Items

• 2020-04-01

  Pumpkin Spice Candles

  One thing that captures a sensory memory that relates to the COVID-19 pandemic for me is candles, specifically pumpkin spice candles. My wife and myself, like many other people, spent the majority of 2020 shut inside our home. Prior to this pandemic, we would often go out 3-4 nights a week. Nothing crazy, of course. Dinner, bowling, movie, etc. Typical married couple dates. However, once we were shut inside our house, we had to find other little things to occupy our time so we wouldn’t go stir crazy. My wife started buying a lot of scented candles from Amazon, and her favorite was pumpkin spice. I swear, my apartment smelled like pumpkin spice from about April of 2020 to January of 2021. The scent helped her relax, and it made me happy to know that she was finding ways to keep herself settled and centered. Now, whenever I’m out somewhere and catch a scent of pumpkin, I think of the two of us trapped in the apartment but working together to make the whole experience into a positive. I know that this is probably more of a sentimental story than what we were supposed to write, but this is what first came to my mind when I saw this assignment.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Sounds of Silience

  My story is about the absence of sound during the pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-13

  A, C, E Line 23rd Street

  This video was taken on March 13, 2020 on my way home from my last day of in-person work at my gallery where I was employed at the time. I sent this video to my family who lived outside the city and the severity of the situation had not yet hit the town where they lived. Waiting on an empty subway platform after my workplace had shuttered its doors was surreal. I think many of us had a personal experience that we could identify as the moment when we were hit by the realization of how serious the pandemic was (and is).
• 
  2021-07-29

  (HIST30060) An Exhibition I Created at University

  After a year as subeditor, I was lucky enough to be appointed the 2021 editor of Chariot, the undergraduate history journal at the University of Melbourne. As an initiative to raise student engagement and make history more interesting, I worked with the university staff and one of our previous contributors of the journal in turning her essay into an exhibition in the university's Arts West building. Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, I was unable to see the exhibition in person myself, but the experience of putting it together from start to finish was a hugely rewarding one.
• 
  2021-06-30

  (HIST30060) French Impressionism Exhibition at the NGV

  Before Melbourne went back to its fifth round of lockdowns, a friend and I bought tickets for an exhibition on French Impressionism at the National Gallery of Victoria. It was an absolutely amazing feeling, not only just being out of the house but also being able to see these famous paintings which I've only seen images of online previously up close. While nowhere near an expert on art or art history myself, my experience in working in a museum and putting together a small exhibition earlier in the year made me appreciate the carefully curated exhibition.
• 
  2021-08-23

  (HIST30060) An Exciting Job Offer

  Due to the pandemic, I had to scrap my original plans of travelling after finishing my degree and to apply for jobs instead. I have always dreamed of working in economic policy, so I applied to the graduate economist program at the Australian Treasury in Canberra, my dream job. Going through the entire recruitment process remotely was a peculiar experience, and was, in some ways, even more daunting than doing in person interviews. When I finally received an offer, I felt that I was dreaming. In some ways, the lockdown was a blessing in disguise for me, as I would not have applied for the role if it was not for the pandemic disrupting my original plans.
• 
  2021-06-23

  (HIST30060) Going Bowling with Friends

  Despite the lockdowns, there were a few brief periods throughout the year where Victorians were able to safely venture beyond a five kilometre radius of our homes. On the day I finished my semester one exams, I met up with a group of friends and together went bowling at Melbourne Central. While I received a rather embarrassingly low score, we all hugely enjoyed the feeling of being able to meet up and have fun in person to celebrate the end of exams. None of us would expect another round of lockdowns only a few weeks later, and looking back, I certainly wish I was able to cherish that night more.
• 
  2020-03-23

  Introverts vs. Extroverts during Lock Down-A meme

  I am an extrovert. I get my energy from people. I love people. I surround myself with a lot of people. The three months leading up to the pandemic lock down I had been surrounded almost every day by almost 200 of my closest friends, people I call my family because we worked together on a theater production called Susanville Best of Broadway. When the pandemic hit, the show was cancelled and then even my work sent everyone home. I was home with my kids. And it was very quiet. We are a very active family involved in many local community projects. I have meetings every week and they have sports. All of sudden, we were home. And if I saw someone I knew while out in public (the grocery store) it was weird. I didn't know if I could hug them (I didn't) and would just awkwardly wave from a distance. It was terrible. In fact, my girls struggled and would still have friends over. I made them limit it to just one friend, but even then, we struggled. This meme really got to me. I remember hearing friends say how their life didn't change at all because they were already homebodies. The idea of being home was actually very stressful. I ended up working at my work, because being home all day to work was not very much fun. I learned a lot about myself during that time. Most importantly, I need people in my life.
• 2021-10-06

  A Slow Year

  The year of 2020, was slow, thought-provoking, frustrating, frightening and overall, quite overwhelming. The year began normally, with news of the Coronavirus across the world picking up steam. My family and friends were not concerned about immediately, it just seemed like another scary news story. It was not clear early on, that the world would come to a screeching halt. I often think about those last few weeks before everything changed. That would mark the last time I ate in a restaurant, saw a movie at the theater, enjoyed the unity and magic of a crowded concert, and I saw my friends. None of this was possible for almost an entire year and nothing could have prepared anyone for what this would feel like. Personally, I had been to Europe for the first time, the year prior, in 2019. This led me to have a unique outlook on the pandemic, and what it could mean for future travel. I could no longer pleasantly think about the crowded streets, museums and metros, without thinking about the germs. All of the sudden, I was acutely aware of germs, and the spread of them. I could not imagine being on a plane for an extended period of time or sitting that close to so many people. So much of the good feelings in life come from being with other people and experiencing how the world runs. It was honestly terrifying knowing that life was stopped and going to the grocery was now an operation of how not to catch this deadly virus. All plans of the future seemed ludicrous; how could we plan for anything? While the world is getting back to a place that looks familiar, its easy to forget just how scary it had gotten. Many people lost loved ones and were very ill themselves. People could not see their dying family members, for fear of dying themselves. People could not mourn probably, as funerals and usual death procedures were postponed. These are the affects of the pandemic that cannot ever feel normal again. We need to remember this time as a reflection of how lucky most of us are.
• 
  2021-10

  A fitness lovers life during a pandemic in the UK

  It describes how I struggled during the pandemic as I was not able to do what I love doing the most: training.
• 2020-03

  Unimaginable Grief

  [March 2020] A month in time no one would ever want to go back to. My friend and I were enjoying our day and suddenly got news that campus will be closed until further notice. It was a scary and confusing moment; before you knew it everyone was talking about the virus. We definitely underestimated the virus and saw it spread in the blink of an eye. Slowly but surely we all began to realize how serious this was and prayed day and night for it to end. Cities went on lockdown, thousands became unemployed, and families grieved the loss of loved ones suddenly taken by this evil virus. I am so fortunate enough to have my close family and friends here with me today, but that does not mean these last one and a half years did not take a toll on me mentally. We've lost many loving family friends whom we never expected to lose this early. One thing the pandemic, thankfully, taught me is to appreciate those who you love because you do not know when they can be taken away from you. As hard as this experience was, I am grateful for the ups and downs and pray for the beautiful souls lost. Rest In Peace <3
• 2020-03-20

  The blurry year

  I just started at Brooklyn College as a transfer student from Citytech. The semester was only like 5 weeks in when we started seeing reports of the Covid 19. Then the school closed for a day and we were told it only be for a short amount of time, we all know how that went. I haven't been on campus since that last day. There was so much unknown at the time with everything. How long we were going to be away from school, what was the deal with Covid 19, how dangerous was it, and how we were going to survive. At that point, everything closed, and the city was so quiet for the first time in my life. I came out a different person after the lockdown. It was a scary time for a lot of people. It felt like everyone was struggling with something. My biggest thing was just trying to make the best of the situation. and that's what I still do to this day.
• 
  2021-09-17

  The Census in Lockdown

  The Australian Census looked little different this year. Census employees in states and cities in lockdown had to conduct contactless follow up visits and were issued with ABS branded masks for the purpose.
• 2020-03

  Grandma and COVID-19

  During the height of the pandemic in 2020, my family and I were super concerned about keeping the older members of our family safe. Keeping our 80+ year-old grandma safe was a challenge since she was under the impression that she was tougher than the virus, a mindset that seems to be shared across a lot of the elderly community. We tried not to visit her during the first couple months of the lockdowns, but eventually we went over to her house with masks on and stayed 6 feet apart. The pandemic created a difficult dilemma in which people wanted to keep their older loved ones safe, so they stayed away, but at the same time, the elderly were incredibly lonely as they had relied on family visits for stimulation and company. Now my entire family is vaccinated, so we can safely visit our grandmother, but the fear still lingers.
• 
  2021-09-15

  COVID-19 Archive Project Interview

  [Curator's Note] Two persons interview each other about their experiences during the COVIS-19 pandemic. They both lived in different countries when the pandemic started, as one of them lives in Singapore and the other in India.
• 
  2021-09-21

  COVID19 Archive Project Interview

  We completed this interview for our History of Global Pandemics class, which we take at Northeastern University.
• 
  2021-09-09

  Lockdown Life with a Whippet

  Here in Victoria Australia, our pandemic experience has been easier than most. We live in a regional area and we have not had the angst of the long ongoing harsh lockdowns experienced by Metropolitan Melbourne . However going in and out of lockdown, hearing about growing exposure sites and increasing Delta virus numbers is disturbing and anxious making. The one constancy in our lockdown lives, is Pip the Whippet. Walking, sleeping, eating and loving is all she does. In lockdown her daily taste was to go into the local cafe and bring cheer to the Barista while my husband waited to pick up our takeaway coffees. Attached is a picture of Pip the Whippet waiting for our take away coffees. She has been a ray of sunshine in our lives at this point in time, and wearing her hound tee has brought a smile to all, as we progress through this, the strangest of times.
• 
  2021-09-20T19:35:00+00:00

  Faris Danan and Hridaya Patel COVID-19 Interview

  This object shares both of our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic
• 
  2020-04-09

  How fast things can change

  At the start of 2020, and even into the beginning of March, we had absolutely no idea what was lurking right around the corner. I recently got shown this video, and I thought it did a perfect job of capturing the suddenness of the pandemic. So much happened in only a matter of a few weeks; the shift in what life was and would be like in April compared to January was stark.
• 
  2020

  COVID-Safe Birthday Parties

  The attached collage of photos displays the COVID-19 birthday parties that have become so well-known in my family over the past year and a half. After a few birthdays were skipped over due to uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic, my family decided to do birthdays that would be distanced, outdoors, and masked. Unlike the passing of the months, which was meaningless when we were stuck indoors, the changing colors of the “Happy Birthday” sign added a sense of progress and individuality to each celebration. However, these photos, identical aside from the color scheme, are a reminder of the restrictions of the pandemic. While the decorations changed, the masks, socially distant tables, and disposable plates did not. Outdoor family gatherings at my house had once been a choice. However, during this pandemic, we did not have the option to eat indoors on a hot day or go to my uncle’s backyard where social distancing was more challenging. This collage of photos is relevant not just to illustrate ways in which our lives have changed during the pandemic, but also how we have adapted and maintained our values. These photos reflect what my life has centered around during the pandemic: attempting to engage in my normal activities in a safe manner. This is surely a sentiment that many can relate to. Thus, I feel that, in the future, these photos can demonstrate the adjustments that were made in order to maintain family values and a semblance of normal life.
• 
  2020-05

  Remembering NYC 2020

  These photographs taken from April-June 2020 capture New Yorkers interacting with the empty stress of the city during COVID-19. The first image displays an off duty fireman walking down vacant 5th Avenue, apparently in tribute. His body position highlights the stress, grief, determination, and exhaustion experienced by so many New York frontline workers. The next image was taken of the once bustling streets of SOHO. In this photograph, an older man appears exhilarated during a moment out of quarantine. Getting some fresh air, he turned up his car radio and bellowed out the lyrics of “New York, New York”, the anthem for New Yorkers. The third image captures young cyclists riding, practicing tricks, and laughing. The final snap is of two jazz musicians near the entrance to Central Park, a spot they often inhabited pre-pandemic. They played exactly as they once did, only masked this time. As a twenty year old who would normally be thrilled to spend the summer at home, surrounded by the lively energy of NYC, I was determined to find a way to interact with my city in a creative and safe way. After completing many projects from home (such as making filter masks for medical staff and collecting supplies for donation), I decided to use my knowledge of and passion for photography to capture fellow New Yorkers doing their part to help lower the spread of COVID and to find moments of camaraderie to fuel their, and others’, fight against this virus. In turn, the act of getting in my car and driving throughout the city, equipped with my Canon Rebel 55mm was my way of finding a measure of peace, purpose, joy, and meaning during the six long months in quarantine in New York City.
• 
  2020-03-01

  COVID through the eyes of others

  Going through the pandemic myself has had a lot of highs and lows. Despite having to be relatively locked down and isolated from most people until vaccinated, I was able to pick up a lot of hobbies and overall just learn a lot more about myself. As I look back, I can't help but think about how this experience has been different for others, with one of these groups being the elderly especially. There's one couple that is friends with my family who are both just over sixty years old and starting from March 2020 has been on complete lockdown. They order their groceries, don't see anyone outside their immediate family, and rarely leave the house. While COVID for me has its positives and negatives, I can't imagine how different the experience has been for them, both out of isolation and fear of getting sick. Thankfully, they have been vaccinated and have extended the bubble of people they see slightly. I just can't get over how while some who are skeptics of the pandemic run around carefree, others are locked away in their homes fearing for their health.
• 
  2021-01-19

  Meme about the Pandemic in Austria

  I saw this meme in January 2021. It was created by an Austrian online news platform called "k.at" and was posted on their Instagram channel. The first picture on the left shows a hamster who is hoarding (or rather "hamstering") toilet paper. This showcases a phenomenon which occurred in Austria as well as in Germany: some people bought as much toilet paper as they could in the beginning of the pandemic out of fear of a lockdown (also other things as e.g. noodles, rice etc.). The result was that most people couldn't buy any toilet paper because it was sold out at most places and the manufacturers of toilet paper couldn't keep up with the production. It was kind of absurd. The second picture on the right also shows a hamster who seems to have a great time skiing. This should represent the third Austrian lockdown. At this time (around January 2021) many Austrian tourists went skiing even though the numbers of Corona cases were rising. It was quite a controversy at the time because a lot of other activities (like social gatherings) were regulated by the state for health precautions, but the skiing resorts weren't affected (and the Corona cases were also rising in these places). A little sidenote: The Coronavirus allegedly came to Germany in 2020 because of German tourists who came back from said Austrian ski travels...
• 
  2021-02-01

  I got two Cats duing the Pandemic

  I've always wanted to get a cat. I've only had pets while living with my parents, at first I had a black cat and then a pug. After moving out from my parents' home, I dreamt of getting a cat again. But right after moving out (I was 18 years old at the time) I didn't have the time or the money for a pet. Fast-forward a couple of years later, when the pandemic hit us all: I've had so much time on my hands to think about life in general while staying at home. I realized that I was finally ready to get a pet (or, as it turned out, two pets). I had a lot of time to research how to properly prepare myself as a pet owner and how to appropriately take care of animals. And - as a lot of us during 2020 - I spent much more time at home than usual, which was perfect to welcome a pet to its new home. I was lucky and found two happy and healthy kittens. But sadly, during the pandemic, a kind of "black market" for pets developed in Berlin and other big cities. The market for pets was bigger than ever in Germany, and a lot of them were in bad conditions and/or sold at very high prices. Often times I saw people offering kittens and puppies, who were way too young to be separated from their mothers. It was really heartbreaking to see how bad the situation was. The only bright side was that all the animal shelters in Berlin had no problems to find pet owners for the dogs and cats there.
• 
  2020-04-16

  The Diary of a Broken High School Senior

  I was a member of the class of 2020 at what I believe is the most incredible school imaginable. Perhaps after thirteen years I am far from unbiased, but the sense of community offered by my beautiful, 1,200 student Pre-K through 12th grade school is unmatched. Now, envision a girl who walked this campus with her childhood best friends, siblings, and cousins, and, rather frequently, her mother who made an effort to lead the Parents Association countless years. Overlay a history of homesickness and a global pandemic, and the product is March 2020 me when this blissful chapter of my life was abruptly ripped away, propelling me prematurely towards college at a school I had already decided could never fill the shoes of my high school. This tear stained entry was written on April 16th, when my state governor officially shut down all schools for the remainder of the school year. I had spent the last four weeks with a countdown on my iPhone tracking the days until I could return to school. The countdown had to be adjusted at one point when “coronacation” was extended from one to three weeks. Yet I remained the voice of naive optimism, unwilling to entertain the unfortunate reality that everyone around me had already accepted. This may seem dramatic and theatrical. But this same optimist in me hopes that, should anyone stumble upon my story, they will “respect what [they] cannot know” (Saidiya Hartman). There is much more to this story and my history than could ever be relayed to another person. But with the right lens, great value can be extracted from every story, no matter how many dried tears dot its pages. Hartman, Saidiya. "Venus in Two Acts." Small Axe, vol. 12 no. 2, 2008, p. 1-14. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/241115.
• 
  2020-10-31

  Connecting through Climbing in the Pandemic

  Just prior to the pandemic, I got seriously into rock climbing. For me, not only it was a much more fun way to work out, but it is absolutely a social sport. Everyone at the climbing gym was and continues to be extremely friendly, and you can simply strike up a conversation with anyone by simply asking what routes they are working on so that you can help one another find the most efficient way to reach the top. As all the routes are graded, just watching yourself improve and working on harder routes is an amazing feeling. With the outbreak of the pandemic, however, the gym closed until September, and I felt like such an important piece of my life went missing. While it was hard losing an activity and social outlet like that, I like trying to find silver linings in the difficult times. Even though it took me a while to come to this conclusion, I realized that it took the pandemic and losing it to truly appreciate the people there and sport itself. Ironically, I can almost contribute the pandemic to my continued obsession with climbing, even if it did rip it away from me for a few months. Attached is a picture of the first event back at the climbing gym, which was a lights-out event for Halloween where you could only use headlamps to see where you were going.
• 2020-06

  Learning to Cook

  Before Covid-19, I only knew the basics of cooking, and for the most part, I stayed away from the kitchen. However, once the lockdowns began, I started to force myself to cook more. I tried to learn new recipes (which my sister usually taught me) and gradually I began to improve my abilities. One of my favorite foods to make now (which I learned in the summer of 2020) was Chicken Tikka Masala.
• 
  2020-06

  Pandemic Gardening

  While there were a lot of terrible things that happened as a result of Covid-19, I feel that one positive was humanity's return to nature. With so many places closed down, people were forced to go outside and enjoy forests, beaches, yards, etc. I was one of these people, and I discovered a talent for gardening. I enjoyed gardening before Covid-19, but the hobby really took off during the 2020 lockdowns. I grew potatoes, onions, flowers, herbs- anything that could be planted, I planted!
• 
  2020-03-13

  Madison Orpheum Theater Covid sign

  In March 2020 Wisconsin had a state-mandated two-week lockdown. So, I went out with a camera (with a zoom lens that wasn't needed) and took pictures of the closed signs on businesses and of how desolate Madison was.
• 2020-04-01

  Finishing my Undergraduate Degree during the Pandemic

  I was starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree when the pandemic hit the globe. At this time (around March 2020) I was planing to work on my senior honors thesis and happy to start my master's degree in October 2020. But in order to finish my thesis, I had to do some intensive research first: my plan was to visit a big German archive in Berlin and also to do some research in a couple of libraries. But just before I could do so, all German institutions went into lockdown and closed for months due to health precautions. As somebody who studied History and had to visit an archive for my thesis, I felt like I was totally stuck in my academic studies. I felt like it was impossible to finish my studies in the scheduled time, and for months I didn't know how to continue my academic work. Luckily, my university was considerate enough to extend the submission date for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knowing if I could start my master's degree in time (and in general not knowing how my academic and financial future would look like if I didn't finish my undergraduate degree in time) the archives and libraries opened up again, and I could continue my research and finish my thesis.
• 
  2020-09-24

  The Mask

  I wrote this poem during my senior year shortly after Providence College began its campus lockdown in September of 2020 in response to a major spike in COVID-19 cases. Unable to leave my apartment on campus for days at a time except to go for a walk by myself around campus, I felt the weight of the emotional impacts of the pandemic. I wrote the poem from a place of hurt and concern that my fellow students could not abide by guidelines to keep the campus community and the surrounding community safe. Masks were simultaneously hiding our fears while also being a constant reminder of them. I published this poem in the Portfolio section of The Cowl, Providence College's student-run newspaper. It appeared in the October 1, 2020 issue.
• 2020-05

  Waiting to be Connected

  I moved out of New York City for a month in the spring of 2020 during the period where my gallery furloughed most employees aside from the principal directors and a select number of sales people. I spent that time with my father in upstate New York in a close quarters quarantine. I was always struck by the quiet during the day and how visible and bright the stars were at night. Two things that seemed foreign to me at times as I grew up in cities and had lived in various Brooklyn neighborhoods for the past year. The passing sound of car stereos and people’s voices on fire escapes from a floor above were white noise. All vibrant - completely alive - no stars. His apartment was a studio and at the time he had not yet begun paying for internet service. Some nights we would drive four or so minutes down the road to the apartment complex where my Dad used to live a few years prior. We would camp outside the complex’s gym which housed one or two treadmills and the outside looked like a glorified garage - but it had wifi. As we were no longer residents and owners of a key pass to the facility, my Dad would pull up to the side entrance and put on his hazards. I would jump out and begin to search for a signal and attempt to connect to the complimentary internet. Whenever a stray person would emerge from their units to retrieve Amazon packages from their front stoop, I would make uncomfortable eye contact with them, as I held up my phone. Yes, yes, this is what you think it is. They hastened back up and quickly closed their door behind them. I found that the most expedient way of downloading content was to position myself by the exterior front left corner and stand with my back flush against the wall. Every night my Dad and I listened to podcasts and drank tea. Despite everything, moments like these helped us laugh and I look back at this memory fondly.
• 2021-09-08

  Relative Distance

  A couple of weeks before lockdown began in March of 2020 I had reconnected with someone I met in college years prior. We went on a few dates before I left to study abroad and nothing developed further, but we had struck up a conversation over text and had made plans to meet in Boston the weekend that New York City declared a state of emergency. Needless to say, we never met for drinks that weekend, yet we talked every day without fail for the rest of 2020. Our initial conversations typically revolved around the different developments of the pandemic but we started to get to know each other as text conversations became phone calls then video calls. Our connection grew as a reaction to the large amount of time we suddenly had and by a new reality where distance meant something very different than before. Although I had not seen him in person for almost 2 years, he was there for me in the only feasible way a person could be during that time. He was there through personal tragedies or minor irritations in an evolving and confused stretch of months. Sometimes we did not have much to say at all - I deferred to topics like what I cooked for dinner or we compared notes on the new show that we had just watched. I called him first when my pandemic furlough turned into a lost job. I called him first when l was chosen for my Executive Assistant position many months and numerous applications later. He texted me on my first day of remote work to wish me luck and he consoled me over video chat through my tears of frustration and defeat as I navigated the new reality of learning a remote position in the typically highly visual and highly performative art world to which I was accustomed. On one of these calls he told me that he had to go back home to Italy. There were many more months of having a friendship and possibly relationship in a state of limbo with this person who now knew me better than most. We had become close through untraditional means; it felt strange at times but then again so did everything else. He came back to the United States in January of 2021 and we have been dating ever since. Connection to others took on a new meaning during that year. How we interacted and who we kept in contact with changed. Speaking with him was something I looked forward to and it gave me a sense of routine. More importantly, our conversations provided a dose of levity and joy to each day throughout a very tumultuous year.
• 
  2020-09-16

  Sarah's kite

  When things started to slowly open up after Melbourne's stage 4 lockdown we started to have a few more options for meeting outside. I wasn't able to see anyone during the hard 6 week lockdown as I didn't have any friends within my 5km radius whom I could meet with and get home again within an hour. When these restrictions eased a little I was able to meet my friend Sarah at the beach. She had bought a kite during lockdown because she was bored and had always wanted to try flying a kite. She even wrote in to the ABC Live Blog to ask if flying a kite was acceptable as outdoor exercise. This is her with her kite.
• 
  2020-08-24

  Aerobics Oz Style

  During Melbourne stage 4 lockdown we were limited to only 1 hour of exercise outdoors each day. I usually do significantly more than this so was looking for activities to do in my very small apartment. Channel 10 released via their app a whole bunch of old Aerobics Oz Style videos from the 90s so I started doing those. This is a picture of Anton, who I remembered from watching the program occasionally as a child.
• 2021-08-04

  Covid Loop

  March of 2020 started like every other March in my life. I was at school worried about my grades, and getting ready for football in the fall. The last day before spring break would be the last time I would enter a classroom for about 5 months. After the shock of realizing the school is closed for the rest of the school year came the simple-minded exciment of a teen with too much time on their hands. The exciment quickly turnt to boredom. The days dragged on, they blurred together so much it was hard to keep track of the day of the week. The fear of catching and spreading a unknown sickness kept me at home. Once the sickness entered my home I was bound to my room like a prisoner in a cell. In my room I'd wake up, grab a granola bar, play video games, grab something for lunch, play video games, and flop back into bed once I was exhausted enough to sleep. Time had no meaning, I went to bed when I was tired, and played video games while I was awake. All the vidoe games kept me engaged and gave the days some meaning. After months stuck in this loop, I was finally able to go out and see other people. School started again shorly after, which is a whole other story.
• 
  2020-12-01

  St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne newsletter 2020 review issue focussed on the response to the year's two COVID waves

  The stories illustrate both swift adaptation of clinical practice (e.g. in the shift to telehealth consultations), the enormous efforts put in, and the outpouring of community support which helped sustain patients and staff in the difficult conditions of lockdown.
• 
  2021-07-25

  Lauren Pease, Oral History, July 25, 2021

  Ashley Tibollo interviewed stay-at-home mom, Lauren Pease about her experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. In this interview, they discuss her experience with the lockdown, her worries about the pandemic, and what life was like during lockdown with her foster child. This interview also touches on political protests, virtual learning and her husband's transition to working from home.
• 
  2021-07-23

  Lockdown in Southern Arizona

  The nature of the lockdown experience varies according to many factors, including geographical location. In talking with friends and families in other parts of the country and the world, I’ve learned that going through lockdown in southern Arizona is different than going through lockdown in other places due to our unique climate. When we were first sent home in March 2020, I was thrilled because the spring in the desert is beautiful; during previous years, I was stuck in an office building. Now I could work outside! How great! This feeling of elation gradually changed to one of dread as the long Arizona summer came into being. In southern Arizona, we’re used to being in lockdown to a degree. When the temperatures are 100+ degrees outside during our long summer, many of us hibernate inside our houses. However, we do leave the house in the morning to go to work and are able to work in an air-conditioned building during the day, which mitigate some of the difficulties. Not so during the lockdown. I was basically chained to my house, a situation that was extremely difficult and detrimental to my mental health. I wasn’t going to the office, I couldn’t walk around the block, I couldn’t have an outside party with friends or neighbors. Cabin fever definitely set in. In addition, my internet access was disrupted by the heat and/or the torrential monsoon rains, which left me even more isolated. The spring, fall, and winter lockdown in southern Arizona were fabulous in that I was able to enjoy the outdoors more than when I was in the office; the summer lockdown (almost half the year) was a harsh lockdown.
• 
  2021-07-14

  US Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 in Pandemic Last Year

  Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase. "This is a staggering loss of human life," said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends. The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly "COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis," he added. Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.
• 
  2021-07-07

  Two Weeks

  "See y'all in two weeks!" we joked as my cousins left my house after a long game of Monopoly. There was talk in the news about some new virus and having to be on lockdown for two weeks. This was all still so new and unbelievable, literally. We never thought a quarantine would happen, especially since being isolated for two weeks felt like an eternity. A few days later when we realized we were going to be separated for two weeks, we could not imagine how we were going to get through these two weeks without seeing each other. Two weeks, that is it. Looking back, that sounds like nothing. Two weeks turned to three, weeks turned to months, and months turned into over a year. During this time, the things I missed the most were the little things. I missed watching my little cousin do cartwheels in our backyard. I missed hearing my older cousin's deep laugh as she tried to teach me how to dance. I missed stressing out over getting ready to go out. I missed arguing over the rules of Monopoly with my cousins. Fast forward 15 months, we are all vaccinated, and hopefully will return to rejoicing over a game of Monopoly soon.
• 
  2020-05-25

  First Hug in Months

  My family and I have always been really close, meeting for family days as often as we can. Family gatherings will begin and end with hugs. When the pandemic started, we ensured that we isolated from everyone, even each other, as we all live in separate households and my father and sister have autoimmune diseases, and I have asthma and two heart conditions. Basically, Covid-19 was dangerous for all of us and we were afraid not only to contract it, but even more so to possibly give it to each other. While we would talk over Google Duo and Zoom, it honestly was not the same as getting to interact in person. There is huge importance and one could even say power in human contact, in human touch. It can be something that inflicts pain or reassurance. In this case, I lost the reassurance of hugs and seeing my family in person. The first time I hugged my older sister after lockdown started was about three months after lockdown began. We had both been isolated for weeks without symptoms and without having gone anywhere, and we had both tested negative for it. It had been the longest time I have gone without hugging her. I cried.
• 
  2020-03-30

  The Real CovidBusters

  This is a drawing that I created in Mar 2020 after I had been let go from a 14 year factory job. In 2020 I created a series of drawings to get through the loneliness of the lockdowns. Now in 2021 I am going to school to become a PSW, which is a hospital worker who helps clients with things like bathing ,and dressing etc... hopefully I can make a difference in the future.
• 
  2020-09-01

  COVID - In The "Eyes" of March

  Well, say hello to my first official entry into my Coronavirus Notebook! Today I’m doing pretty good. I have been very excited to be back in school, and I can’t wait to log some of my daily activities in this notebook throughout the school year. It seems so foreign returning to a classroom environment since, because of lockdowns and other COVID-19 effected incidents, we have done online school for the last quarter of the semester. As of now, I’m almost halfway through my school day, which is good. In class today, I have worked on making my class playlist. I think it was a great idea to introduce music to the classroom, and it's something no other teachers have done before, at least in my experience. After school today, I am going to a football workout with a bunch of my other classmates at Avenger Field in Audubon Park. I’m glad that we’re starting up a new activity, since our school said we were not allowed to play contact football this year, which I understand, but I’ll definitely miss it. It has been a crazy summer and starting school is awesome and I’m grateful to be back in-person learning. Things like wearing masks are totally new and seeing friends in school and not just at the park is odd. I also, of course, have a lot less free time to myself, since I actually have to wake up for school and not just sit around all day. I am very excited for this month and what we will do in history. It is also the start of a brand new month, which I hope brings better fortune than the last. I’m excited for this year while also nervous, and I can’t wait to see how and if we survive our first ever COVID year!
• 
  2021-05-01

  INDIA DYING

  This is a breakdown of facts and my opinions on the India Coronavirus situation.
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  2021-05-17

  Stockdale Paradox: Ten Lessons to deal with COVID-19 Pandemic

  The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed global havoc and has already resulted in millions of deaths. To deal with difficult scenario created by the pandemic, in this paper, inspiration is taken from “Stockdale Paradox” to derive ten lessons. These lessons are precious in the current scenario and discuss in detail the various issues and challenges with solutions. The lessons are useful for anyone in successfully dealing with brutal facts of pandemic and overcome the odds
• 
  2021-05-05

  Covid-19 Lockdown

  I decided to put together a collage of some of the paintings/drawings I have made since Covid-19 started. Most of these were from when the pandemic first started which was when we could not leave the house at all. Under the collage I added a little comment describing the word lockdown and what it meant to me. My artwork does not specifically show things like wearing masks, the number of cases we had, or schools shutting down but the artwork signifies the thing that kept me sane while the lockdown was happening and while doing remote learning I explained in my source that the artwork was basically my escape from the real word and the horrible pandemic we were experiencing. I chose to represent my experience in this way because the lockdown, not being able to see friends and families was a huge effect from Covid-19 and it was also one of the hardest things for many people to do.
• 
  2020-06-08

  A Balancing Act on Fire

  Although the meme is meant to be comedic, I feel that it reflects the reality of the stressors many people faced during the pandemic. To begin, the anxiety that the coronavirus disease brought into the public severely affected the mental health of many individuals across the globe. During the mandated lockdowns, I , like many others around me, began experiencing a decline in my happy hormones. At the time the pandemic restrictions were being put into place, I was living on campus with three other roommates. With the fear of spreading the disease unintentionally, the three moved out of the dorm right away and I was left to be on my own due to personal housing issues taking place at the time. The lack of interaction with anyone took a toll on my mental health. I missed my friends and my mom, I just wanted to be around someone, but we could only have visitors if they were helping us move out. On top of personal mental health struggles, events taking place across the country were also scarring. Protests in response to racial injustice under an administration that made it hard to feel safe unless you were a white male in America only added to the helpless state of being. Watching cases upon cases of unjustifiable abuse made the environment only more threatening than it initially seemed when the pandemic was first reported. The election of November 2020 was suspenseful in terms of who would be elected could potentially determine vital living situations for people all across the United States, whether it be immigrant status, being a person of color, or not being able to afford paying for housing in general. Financial troubles took over the country and the stimulus checks were not enough to cover housing, food, home essentials, especially when some dependents and entire families were not able to receive help because of their citizenship or dependent status. Many tried to turn towards their faith, the keyword being “tried.” Although not all religions focus on gatherings or physical objects, many people were unable to get access to these common preferred forms of practice and felt that virtual gatherings seemed ingenuine or illegitimate. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had many more severe effects on a global scale in all aspects of life. From concerns of the health of others, oneself, finances, practice of faith, and fear of safety in your own home, the negative effects are consistent as it seems that everything continues to pose a threat to daily living. I hope that everything eventually falls back into place and that justice is put in place so that people do not have to fear their own existence.
• 
  2020-06-29

  The Unpredictable Horrors of Pandemic

  The unpredictable horrors of pandemic “Corona Virus” the most lethal being on the earth that swept a mass population since its spread in December 2019. The Corona Virus had already started its attack and only a few cases had been reported in Wuhan, China until 2020, where it spread like a wildfire taking down millions of people. I belong to Nepal which is a neighboring country to China, so it surely was at higher risk which led to a countrywide lockdown in March 2020. It was then, people started to realize the seriousness of the situation. I would like to share my part of the pandemic experience in the first person “We” because I believe in this time I was with my family and we went through this experience- some bitter and some sweet but we were always together as a single unit. When the lockdown was imposed in Nepal, people were not aware of why it was being done. Why a mere viral disease was threatening nations? People took it as an excuse to vacation from work and school. We were told to stay inside the house, wear a mask and avoid gatherings by the national authorities. We could only go out for buying essentials (food, medicine) in the evening between 6-7 PM. Other times we were enjoying with our family because it is very rare to have this much free time in this busy life. We would cook new dishes, we also started gardening, growing vegetables in our backyard, and sometimes there was even “Movie Time” with the family. So, for the first few weeks, this lockdown was a perfect family time. Then the economy slowly started to tremble. People were left jobless, savings started to dry out. We were getting conscious and calculative on the grocery shopping. We own a garment factory (textiles and embroidery) so with no shops open during the time, we were also struggling with the money. My sister was currently stuck in Bangladesh because she had gone there for her educational studies and was stuck since both the countries were on lockdown. She finally arrived back home in June 2020 in an evacuation flight. She was then on self-isolation for 14 days. In these days of self-isolation, she showed no signs of COVID. Finally, on her last day of isolation, she went for a test and the horrors began. The reports came POSITIVE. This came as a shock to all of us because she had followed all the health protocols both in Bangladesh, during the flight, and after arriving in Nepal. We all were in disbelief and were taken aback. Unfortunately, the same day when the reports came out, there a news report regarding the lab where the reports were tested had cross-contamination, leading to inaccurate results in the hospital that day (the same day as my sister was tested). All of the samples were tested positive. Health authorities had to investigate that matter. But since she had no symptoms whatsoever, we wanted to re-check. Before we could even go to the other hospital, the members from the localities hurdled outside our house. They had been informed that an infected person was there in the area. My mom and dad went out to calm the crowd, trying to convince us that the results were doubtful and we were going for a re-check. The crowd was more like an angry mob and was dismissing all our claims, maybe also because this was the first case in our locality. They didn’t want to hear what we had to say. They forcefully started sealing the gates and the areas of our house, ordering all our neighbors to stay away from the area. They were told not to cross the gate and come in contact with us. Since the coronavirus is truly a big deal, though we had some doubts, we accepted that all our family members should go into isolation. But this was easier said than done. For those 14 days, we had no one around us to help. We couldn’t go out to get groceries or even other essentials. Our neighbors were threatened by the local authorities to not help us. They couldn’t send us the groceries or anything else. We were cast away from the whole society around that time. Luckily, we had an aunt living nearby. She used to leave us grocery items in our backdoors before the sunrise…. before anyone could even see. And we would run outside abiding by proper protocols, get those items and be back inside, panting, hoping no one saw us. At that time we had no money, limited food supply, and many mouths to feed. It was like we were living in an apocalyptic world. Baseless rumors had started to spread around the society stating we were seen partying and having gatherings a few days back. People would ring us up just to blame us as if we were the rotten ones. The most heartbreaking incident was when we were called by the local authority asking us to not come out on the balcony because according to them, somehow, we were exposing the virus in our area. Those 2 weeks became hell for our family. Finally, on the 14th day, all the members of our family members took a PCR test, and luckily, we were all tested negative. So in simple terms, we had recovered BUT society still didn’t accept us. Whenever we used to go to the shop, we were stared at and could hear whispers behind our back. People used to stay away from us and we were regarded (sort of) untouchables even after we had medical reports to prove them otherwise. Then a month later, even my maternal grandmother was infected with the virus. We could not go visit her as the hospital didn’t permit and she was under strict surveillance. She soon developed pneumonia as a complication of the COVID attack. Almost half of her lungs had been severely damaged and on 29th November 2020 she passed away. This pandemic left a great impact on us. We suffered great loss both emotionally and financially. From sneaking in groceries like smugglers to bidding goodbye to someone who loved us the most, it will always be an inerasable memory for us. Even as I write my experience, my words are not enough to emphasize the pain this pandemic has caused. But all I can say is we fought this as a FAMILY. One for All and All for One.
• 
  2020-04-05

  covid and me

  Last year when things got closed in California I got pulled over because i was past a curfew that they set. It was really dumb since I was on my way home anyway. Closing off the roads for a virus is not the way to do it. He let me go with a warning but the whole situation was not needed. I was not speeding or driving bad either. A huge waste of time but other then that nothing abnormal happened to me during covid. Its been super boring but we all have to do our part and keep people safe. After I went home I told my parents about it and they just told me to not drive so lae. In conclusion I learned to not break covid rules since those are the ones the government actually cares about