Items

• 
  2022-05-10

  BA Oral History, 2022/05/11

  A student describes their experience working during the Covid-19 outbreak.
• 
  2020-12-22

  Noah's Ark

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2022-04-10

  Reflection of Life In A Pandemic

  As everyone knows, we went through a pandemic. From that point, more happened in my life in that timespan than the 18 years that have passed before that. Celebrated two COVID birthdays, had a death in my family, heart surgery, lost and gained friends, the number of times I felt sick but actually was not because it was all in my head, the battle I had against COVID-19, too much has happened to count. However, I realized and went through this weird journey that I cannot really explain. I learned a lot about my own body, my brain, my mental state and health, it went through one rollercoaster if I had to be honest. I do want to believe that those blessings in disguise were really that, but it was quite the actual opposite. To be honest, it was something spiritual that had changed me over the past two years and I don't ever regret going through with it. I found that there will be nobody who will ever put their lives for yours other than themselves, and I found that being selfless means WAY more than doing things for yourself. Helping others, giving things such as time, your body, mind, gifts and amongst other things that mean a lot to people and that is something we all needed during quarantine and the pandemic. Life is so short, and it has its precious moments, so do not ever let anyone destroy that and let anyone control what you can or cannot say. Be kind, and be gracious to others and be respectful, because you never know what someone is going through. Also, I definitely missed sports. The beauty of basketball, the sport that has given me a lot of love and hate, came back with a bang and cannot wait for this year's playoffs!
• 
  2022-04-10

  How the pandemic brought together friendships

  Pre-pandemic I had a strong, close-nit group of friends who we frequently made time to spend together whether it was a get together dinner, lunch or breakfast once a month, going to concerts, festivals, wine night or "just hanging out". Once the pandemic hit and we were on lock down we could no longer get together obviously. I was single at the time and has a very strong bond with all my girlfriends. Not being able to see them and interact mad me feel sad, sometimes lonely and some days depressed. When I reached out to my friends I discovered that they were having the same feelings. From that moment on we decided to have a virtual girls night/wine night once a week to stay connected. For many months once a week we video chatted while drinking our wine. Even though we could not physically be there with each other, it was the next best thing. For me, just being able to see their faces made so much of a difference. I felt very isolated during the pandemic and it definitely made me feel happier, less lonely and have something to look forward too especially because at the time I barely left my house. For some the pandemic caused people to lose relationships and become distant, but for me my bond with my girlfriends became stronger which I am thankful for.
• 
  2022-04-09

  Covid sped up my great grandmothers death

  My great grandmother was diagnosed with dementia and was living in a nursing home for a few years, she started to get worse when the pandemic started so but we weren't able to visit her due to covid-19. She began to become very depressed due to the lack of visits and her son (my grandfather) had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in June and was given up to 6 months to live. My grand father died on October 19th of 2020, my great grandmother caught covid while in her nursing home and on November 20th 2020 my great grandmother died from covid-19. Even though she was dying of dementia, covid sped up the process and caused her to die alone in a nursing home. I couldn't even burry her like she would have wanted because the nursing home had her cremated for contamination purposes. I would give anything to be able to hold her hand as she passed and give her a proper funeral that she would have wanted but covid compromised this.
• 
  2020-01

  Plague ? Diary

  This is day by day account of the early stages of the pandemic.
• 
  2022-03-26

  Coping with the Pandemic--A Personal Look at Mental Health and COVID-19

  According to the Center of Disease Control, in June of 2022, US adults reported considerably elevated adverse mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. Out of a survey they did on 5,412 people, 40.9 percent of respondents reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health conditions, including symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorder which were around 31 percent. One of the causes of this is due to increase sedentary behaviors and low levels of physical activity due to quarantines and lack of business operation. Over the past two years, government mandated quarantine, work from home, and online schooling has caused me to stay at home for longer periods of time than what I use to. Because of this sedentary behavior, I had dealt with the negative effects of isolation, stress, and anxiety on both my mental and physical health. According to the World Health Organization, 150 minutes of moderate exercise or physical activity is usually recommended per week, however, with working a full-time job and being in school, the question that remains is how that is possible? I have learned to accommodate these physical needs indoors, by taking active breaks during the day and exercising at home. While this does not necessarily help with isolation and loneliness sometimes, I have learned to take these matters one day at a time and not shun myself for feelings them. CDC argues that from a recent comprehensive review that the impact of COVID-19 on mental health particularly seems to affect more young women disproportionally than any other group. Therefore, I recommend any young adult or women facing severe mental health to take advantage of online support or mental health services through telehealth such as ZocDoc. It is important to highlight COVID-19's impact on mental health in the United States and my personal life because it shows how the pandemic changed the means and the ways we received mental health services in the past. As the pandemic ventures on, people like myself will continue to have to find ways to cope and receive services for our problems. Thanks to the pandemic, much of our mental health problems have come more to the forefront due to us having ample amounts of time now to navigate and deal these issues unlike never before.
• 
  2022-03-05

  War and pestilence

  I saw this on facebook. In most people’s minds, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just a continuation of the rolling crises marked by the pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-03

  My Brother's Keeper

  A comic strip about Covid-19
• 
  2022-02-07T10:00:00

  Taking Covid-19 Step by Step

  My story describes the cycle of emotions I went through during the past two years of the pandemic. I try to make sense of the situation, especially with high school, and find some negative and positive outcomes from my quarantine experience.
• 
  2020-03

  Empty Shelves

  My plaque story begins in March 2020, right in the middle of my senior year of my senior year of high school. that day we were let out of school for, what we were told, 2 weeks. One of my friends was away at a baseball camp that night and he had left his car in our school parking lot so me and my friends decided to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of Saran Wrap, and Saran Wrap his car. At this point the amount that the pandemic would affect our lives hadn't sank in yet but when we got to the grocery store to buy the wrap we saw a very surreal sight. Hundreds of people were there wearing masks and gloves, and even goggles. People were buying canned food and toilet paper in mass quantities and there were numerous empty shelves. It looked like something out of a movie and that's when it began to sink in how crazy the situation was. that same week I remember going hiking with a couple of my friends and talking about the pandemic. I remember us wondering if anyone that we knew would end up getting the virus or if it would fizzle out before it hit Pennsylvania and if or when we would go back to school to finish our senior year. It turned out that we would never go back and "two weeks to slow the spread" turned into months and then years. It is now February 2022 and our lives are still being turned upside down by this pandemic. All we can do now is hope that things eventually return to normal and that we as humans can learn from the mistakes made during this pandemic.
• 
  2020-03-17

  An abundance of shortages

  On March 17, 2020, I went shopping for the first time since schools and facilities closed nationwide just four days earlier. Much to my dismay, upon entering my local Target, I noticed that shelves in every part of the store were empty, however, I specifically remember shortages of canned goods, paper towels, and tissue paper. I continued to shop and collect what I could, all the while wondering what else would be in short supply in the coming days. During this time, families across the nation (including mine) began to ration food and focus on purchasing essential items when they became available. In retrospect, the mass shortage not only demonstrated how the pandemic impacted all parts of life, but it also revealed how accustomed Americans are to having various items available in abundance, which I believe is sometimes taken for granted.
• 
  2020-03-28

  What to do when stuck at home

  Once the world shut down and everyone had to quarantine, I found that I had a lot of new found free time to deal with. Over the first few days I thought it was awesome, because I was able to relax at home and basically do nothing. After those beginning days, things started to get boring. I didn’t know what to do with myself. It took me a few days, but I began to look for more things I could do with my life. As a music major, I practice my instrument about 3-4 hours every day. I took advantage of my free time by putting in a lot of work on the horn which greatly helped my development. I have also been very interested in learning new languages. I decided to start learning German. So far I’ve been studying German everyday on my own since then. It has been very fun to read stories and news articles in German. I have also found a great podcast and YouTube channel that does an awesome job teaching German. I had also begun to exercise more during the pandemic. My friends and I would go on runs outside together. It was a great way to meet up with friends and be healthy. The pandemic was a very difficult time when it first broke out. Most people did not know what to do with themselves. There was a lot of sitting at home, watching television, or playing video games. I didn’t want to remember the time of the pandemic as a time where I didn’t improve as a person. I had decided to make these changes or improvements to better myself for when the pandemic was over. It has been a great lesson for me as the pandemic is still going on today. I have learned how to deal with difficult situations and also how to make the most out of them
• 2020-04-01

  Productivity

  The meme I put describes my productivity during covid. A lot of people including myself lacked productivity and slept a lot during the pandemic and quarantine times. There wasn't much to do for people work and school wise so they were less productive.
• 
  2021-12

  How My Life Has Changed

  My life feels weird. I feel like everything almost moved too fast, but not fast enough. I think due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have a weird feeling of how time works. It seems almost as if the days pass by faster than I can imagine, let alone each month. I blink and the semester is practically at a close. My life feels busy. My days are consumed with school work and nannying, as almost every week feels the same. I try to incorporate different aspects of my daily life into each day to have a feeling of change, yet also normalcy. I personally have faced academic and personal challenges. I feel as though I do not have the same energy I did when in the classroom. I felt like I have lost my passion for learning, as it almost feels more forced than it did before. To do all your work through a computer screen is not easy, let alone to do it for years on end. Personally, I have had a hard time with a lack of communication with family and friends. Some of my peers and I discussed the difficulty with just talking to people now! It just feels so strange. The sudden change to college was weird. I started off at a University and hated it. I think due to COVID, I had a hard time picking out what I needed in a school, as I also didn't know how the upcoming school year would look with the pandemic. I feel as though I have adapted, but I wish things could go back to the way they were. Nothing feels the same anymore and I feel as if my life is slipping through my fingers. Therefore, I try to embrace the time I do have, even though we are still living through the midst of a pandemic.
• 
  2021-12-05

  Five Pandemic 2021 Edition by Sebastian Delgado, dps

• 
  2021-12-07

  Marc Carolla and Niccola Lutri Oral History, 2021/12/07

  Marc & Niccola discuss their experiences with COVID-19 and relate it to past pandemics that they learned about in class
• 
  2021-12-06

  Amberley L. and Elsa Hanson Oral History, 2021/12/06

  Elsa Hanson and Amberley L. interview each other about how they think COVID-19 compares to past pandemics. They also discuss how the public has dealt with the pandemic if there will be long term effects of the pandemic, and what precautions they have been taking.
• 
  2021-12-03

  Sabrina Sakata and Emily Fink Oral History, 2021/12/03

  how past pandemics relate to the current COVID-19 pandemic
• 
  2020-01-30

  WHO Declares Coronavirus a Global Public Health Emergency

  The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Thursday as the coronavirus outbreak spread well beyond China, where it emerged last month. The move reversed the organization’s decision just a week ago to hold off such a declaration. Since then, there have been thousands of new cases in China and clear evidence of human-to-human transmission in several other countries, including the United States.
• 
  2020-03-30

  Covid Parking

  I had a friend that kept telling me that the pandemic was fake. I told her that we needed to take it serious. When I took my daughter to the local urgent care for a doctors appointment, this was the parking lot scene. I just remember being blown away at the seriousness of the situation. The urgent care separated even those that came in for covid testing from the other patients, just to keep things extra safe.
• 
  2020-12-16

  Distance Learning Craziness

  Distance Learning was not for the faint of heart. My very social daughter struggled with distance learning because she needs people. This picture I posted on Instagram. Her teacher was a saint to be able to reach the kids even though he knew full well they were going a bit crazy at home.
• 
  2020-06-05

  Graduation Parade 2020

  High School graduation 2020 was one for the books for sure. My daughter was a part of the class that had to deal with all of the concerns about what graduation would look like. Our high school decided to have a graduation parade. For my daughter, this was the best possible way to have a graduation. My daughter, dressed in her graduation regalia and her brother, two sisters, and myself crammed into my little car and in a procession, joined a hundred other cars for Lassen High's graduation parade. We decorated the car and honked the horn as we drove by community members lined up on the streets. Teachers were stationed all along the parade route and waved at the students, they had not seen in months. The enthusiasm was contagious. Having a girl that has social anxiety, for her, sitting by mom in the car was the best feeling. As she got out of the car to walk up the stage, she was able to thank the school counselor who invested hours to help her graduate. It was certainly a graduation to remember, and hands down, my favorite graduation to attend.
• 
  2020-03-17

  Performance Cancelled a Day Before Opening Night

  I am the board president for a local theater company, in a small town in Northeast California. For over 20 years, the production Susanville's Best of Broadway has produced a yearly concert series that features snippets from several different Broadway shows. Our production is 100% volunteer and is run by a production manager and a production team. Our cast runs over 100 people every year and includes community members of all ages. Our 2020 production was an epic year for us, as we had spent a lot f money on props, backdrops, and costumes. Several of the shows included Hamilton, Waitress, and my personal favorite Wizard of Oz (to name a few). Our production team started in April of 2019 to plan and the cast started to rehearse in January 2020. The cast would show up to rehearsals 6 days a week for 10 weeks. Two days after the pandemic was announced nationally, was supposed to be Susanville's Best of Broadway Opening Night. We schedule a total of 7 shows over two weekend. The day before opening night, our local public health team reached out to me. In a stressful meeting with the public health team and the Broadway board of directors, it was determined that we had to cancel our show. We attempted to do whatever we could to modify and change things, including social distancing, but pubic health was worried that if someone got sick from our show, we would end up with some sort of lawsuit we couldn't handle. They did, however, allow for us to present to anyone who had been at rehearsal, which included some family members and we called it a rehearsal. It was a sad night. Performing to an empty hall was sad. The cast cleaned up their belongings with hope that we would reopen in a couple of weeks. Not only were we unable to open the show, but we were unable to perform a concern series in 2021. Thankfully, plans are underway to have a performance in 2022.
• 
  2021-09-24

  Best Summer Ever

  This is a news article detailing the result of Alberta’s “Best Summer Ever” which saw almost all pandemic restrictions relaxed with only the begrudging exception of a required quarantine if you were to test positive – yes they seriously tried to get rid of that. ‘They’ being the UCP (United Conservative Party) of Alberta, which has exacerbated the pandemic through prioritizing corporate needs by pushing to continually open the economy at the expense of public health. Ontop of this, the continual gutting of our healthcare system, as a means to ‘legitimize’ the need for a private healthcare system coincided with this, and had devastating results on the lives of Albertans. Jason Kenny, the premier, went to our ‘greatest outdoor show on earth’ the Stampede; and flipped pancakes for all attendees with a smile. They sold ‘Best Summer Ever’ hats, while slowly our hospitals were filling up. As I am writing this, there is a humanitarian mission currently in my province, the army has been deployed to assist, and we are flying people to Ontario for medical treatment because our hospitals are at capacity. The cannibalistic nature of this party and overall of Capitalism has resulted in immense suffering for my province, people are dying in waiting rooms. The last portion which I wrote there really bothers me, I can’t comprehend that experience, you’re in somewhere where they can take care of you, or help you in anyway – but there’s nowhere to lay down, dying in a liminal space. I have Conservative, and Liberal friends who have stated that “it isn’t that bad” or that it’s “just the unvaccinated,” (yes this is a real comment a Conservative ‘friend’ told me in response to my anger with the situation) I cannot comprehend what they mean by either of these, the situation is clearly unacceptable. People have been willfully sacrificed so corporate executives can make their regular paycheques, why is that not infuriating people, why is it just this fixation on ‘getting back to normal.’ Normal is killing people, and having strong men like Jason Kenny smile and flip pancakes only adds onto the absurdity of the situation, I can’t help but be reduced to a boiling rage whenever I read anything relating to our province and the pandemic, I don’t want to live here anymore if this insanity is perceived as somehow normal, or at the most extreme, ‘tolerated’.
• 
  2020

  International Discussion

  This conversation was interesting to me because it is an example of how the internet has been able to give people an idea of what the pandemic has been like in other parts of the world. It also presents a strategy some leadership enacted to control the spread of the virus.
• 
  2021-10-07

  Vacation in the Pandemic

  This audio recording describes a vacation my family and I took during the pandemic. A lot of the attractions were closed due to the virus, so we had to find other things to do while maintaining safety protocol (social distancing, masks). It was frustrating but we managed to still have fun.
• 
  2020

  Nervous Cats: Pandemic Pet

  I first adopted my cat, Beans, in 2018, so she wasn't technically a "pandemic pet." However, she ended up becoming very anxious during the pandemic, especially with the first lockdown of March 2020, since I was home all the time! She has since developed mild "separation anxiety," and has to travel with me wherever I go. She is super adorable though :)
• 
  2021-07-24

  Pandemic Response and Religion in the USA: Ritual

  This digital archive consists of online materials related to the COVID-19 pandemic and religious practices during this time.
• 
  2021-07-06

  World Zoonoses Day

  This is a tweet from the UN Environment Programme showing the driving factors behind zoonotic diseases and pandemics. Humans abuse of the environment is to blame.
• 
  2020-04-07

  Our New COVID-19 Vocabulary—What Does It All Mean?

  Before the pandemic, most people didn't know many of the terms associated with epidemic diseases and SARS-type viruses. In order to understand what was happening, people had to quickly acquire a whole new vocabulary. This article from Yale Medicine helps define some of the most critical and widely used terms.
• 
  2021-05-13

  Pandemic Pets Return to Shelters

  Sadly, as the nation returns to work and activities, pets adopted during the pandemic are paying the price. According to the article, owner surrenders are up more than 80% from this time last year. People did not think far enough ahead about what would happen once the pandemic was over. Now its the poor animals who have to pay the price. When will people learn that animals are not toys to be thrown away when it becomes inconvenient?
• 
  2021-03-16

  Teacher Interview: Avilette de Castro

  Middle school Spanish teacher, Avilette de Castro, answers student questions about changes to education in the coronavirus pandemic. Walls: What is your name, grade you teach and school you teach in? de Castro: Avilitte Castro, Sebastian Middle 7-8th grade Spanish Walls: How has the pandemic changed the way you teach? de Castro: So, the biggest thing is that I feel like I haven’t taught enough, like I'm putting stuff out there and it’s not sticking. Before the pandemic there was more engagement and now there isn’t. Especially with those that are DL’s (distance learners). Walls: What was the biggest challenge in the beginning? de Castro: We were not prepared as teachers at all for what we had to do. I had never taught online before and I had to try to adapt everything online. Not everyone showed up. It’s not high school, they don’t think that it counts. They don't realize that even though their grades won't neccessarily carry on to high school, everything else will. Walls: What is the biggest challenge now? de Castro: So now, it’s mostly back to normal in some senses. We haven’t had any kids go into quarantine in awhile and I’m down to only 3 DL’s and I don't know if the kids are fully into it. I always have the thought that we could go back into quarantine. We just adopted a new textbook and I have to tell that book as well. The EOC (End of Course Exam) for this year is being used from this new book. I am adapting everything, but not able to get a hold of everything. I am learning this new book as well as my students. Walls: How do you think students are doing? What are their biggest challenges? de Castro: I don’t think, for me, I really don’t think I’ve taught them as well as I normally do. I hate to say this because it’s not quite bad. Some of my students aren’t doing anything, because they don’t think it will count. The other thing for me, I do a language class. A big part of my class is conversation. I don’t let them work in groups and they aren’t able to get the conversation that they used to get. Right now we are doing a food unit. They don’t get the reaction in conversations. Walls: Do you see anything beneficial coming from the changes you have had to implement? de Castro: Oh yeah. For me, doing stuff with technology has always been supplemental instead of part of the curriculum. Like if I post this you can have it and now everything is online. The kids have access to it online, doesn’t mean the students use the extra resources. I’ve been having to use the textbook website and it’s something that they can do anywhere that they are at. It’s an added resource, so it's a benefit for them. Walls: How has parent involvement changed during the pandemic? de Castro: No, one of my DL’s has his guardian sister with him the whole time and it’s a little nerve racking to have her hear me the whole time. It’s pretty much the same overall.
• 
  2020-03-12

  COVID 19

  COVID 19 I decided to choose as a source an image related to the COVID 19 virus. The image belongs to https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/coronavirus-countries-cross-100-covid-19-world-update/. This website provides information about the virus and was last updated on March 12, 2020. The image shows the virus spread around the planet earth. This image helps me explain what the virus is and how it spread. I select this type of source because I consider that it expresses a simple but concise message. I consider that it is something that everyone can understand and from which they can learn. By looking at the image people can get an idea of what the spread of the virus really meant. They can observe that its spread was not in a specific area, but rather that it spread around the entire world. Since the virus made its first appearance in Wuhan China, everything has turned into a catastrophe. The virus began to spread rapidly around the world. People were really not prepared for the COVID 19 virus. Many people died from this virus and those who were infected and survived did not have a good time. The virus isolated everyone and everything stopped being what it always was. People could no longer visit their loved ones or spend time with them. Many businesses closed, and as a result many people lost their jobs. Now everyone had to wear masks, they had to keep their distance from each other, and they also had to constantly wash their hands. This was somewhat frustrating, as people searched for gloves, masks, and disinfectants in stores. However, because everyone was looking for the same items there was a shortage of them. Sometimes when people found such items they could only buy one per person, especially alcohol and disinfectants. People really felt desperate. Things had changed a lot. Now many people had to work from home. The same thing happened with the students. Students had to take classes from home through a computer. This was something that didn't seem right to everyone. Many students lost interest. I consider that both historians and everyone in the future should be aware of what the COVID 19 virus was. Although the COVID 19 virus is a new virus that arose suddenly, it is not the first time that humanity experiences something like this. Previously around a hundred years ago something similar had happened with the Spanish flu. The Spanish flu like COVID 19 had also become a pandemic. Because of this, millions of people died. However, this was something that remained in the past as no one spoke of this event. I consider that people could have learned something from the history of the Spanish flu and applied that knowledge during COVID. However, few people are aware of what the Spanish flu was. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account everything related to COVID 19. Although it is likely that the appearance of a new virus cannot be prevented, at least people will know how to protect themselves and thus prevent the spread. The virus spread around the world rapidly for various reasons. However, one of these reasons was that people had no idea how to react to the virus. If people had had an idea of how to protect themselves at that time, perhaps the virus would not have spread the way it did. I believe that acquiring the necessary knowledge about the virus will be of great help in the future.
• 2021-05-19

  Dr. Katherine Culkin, HIS-class collection

  The collected works of Professor Katherine Culkin's History (HIS 20) classes.
• 
  2020-03-15

  Daycares empty during the Pandemic

  For my primary source I selected a picture of a daycare. This daycare is where my kids used to go. Before the pandemic started, I used to take them there because I have to go to work. One of them was 7 months old and the other one was 5 years old. I used to take them to the daycare six days a week except Sunday, then go to work and when I finish working, pick them up in the daycare around 5pm. I selected this source because I want Historians of the future to know how the pandemic hit ‘’daycares’’. This photograph was before the pandemic. I took it in the daycare in a birthday party that we did for my son. There is the babysitter, her assistant and other kids that used to go to the day care. I feel Historians will learn how difficult was the life for mothers who have to go to work and leave their kids in daycare and what happened to me when the day care was closed. Everything was normal until I heard about COVID 19.I have been working in a hospital and in march 15 2020 my Babysitter told me that in 3 days the daycare was going to close for undefined time because of the covid 19.I was scared to go to work because I did not want that nothing happened to my kids. I had to go to work in the hospital, but I did not want to because I know that I was going to be more exposed to the virus and I may bring it to my kids. But the other reason was that I don’t have nobody to take care of my kids after they close the daycare. In addition, my Babysitter also told me that she was desperate because she was not making money in the daycare. I decided to stay at home with my kids. I remember that the school also was closed. But I was not getting pay when I stay at home. It was a very difficult time for me because I had bills to pay, including the rent. I was feeling bad because I have some savings, but 2 months after march I realized that I did not have money to pay the rent. I realized that I need to go back to work, even thought I was thinking that I was going to be on risk to get the COVID, I found somebody to watch my kids and then I went back to work. I pray God for protection every day, in the bus, streets and the train. In august the daycare opened again, the Babysitter was happy because she was going to work again, but I was scared because I did not know if anybody in the day care could be sick and get my kids sick. I have to take my kids to the daycare, but it was not like before that Babysitter had many kids in the daycare, only my two kids were in the daycare. Today, my son is back to school and the other one is still going to the day care, but every day I pray for theme because I know that other kids are with them, and I don’t know who may be sick and they are always on risk, but I don’t have other choice because I need to work to get money to pay my bills as I say before. When I arrived home, I leave my shoes on the front door, go straight to wash my hands, take clothes of, take a shower and them pick them up in the daycare. Every day my kids are on risk, but I am also on risk at work. The situation is difficult, but we have to continue our lives, be wise and do our best to keep our family safe all times.
• 
  2020-06-02

  Mayhem at Fordham Road

  A video of the riots that took place in Fordham Road during summer of 2020.
• 
  2020-07-04

  First time traveling in Covid 19 Pandemic

  For my primary sources I chose pictures that I took with my friend and family through covid pandemic and my first trip to my country which is Dominican Republic at July 4, 2020, and it did not feel the same because some people were afraid of hug me, talk to me and even I could see them put their mask on when they saw me coming to their way and I do not really blame them because even i was afraid to hug my significant ones because I know that the time we were going through it was a lot for them, I am not going to lie, I was scared to go out because everytime that I watched the news just I heard that millions people died from Covid and that did not give comfort to go out because I did not want to get my family and friends sick. At july 20th I traveled for first time in the pandemic and it did not feel great because the looks that people used to give me when I cough or sneeze it was like if I came from another place, I did not enjoy this vacation the wanted because I could not see the people i wanted to see and the people I saw were scared of me because of Covid. I selected this source because I want to show the historians in the future the struggles and the loss that many people had in 2020 because of Covid, for example the students had to take classes from their home which is basically teaching ourselves, people lost their jobs because the economic went down and there was not enough budget to pay the employers because the Country was not prepared for this situation, and that many people lost members of their family, this was a difficult time for all of us.
• 
  2020-12-31

  I could not hug my mother

  For my primary source, I selected a screenshot of me and my mom while we talked through Facetime. In this facetime we were in the same house but unable to see each other in person since she was infected with the covid-19 virus. Apparently, my mother became ill with covid-19 while celebrating the end of 2020 with close relatives, they were around 6 members of my family and they decided to go celebrate that day since they had not seen each other for a long time. That day I was working at night and cannot go to the party. Well, on the first of January I couldn't go to my house either since my co-workers called out and I had to do a double shift. I left the first of January around 3:00 pm from my work, before arriving at my house my mother called me and told me that she was not feeling well and that she believed that she was infected with covid because she had all the symptoms related to this virus. She went to do the test so I went to my girlfriend's house to wait for my mother to call me to confirm what we already suspected, around 5:00 pm she called me to tell me that she, my aunt and my cousin were positive . We could not leave our house for 16 days and only seeing each other through Facetime. I remember we took turns using the kitchen or leaving our rooms. To use the bathroom, we each entered with a Lysol to disinfect before and after using it. We used gloves and a mask when we left our rooms, so that I would not get infected. Today, 5 months later, my mother is still suffering the consequences of being infected, she gets tired when she walks for a long time and is in training since she has bacteria in the lungs as a result of covid-19. I decided to select this screenshot as my source because it represents what many people went through during the pandemic. Family that lasted months without seeing each other when before the pandemic they saw each other every day and grandparents without knowing their newborn grandchildren were some of the scenes that we could see during the pandemic. I am the only son of my mother and we have a remarkably close relationship. Never in our lives would we have lasted so long without seeing each other in person and without having hugged each other, it was very painful.
• 
  2021-05-29

  COVID-19 and Mental Health

  I took this picture on May 29, 2020, at 10:35 am. Why I choose this picture? This picture reflected my feeling in 2020. After months without going outside, I was heading to Staten Island to visit my aunt. I remember that I had anxiety even to open the door of my apartment. Whenever I went outside, it was close to my apartment, and my skin started to itch for no reason. My family used to watch the news the whole day. I was tired of listening to the report. Besides, during COVID-19, I was having an awful time. A few months ago, one of my friends died, and It was depressing for me. Before she died, I let my ego break the relationship between us. I refused to call her or text her because I was tired of looking after her. I remember my father told me to call her because I did not know what was happening with her. I ignored him. Riding to Staten Island that morning made me remember the hard time that I was going through. The day that I went to Staten Island, it was cloudy and dark. I thought that the ferry would sink into the water. When I got to Staten Island, it started to rain, and I did not bring an umbrella. I was mad, but it was my fault for not checking the weather. I compare that dark and desperate day with the mourning of my friend and the pandemic. For months, I felt guilty and thought that I did not deserve anything good in my life. The worst of all of this is that I did not have anybody to talk to. I was in quarantine for months, and it affected my mental health. I had no desire to continue college and my business. I used to cry a lot, and all I wanted was to talk to someone about how the pandemic and the death of my friend affected me. I had desired to go to the Dominican Republic, but I could not go. I think that this source can help historians because they can get to know about different perspectives of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They would notice the anxiety that not only I went through, but everybody around the world had been through. My neighborhood was affected significantly. Some of my neighbors got COVID and died from it. I know that many people saw themselves as the picture. They thought that everything around them was going to end. They thought that they would be stuck in the pandemic forever.
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  2021-05-08

  The Difference that 473 Miles Makes

  My story is about the differences between two states; Illinois and Tennessee and their handling of the pandemic.
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  2021-04-12

  Lizza Weir Oral History, 2021/04/12

  Toddlers are natural explorers who run, touch and sniff as they learn about the world. But these behaviors can be dangerous during a pandemic. Parents of toddlers need to weigh the risks of catching Covid against their children’s developmental needs. Lizza Weir, whose daughter Simone was 16 months when Covid first arrived in New York, talks about the hard choices she’s been facing.
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  2021-05-03

  ICU Change.org Petition during COVID

  I’m in a mom group on Facebook where this was shared. The woman who began the petition outlines her struggle with her husband’s traumatic workplace injury and how their lives and his recovery is impacted by the ICU’s COVID rules. There are also many comments by petition signers who believe COVID restrictions do more harm than good.
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  2021-03-10

  Nursing schools response to Covid

  Covid-19 and the pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers that were nearing retirment had a good reason to retire early, and many others that felt the job became too dangerous or mentally taxing left the medical field forever due to Covid-19. The numbers of nurses have suffered as a result, and that means that during the worst healthcare crisis in recent history, the nurses that were working had even more burden placed on them by staffing problems. This article explains the ways in which nursing schools have responded to try and get more people into the field.
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  2021-04-22

  Community’s importance to the service industry during Covid-19: A business owner’s perspective

  This article, written by small business owners, addresses the challenges faced by the service industry during COVID-19. These owners of a coffee shop share a list of ways that the community can support their local service industry, and why it is crucial to do so. They make it clear that it's not simply about buying a product; instead, it is about building a community and supporting those that you care about, which goes both ways. If you support small business owners and show that you're there for them, they in turn will give back to the community in any way that they can, creating a caring environment. The lessons they share are so important to keep in mind as we are still dealing with the pandemic, so that we can build a support system that lasts long past when the pandemic is over.
• 
  2020-07-12

  A Nurse at Tucson Medical Center

  Tucson Medical Center went from no Covid patients in January 2020 to approx 160 at the peak (actually our third) in January 2021. It was amazing to see how quickly beds were repurposed, negative flow rooms were engineered, elective surgeries were cancelled and all the staff rallied around the ever changing patient case loads. Paula Marshall, RN July 12, 2020 at TMC Bed Control Department I work at Bed Control. We accepted patients from mostly southern Arizona from our ER and from the surrounding rural hospital. The Covid Surg line would call distributing covid patients needing admission throughout the area. When I graduated from nursing school in 1974, I never guessed that our world would experience a pandemic in my lifetime. I never knew that my job would change the way my family viewed my job. I don’t work at the bedside but work in an office and contribute to bed utilization. My son’s family lives 6 miles from me but I was invited to visit 4 times during 2020. My granddaughter said, “you work in a hospital. You could have Covid and not know it.” Gee whiz
• 
  2021-04-23

  The First Weeks

  I remember when covid-19 was a far away danger, some natural calamity removed from my normal routine: waking up, doing yoga, meditating, working, and so on. Every day just like the others. China was in lock-down and we mindlessly scrolled past news stories from there of inventive ways people were relieving their boredom. But just like other tragedies that were affecting the unfortunate of other lands, the stories faded into the background of repetition. I remember when the first case was found in Washington, the surreal fear that hung like a thick cloud over my city, first forming as a gentle mist then accumulating into heavy dread. Once that first case was identified, things multiplied very quickly. Within a week, we were in lockdown with cases rising in an incredibly frightening exponential manner. I remember the last time I was in the room with someone without a mask on... that was.. 13 months or so ago. I was going into an interview for a funeral service assistant's position. It was raining. I was asked to accompany her to an home funeral the next morning, assist her in transporting the body of a family's child who had recently died. This frightened me, I didn't know if I could do it. And even then, the threat of a global pandemic seemed far off, even the lady blew it off, saying that the solution lie in an healthy immune system. "Healthy people don't need to worry about it." I drove home in the rain and picked up tacos for lunch. Everything was normal. But by the morning we were in a national lockdown as a result of the discovery of how widespread the virus was and just how deadly it could be. I never went to that child's funeral and I haven't talked to that lady since. Every day in those few long weeks in March of 2020 built on the growing panic and grief that was building in the depths of my heart, radiating out into my limbs, making it hard to think, or write, or sing. Every moment was spent obsessing over the potentialities of each moment. "What was going to happen? What were we going to do? How many people were going to die? How many of my friends and family members were going to do? " Going on and on and on. My mind revolved around the fear as a maypole where my body and emotions danced wildly around. Even in the bath, while taking long morning walks, while eating meals, everything centered around the pandemic. Doom-scrolling terrifying news articles telling of the devastation that would likely occur in the next months, criticizing the narcissistic, science-fearing president, who only increased the velocity of widespread horror, watching the rising death count with enrapt panicked attention. All of these things contributed to the slowing of time, which passed by moment by moment in a long exhale of a nation struggling to catch its breath after being engulfed by a wave that came on too fast and hard. Going into the grocery stores to find that most food and toilet paper were gone... that the supply chain might be limited, the reality of my city home's lack of food security becoming too real. I never thought I'd face this kind of global disaster in my lifetime. It was hard to accept. Even now, it is hard to fully accept. Approximately 3,000,000 people have died from this disease to this day, and many more will. Even though vaccinations are underway, the death rate now is at 42,847 on this day (April 4, 2021) as compared to the meager 5,989 on April 15th of last year. Then, we were horrified at that number. But now, we have grown so accustomed to daily deaths that were a numb from feeling any grief. It is hard to say what kind of effect this will have in the future years. All I know is, those first weeks have been burned into memory. I have been changed, for better or worse, by the year 2020.
• 
  2021-04-20

  Images and Audio from "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics" Exhibit

  During March and April 2021, I created an online exhibit from content within Arizona State University's "A Journal of the Plague Year" COVID-19 archive. Entitled "Arizona's COVID-19 Pandemics," the digital exhibit contained images previously submitted to the archive, along with several copyright-free images I found on pexels.com. I have attached all these images. Listed by their order of appearance within the exhibit, their sources are as follows: 1- "Face It" Campaign flyer: Coconino County Health & Human Services ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42998 ) 2- Red Rocks, Sedona: Courtesy of Gregory Whitcoe via Pexels.com 3- Online Learning: Courtesy of August de Richelieu via Pexels.com 4- Tséhootsooí Medical Center staff: Courtesy of FDIHB Marketing Department and Navajo Times newspaper ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/41189 ) 5- Arizona's Mask Mandate Map: created by Sarandon Raboin ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/26267 ) 6- Arizona COVID-19 Infection Zip Code Map: Courtesy of Arizona Department of Health Services ( https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42035 ) 7- Woman Shopping: Courtesy of Anna Shvets via Pexels.com 8- Woman on Rural Arizona Road: Courtesy of Taryn Elliot via Pexels.com 9- Masked Woman in Crowd: Courtesy of Redrecords via Pexels.com 10- The Wave: Courtesy of Flickr via Pexels.com (this image is found only in the PDF submission of the exhibit, not in the public-facing exhibit itself due to document formatting technicalities - the PDF version can be found at https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/42998 )
• 
  2021-04-15

  Victory Garden

  A photo of the garden I have started - the pandemic has given me more time at home to tend to something like a garden.
• 
  2021-04-15

  Vaccinated, but how soon is too soon?

  I have been vaccinated for a month now and I know that I have a research trip coming up to New Orleans, but I am still wary. We talk at work all the time about how we are vaccinated and wear masks everywhere, but we still feel like it’s too soon to get back to that much of real life. We still know people who are hospitalized and dying of COVID, but without the vaccine, so if we have it we should be fine? I certainly plan to double mask up on my flight to New Orleans with a box of KN-95s that I purchased on Amazon a bit ago. I carry my vaccine card everywhere; I hope the vaccine passport becomes a thing. In the same way that I don’t like to shop at places that are not requiring masks or offer medical exemptions, I would rather go places that require the vaccine. Certainly, other countries will require it upon entry and that might very well make them safer than the US, which of course I don’t expect to require anything under the guise of freedom or some nonsense. “oh no, we can’t make people get the vaccine to travel!” without realizing that their kid needs MMR, Polio, DTAP, and the chicken pox vaccine to go to school. All I am saying is that if you made a Venn Diagram of the people who think its okay for a bakery in Colorado to refuse baking a cake for a gay wedding and the people who don’t think a private business can require a mask is almost a perfect circle. But maybe this is all psychological? Maybe I am afraid that being out in the world, despite being “safe” gives the wrong impression. That unless I wear a mask that has “Fully Vaccinated” printed on it and hang my vaccine card from my neck, people will look at me, out and about, and assume that I don’t believe in the pandemic or staying home and staying safe? Am I more afraid of people who are also out, but safely, thinking I am not safe, or am I afraid that people who think the pandemic is a hoax will think that I am one of them? As much as the mask lets me hide my facial expressions, it doesn’t hide enough that I am not still worried about what others think of me.