Items

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  2020-03-20

  Empty Shelves as Panic Hits A Small Pennsylvania Town.

  This photograph was taken at Giant Food Store in Perkasie, Pennsylvania at the onset of the pandemic. This was the state of the paper product aisle. Stores across the nation struggled to keep up with extreme demand for paper products, sanitizers, and hand soaps. This resulted in months of empty shelves as the town's residents tried to avoid leaving their home and fears grew that even the stores would eventually be locked down.
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  2022-04-10

  How the pandemic brought together friendships

  Pre-pandemic I had a strong, close-nit group of friends who we frequently made time to spend together whether it was a get together dinner, lunch or breakfast once a month, going to concerts, festivals, wine night or "just hanging out". Once the pandemic hit and we were on lock down we could no longer get together obviously. I was single at the time and has a very strong bond with all my girlfriends. Not being able to see them and interact mad me feel sad, sometimes lonely and some days depressed. When I reached out to my friends I discovered that they were having the same feelings. From that moment on we decided to have a virtual girls night/wine night once a week to stay connected. For many months once a week we video chatted while drinking our wine. Even though we could not physically be there with each other, it was the next best thing. For me, just being able to see their faces made so much of a difference. I felt very isolated during the pandemic and it definitely made me feel happier, less lonely and have something to look forward too especially because at the time I barely left my house. For some the pandemic caused people to lose relationships and become distant, but for me my bond with my girlfriends became stronger which I am thankful for.
• 
  2021-05

  A Year to be Remembered

  The start of quarantine was for me almost a blessing. A gate that locked us away from school for 2 weeks ironically gave me freedom. As these 14 days turned to weeks and weeks into a whole year, this “gate” that gave me freedom also locked me away from it. At first, I willingly mocked COVID because of how stupid it seemed. but reality struck as soon as one of my family members got it. It became a scary time in my life where both sides of the “gate” seemed like hell. I cried in the corner of my room and no one to reach out to as everyone in my family felt the same pain. As time was slowly ticking things I coped with my pain and things were looking brighter. This gate which kept me from reaching out to others was seemingly opening and I could feel like society going back to normal. It was only a matter of time when freedom unlocked this gate and give us a chance to be normal again.
• 2020-03-10

  COVID-19 Rules and Procedures

  On March 10, 2020 it was announced that California is on lock down. Now there was many rules going around but the main one wearing masks and staying at home. At the beginning everything was shut down every restaurant, beach, and business. As time when on people started to get bored. Including me I practically watched every show on Netflix. About four months went by and things started opening up. By then everyone was sick of masks and social distancing. The main thing that opened up were beaches and everyone was excited again. Then they were closed again. And then they were open. It was kind of a big cycle that just went on and on. All the rules were kind of weird and like controlling but then they became normal to me. I can't imagine a life without a mask. In conclusion, I don't necessarily like the rules but they became easy to follow.
• 2020-06-26

  Oh the places we will not go for now.

  This image describes how quarantine was in a nutshell because nobody could go outside or visit any other countries, I submitted this so kids could have a little laugh while learning about this horrible tragity.
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  2020-04-15

  Painting In Quarantine

  During quarantine, we were all very bored and going a little stir crazy. I really wanted to get into painting because it is relaxing for me, and it takes up a lot of time. This is important to me because it was something during lockdown that made me feel relaxed and calm. It was a stressful time for everyone, and we all had to find hobbies that would keep us busy, which is important to understanding 2020 and the lockdown. I think that is what this says about the pandemic, we had to find these little things to keep us going throughout the long days stuck inside, and painting really helped me do that.
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  2020-09-17

  Ready for Round 2

  Scanning facebook, I came across this article stating that the number of Covid cases in Europe are increasing again. This is disheartening because recently the number of cases of covid had seemed to be leveling off and declining. As the pandemic began in Europe and Asia before the US, this could be an indicator of things to come for us if we are not vigilant. Hopefully, this is just a small hiccup and not a major setback.
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  2020-03-28

  My Experience with Sickness, Quarantines and the Prison’s Healthcare System

  The author of this article is a former inmate at San Quentin Prison in California. These days he focuses on justice reform through an organization he helped bring into being, Restore Justice. In this article he explains the medical system inside of prisons and his experience with lockdowns and solitary confinement as a place of quarantine during non-covid times.
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  2020-07-02

  Dear Diary 2020

  2020 is certainly a year filled with disasters, bad news, and unprecedented happenings. This author wrote down a few of them and wonders what's ahead.
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  2020-04

  Tweets from Inside a Prison 4/12-4/18/2020 by Railroaded Underground

  These tweets are from an incarcerated person using a contraband cell phone to let the world know about the conditions inside the prison. This week he is talking about choosing between a shower and exposure because their showers are communal with over fifty people. He also mentions the prison employee that brought him his meals and lead him around has tested positive and that the first inmate is positive and has been sent to solitary confinement for quarantine. He mentions a lack of soap, receiving fruit snacks with his lunch because they contain vitamin C, injustice, #clemancynow, and inmates at other facilities being retaliated against for speaking out.
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  2020-04-12

  Diary Entry

  The "lay off" Day 21 We broke quarantine yesterday to visit Malin for her birthday. First trip to Gothenburg in about two weeks. We also met up with Richard Brodie (he had agreed to part with an elderly computer screen), ordered pizza in a restaurant and shopped for groceries on the way home. I notice that the cashiers in the ICA are all behind a massive Plexiglas screen now. We talked about and justified it on the grounds that it was travel within a single region (Västra Götaland) we were not infected (Magdalena and I have been in complete isolation for more than the incubation period) and we would only be a group of 3. We were hand sanitizing the bejesus out of our hands all day and grouped several tasks deliberately to limit the chance of getting infected and then passing it on. Still. A lot of brief social contacts. A LOT. Now we need re-isolate and see what turns up in the little petri dish that is us ... Malin was in great form and settled into her lovely new apartment. As a gift, we had brought the closest thing we have that can pass as a family heirloom. Basically our first piece of furniture, a battered old chest we bought in Dún Laoghaire in 1994 when Magdalena was pregnant with Malin and we we're planning our move to our new apartment in the City Centre of Dublin. Some nice symmetry there. Every 14:00 CET on weekdays we all tune into the Daily Folkhälsomyndigheten Show to be reassured that all is going well. So far so ... uncertain. Deaths in Sweden continue to climb and Stockholm is pretty bad. In terms of EU averages, Sweden in the aggregate is on the upper end of the mid-range, a little worse than Ireland but much better than the UK or the Netherlands. Only Stockholm can be compared to Italy or Spain, but even here, the gap remains wide. Västragötaland and Skåne remain stubbornly flat and intensive care occupations across the country have been flat for weeks with 20% capacity still available. I'd really, really like to see either the death rate or the number of new cases flattening, but honestly, we just are not seeing anything statistically significant yet. The direction on all metrics continues upward and I have to admit that worries me. It seems like every week we're saying, "we'll know NEXT week", then next week comes and things are a little bit worse, but still clearly (apparently?) under control. Another week it is then. The nightmare scenario is that magical tipping point where all the curves suddenly hockey-stick upward. When that happens - and we have seen this in multiple places around the world - you are looking at weeks of chaos, overrun hospitals and rapidly escalating death rates. The only thing that gets things back under control are severe lock-downs. A more intensive Swedish lock-down could be coming if these metrics don't start flattening and then dipping appreciably soon and it's vital to not leave that too late. If we've made a mistake in our approach, we need to change course. That's good science. So, y'know, don't fuck this up Anders. But this is a marathon not a 100 meters sprint. There will not be a vaccine for 12 - 18 months. There may be effective medications, but these will require months to test, manufacture and distribute. Strict, military lock-downs cannot continue for more than a month or two and cycles of lock-downs are surely going to play havoc with peoples mental health and the economy. From that long-haul perspective the Swedish strategy continues to have merit. What are the rest of you thinking? Worried? Concerned we've been too relaxed?
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  2020-03-27

  Normal Life Outside, Massachusetts

  People enjoying a sunny day by a cranberry bog in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Even with the stay-at-home advisory and most stores closed, people need fresh air. #HIST5241