam messages from my friends in all different group chats and compare them to how desperate we all want to escape to hellish quarantine and return to school. My friend was joking around on how I was different and I was because I was never fond of the idea of being stuck at home and knowing that a fluid borne, respiratory disease was sticking around for some time caused me to have anxiety. I hate being at home, not because I’m an extrovert but because that place frightens me, but I am not going any further into that. I am so used to my bed and huge four walls surrounding my rooms, along with family members that I’m so sick of everything. Being on my bed in exchange for those motivational times that I spend walking or biking home or playing sports in my school means that I gain weight despite skipping meals, being non proactive, being tired out by every small thing and being distracted from school. Being on my bed also means that all my free time is spent contemplating life, which is good but mostly bad. In a way, in these uneasy times, it always brings out the worst in people’s mentality, unfortunately, not excluding me. I guess all those extracurricular activities, school works and all the sporting things I do are ways that keep me distracted from my innermost thoughts. But when I lay on my bed to think, those thoughts surface and they give me anxiety and depression in ways that others feel ridiculous but to me, they take me into deep sleep with tears. I quarreled more often with my family and with the limitations of my room and no human interaction with my friends on online conversations, it did make me feel really lonely and melancholic. I did try to find new hobbies but I’m limited to my room only. Both me and my foster family members never see each other as family so there was never any reason to join the dinner table. There was no way of getting out and being alone aside from the going to school for certain businesses. I’m honestly emotionally and physically drained, even when I’m not using much energy to move around the house. Now, how I wish for everything to return to normal. I hope that people who read this will remember to learn how to appreciate their life in every moment and way possible and that they never give up given any situation that follows their way.
• 2021-01-22

  How I (Barely) Get/Got Through Quarantine

  I was expecting junior year to be absolutely terrible since I was in eighth grade. I did nit think it would be spent in quarantine; making it almost twenty times worse. In my opinion, emailing questions and online tutoring cannot compete against in-person education. However, I do not want to risk others lives for selfish reasons. It is quite frustrating, seeing that our 45th president was incompetent. People seem to be more and more selfish everyday; valuing their comfort and fun over others’ lives. I hope we can go back to school before senior year starts. It is would be quite depressing to have freshman year be your only full year of high school. It is also quite depressing to have (almost since not quite) spent two birthdays in quarantine. In a little over a year, I will be a legal adult and will have spent my last teen years in quarantine. I am bitter. However, there were some happy times spent in quarantine. I was able to form a (better) relationship with my family. I was able to bake and exercise more and my mental health became *slightly* more stable. BTS are my favorite artists. I could write whole essays on why. However, if this ever gets onto an AP test in the future, I don’t want to be that person that makes you want to cry. I would know. Simply put, BTS has touched and saved millions of lives all over the world. They have broken millions of language barriers and stereotypes. They challenged the concept of masculinity and have stayed humble throughout. Coming from lowly beginnings, they have evolved and become brilliant people, artists, and role models. They are special to many. They also receive a lot of hate; this is not new. All of it stems from jealousy, racism, and xenophobia. How have BTS affected me? They helped me choose to live. They helped me realize that I was the one that had to save myself. You will hear many stories about them. They helped me love myself. In an era of unrealistic beauty standards pushed upon us through social media, it is almost impossible and kills. They released a single “Dynamite” and an album “BE” with an title track “Life Goes On” in quarantine. In “Dynamite”, their first all English song, they cheered us up and made us smile. They also proved that they were capable of getting Western radio plays and big awards (Grammy nominated); the Western media and industry was just too xenophobic to acknowledge their towering success over a good number of Western artists. In BE, the composed and wrote songs relating to us about how it felt like being in quarantine and encouraging us to keep going. Their title track speaks of the world seeming like it was passing us by as our life feels like it came to a standstill. You should give it a listen. To wrap it all up, I got through quarantine thanks to BTS. It’s like a butterfly reaction. Loving myself leads to confidence which leads to better mental health which leads to more happiness. Of course we still have sad and bad days but much less.
• 
  2021-01-22

  The Push For Fitness

  If there’s anything I learned in the last 8 months, it’s that the world is a very uncertain and chaotic place. A week before quarantine, spending a quiet week alone for Spring break, was all I wanted in life. 9 months later and another quiet week could potentially be lethal. Even though life has been crazy and online school drives people mad, one thing I’ve managed to pick up and get into the habit of is working out. Everyday, no matter what it is, I set aside an hour and a half to at least stand and go on a run or do any form of exercise. Not only is this good for my body, it’s a great stress reliever from a long unstable day of online school, a great time of reflection and a great way to clear my head from the day. Even in the most chaotic of days, and even on days where I have a lot of work to finish, I spend an hour to clear my head, and most times, after a workout and warm shower, I become more productive than ever. I enjoy working out as it is a great way for me to have something to control when the world around me is changing in the blink of an eye. Me four years ago would’ve never expected or predicted that, I would enjoy losing my breath and being sore from my neck down on a daily basis. Not only does it feel like I have control over my life, but working out has become a hobby of mine, acting as a goal I can achieve in the background subtly while dealing with school and life as a 17 year old.
• 
  2021-01-22

  The Push For Fitness

  If there’s anything I learned in the last 8 months, it’s that the world is a very uncertain and chaotic place. A week before quarantine, spending a quiet week alone for Spring break, was all I wanted in life. 9 months later and another quiet week could potentially be lethal. Even though life has been crazy and online school drives people mad, one thing I’ve managed to pick up and get into the habit of is working out. Everyday, no matter what it is, I set aside an hour and a half to at least stand and go on a run or do any form of exercise. Not only is this good for my body, it’s a great stress reliever from a long unstable day of online school, a great time of reflection and a great way to clear my head from the day. Even in the most chaotic of days, and even on days where I have a lot of work to finish, I spend an hour to clear my head, and most times, after a workout and warm shower, I become more productive than ever. I enjoy working out as it is a great way for me to have something to control when the world around me is changing in the blink of an eye. Me four years ago would’ve never expected or predicted that, I would enjoy losing my breath and being sore from my neck down on a daily basis. Not only does it feel like I have control over my life, but working out has become a hobby of mine, acting as a goal I can achieve in the background subtly while dealing with school and life as a 17 year old.
• 
  2021-01-21

  Just Here.

  My computer is important to me because it's the one thing getting me through school and quarantine. Without this computer, I wouldn't be able to go to school, I wouldn't be able to see or talk to my friends on Discord and I wouldn't be able to do any of the hobbies I enjoy. This computer gives me the opportunity to see and talk to my friends during a time where doing so could cost me. This computer allows me to finish assignments and join zoom classes but also gives me a chance to get away from school and play video games when I need to. So until the pandemic reaches an end, I'll just be here, at my computer.
• 
  2020-11-25

  Loving Grandpa Brings Food

  A grandpa drives 30 minutes to bring his granddaughter and her boyfriend some food and board games after finding out they were Covid positive. One commenter said, "Protect that man at all costs". Such a sweet and loving gesture.
• 0020-01-20

  Covid Rules

  Covid was not that scary for me because I knew that if I got it I wouldn't die due to my age. But what worried me was all the people that can die to it. So in order not to spread it I had to follow rules. I had trouble distancing from my friends. I was so use to to being close to them and talking with them. That was the only rule I had a lot of trouble with. The rest were not that bad. I did forget my mask a lot. But I now have gotten use to having it. Quarantine was easy until now because now I am so tired of it. We couldn't go to school or sports. It felt like I was lazy. But I had more time to learn new things. The rules were not bad just really boring and hard to get use too.
• 
  2020-12-25

  The Blessings and Curse of My First COVID Christmas

  The Blessings and the Curse of My First COVID Christmas By James Rayroux For the sake of relative brevity, the story of my first COVID Christmas actually began in October even though its events first took root in March, just as is the case for most all of us, I imagine. I’m what you might call a professional investigator. Considering the years of training and practice that led to my thousands of successful interviews and interrogations, I’ve more than earned the burden and blustering lack of prestige the title actually carries. In the fall of 2020, I worked as a government contractor, and I specialized in COVID medical investigations. Not the laboratory kind, although that’s well within the reach of my background. I worked on the patient side of things. The County wants us to keep referring to them as ‘cases,’ not ‘patients.’ Apparently, ‘patient’ infers a medical relationship that allows and demands we provide medical advice and counsel. I wonder what they think on the other end of the phone from us...are they a patient in need of accurate information, compassion, and sympathy; a human with needs, fears, questions, concerns, and families; or are they a mere ‘case’ with signs and symptoms of ailments to be questioned, interrogated, and subconsciously blamed for having acquired their illness in the first place? If they’d only done all the things our government minders had asked, mandated, and demanded, we might not have had need of this conversation at all... I digress. Although I’m not a frontline healthcare worker reporting to shift at a hospital, clinic, or testing site, COVID has consumed most of my waking hours since July. I hear it on the news, I get paid at least forty hours each week to talk, laugh, and cry about it, and then I discuss it with my family at night while we hear it on the news again. Now you’ve got most of the background. I hadn’t seen my grandparents since February 1, 2020. Most of our extended family had planned an elaborate beach vacation for late April that you already know was cancelled before reading these words. We all kept our respective distance from each other, didn’t go out of town or out of state to visit each other. Talked on the phone, an occasional FaceTime, but that’s it. My grandparents respectively turned 85 (x2), 89, and 92 this year. Two of them went on hospice in the spring, one remains on daily hospice care now. Given their frail condition and the unknown and distant end to the COVID pandemic, we collectively decided I needed to make a trip to see them, so we put a responsible plan in place based on then-current guidance from public health officials. I quarantined at home before I left to ensure I didn’t bring anything with me. I stopped once for gas, used the stupid mask and medical gloves at the fuel pump, discarded them immediately, and sanitized my hands upon returning to the truck. I hate hand sanitizer now, far more than it deserves to be hated by anyone. I scheduled my time away to allow me to see the more fragile set of grandparents first. I stayed with my family, saw no one outside the normal circle that envelops those grandparents, and ensured I didn’t introduce any foreign bodies to their existence beyond myself. The day I packed up to depart to see my second set of grandparents, I got a call that one of our family might have been exposed at work. He felt fine, but his partner couldn’t smell or taste. Monkey Wrench Number 1. I extended my trip two weeks to allow for the then-recommended exposure quarantine to run its course. The possible became real when two of my family fell ill. The rest of us woke each morning and waited for our signs and symptoms to begin. My wife and I had planned on me being back home on Thanksgiving, but I would now, at best, be over to stay with Grandparents #2 on Thanksgiving Day. I should explain here that although my wife also works from home and has tremendous flexibility in her schedule, we moved her parents in with us about two years ago. COVID has further complicated that relationship and our respective reality due to their advancing age, physical decline, and pre-existing conditions. Like too many folks, we live with the constant anxiety that their contraction of COVID will lead to their imminent and virtually guaranteed death, despite ALL the data and our personal experiences that clearly demonstrate otherwise. She feared coming with me because it would mean leaving her folks behind to care for themselves if they got sick while we were away, and also meant she would have to quarantine from them for two weeks after our return. Thus, no Thanksgiving with her folks. Now you’re caught back up. So, I made it to Thanksgiving Day with no symptoms, no illness, and a general sense that all was as well as it could be. I had again packed the truck and prepared to go on to the next house, and my cell rang at about 8am. My cousin told me Grandad wasn’t feeling well. High temp of about 103-104. General malaise. Nausea. Fuck. Monkey Wrench Number Two. We agreed they would call his general practitioner and cardiologist to seek their guidance, and I was on the way. I hadn’t yet had COVID to that point, but if my grandparents had contracted it, they would not be able to care for themselves or each other. I didn’t have fear of enduring the illness myself, I had only ever worried about bringing it to them. That particular concern no longer held water. I visited three stores around town to gather all the generally recommended OTC meds, supplements, and vitamin packs that I thought three people might consume in two weeks, along with a new thermometer, and I landed at the home of Grandparents #2 just before noon. Grandad felt fine. Normal temp. No explanation of what the morning’s signs and symptoms had been. Hell, he’s 85 and mentally sharp as a tack, so you have to expect some physical cost for those benefits. With the crisis seemingly averted, we cautiously went about limiting their access to the outside world for a few days. Aside from Grandad’s normal physical limitations, all seemed normal, and that reality demanded its own action plan. Having not seem them in action for ten months, his feebleness struck me right in the heart. He’s about my size and my Grandmother’s half of him, and I had trouble helping him at times. She couldn’t do this on her. Not only that, but she shouldn’t have been caring for him on her own for probably most of that year. She needed help, and he needed to recover some of his dignity. After speaking with the nurses in our family and a couple trusted confidants, I called Hospice and set an appointment for them to evaluate him and his needs. A brief aside for the uninitiated: while Hospice is designed and statutorily enabled to assist folks in the last potential six months of their life, patients may be on Hospice care for much longer than that, or for as many times as needed. Those Hospice Nurses deserve all the accolades we may provide, and they absolutely deserve the Capitalized Titles. God Bless Them. Despite my familiarity with Hospice, hearing my Grandad’s new nurse confirm his conditions likely indicated he had fallen within the Last Six Months struck me. Hard. I only ever saw him cry once, when we surprised them for their joint 80th birthday party. They unexpectedly walked into a room filled with friends and family ready to celebrate with them, and he hid behind my petite grandmother for a moment to stifle his tears. Being my father’s son, I have no such trouble crying. I just didn’t want him to see me cry for him. We all spoke after the Nurse left, and we got some other things set in motion to help care for their daily needs. Having now been at their home for a week, which had been the original plan back from October, I talked to my grandparents about leaving. Are they going to be okay if I go? Do they need me to stay? Do my cousins want me to hang around for another week to help supplement the transition into professional in-home care? We all agreed I was welcome, but technically unneeded. I should go home and see my wife, whom they adore. I had already been gone from home for a month. That was Wednesday, December 2, 2020. I drove home on Thursday, December 3, and this is as good a time as any to say I didn’t feel 100%. For clarity, I’m telling you a few things out of chronological order here. My symptoms began on Saturday, November 28, with a weird diarrhea that lasted for a few hours in the morning. I don’t usually have GI troubles, but with no other signs of illness, I thought it was food, or the stress of waiting for my Grandparents to show COVID signs and symptoms. For the next week, I had very mild cold/allergy symptoms. Some sinus congestion, a little tightness in my chest. All consistent with my normal experiences this time of year, and all so mild to not have been worth mentioning. However, it’s critical at this juncture in the timeline. Grandad went downhill two days after I left. My mom and sister had arrived the day before to visit for the weekend, and the updates grew grim. Hospice came in on Saturday, December 5, and made substantial changes and improvements to the house. My wife and I began discussing when we would return, how long we would stay, how we would check off all the logistical needs boxes for us and our little household. The COVID test I had scheduled for Monday morning fell through; the testing site had insufficient staff to administer it, and they had cancelled all the appointments for the day... “You should have gotten an email...” My mom called a few hours later, on Monday evening, with ominous news: come now, he won’t be here much longer. My aunt departed from her house and agreed to pick me up in two hours so neither of us fell asleep driving. In the meantime, for my own conscience, I went to a local ED, explained my symptoms and imminent travel to say goodbye to my Grandad, they administered and processed a COVID polymerase-chain-reaction test. Positive. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Monkey Wrench Number Three. At that moment, I was on Day 9 of the symptoms, at worst Day 7. Recommendations at the time demanded isolation for ten days once signs and symptoms appeared, and wait until your condition is generally improving and you’ve gone at least twenty-four hours without a fever. Never had a fever, and my ailment never grew to be more than a nuisance. However, I had to wait at least a day, and three days would be better. I couldn’t confidently say my COVID started on the 28th or the 30th. Safer for all around me to say the 30th. Another phone call changed my life at 8am the next morning. Grandad passed on at home, surrounded by family, just after 7:30. Mortality had claimed one of my two lifelong mentors, and the most perpetually positive male role model I had in this life. The following days of isolation and despair are the darkest and loneliest I’ve ever known. I waited until Friday, December 11, to travel back and commemorate my Grandad’s life. By the time I arrived, he had moved from his customary chair at the head of the kitchen table to an urn on top of it. I learned the crematorium doesn’t remove the clothes before lighting the fire. Who knew? Over the following few days, our family celebrated his life, and thanked God for his role in ours. My aunt, uncle, and I hung around to help my Grandmother tie up his affairs and transition to an empty nest. Aside from the odd nightshift, she hasn’t slept alone since he returned from his Army base in Germany in 1961. I had planned to stay two weeks and go home on Christmas Eve. At 5am on Saturday, December 19th, my uncle woke me up: he started feeling flu symptoms overnight, and he had to leave before he got anyone else sick. He has a substantially suppressed immune system, and his rheumatologist had convinced him that COVID would kill him, FYI. Some things are worth the risk until they aren’t. Fuck. Monkey Wrench Number Four. This seems like a good time to note the prevailing guidance around COVID transmission as of December 2020. Public health officials had proclaimed the virus could become contagious two days before the patient (not the case, the patient) exhibited any signs or symptoms of illness. Also, I might as well fill you in that my uncle had infrequent, wet coughs for several days at that point, but nothing else that would have indicated a significant illness. Thus, at 5am that morning, we had to consider my uncle might have become contagious to my Grandmother on the 14th. Over coffee that morning, my Grandmother and I looked closely at the calendar, considered then-present guidance, and decided she needed to stay in quarantine until December 29th. The guidance at that moment (which had changed since the beginning of this tale) was to quarantine for seven days with a negative PCR test administered on Day 5-7, or to quarantine for ten days with no test and no signs or symptoms. At that time, test results took more than five days to get back, so the early release wasn’t an option. I committed to staying until New Year’s Eve, assuming she never fell ill. With that change in plans and circumstances, my wife and I prepared for separate and relatively isolated Christmases apart. The family had decided back in October not to exchange gifts that year because of all the other stress that had befallen each of our households, so, the week of Christmas, my Grandmother’s tree had not a single gift under it. My Grandad passed before buying her anything, so my wife and I found a few items we hoped might make her feel warm and hugged when we couldn’t be there with her. My wife has an incredible fondness for “woobie” sweaters, and we found one in my Grandmother’s size and color. It’s what she’s wearing in the attached photograph. She had lived in such a mental fog up to that point that she hadn’t even noticed the packages I’d wrapped and put under the tree. I didn’t hide them, but, in all fairness, I didn’t set them front-and-center, either. I’m forever grateful she had a few things to open that morning, and that she might find some small comfort in them. One of my cousins had already had COVID run through their house in the past few months, and I moved my Grandmother’s quarantine across town for breakfast. That’s where the picture was taken, with beloved family and a brightness none of us had otherwise felt for a few weeks at that point. That morning became the first sense I had of something normal returning to our lives. I made my wife’s infamous cream cheese-mushroom quiche, and my cousins added traditional American breakfast items: sausage, bacon, toast, potatoes, scrambled eggs, fruit juices. I later added rum to a tropical juice blend. Delicious. You might notice the stocking she’s holding in the photograph, and stockings are a big deal in my household. My wife and I love them, and they’re a big part of our personal Christmas traditions. On Christmas Eve, I found out my Grandmother didn’t have a stocking made up for her, but I managed to find everything I needed without her finding out about it. My favorite part of that was the Sock Monkey, which I imagined she would just think was cute, but she laughed when she pulled it from the stocking. My Grandmother explained her mother used to make stuffed monkeys for my Grandmother and her siblings from my great-grandfather’s worn-out tube socks. Having grown up on a rural farm in the Great Depression, every material item had to have at least two lives, and old socks didn’t get a pass. The New Sock Monkey became her newest Christmas ornament, however, and I already look forward to helping her hang it later this year. I had bought and prepared a bone-in rib roast for us that night, and another cousin (fellow COVID survivor) came over with her two kids to enjoy Christmas dinner with us at my Grandmother’s home. No one had yet sat in my Grandad’s customary chair at the head of the table. Someone eventually will, and they may have already, but I’ve yet to see or hear about it. My grandmother said she still feels him in their house, but I haven’t, not since I said goodbye, fully expecting to see him again in a few months, as planned. I saw apprehension on his face as I left, and I ignored it. I chose to believe what I hoped. The 29th came with some fanfare and a drive out of town just to celebrate her release from quarantine. We revisited a recent conversation, and she assured me she was ready-enough for me to go home; she didn’t want me to leave or need me to leave, but she didn’t truly need me to stay, either. In her kindness, she asked me to go home and take care of my wife. On the 31st, my cousins helped take down her Christmas tree and decorations, and we all said a tearful goodbye. When I left their home the first time, just four weeks earlier, my Grandad and I had promised to see each other soon; my Grandmother assured me on New Year’s Eve that she’d hold up her end of the bargain. In about two weeks, I’ll get to hug her neck again, and I’m ever so ready to do so. For all the misery, suffering, and omnipresent anxiety COVID has brought to our society, my infection was an incredible blessing, all things considered. I have no idea from whom I contracted the illness, as no one around me was ill during the timeframe that I could have contracted it. More importantly, NO ONE around me fell ill after I showed signs and symptoms. Not a single person in my life contracted my COVID infection, not my 85-year-old grandparents, not my aging and infirm in-laws, not my wife. No. One. My experience proved to be excessively mild, given the possibilities, and the eventual immunity allowed me to ensure my Grandmother didn’t have to quarantine alone so soon after her husband’s death AND that none of my other family had to risk infection to stay with her. She wasn’t alone on Christmas. I will remain forever grateful for the blessings that managed to weave themselves throughout this experience. Their presence didn’t transpire through mere coincidence, especially not for so many to have appeared in one life and in so short a timeframe. That’s not how probability, chance, or statistical evolution work. With my recent positive COVID antibody test, this also means I can begin volunteering outside my home again, and that I can donate convalescent plasma about once a week. It’s a small thing, but I’m sure it will make all the difference for someone who needs just a little help.
• 2020-11-14

  Virtual Learning

  My experience during virtual school has some positives and negatives. I liked the fact that I didn't have to wake up so early. During virtual, I just got out of bed and walked to my desk. I also liked how I could do school in my pajamas. I didn't like how I couldn't really see friends, and I got distracted easily.
• 
  2020-04-03

  The Game of COVID Life

  During the quarantine, my wife and I were having a hard time trying to adjust to our jobs being remote. We were not used to staring at computer screens for 8+ hours. The feeling of stress was overwhelming. I’m sure everyone in the world can relate to this experience. We really needed something to raise our spirits after time passed by and the world was still shut down. When my wife and I first got married in 2019, we had a problem of spending money on board games of all kinds. We ended up with a collection of 47 board games by the time COVID started (we began our marriage with about 12 board games). The thing is, with our jobs (my wife being a Public Library Administrator and I being a teacher and coach), we hardly had time to play some except a few. Who would have thought that we were unknowingly preparing for a quarantine. Our collection helped us escape reality for a bit each time we played. Game nights became a regular occurrence and we still hold them to this day. We were able to connect more as a couple and strengthen our relationship. The sounds of dice being rolled, cards being shuffled, and game pieces being moved remind me how board games helped us cope with the unexpected changes in our lives and recharge our batteries to keep going forward.
• 2020-01-11

  cover origin

  The first case I heard about this was back 2 years a go in December. I heard lots of theories the first one I remember hearing is that someone ate a bat and contracted this virus. I didn't think much of it at first but after time I realized how serious it is and how much it affects everyone in the world. My opinions on the virus have defiantly changed over time though, but I still manage to keep the same precautions and make sure to follow the instructed rules to keep everyone safe.
• 2020-03-23

  Corona-cation

  We started hearing about the coronavirus in March 2020 so my family started stalking up on canned foods, toilet paper, and all of the essentials. We stocked up just in time too because as the week went on, everything we had bought started having a limit on the amount you can buy and they were going out of stock in almost every store. We had to stay in our house for about 4.5 months and i couldn't see any friends in person, only through a screen. When i finally saw only one of my friends months later after quarantine started, it didn't feel real. It was almost as if she was a ghost or something. I was happy to see her though and since then my family and I has been very careful about getting the virus.
• 
  2020-12-16

  Team Things During Pandemic

  Our coaches asked the team to take a video of ourselves doing something with a softball. TikTok is a huge app in our generation and it is filled with popular videos and people. It is a very significant part of this generation's history and we wanted to be a part of that by creating this video and posting to our social media pages, along with TikTok. Within the video, one of my teammates is cleaning the softball with disinfectant spray which is what life has come to during the pandemic and that is what softball teams were doing during the summer. This video shows our team coming together during the pandemic and still somehow being a team during this crazy time. This is an object that an archivist can collect that relates directly to our generation along with an authentic view of Suffolk softball. As an archivist, they look for authenticity and unique objects that have meaning which is what this object represents.
• 
  2020-06-07

  Family Day Activity

  This comes from the #WendeOnline programming that started at the beginning of COVID-19. One facet of #WendeOnline is a monthly family day. They hosted a family day in pre-COVID times so this is an example of a direct translation from in-person to online programming. For June, the Wende collaborated with ESMoA to provide instructions on how to create a board game. The activity was called PLAY X GAMES X ART and encouraged families to design a game of their own based on household objects. They also provide a template in the pdf attachment that is based on historical games. While building a board game aligns more with the mission of ESMoA, it does loosely apply to the mission of the Wende. In my opinion, it is more important that the activity is collaborative and engaging than it directly relating to the subject matter of the museum. This event is different from most of the family day activities in the fact that it does not have an obvious link to history. Despite this, I think it is a unique way to engage with “visitors.” After making the game, families can continue to play it for a long span of time. Even once they’re done with the official family day activity, the experience can last longer. This is a great example of building a community within a household and between museums. This is important to me because this was a museum I went to in pre-COVID times and it is nice to see they are still building community.
• 
  2020-06-09

  The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles Create Puzzles for the People

  At the beginning of June, MOCA updated its online store to include items relevant to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. I have several screenshots of different puzzles, masks, books, etc. but I thought this one was particularly interesting. In the articles I’ve read about museums creating an effective online presence, the main idea is providing the user an opportunity to engage in a transaction. Here MOCA is giving the user an opportunity to buy a puzzle from them and also engage with their focus on contemporary art. While doing the puzzle, the purchaser will be thinking about MOCA, even on some kind of subconscious level. In a sense this helps to build community and, in the future, will serve as a token of the time spent in quarantine. One day the puzzle will serve as an artifact. To state the obvious, selling puzzles is relevant because at the beginning of quarantine this was an activity a lot of people did. I think for a small time was difficult to get your hands on a puzzle. MOCA is not only providing an online user with the opportunity to engage in a transaction, but it is a relevant transaction. This demonstrates MOCA’s ability to effectively adapt to the changing social landscape. My submission is important to me because in pre-COVID times I loved going to the museum and I think it's great to see how they're still trying to build community.
• 07/18/2020

  Nunavut premier defends trip to retrieve personal plane, isolating at cabin rather than hotel

  Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq defends a trip he took to Winnipeg to retrieve his personal float plane, in which he was allowed to forego the two-week quarantine protocols in one of the southern hubs.
• 
  2020-11-02

  Finance minister predicts 'largest deficit in Nunavut history' due to COVID-19

  Nunavut's finance minister George Hickes said he expects the largest deficit the territory has seen because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 
  2020-05-11

  Will interests in puzzles, crafts continue post-COVID?

  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?
• 
  2020-11-30

  Quarantine Paintings

  I decided to upload a picture of some of the paintings that I’ve made over the quarantine. When COVID-19 first started and we all went into quarantine I wondered what I was going to do during all my free time. I love to paint and I almost never had time to dedicate and do it. But now with all of this free time I had no excuse put to getting crafty and painting. As you can tell from this photograph there are a variety of paintings that I made. Some are pretty backgrounds with song lyrics/songs. My favorite one that I painted was the sunset sky with clouds. I also have a couple Disney paintings as well. It was also a huge help to get distracted and get my mind off of everything that was going on in the world. It was also very relaxing. These paintings are just some of the many things that I made during the quarantine. I also started to do embroidery as well as make Mickey ears and many many other crafts. It’s very important to me because it’s one of the ways that I was able to express myself during this weird tough time. I’m very thankful that I was able to find a creative outlet. I was also able to take some time for myself. Painting was my quiet relaxing time. From getting to choose colors, mixing, choosing what to paint. Just the whole process in itself made me feel a little bit better. I remember when quarantine first started that the stores were all running out of paint and canvases so I’m guessing I’m not the only one who came up with the idea of painting during this time. I’m glad people were also able to find outlets and time to relax and just paint.
• 
  2020-10-23

  Voluntary Isolation Motel EMT

  Several counties across Oregon have coordinated with local motels to establish voluntary isolation shelters in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. Each location is staffed with city personnel to manage admittance and discharge, while EMTs on staff conduct routine medical monitoring to patients. My boyfriend works in one of these shelters, and sent me this picture of him in his full PPE getup before making morning rounds. The shelter's capacity varies a lot week by week, and anywhere from 1-20 COVID positive patients may be staying there at any given point. This particular motel intakes prisoners who need to do a 2 week quarantine before being released, but also serves non-incarcerated people who have tested positive.
• 
  2020-11-24

  England Allowing Visitors To Come After Taking Covid Test

  The UK is setting plans to allow visitors to come to the UK after taking a Covid-19 test. This is a huge step considering the country has been under a major travel ban and had been requiring individuals to partake in a 14-day quarantine. This new testing protocol is great for those wanting to see family and loved ones in the UK.
• 
  2020-11-14

  Maggie's Covid Experience

  Maggie shared a condensed version of her experience with Covid-19 with me. Among her experiences she had to quarantine during her birthday, cancel vacations, and work life was disrupted. She was able to turn these negatives into positive experiences that enriched her life none the less. Maggie- "When it comes to Covid-19 it has affected me in both positive and negative ways unlike most people who I feel like it’s only brought negative outcomes. My roommate left our place for months during the start of Covid. I had to cancel my trip to Florida because family I was visiting has Lupus and we couldn’t risk it. My summer job was not going to start till end of July when it usually starts at the beginning of May. Luckily, we started Memorial Day weekend. Once work did resume it was hard because we didn’t have a full staff and the new regiments were hard at first to get used to but the positives things that came out of it, during the summer where I work were usually working 60+ hours and never really get any downtime except at night but I became closer to my island family because we’d close a couple days a week due to lack of workers which meant we all could become closer and hangout with each other. I spent more time on the lake this year than I ever had. I became closer to a lot more people than usual and even despite Covid it was one of my favorite summers. With summer over and jobs being hard to find I am now traveling the NE states going from national park to national park while practicing social distancing and Covid procedures. So for me it’s brought me closer to myself and created stronger friendships."
• 
  2020-06-10

  Sweet Treats

  My friend Maddie sent me this selfie of her getting some churros during quarantine. We used to always go get churro's together but many places have been closed. She found a food truck that sells churro's and she decided to go get it as it requires minimal contact with people and allows for social distancing! Like me, she uses food (specifically sweets) to help with stress and anxiety! She described the change during COVID, "Before COVID one of my coping mechanisms for when I’m stressed was to go get something sweet to eat. But I had to adjust that, and now I get something sweet to-go and sit in my car while I listen to music."