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2020-03-13

In the Blink of An Eye

Maybe if quarantine lasts three weeks, we’ll have spring break before we go back to class, I wistfully think to myself. It’s already March 13th of 2020, but the air is still nippy and my mom still makes me wear that atrocious parka. She’s been hearing all these reports about the coronavirus, and I think it’s releasing her inner germaphobe. My school day finishes off like any other, except I have to stay behind for AP Biology review, like who has review two months before an exam? Following an hour full of practice problems, workbooks, and texting my friends under my desk, it’s finally time to go home. The talk of the school is if Xaverian plans on closing for quarantine, following the footsteps of nearly every other Catholic school in the city. But I don’t even take two steps out of my desk before my iPad pings with an email. One by one, we all find out that Xaverian will be closed for the foreseeable future, and that online learning will commence on Monday. I picture using this new interface, Zoom, for class. A feeling of exhilaration grows in my chest. I can already picture it: no uniforms, and no restrictions—just a newfound capacity for freedom. Our group parades towards the lockers, gossiping while packing up our books and putting on our coats. The moment doesn’t feel real; it feels like I’m floating, suspended in the joyful innocence of being a high school senior. With our navy and khaki skirts swishing around our legs, knees exposed to the frigid air, my three friends and I begin the trek home through Bay Ridge, blissfully ignorant to the fact that it would be the very last time we ever put those uniforms back on, or that it would be three months before we saw each other next. How naïve we were walking home that day, discussing how fun and convenient online learning would be. We chat about prom dress shopping, boys, and how funny it would be to take AP exams online—not realizing that prom would be canceled, and that we would take those exams online. It was my last day of normal, the last day before everything changed for good. Three months later, I graduated high school from my porch, wistfully smiling as I was handed a trophy for becoming the Salutatorian of Xaverian High School’s Class of 2020. The following week in June, I stand on those same steps in funeral clothes, wondering how everything changed in the blink of an eye. Not even seven days after graduation, my grandma passes away alone at Staten Island University Hospital, unable to be accompanied by her family because of COVID-19. It comes out of the blue; she feels fatigued and lethargic, but refuses to get medical attention until the very last moment because of possible exposure to the virus. By the time she arrives at the hospital, they admit her in stable condition, but she never makes it through the night. As of June 20th, 2020, 176,066 Americans are dead from the coronavirus. My grandma didn’t have it, but I can’t help counting her as the 176,067th life taken away by this disease. Because of COVID-19, she skipped her doctor’s appointments, and lived in complete isolation to avoid contracting the virus. Yet in the end, it is the virus that indirectly takes her away, preventing any of her loved ones from being present in her final moments. Nearly three years later since that last day of high school, on February 21st, 2023, I can reflect on how much my life has changed. COVID-19 went on to rob me of my first two years at Brooklyn College–I spent them cooped up in my bedroom on Zoom, not meeting my newfound friends until my junior year of college. COVID-19 influenced me in my choice to be a Health and Nutrition Science major, as I hope to learn more about preventing disease and use my knowledge to make me a better physician in the future. Millions have now died from COVID-19, and my version of “normal” has forever changed. Three years ago, the future seemed bleak and dire. I still wear a mask on the train, but now I see hope in the future because of our vaccine development and how normalized it’s become to talk about public health. I can only hope that as time goes on, humanity works together to regain a sense of normalcy.

2020-09-01

Sahrawi refugees in COVID-19 lockdown hit by livestock epidemic

Refugees from Western Sahara in camps in Algeria’s Tindouf province lose animals to livestock epidemic, while coronavirus restrictions wipe out other means of income.

2021-07-06

World Zoonoses Day

This is a tweet from the UN Environment Programme showing the driving factors behind zoonotic diseases and pandemics. Humans abuse of the environment is to blame.

2020-04-26

My Thoughts

I think we should and should not share the United States supplies for the virus with India. I think we should use it on ourselves first and then give them out leftovers. If we dont use it for ourselves first it would be dumb. It's like before you get on a plane and the plane crew goes over on what to do and not to do when there is an emergency on the plane. Say put your mask thing on yourself before you put it on others. It is the same with the vaccines and supplies. We need to use it for ourselves and America before we use it in India. However we need to make sure those supplies get there as soon as we are done with them. If we do not get the supplies to them fastly many will die. Also people could create something new because they could catch other diseases if they are not clean of germs. Also the hospital is running out of oxygen. Oxygen is very needed in order to keep people alive. From the video the hospital just does not look safe in general. Everyone was so crammed up and were not socially distancing. I am pretty sure they are also out of covid test which could lead to them being in a room with other positive people because they think they have it. Sometimes they will think wrong and end up getting it because they are next to people who are positive with the virus.

2020-01-12

the beginning of the virus

I think the virus was not artificially crafted, but came out of nowhere. It is a respiratory disease that came out of nowhere. The cause of this virus spreading is the ignorance of people. The virus is scientifically and literally dangerous. But the ignorance and arrogance of people choosing not to wear masks and having large gatherings adds to this dangerous occurance.

2021-01-11

Opinion about what caused the virus (Covid-19)

From my opinion, I think corona-virus started as a pathogen. I think this pathogen started as someone ate an animal that has never tried before and they didn’t know if it carried a disease or any cells that if match with humans, can be critical. I also think that about this Covid-19, there’re a lot of theories or believes that can encourage somebody to think in these origins.

2021-01-11

Covid

I first learned that the cause of this virus was that people stored coffee beans that made a bad smell witch caused a disease that was deadly and there could have been someone who got sick from somewhere else and brought it to everyone then and that's how everyone got sick all because of people traveled by ships they probably picked up diseases then. I think it was trying to kill people so they lower the population of the people there. No, my opinion did not change. My experiences with discovering this disease were kinda relevant right now we're kinda similar to each other because we are going through the disease.

2020-12-07

American History's influence on Current events

Says that the pandemic is influenced by previous ones and helped us gain knowledge on how to control and prevent the spread.

2020-12-07

2020 Problems from the past

The problems of 2020 started from historical events. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2020/06/18/486480/covid-19-response-indian-country/

2020-08-05

Daily COVID Positive Case Number and Deaths, Governor Whitmer Press Briefings – How I Have Come to Getting Michigan State COVID-Related Information Since April.

Journal Entry

03/26/2020

Abner Bonilla Oral History, 2020/03/26

As part of Everyday Boston's Essential People Project on YouTube, Aunnesha Bhowmick interviews Abner Bonilla, a Roslindale mail carrier. Abner describes what it's like to deliver mail to more than 1,000 people during a pandemic, including his concerns about the lack of social distancing; his worry for his elderly customers; and the outpouring of gratitude he and other mail carriers have gotten.

05/08/2020

Brynda Oral History, 2020/05/08

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.

2020-03-17

Mystery Illness Kills Ethiopian Nomads

"The affected people roam with their cattle around the Ogaden Basin region, which is being explored by companies looking for oil and natural gas. "

white text on a blue background stating the different outbreaks on each election year

2020-05-15

A current trend of epidemics/pandemics

This picture is food for thought, and for a while was pretty popular as it circulated around the internet. This meme is misleading as it implies that outbreaks are "planted" and do not occur naturally. These kind of posts drive more ideas into the brains of civilians that conspire against the government. The meme itself has incorrect information of the years that the outbreaks have been reported, such as SARS being first reported in 2003 and swine flu pandemic was reported in spring 2009. Posts like these are trending on all different social media platforms that are misleading people with wrong information, making them have more hatred for the government. It is interesting to see how much people want to blame the government for outbreaks and create patterns in order to place blame on other human beings, not taking into consideration the biological factors that of the viruses themselves. #CSUS #HIST15H *Submitted text in "Creator": unknown, taken from twitter and a secondary source. taken from a blog written by Bethania Palma on March 3, 2020

2020-04-20

The Struggles of the Dining Room Table

A college student's experience with taking online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020-04-24

List of human disease case fatality rates

When I first came across this Wikipedia entry in January of 2020, the death rate for COVID-19 was below that of the Spanish flu. Day by day it has been creeping inexorably up.

2020-03-13

Christianity Has Been Handling Epidemics for 2000 Years

This article focuses on the history of Christian response to epidemics. Through studying history, the author concluded that most Christians followed the following commandment: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Rather than fleeing the epidemic, Christians would bring support and care to those in need regardless of religious beliefs. Another commandment that the author applied to this situation was, thou shalt not murder. This commandment not only means the literal act of murder, but the act of endangering others. Therefore, orders set in place by authority to keep others safe should be followed. In this article, the author continues to dive deep into scripture and correlates it to the present circumstances we are seeing today.

2020-04-16

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