Items

• 
  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.
• 2021-07-06

  The Year the World Turned Upside Down

  In the year of COVID-19, I did not want to leave my house. I was already an anxious person before COVID-19, so I was scared out of my mind when it hit. A lot of people do not talk about the mental effect that COVID-19 has had on teenagers. COVID-19 happened at the end of my sophomore year. Before COVID-19, I was such an outgoing person, and now I feel like I do not know how to talk to people without overthinking. My junior year of doing mostly virtual has crippled me in a way that few can understand. My social battery has never seemed to recover, and my anxiety is always on ten whenever I go out in public. It feels like during this pandemic, I have lost a part of me that I may never get back. I now struggle with talking to people and making friends at my new school. I was so stuck in my head during the pandemic, and now I do not know how to get out. I recognize my privilege in never getting COVID-19 and no one close to me dying. I just wanted to acknowledge the effects of COVID-19 on my mental health. I hope that I can work through the issues this pandemic has caused me and get to a better place mentally.
• 2021-06-19

  Pet Adoption Comic NPR

  This comic is fun, engaging, and informative. It talks about the increase in pet adoption during the pandemic and how pets helped a lot of people deal with emotional trauma. It cautions would-be pet owners not to jump blindly into adopting and to think about what will happen when life returns to normal. Separation anxiety can be difficult for pets to deal with, and owners need to have a plan for that.
• 
  2021-06-13

  COVID and My Mental State

  I've never really felt like this before COVID, maybe at times but not as frequent. COVID has been a whole different experiences for me in many ways. I've never really felt so helpless even until now. Having nothing to do or being stuck at home, it took a toll on me. Many of the things I had a passion for or loved doing has made me lose motivation. I have been also slacking on my studies. COVID has also made me realized that I have no friends or personal relations outside of my family. Not going outside as also made me get terrible anxiety and talking to people has been difficult. But I have been working on it as of recently and working on myself little by little every day.
• 2020-06-29

  What should the school year of 2020-2021 mean for Cal High’s students?

  This is a set of three articles from The Californian, the student newspaper of California High School, each one arguing in favor of a different stance regarding the reopening of San Ramon Valley Unified School District schools. In the articles one can see the concerns that motivated high school students (well, three students in one high school) to form opinions about various forms of learning during the pandemic. One article argues for fulltime in-person learning, one article argues for completely remote learning, and the third argues for hybrid learning, a mix of the two. An illustration also accompanies the set of articles.
• 2021-06-02

  'A Journal of the Plague Year' relevant 300 years after publication

  During the pandemic, I took a graduate history course in which we read Daniel Defoe's 'A Journal of a Plague Year.' I had read the piece about 5 years before, but I missed so many of its nuances because it all seemed so foreign. It was striking to me both how much and how little has changed from 1665 to 2020/21. Quarantine, death tolls, travel bans, hoarding had all suddenly become commonplace occurrences that I could relate to. The centuries may have changed our technology drastically, but nothing seems to have changed about the human condition nor the human spirit.
• 2021-05-28

  How COVID Impacted Me

  One of the various impacts that personally affected me negatively during the pandemic are: My social skills, energy levels, productivity, etc. My Personal Experience is from my friends in which I interviewed my friend Joseph, Joseph said, “ COVID impacted me in ways I didn’t expect like my social skills. Although it did, I found ways to hang out with my friends, and now, I attend in-person classes.” It shows that the pandemic has done more harm than just what people think it has caused. Many people have suffered differently like problems with mental health, poverty, or deaths.I chose this topic because I’ve seen first-hand how the pandemic has affected others and myself included.
• 
  2021-05-25

  Digitally Trapped

  I am a victim of online pedophilia. My experience discusses how that has effected the switch to online shool.
• 
  2021-03-12

  Life in a Needle

  Throughout medical history vaccinations have been imperative in order to fight diseases and viruses. As a child these vaccinations start at two months and tend to continue through our lives. Most vaccines are mandatory but there are some that are voluntary which leaves us contemplating our decision. The contemplation on getting a vaccine is why I chose a picture of my COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card to be submitted as my primary source. When COVID first hit the United States, we weren’t really prepared for the devastation that it brought right along with it. When I first heard about COVID it still hadn’t reached the United States and that was around January but then around March New York started going into lockdown. The lockdown period was pretty difficult to deal with as the way of life completely changed. Mentally, emotionally and physically it took a toll on me. As a person that was barely at home because of school and work the lock down caused great anxiety. From the moment the world heard about the first case it went into creating a vaccine that could prevent the number of cases of deaths and hospitalizations from increasing. As pharmaceutical companies started the research to create a vaccine, I was pretty skeptical about it. I was refusing to get the vaccine if they succeeded in creating it because there was just so much doubt going through my head. I was unsure what the vaccine contained and if it would work in the prevention of catching COVID. But long behold a vaccine was created but of course there were so many side effects that came with the shot. With everything that was going wrong with the vaccine during the experimentation period it just strengthened my decision to decline the shot. My views started to change once I started to hear that many people weren’t getting any symptoms from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. These vaccines required the person to receive two doses in order to be “immune” to COVID. Another reason that caused me to change my views on receiving the shot was the fact that I wanted to travel, and the government was requiring a vaccination passport in order to do so. The first dose of vaccines was only available to the elderly and to the healthcare workers who were risking their lives coming into contact with COVID patients. Then they started extending the qualifications needed for someone to receive the shot which included: preexisting conditions, obesity, high risk conditions, and many other qualifications. These are just of the few qualifications that was asked for in order for someone to be eligible to receive a vaccination. Because I have a preexisting condition, I was eligible to receive the COVID 19 vaccine. It was pretty difficult trying to get an appointment due to the high volume of people who wanted to receive the shot. After multiple attempts in trying to secure my appointment, I succeed with Walmart. I received my first Moderna vaccination on March 12, 2021 and my second vaccination on April 23, 2021. I was content on receiving the Moderna vaccine because it wasn’t recalled for causing health problems like the rest of the vaccinations from other pharmaceutical companies were causing. After a few hours of receiving my first shot I started to feel dizzy and very lightheaded to the point that I couldn’t drive at work. With the second shot my symptoms were: dizziness, fever, body aches, chills, change of smell and taste and nausea. The second shot was stronger than the first one but I’m glad that those were the only symptoms I experienced. But the one thing that both shots had in common after receiving them was the soreness of the arm for multiple days. Now that is has been almost a month that I received my second shot almost all the symptoms have vanished except for my change of smell and taste. Because the shot as altered my sense of smell and taste it has made it unbearable for me to smell or eat meat but I’m hoping that it will subside soon. The decision on receiving the COVID 19 vaccine is a daunting one to make as there can be many factors that can influence you. I received the vaccine as a precaution to myself and others. I also took it in order to travel and not worry about being prevented from boarding a flight because I can’t provide proof of the vaccination record card. I think this new vaccine is going to be a lot like the Flu shot as it comes in seasons and its up to the person to decide whether or not they’re going to get it. I’m just happy that the government hasn’t made it mandatory because there is still a lot of people who are pretty skeptical about it. The decision of our life is in a needle.
• 
  2020-05-07

  A College Student During The Pandemic

  For my primary source, I selected an essay that was written by me my first semester in my Psychology class. I don’t exactly know the date it was made or submitted, there were question we were supposed to respond in our own way but it’s not able to be provided anymore. But we wrote it as a final in order to express the way we felt during the pandemic, also to see how our mental and our physical changes during this rough time. My professor which was called Dr. Marjorie wanted to know everyone’s story in our own words and the different perspectives that came from the students, which she enjoyed doing. I lived in New York the area of the country hardest hit by the first wave of the pandemic. I was afraid when the outbreak got worse day by day, watching how this changed every human being because no one was prepared for all this chaos that was happening. I didn’t know on March 10 that this outbreak was on campus which is why we couldn’t come back until further notice to protect us from contracting COVID. Seeing the news and watching the death tolls go up by the hour of the amount of people dying in the hospitals and others contracting the virus was horrifying and sad to watch. That’s all they gave on the news which made me paranoid and decided to stop watching it during the entire quarantine. The way I saw how the streets were empty, New York wasn’t the same anymore it looked very dull and sad as if it was the end of the world not seeing anyone outside walking or any cars either. Everything was limited especially in the supermarkets having a limit capacity of people in it, the long lines were unbearable. Not being able to go out being of how paranoid I was being around people, I lasted about 1 month and 3 days home without going out only when it was necessary to go out. I selected this important source because I want historians of the future to understand my situation as a college student living through this pandemic. Having to go from classes in person to virtual classes in a snap of a finger that’s when my frustration started, not being able to understand anything without seeing the professor to explain it to me. I had to do everything on my own without anyone’s help. Stressing me out completely, which caused drastic changes to me during quarantine. My appetite wasn’t at its best having to do so much work at a time with all my classes especially being a full time student wasn’t easy for me because I never took breaks only when I was called to eat. My body started to fail on me feeling weak, tired, and constant headaches. That’s when it all went downhill my anxiety started to crawl up on me, I didn’t know how to control it anymore because coping with it was difficult having all of these constant breakdowns, feeling tight to the chest and shaking as if I was nervous. I’ll have all that through the stress and overthinking it caused because I didn’t want to feel like a failure. Putting pressure on myself caused lots of harm which had consequences to it later on. Then I started to lose weight, not being able to wake up the same anymore as if I had no energy to do anything throughout the day. I was afraid of having a panic/anxiety attack which were the worse. I endured depression along the way as well, I started to get sick out of nowhere without having anything. The pandemic really messed me up mentally.
• 2020

  The Covid Crisis

  May 4, 2021 The COVID-19 Crisis & Me In the year of 2020, so may things were looking up. I was acing all my classes; my GPA was great & the beginning of the year looked promising. My significant other and I had made plans to search for our home, while I acquired a part time job and attended school at the same time. This time around, it all felt as if 2020 was going to be our year. We kick started the year with rejoining the gym after two years out of it & we laid out the blueprint of how we were going to tackle our next phase. In March of 2020, while in class, students talked about Covid and the rumors they had heard about it. At this time, I had seen a few videos circulating the web showing how bad it was. In these videos, I saw people coughing up blood and passing out in the train station, & later being declared dead. Were these videos real? Well, today I can say no, but at the time, I had an overwhelming feeling of fear hoover over me. A week or two into March, New York had declared a “soft” State of Emergency. (14 days to slow the curve) Businesses were forced to close until further notice. Then Governor (Cuomo) had issued a statement demanding people to stay home and only come out when it was necessary. At this point, I’m thinking “well if we stay home, wouldn’t that be a win-win?” It all sounded like a dream. Spring was around the corner, I have a small back yard where I could soak in some vitamin D, if I wanted to & my fridge was STACKED with all types of snacks & food. And if I wanted to, it was easy enough to order EVERYTHING I wanted from Amazon, with the touch of a button. I could just continue my studies in the comfort of my own home and only go out when I had to. “Not a bad deal” was my mindset. My significant other and I spent so much time together, no more late nights getting stuck at work, we cooked early, got ready for the night, and binged watched all our favorite shows on Netflix. My first source is my brother at work. He’s a Rad Tech and had to leave his post to work at a hospital overflowing with Covid patients. My second source is a mental health chart that I had searched to help me out during those dark times in quarantine. These kinds of charts were spread all over social media. A few months in (July) and the hype of binge-watching shows died down. Eating the same food repeatedly was taking a toll on me. Unable to see my family on a weekly basis & the freedom to attend church started to take a toll on me; mentally & spiritually. I felt myself fighting off all sorts of temptations, like overeating, laziness, and procrastination. I felt myself not being as ambitious in school, my grades began to slip. I found myself in a dark place, unable to keep from crying or worrying. I just wanted my father’s warm hug, I wanted to see my mother and taste her amazing home food, feel the joy of being surrounded by my brothers & sisters in church, but all of it felt so far away. I felt drained, I started shedding weight and even had episodes where I cried myself to sleep. Fast forward to today, I’m healthy, haven’t really had a scare with Covid nor have I lost anyone due to the complications of Covid, but its safe to say that as a species, we’re better off being active. I will no longer take ‘being outside of my home’ for granted. I’ve recently rejoined the gym & we’re picking up where I left off.
• 
  2021-05-24

  Surviving 2020

  The beginning of 2020 was as any other year with dancing and drinking to wash away the old with the expectations for another beginning. Much to our dismay that we would be carrying on a bad dream simultaneously. A year unafraid, no bias, everything began in Spring with the information on an incredible mutated infection, which caused a lot of causalities, and an uprising dread that detained us in our homes. Startlingly, exactly when I figured things couldn't deteriorate, 2020 threw an inconvenient passing which spiraled into an overall dissent. Holding back to have this nightmare that felt like a dream to be finished, I figured out how to value the smallest things around me.
• 
  2021-04-28

  Allison Oskar Oral History 2021/04/28

  This oral history focused on how smaller communities tackled the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview discusses how hospitals tackled the pandemic, and it goes into depth about what it was like to work for a hospital during this time. Also discussed were the ways in which the pandemic affected mental health and how it proved to be beneficial in some ways. There was a large focus on the ways in which COVID-19 affected the 'work life' balance of the interviewee.
• 
  2021-04-24

  Quarantine expiriences

  For the last three or so years I have been deeply interested in photography. I enjoy photographing people and cars, though during the pandemic I have had less of a chance to go out and photograph people, that’s why I thought this would be a good chance for me to get back into the hobby and share some shots I had already captured during the pandemic. These photos have meaning behind them that remind me of all the parts of my life over the last year. A primary source is any document about a subject that was created by someone who was at the event or took part in whatever the subject is. The portfolio that I created is a primary source as it documents the first hand experiences I had while in the pandemic. It has the highs and the lows, and shows an account of one person's life in the United States of America during Covid-19. My experiences in the Pandemic were very mixed. Some parts stayed the same, some better, and some worse. Before Covid I had a small group of friends that I hung out with and when all the stay at home orders began I was able to still see them sometimes, and I never went out much so I had a very similar routine. Though one thing that I lost was car meets and races. Not only did mask ordinances make meets harder to plan but Eau Claire also began cracking down on car meets more and more. It was really tough missing out on the fun cameroudery of car meets. I work at a car audio shop and one great positive of the pandemic is that because of relief checks the shop has been constantly booked for the last 6-8 months. Another positive has been going on late night adventures with my friends. We are constantly repairing something or upgrading our cars and so when we get done it is usually late and in the last year we have begun to do fun things late at night when we get done with the daily project. The first photographs I chose was a representation of the many small businesses in the area that have been closed due to rough times during the pandemic. Many great local businesses have struggled to stay open or failed even failed to do so. The photo was taken at a storage facility for signs of businesses that have closed down in the last year or two. The photographs of cars are meant to represent the many new late night adventures that me and my friends have had during the pandemic. These trips were one of the main things that helped me cope with the pandemic and hold on to normal life just a little bit. The photo of the room is of my childhood room at my parents house. During this fall at UWEC I got a call from the school informing me I had possibly come into contact with someone and I had to quarantine for two weeks. At this same time my father contracted COVID and this meant that I was confined to this one room for my two weeks of waiting. The room became my very own jail cell, after just a few days and it was very difficult for me to pay attention in school during my quarantine. It was one of the roughest my mental health has been in my life
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-03-29

  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.
• 2021-04-23

  COVID-19 pandemic

  It has been a tough year for everyone, the impact of COVID 19 changed our lives forever. As people across the world practice social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19, many things have changed. In one way or another, we have all been touched by this pandemic, whether that means working from home or transitioning to online classes. Personally, I felt like the pandemic was going to be my downfall when it came to school. I have always struggled to stay focused and concentrate on different tasks. Having to transition from in person classes to complete remote learning scared me. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue with my education. As weeks went by, having to be isolated from the world and it just being me and my computer was very difficult. I suffered from depression and anxiety but I didn't want to give up. Education has always been important to me but it was really affecting my health. With pandemic getting worse and having more restrictions it felt like I was trapped. Usually when I feel that way the only thing that would give me peace was going to church. That wasn't an option anymore. Due to everything being closed I couldn't even go to the one place where I would feel safe and at peace. This pandemic taught me to be strong, and even in the hardest moment have faith. Have faith that everything gets better, and that we are capable of more than we think. Even though I had some tough times in school now I'm doing a lot better and I'm proud of myself for overcoming those obstacles. I'm now more appreciative of things that I took for granted before the pandemic. Even the little things, like being able to go to church. Overall, the pandemic taught me many things about myself. I am stronger and happier than I was before.
• 
  2021-04-19

  She’s Back and I’m Terrified

  After 400 days to the day, my daughter walked back into her gym. A competitive gymnast who has been training with the same gym since the week before she turned 3, this has been a long year. We are privileged in the sense that the hardest decision we had to make during the pandemic was not related to jobs security, hunger, or even health (beyond keeping ourselves from COVID). Our hardest choice was not allowing our daughter to return to her gym to train when they reopened in June. My husband and I knew COVID was just beginning. We knew the spike would come and the health of our family wasn’t something we were willing to risk, especially because our jobs allowed us the luxury to work from home and distance. At first, we made case rates dropping our marker of when she’d go back. Then, with the announcement of the vaccine, we decided to wait until our household was vaccinated. By the end of March, the adults of our household were vaccinated and our local case count had dropped considerably, to an infection rate percentage of 1.4%. Still, we wondered “should we just wait until she’s vaccinated?” But she’s 10, there is no vaccine being publicized for her age. How long can we keep her from her life? It’s not just the training. It’s about mental health. We’ve kept her physically safe, but she’s 10 years old and hasn’t seen a single friend in person for almost 14 months. She hasn’t shown any signs of a mental health crisis, but even if she isn’t showing anything, this has to have taken a toll on her. It was a difficult and scary choice, but my husband and I decided her mental health and emotional health are worth the risk. She is so happy. She’s had two one on one sessions with her coach and we are all shocked (and relieved) that her daily solo workouts EVERY SINGLE DAY for 400+ days now paid off. She not only kept all her skills but learned enough her skills to advance to the next level. I know her coach is shocked. I don’t think she really believed that a kid would work hard enough on her own to keep in shape. I know my daughter is very proud and very relieved to know she can compete again. And the timing is perfect - the new season starts in May, so she’ll begin in a new level with other girls she knows who also leveled up. She never acted unhappy during quarantine, but since going back, she’s seemed lighter and happier. Still, the two times she went were one on one. The beginning of May will see her going back full time, three practices a week for ten hours a week of practice. I’m happy they’re letting her keep her mask on and that the coaches are wearing masks but I’m still nervous. It’s so hard to send your kid into a situation that may lead them to contract a deadly illness. But it’s also so hard to keep your kid in a bubble. I never in a million years imagined I’d have kept my child home for 400 days. I’m a public school teacher, I’m the first person to tell you the importance of socialization. But in a pandemic, I guess my mothering deep instinct to my child overpowered anything else. I hope and pray with everything in me that we don’t regret allowing her to go back. I hope we are turning a corner in CA and that a vaccine for kids arrives soon so I can feel slightly more relaxed.
• 
  2021-04-22

  How Covid-19 has Affected My Life - Kyra Smith

  The Submission that I uploaded is a reflection on how the pandemic affected my life. What I shared in this story is personal, and might seem choppy because I do not do well when expressing personal stories and feelings to others. I hope this helps someone to know that they are not alone.
• 
  2021-03-22

  #JOTPYLesson from Michelle Wilson

  I have learned to breathe and meditate more. It’s okay to slow down! I’ve learned it’s okay to gain a few pounds (pandemic baking) I’ve learned to love myself more! 💛 #JOTPYlesson
• 
  2020-05-11

  Faith in a time of crisis

  Many people wonder about the benefits religion may or may not have during times of crisis. Is religion a crutch; or, is religion a legitimate way for people re-orient their lives and perspectives during times of crisis? This article from the American Psychology Association answers these questions. Depending on the person and their perspective of their religion, religion can be either positive or negative, perhaps even both at different times. As a result, the answer to the question is not a simple yes or no. However, even for the agnostic or the atheist, as the article describes, there are many religious and spiritual rituals one can engage with (e.g. yoga, meditation, etc.).
• 
  2021-02-28

  #JOTPYLesson from jessic_carter123

  As a result of the pandemic I’ve learned about how important my own mental health is and how to better reflect on my own mental state. I don’t think without the pandemic I would have done the necessary reflection that I’ve done over the past year. @jordyn.kw @kazandrakatzorke @__eringuin__ @ellie_bee99 @zanee1
• 
  2021-04-13

  How does the pandemic affect children?

  With vaccines already approved for ages of 16, still clinical trials need to be completed for children younger than 16. There is more thought put into children's vaccine as their body does not react to things the same way that grown adults do. By the looks of statistics, it can be said that the vaccines will be available for children before the start of the 2021 - 2022 school year. This means children will be able to get the vacancies and start living more socially involved lives as it is important for them during these stages of development. Though the vaccine will not be required, it is suggested and each state will make its own laws on what type of rules they want to set. On the bright sight, the vaccine is the best hope to end the pandemic and allow children to start enjoying their lives like before again, it will help cut down children's obesity rates and boost mental health.
• 
  2021-04-11

  Indirect acute effects on physical and mental health

  This academic article is in the Lancet, a medical journal. I chose this because it is public, unlike some academic articles, and it is, as of right now, a pretty unique research article. Although it is done in the UK, it reviewed medical records, both physical and mental, from 2017 to 2020. The changes are a little surprising, as the largest reductions in health care at the start of the restrictions were diabetic emergencies, depression, and self-harm. This is something I have seen a lot in my research into the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental illness is the last thing to be cared for in a pandemic, or even in other natural disasters. The consequences on human health from this pandemic are only just now coming to light. This journal entry covers in-depth research and I highly suggest it.
• 
  2021-04-07

  COVID-19 and the Brain

  COVID-19 has gone through a number of classifications. First as a “flu,” then as a “respiratory disease,” then as a “vascular disease,” and is in more recent studies, as a “brain disease.” Some reports are finding that one out of three COVID-19 survivors have mental health and/or neurological issues. This not only informs us of the complexity of COVID-19, but also brings light to the need to continue medical and psychological support of COVID survivors. Some survivors are described as having PTSD, and anxiety disorders are being diagnosed in a number of survivors. Neurologically, many survivors report “brain fog” and other issues. Another unexpected toll the virus takes on those infected.
• 
  2020-11

  Comparing the Impact of COVID-19-Related Social Distancing on Mood and Psychiatric Indicators in Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) and Non-SGM Individuals

  "There has been direct correlation with mental health disparities and sexual and gender minority (SGM) compared with cisgender heterosexual individuals. SGM members report having elevatedrates of emotional distress, symptoms related to mood and anxiety disorders, self-harm, and suicidal ideation and behavior. Social support is inversely related to psychiatric symptoms, regardless of SGM status. The COVID-19 pandemic—with its associated limited social interactions—represents an unprecedented period of acute distress with potential reductions in accessibility of social support, which might be of particular concern for SGM individuals' mental well-being. In the present study, we explored the extent to which potential changes in mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, worry, perceived stress, positive and negative affect) throughout the duration of the pandemic were related to differences in perceptions of social support and engagement in virtual social activity, as a function of SGM status. "-Front Psychiatry. 2020; 11: 590318. Published online 2020 Dec 22. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.590318
• 
  2020-09

  College Students During COVID

  This is a story about how college student's mental health has been affected during COVID as a unique population. I wanted to include this to provide context about why my interviewee may have been reluctant to seek out resources due to the extra stress that he had been experiencing. This study goes into how the factors that college students, in particular, are experiencing. This article was done by a survey and shows how common these feelings are that may have deterred students from seeking help due to stress.
• 
  2020-03-30

  quarantine puppy

  My family ended up adopting a puppy right at the start of quarantine in March. This led to two things, first a source of joy and distraction while stuck at home, and two, a puppy with a LOT of separation anxiety. I am a person who struggles greatly with mental health and I can say with much confidence that quarantine would have been extremely difficult had it not been for my dog. My dog is actually now in the process of being trained to be a therapy dog for schools and I am happy to have been the first person she could help. I think there is something to be aid however about getting a dog during a pandemic. They get really confused now when their humans are no longer home very moment of the day, and I suppose I feel thee same way to some extent.
• 
  2020-06-20

  For LGBTQ Patients, the Coronavirus Brings New Challenges

  This article by John Hopkins Medicine is talking about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the LGBTQ+ community. The doctor points out that community members are more likely to be smokers and so they are higher proportionately to have complications with COVID-19. The doctor also points out that gender-affirming surgery in the Transgender community has been delayed or is not being done at all which has impacted that community greatly. It is important that the doctor gives the advice to not isolate ourselves in the LGBTQ+ community throughout the pandemic.
• 
  2021-03-31

  Chris M. Monaghan Oral History, 2021/03/31

  This is an oral history of Chris M. Monaghan, an artist based in Dexter Michigan, conducted by Monica Ruth, a graduate student intern with the COVID-19 archive, A Journal of the Plague Year. Chris talks about his street art/chalk artwork, participating in chalk art festivals, how the pandemic has influenced the festival and artist scenes, the sense of community in chalk art, and how chalk art is a source of entertainment, hope, and outlet for mental and physical health.
• 
  2021-03-28

  Unintended Consequences of Lockdown

  I am researching the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article is an in-dept look on the consequences of lockdown in the US. While the article covers positive consequences like less pollution and less contagious diseases like the flu, I am going to talk about some of the ones related to my research. The article says most “unintended consequences fall generally into five categories: lack of care, isolation, wealth/health loss, psychological harm, and harm to children.” Lack of care includes people who do not feel comfortable going to the doctor or hospital for fear of catching COVID-19. The amount of people who went in for a severe heart attack has dropped by 40%. Isolation consequences include things like an increased rate of suicidal thoughts and an increase in drug overdoses. Wealth and health loss is due to loss of income, and as evidence shows, poverty is deadly. Psychological harm involves burnouts and stress related breakdowns, as well as mental health disorders and insomnia. The harm to children section includes many heartbreaking statistics about lack of school based mental health care, sexual abuse, drug use, and neglect. The article talks about how the effects of all of this may not be known for many years, but it is clear there have been many negative consequences of lockdowns due to the pandemic.
• 2021-03-28

  Vaccinated

  I know the LGBTQ+ Community has a higher chance to have depression, anxiety, and other health ailments like many other minority communities. This Friday I got my second dose of the vaccine. I have been encouraging others in my LGBTQ+ Community to get the vaccine so this is one less health ailment they have to worry about.
• 
  2021-03-21

  How does the pandemic affect children?

  This link provided showcases the severity of the pandemic's effect on children's mental health and it becoming the next "wave" in the pandemic
• 
  2021-03-10

  Justice for Angelo Quinto

  Tonight AAPIWL joined Angelo Quinto's family + community, the incredible organizers of @justiceforangeloquinto, Civil Rights Attorney @johnburrislawfirm , the mother of Oscar Grant- Rev. Wanda Johnson, @justice4steventaylor grandmother, @robbonta, Cat Brooks @antipoliceterrorproject, Antioch's elected officials, and hundreds of community members from all over the Bay Area to celebrate Angelo's 31st birthday. Tonight we all learned that Angelo was well loved by his family in Antioch and in the Philippines. His family talked about how amazing and special he was, and they were proud that he wanted to pursue his passions in art. We learned more about the powerful community that will continue to support the Quinto family in their fight for Angelo. Thank you again to the organizers for this beautiful celebration and vigil, for uplifting Angelo and his family, the call for solidarity, the need for mental health resources, demanding the end of police violence and the need for accountability for Angelo and the countless men who were also murdered by the Antioch Police Department while having a mental health crisis. We will continue to fight with you all. #JusticeForAngeloQuinto #JusticeForAngeloJusticeForAll #AAPIWomenLead #InSolidarity #StopAAPIHate
• 
  2021-03-17

  Cordale Handy in Mental Health Crisis Killed by Saint Paul Police

  In 2017, 29-year-old, Cordale Handy was killed by Saint Paul Police as he was navigating a mental health crisis. Since her son’s death, Cordale’s mother, Kim Handy-Jones, has continuously championed an end to police violence and demand accountability for her son's death.
• 2021

  The year that was, pandemic and my mental journey

  I live in Cleveland, Ohio. I grew up an hour away in Ashtabula, Oh. My fiancé and I went to a concert they day before everything else closed down. We had no clue it would be the lass mass gathering we would go to in over a year. We moved during the summer and that kept us going. However, after being in lock down and not being able to see our friends and family began to make things harder. We all know the tole that covid has played on physical health but mental health is something the news hardly covers. We have young nephews that we couldn't see. My dad turned 60 this summer and we couldn't have a big party. Summer passed and fall came we thought maybe we can get together for Thanksgiving. Then well if we skip Thanksgiving we can have a family Christmas. That would not be the case. My sister and brother in law had a big family Thanksgiving with his family and they all ended up getting covid. They were around my dad and he got sick. Christmas was a no go. I was worried about my grandma who was 84. It is now March 2021 and we are "remembering" the last year. People without anxiety are feeling the mental affects of a year were we were not able to have parties, gatherings, weddings, and even funerals to remember the lives lived and lost. It is hard not seeing the friends and families that we took for granted before covid. We all need to take a moment, and take a deep breath. Check in with our mental wellbeing. It has been a long year.
• 
  2020-05-16

  Covid-19 The Challenges of a Mental Health Provider #AZHISTORY

  Covid-19 changed the way we deliver Mental Health Services. This is my personal story of how it felt and what it required to provide Trauma Psychothery during the Pandemic.
• 
  2021-02-28

  #JOTPYLesson from Amanda Lehew

  I have learned to be more positive about my mental health. Before the pandemic, I was having uncontrollable panic attacks, and when everything went down it made me realize, I was not alone. @Ronway_Twitty @JakeSilbersack @JeremyZitnik @EGonzaba @ReelVisualProd
• 2021-03-02

  Quarantine Silver-Lining Moments.

  It is quite obvious that the Class of 2020 all share a collective disappointment with graduating via zoom but I personally had no problem with it. I honestly believed that it was a blessing in disguise, I didn’t have to sit in the hot sun and wait for my name to be called, wait there awkwardly as the teachers give an mediocre speech about me, and lie to all my classmates face when I claim that’ll I miss them and promise to keep in touch. In the beginning of Virtual Learning, I was the happiest I’ve ever been, which was due to the majority of my teachers teachers that were having a difficult time adjusting to online learning and were only able to assign one work sheet per week. During the first week of the pandemic, I was able to actually find my true self, my dislikes and likes, my ambitions, and my fashion sense. Although it got tiring staying home for the majority of my time, I still preferred to stay home and keep my safe from this deadly virus compared to actually having a social life, I learned that I appreciate my company and being alone more than I thought. As some may find quarantine completely damaging to their mental health and are unable to spend their days inside, it did the opposite for me, It improved my mental health drastically and gave me time to begin my journey of self-love and because of this I honestly would not mind if New York implemented yet another lockdown. I believe it would be beneficial to everyone because it would not only flatten the curve but it could potentially allow us to have less restrictions during the summer.
• 
  2021-02-25

  Time to Reflect

  Although we live in a time where mental health is getting so much recognition it is still nice to be reminded that it is ok to take a minute and reflect. It's been a year since Covid hit, almost a year since our first quarantine here in Arizona and it seems like so many people are trying their best to get back to "normal" life. We are trying too hard to work, study, parent, and live as we did over a year ago. The sad truth though is that people are still dying, they are dying in high numbers and we see those numbers daily. I'm one who has felt bad for not being "productive" especially when Covid directly affected my family, but posts like these remind me that it is not only normal but healthy to feel. Posts like these remind me of the importance of the grieving process. I have lost a lot this past year, but I will not lose my humanity.
• 
  2020-02-19

  #JOTPYPhoto from Coli

  My depressing room is basically me during COVID 19 #JOTPYPhoto #jotpyphoto
• 
  2021-02-14

  My Story: I Got COVID-19 Because of ICE

  I am sending a diary style writing where I share my experience during the pandemic. I focus on the issue of ICE during the pandemic. Before the lockdowns, my uncle was detained by ICE and was deported during the pandemic. My uncle has been living in the US for 25+ years and Mexico, my uncle's home country, has changed a lot since he last lived there. For that reason, I went to Mexico to take him home. This made me get COVID.
• 2020-01-01

  Surviving 2020 & COVID-19 Pandemic: Life As A College Student

  As the ball dropped on New Year’s Day I embraced and kissed my boyfriend in excitement of what would await us in 2020, if only I knew. As we said our goodbyes to our friends we drove home on a side road to avoid the frantic traffic of drunk drivers and people rushing to get home. All I remember is driving in front of my boyfriend’s car and then waking up to him sobbing over me. My car lights were on, sunroof open, glass shattered everywhere, my blood stained on my wheel and purple bruises on ribs. Long story short I was smashed into by a drunk driver, my car flipped, rolled, and was finally crushed into a tree with me inside while my significant other watched it unravel before his eyes. This was my beginning to 2020 and I wished and hoped that it would only be better from there on but I was horribly wrong. On March 11th of 2020 I received an email from my university stating that it would be closed and urged all students to return home for the remainder of the semester. As many college students saw this as an extended spring break at the time we were all happy since it basically meant more partying. After week one passed of receiving the email I quickly realized that being isolated would be my downfall and it sure was. By the end of the Spring semester I had failed a couple classes and was desperately trying to crawl out of a depressive episode. Since I am, or rather struggling to be a nursing student still, failing my Anatomy and Physiology I class sent me into a spiral of what ifs and how my GPA would recover from these failed courses. The realization of retaking these courses in order to save my future and using my only two chances of “erasing” my unsatisfactory grades crushed me. I was shattered by this reality but continued to push myself through Summer term to ace these courses, I studied day and night sacrificing friendships and days out for an A. As Summer came to an end Fall came and I barely passed the classes online because I struggled to adapt and truly retain the material meanwhile peers in my class were either completely giving up or cheating their way through the online, remote exams. To add the cherry on top, I was battling my university’s Housing Board in order to cancel my dorm agreement because many COVID cases had been recorded in my building and my roommates still went out to clubs while not wearing masks. As the months passed and semesters came and went, I felt my sanity slipping and today I still sit in fear of my future. I struggle leaving my apartment due to the fear of exposure to COVID and accidentally passing it onto my only parent who suffers from lupus. This pandemic has truly crushed me and unfortunately it seems that I will be spending the remainder of my college life and 20s in this chaotic, barren, and lonely society where we only see each other screen to screen.
• 2020-02-24

  My Coronavirus Experience

  In the beginning of the pandemic, I immediately realized how a large portion of the public was not focused on the virus itself, but the racial controversy of the virus' origin. This was unnerving to the core, because it is a fact that COVID-19 came from China. While it was unacceptable to accept this as fact, MERS literally stands for Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. It is clear that there was a pro-CCP agenda being pushed in the background when propagating the "COVID Safety" spiel. As time went on, more and more inconsistencies began popping up. Beauty and barber shops closed, but Nancy Pelosi is more than welcome to get her hair done. Masks become required to enter any building or participate in society at all, but when the new President was sworn in, the spectators were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and masks were few and far between. What my story says about the pandemic is that while we may have had a real potential global crisis, I believe things were skewed, twisted, and flipped so that it is most convenient for those who hold the power, and not done in the best interest of the American people. An example of this in real life was how the Los Angeles Lakers, Ritz Carlton, and Bank of America (per store) were able to get PPP loans, drain the pool of PPP money, and leave small business owners fighting for crumbs. I have linked a Washington Post article below that expands on the PPP loan problem and how our government failed small business. The pandemic I fear will have long-lasting, Orwellian effects on our society in the sense that those in power will continue to use fear mongering to control the public through COVID. Even though a vast majority of the population has already had it and are building antibodies, Western European-style, 1940s era vaccination cards are beginning to circulate. I fear these cards will be the new "gold star" or "Scarlet Letter'', except those without it would be barred from society, rather than those with it. In my opinion, COVID today is what AIDS was in the eighties. Lots of unanswered questions, lots of fear, and government intervention so that free thinking is minimized. These three, and you have a perfect recipe for controlling the masses. Both diseases were politicized to death, and public opinion of the disease swung back and forth with politicization. If AIDS was blown up to the proportion that COVID was, I couldn't imagine the backlash the political and science communities would get from a certain demographic of people who are very vocal and have a statistically higher likelihood of contracting HIV. I hypothesize that pandemic would turn into pandemonium. With that, my experience during quarantine was as expected. Mental health suffered due to lack of human interaction and ability to go outside, and physical health suffered due to inability to go outside and lack of motivation which was connected to mental health. The main positive thing from the pandemic I can identify is the performance of my stock portfolio. Even though I lost my job due to COVID, I was still able to afford rent, food, and supplies to stay hunkered down in my new $900/month prison for my three month sentence. Another big positive from the quarantine was my savings. The pandemic helped me realize how much unnecessary or emotional spending I do. It helped me point out lots of bad habits I have so I can work on fixing them. Things like spending money when I'm sad, and identifying vices that hold me back in my day-to-day. While the pandemic brought a lot of negatives to me and the world around me, I believe there are some positive things to take away from it. Opening your mind to more than what the government feeds you, appreciating every moment you have, embracing new hobbies, and learning how to maneuver through change. These are all things the pandemic has taught me, but if I had the option, I wouldn't do it again. In terms of being a part of history, simply by living you are a part of history. I was at Sloan-Kettering in NYC with my family getting a life-extending cancer treatment for my father when 9/11 happened. He was one of three patients that day because while in surgery, the first plane hit the towers. The rest of the patients to be seen that day were canceled. I suppose the point I am trying to make is that history is subjective. 9/11 wasn’t 9/11 to me. 9/11 was the day I was blessed with enough time to make some foundational memories of my father before he passed. It can be argued that since I have been invested in GameStop since November, I was a part of history there too. I went to the Game 7 Cardinals vs. Red Sox World Series Game in Fenway Park. The game that broke the Bambino Curse. Again, it could be argued that I was a part of history there too, except my three year old self was asleep for the last two innings. History is subjective, and every day, everyday people like you and I make history. Historians and memoirists will use these events in the future to write articles, make movies and tv shows, write books, and extrapolate many other kinds of art from it. However, most often historical stories are told through a lens of subjectivity, and because of that, eventually all history becomes skewed to the point where it is indistinguishable from fable.
• 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.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Canada's LGBTQ+ Community Struggles with Housing & Health (On Top of the Discrimination)

  Unfortunately, the LGBTQ+ community is no stranger to discrimination. From school, to work, to finding a safe place to stay. We have heard about campuses closing due to the pandemic, and thus left many in the community to reevaluate their housing options. Some have had to return to their family home, despite some of those homes being less than accepting of them. With everyone concerned over their health, it is only right to allow everyone to feel safe where they live, too. However, this does not only affect the youth populations. The older members of the community have also been struggling with housing and healthcare. As one of the linked articles wrote, there is a lack of data collection regarding the LGBTQ+ populations. Their needs and concerns cannot be tackled with if the data were never there to begin with. It seems to go downhill from here as health concerns increase while their mental health deteriorates.
• 
  2021-01-07

  As the pandemic puts strain on LGBTQ youth mental health, here's some advice

  A news article discussing the mental struggles of the LGBTQ+ youth, and how quarantine is negatively affecting their health, as well as some helpful tips.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Supporting Children with ADHD During A Pandemic

  ADHD is thankfully not as new of a topic to talk about, but I cannot deny that the stigma against mental health still exists today. While thinking about how so many children are now spending a year and an uncertain future indoors, learning from home, and some unable to grasp why, I thought about those with ADHD. A person’s home is supposed to be associated with comfort and otherwise relaxation from a day at out in the world – at school and work for guardians. Associations can be very powerful, and it can be rather disruptive for children with this big of a change. Half a child’s day is typically dedicated to academics and social connections and is especially important for children in their formative years. Due to the pandemic, they have been pulled from that environment they have already associated with learning, friends, and routine. The links provide some assistance for guardians who may be struggling with their child(ren), especially those diagnosed with ADHD. Concentration and routine seem to be the biggest obstacles, so I do hope the strategies provided may be of help to guardians and their dependents. https://childmind.org/article/giving-kids-with-adhd-support-and-structure-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/ADHD-and-Learning-During-COVID-19.aspx https://chadd.org/adhd-and-covid-19/
• 
  2020-10

  Keep Trucking Along

  In the beginning of the year 2020 no one knew just how historical this year was going to be. As a high school senior, senoritis was really kicking in and graduation was in sight. One day, in my global studies class, on the news, we heard of this crazy virus going around in China. I remember thinking, “Oh, it’s fine. It won’t affect me in anyway.” Little did I know there was a whole storm of challenges, obstacles, and battles coming my way. At first, I thought I was just getting a nice two-week break from school and we would be back, and everything would be fine. That two weeks has tuned into over 150 days of lockdown and a completely changed way of life. Every single person all over the world was affected someway by this virus, which is crazy to think about. Nearly everyone struggled with mental health and life changes throughout this time. I did as well, and although my mental health was at its utmost low during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is still recovering as the virus is still taking its toll with a new strand and heightened cases, I want to bring attention to an even bigger struggle I dealt with during this unpredictable, utterly horrible time period: the loss of my best friend. On October 26, 2020 my grandmother passed away at the glorious age of 90. My grandmother had health issues for the past five or so years of her life, but her state started to rapidly decline in August of 2020. At this same time, I was preparing to leave for my first semester as a student-athlete at Duquesne University. Leaving my family, my friends, my hometown, and my significant other was already so difficult but adding on the fact that leaving and knowing that it would take away my last moments with my grandmother was a pain I never thought was possible. I chose to still go and start off the semester since my grandma was moving around hospitals and I could still call her and see her on weekends if I wanted to go home and do so, and it was what she wanted me to do. I talked to her right before leaving for school. With the pandemic, she was only allowed two visitors everyday between the times of 2 and 5pm. So, with the majority of our family living around the hospitals, we had to all schedule times each day so everyone could get a chance to talk to her because of the one visitor limit in the hospital rooms. And I will never forget talking to my grandmother through my face mask about college and hearing how excited and proud she was for me to be where I am in my life today. Only a few days after that conversation, my family and grandmother made the decision for her to go into a hospice facility. This hospice facility was far more strict than the hospitals. My grandmother was allowed no visitors in her room. The only way we could talk to her was over the phone. We are extremely lucky that she was given a room with a window. My family would go and stand at her window so we could see her and more importantly so that she could see us while we talked on the phone with her. I came home for a weekend or two to talk with her through her window and got to see her in her chair with her favorite blanket smiling at all the accomplishments and stories I wanted to share with her. Once her health was at its lowest and her long, well deserved time here was nearing an end, me and my two siblings got to go into her room and say our goodbyes. The next morning my mother got a phone call that my grandmother had passed away. Losing someone, especially someone so close like my grandmother was to me, is the hardest thing in life. But with a global pandemic on top of it … the difficulty and feelings of it all cannot be explained. In the end, I know my grandmother would want us to keep living our lives and “keep trucking along” as she used to say. So that is what we did. Knowing now that she is at peace, out of pain and that she does not have to deal with this crazy world situation in her unstable health condition anymore, gives me and my family closure and security during this time of uncertainty and fear. And I will always know she is right beside me, pandemic or not, watching over me and cheering me on each and every day.
• 2021-02-01

  Covid-19 Statistics

  Over the pandemic, I've learned a lot of things about people and the world. The pandemic was a lonely time, but I think it's made me realize that you can't give up just because things get hard. I've heard a lot of teens and people my age became depressed instantaneously. Especially on social media, everyday people were only talking about how bad things have gotten instead of trying to keep their spirits up. 26.2 million people have gotten the virus, and 440K people have died, but all of us had to find a way to be happy. In our city(LA) especially, we have higher covid cases than any other place in the county. Even though things are hard now there still are a lot of exciting things to think about.