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2022-05-14
Dealing with COVID in Israel two weeks after the lifting of the travel ban
This story relates the issues my wife and I had in dealing with Covid restrictions on a trip to Israel, just two weeks after the travel ban had been lifted. The story has no great significance except, perhaps as an example of "life is irony." While the story itself is trivial and meant to be amusing, I do share it here with a profound sense of sadness over the recent Hamas attacks and their consequences. -
2020-04-04
Family Quarantine
When I think of COVID-19, I think of all the wonderful quality time I got to spend with my family. I was lucky enough to have moved back in with my parents at the beginning of the pandemic for what I thought was going to be a short time, but turned into a year and a half long party. My family and I would spend our days doing homework, working, and driving each other crazy. Coming from an Italian family, we tend to all be loud and annoy one another easily (with love of course). At night, we would have themed dinners, dressing up like we were going to the Grammys, making fresh pina coladas and hanging out by the pool. At the time, I was annoyed. Annoyed to be finally 21 and have to spend the whole summer stuck at home with my parents and younger siblings. Annoyed that I was unable to go back to school, or see any of my friends. Looking back now, I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to drive my family nuts. Now, in 2023, life is returning to “normal.” I see my parents once a week, my brother lives outside of LA, and my sister is busy with her own life. I miss them. I miss waking up to my dads new hobby of the week, or playing cards with my mom till midnight. COVID brought us together and allowed us to forge a different kind of bond and make positive memories that I will cherish forever. -
2020-05
A Touch of Retirement: Dice, Clubs, and Power Tools
Covid-19 had more of a positive effect than negative on my life in the spring/summer of 2020. I am a teacher in the small community of Anson, Texas, population 1,884; we are social distanced by default. Following the spring break of that school year, Anson ISD shut down and went wholly online. It was already a time of great transition for me, I was leaving the world of coaching in favor of becoming a regular classroom teacher and I had just been given five months to reflect on my new role. That time was spent with family and friends in an almost semi-retirement doing the things I never had time for because of my demanding schedule. As a teacher and coach, 60-hour work weeks were a norm, and during football seasons you could expect those hours to creep to the upper 90’s. There were also no “real” summers like other teachers. A coach’s summer is spent in morning workouts and summer camps with the occasional week off to visit family and decompress. That is why the “covid summer,” as I remember it, had such a profound impact on my life. Those five months were spent with family and friends playing dungeons and dragons, golfing, and remodeling a good friend’s house. My younger brother is an avid dungeons and dragons player, a hobby that I never found myself with enough time to delve into. The collaborative story-based tabletop role playing game known as dnd requires several people, a few hours, and a lot of reading to play. My covid summer left me with ample free time to do just that. The sound of dice on hard tabletops rang throughout our houses as we held a regular weekly gaming session for five months. One unique thing about dungeons and dragons is the diversity of dice required to play the game, from four sided up to twenty sided and almost every even number in between, were required to effectively play the game. Most sets came with every dice, but the variety of color, size, and material quickly made collection a side hobby. Before long, I had a large bag full of dice and special black and gold metal set saved for only the most special of encounters. That is what I remember most, the cool touch of those dice as I contemplated the best course of action for my character to take against the hordes of enemies by brother could conjure up. While the hottest days were spent in the air conditioning playing games, the pleasant ones were spent golfing. At the time, state health officials had mentioned golf as an almost perfect sport to play during covid because it was easy to social distance and the vitamin D from the sun helped to boost the immune system. I played a lot of golf with much of the same friends I played dnd with. Many of the golf courses we played at threw their doors open and welcomed golfers with open arms to try and keep the business afloat through the troubling times; we never once were denied a t-time. We played golf at least twice a week for five months and I don’t think my hands have recovered yet. The feel of those club handles wore out two gloves and countless blisters across both hand and I wouldn’t change it for the world. While my other two hobbies offered little in the form of vocational skills, my third allowed me to learn the most. My good friend purchased his first home in May of 2020. A quaint 3 bed 2 bath home on a third of an acre just outside of Abilene, a larger town about 20 minutes south of Anson. The home was a product of the 60’s and while it had been well maintained by its previous owners, it needed quite a bit of updating. My friend had some experience in construction from a previous job, but we were all learning on the fly as we decided to remodel his home. Roughly a dozen power tools across four friends, we tore out walls, updated electrical, redid flooring, framed, drywalled, painted, and wired his 1500 square foot house for the better part of three months. There were a lot of late nights, beverages had, and good laughs shared. We all had some know how, but YouTube and google became our best friends. I had always heard the saying that rough hands meant hard work, but the feeling of my hands covered in drywall dust gave a much more visceral connection to it. I think all these feelings for me were so profound during this time because the pandemic had placed a warning label on touch. My mom is a thirty-year veteran nurse, directed an ER during swine flu and bird flu, and still received Christmas cards from high-ranking officials of the CDC; I was well informed on the virus. In the early days, we didn’t know how long it lasted on surfaces, the severity of the virus, or its communicability. Touch was one thing that had to be eliminated. A six-foot bubble was placed on the world and people feared handshakes, hugs, and human embraces foundational to the species. One knows the dangers of the everyday world, but rarely to we expect a loving hug to potentially carry death to a dear loved one. This notion changed how we, as a species, saw each other. Some embraced the struggle to soldier on with courage and others gave into fear as new information came out hourly. Two years later, after mask mandates have been lifted across most of the country, people are still trying to heal. Fist bumps taken over handshakes, hands free pay at most supermarkets, automatic doors becoming a priority are all examples of how Covid-19 changed our perception of touch as a human race. With all the activity I had during my covid summer, I did eventually contract the novel virus on my birthday in June. My only symptom was a loss of smell, one of the weirdest sensations I’ve ever had. I count myself extremely lucky that that was the only symptom I had. Aside from my ten days of self-quarantine, my life was affected in very much a positive way. I cherish the memories of my covid summer and count myself incredibly lucky to have experienced the pandemic the way I did. -
May 24, 2021
Chronicles of the Plague Years
[From the Introduction] For the students, faculty, and staff at Bronx Community College, March 2020 was a sucker punch to the gut. Our vibrant campus, a beautiful haven filled with vitality and life, became a kind of petri dish—ground zero for the COVID 19 virus to make landfall. Not only were many students and staff sickened in those early days, but the City University system was forced to close, then transition to remote learning in the space of a single week. It was a challenge, to say the least: for faculty who needed to quickly learn the tools to make it possible, and even more so for the students, who—cut off from socialization and in person learning—had to adjust to this new reality. Stranded in their homes, some students were forced to continue working frontline jobs, while others lost jobs and income, facing financial devastation. Students were confronted with their own illness as well as that of family members. Online learning was fraught in those early days. As a community, we improvised our way forward, without the proper technology and knowhow to do it. But two years on, our students have proven their resilience. In time, we adapted to remote learning, to new ways of doing things, of coping. 2020 was harder, and in 2021, the challenges continued. But, somehow, we got through. These student books provide a glimpse into the minds of the talented BCC Digital Design students who persevered, strived, and thrived. -
2020-04-24
Utilizing the Pandemic
I have a feeling that my journey through the Plague Years has been rather different than most other people. Even with the Pandemic raging, I would genuinely consider the past two years some of the best of my life. Though there were certain adjustments that had to be made surrounding the uncertainty of the disease early on, my life was largely unaffected. I was living at home and taking online classes at a community college so those continued after only a slight break. I worked part-time at a pet food store and because pet food was considered “essential” for people, I was allowed to continue working uninterrupted. My dad started working from home and my siblings high school went to a part-time schedule. During the day we started a plethora of new tv shows and almost every night we were able to have dinner as a family and play board games. The best part, after some debate, larger universities began moving to online classes and closing campuses. This meant that my friends who were away at school would be coming home. Once we knew the signs, symptoms, and the relatively small danger presented to younger people we were able to hang out and have socially distanced fun. As an introvert, friends, family, school, and work were all I really needed to be happy, and the loss of large-scale social functions was of no importance to me. In fact, I was able to utilize the lack of interaction during the Pandemic as a cover for experimentation. On April 24, 2020, after hearing my dad ask me to get a haircut for the third time, I decided to take matters into my own hands and gave myself a buzzcut. There were four thoughts ringing in my mind as the razor vibrated in my hand. 1. I need a haircut 2. No place was open that was close 3. I have had the same hairstyle since high school. 4. And most importantly, not many people would have to see it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and how it looked. Since that time, I have been much more adventurous with my hair styling and even with what I wear. The Pandemic helped me realize that life is too short to not try something new just for the sake of it. And though I did get clowned by my friends on occasion, that didn’t stop me from doing it again 11 months later… The pictures included are the sink full of my hair and hanging out with friends rocking the buzzcut. Overall, I know how lucky I was to remain relatively unscathed throughout the Pandemic. My paychecks never stopped, my classes resumed shortly, and my relationships with friends and family blossomed. The only real loss experienced was my hair, and for that, I am more than grateful. -
2020-03
Family and Community Impacted by COVID
Well to be honest the pandemic did not effect my family too much, no one caught COVID and most of us are vaccinated as well. No one lost their jobs or their homes, or their business so I believe we were pretty good. The only thing bad would be the isolation but, that's about it. -
2021-02-10
Seoul offers COVID-19 tests for pet dogs and cats
Efforts are underway in Seoul to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the pet population. The South Korean capital is offering free testing for cats and dogs exposed to carriers of the disease. The campaign to test and isolate pets comes just weeks after a kitten in Seoul became South Korea's first confirmed case of an animal with COVID-19. -
2021-07-10
Not Expecting the Reality
Coming to Phillips Academy Andover Summer Session during the quarantine phase of the school helped me notice a positive thing Covid had brought at the boarding school. Along with a funny story to help cheer everyone up. -
2020-03
Survivor Corps
One of the more positive outcomes of COVID-19 has been the mobilization of people to support one another and help mitigate the spread of the virus. Survivor Corps, started by an early COVID-19 patient, is “a grassroots solution-based movement to mobilize the sharply increasing number of people affected by COVID-19 to come together, support and participate in the medical and scientific research community efforts and take a more active role in trying to mitigate this pandemic.” Organizations such as this demonstrate the best in people and our potential and desire to work toward the common goal of beating this virus. -
2021-03-28
COVID story
Hi! I'm writing in to tell my story as a college student who contracted COVID19. I currently attend Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH, however, I've been participating in online classes since March of 2020. I tested positive for COVID19 on March 28th, 2021. The story begins on March 21st, 2021: My brother, James, contracted the virus at his place of work (a local bar, he was a host). He had a fever and light cough (he was sent home from work that same day); the next day, March 22nd, he tested positive. I had very minimal exposure with him. When I found out he was exhibiting symptoms, I was on a small road trip with two of my friends, Katherine and Kylei. We heard the news and immediately returned to Kylei's apartment to quarantine together until we received results. When my brother tested positive, we hunkered down in the apartment together, we ordered groceries togo from Walmart, set up our own little areas in her apartment. We also decided to set up COVID test appointments for each of us individually. On March 23rd, I began to exhibit symptoms myself, with a mild fever, headache, and body aches. I got a rapid covid test that morning, and within the hour the results came back negative. After I tested negative, I was unsure about the accuracy of the rapid, so I scheduled/got a lab test that same day. The next few days, I tried to attend my online classes like per usual, with the fever and other symptoms coming and going. The 26th of March came around and I was brought to the ER with a fever of 105.3 and vomiting. This was a turning point; at the hospital they tested me for COVID, which came back positive Sunday, the 28th. After I received my diagnosis, I still felt exceptionally terrible, so my mother had us call an ambulance for me to the ER. They, again, weren't able to do much. I returned to my home after this visit, as I wanted to be in my own bed for the duration of COVID. I had bad symptoms: vomiting, constant nausea and chills, drenched with sweat, trouble catching my breath, and all around feeling like trash and unable to keep anything down. My mom was scared for me; I became almost unresponsive at one point. My mom took me back to the ER (Wednesday, March 31), demanding they give me an IV for hydration; they did so, along with pain relief and anti nausea. This was another turning point; the next day I was able to sit up by myself, to go to the bathroom, and to take a shower. I slept for hours, healing. Friday, April 2nd was the first day I was able to stand up and keep some food down, without it coming back up. Finally, today, April 4th, 2021 (Easter Sunday), I'm able to focus back on some schoolwork and eat a full meal with my family. Both of my parents contracted the virus, and they are still recovering, like myself. -
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 -
2020-11-11
Paid Leave Approval for COVID-19
My entire family had contracted COVID-19 and in accordance with company policies I was required to apply for mandatory paid leave for a minimum of 2 weeks and a COVID-19 test after that 14 day period. COVID-19 had a large impact on both my job and my family. -
2021-02-21T14:40
Mini Oral History with Jennifer, 2.21.21
Transcript of Interview with Jennifer by Sharon Hunt Interviewee: Jennifer Interviewer: Sharon Hunt Date: 2/21/21 Location (Interviewee): Tucson, Arizona Location (Interviewer): Tucson, Arizona Transcriber: Sharon Hunt Abstract: Jennifer lives in Tucson, Arizona, and spoke about a positive result of the pandemic that she has experienced. She has been able to save money and pay off debts during this time period, as she has not been able to go out and shop or go to restaurants as she did in pre-pandemic times. -
02/18/2021
Maryann Ricketts Oral History, 2021/02/18
Maryann Ricketts is a 64 year old woman who resides in Chandler, Arizona with her husband and two loving cats. This pandemic has hit all of us hard but it has hit some of us harder than others. Maryann has been retired for a few years now and has had many hobbies since retiring. Her hobbies include volunteering for homeless shelters, working with animal shelters, and keeping busy with her new grandson. She has always kept busy and this pandemic has made it hard for her to see all her loving friends and family and also keeping busy. She has realized throughout it all that she is very grateful for everyone she has. In this short oral history Maryann explains what something positive is that has come from this pandemic. -
2020-02-19
Silver Linings Oral History with Steven Bell
Silver Linings Oral History_ Steven Bell Interviewee: Steven Paul Bell Interviewer: Dana Lee Bell Date of Interview: 02/19/2021 Location of interviewee: Rogue River, Oregon Location of Interviewer: Fairfield, California Transcriber: Dana Lee Bell Abstract: This interview was for the Silver Linings mini oral history project within the JOTPY archive. The interviewer Dana Lee Bell is an intern with the JOTPY archive and is also the daughter of the interviewee Steven Paul Bell. Steven is a wildlife artist residing in Oregon with his wife of 25 years. In the interview Steven talks about how it is nice spending time with family during Covid-19. He also talks of enjoying spending time alone walking and hiking with his dog. Steven had a hard time reflecting on the positive things to say about the Covid-19 experience. Steven Bell is the father of Dana Bell. He thought it very amusing to try and act more formal for the interview. -
2021-02-05
Antibody test in 5 cities nationwide 0.91% antibody possession in Tokyo (February 5, 2021)
This news covers the antibody rate in Japan, specifically in main cities like Tokyo, Osaka, etc. Because the rate of COVID-19 increased A LOT because people are still outside not taking social distance rules, I did expect the percentage to be higher, and it was. In trains, it is packed with people, and Japan is very analog in terms of remote working. A lot of companies still do not allow remote working plus do not change the time that the employees need to clock in and thus everyone commutes around the same time. Plus, because its winter and its cold, the trains and just local restaurants cannot open windows the whole time. Video translated by me. The antibody test conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in five cities nationwide to check the infection history of the new coronavirus found that 0.9% of people in Tokyo have the antibodies. It has increased nine times from half a year ago. Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Tamura: "There is considerable variation in numbers among local governments. Many people are infected and there is no herd immunity." Last December, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare conducted antibody tests on approximately 15,000 people in Tokyo, Osaka, Miyagi, Aichi, and Fukuoka. Using two types of tests, those who are confirmed to have the antibodies in both tests are judged as "positive". As a result, it was found that 0.91% in Tokyo, 0.58% in Osaka, 0.14% in Miyagi, 0.54% in Aichi, and 0.19% in Fukuoka had antibodies. In the survey conducted in June last year, Tokyo was 0.1%. 厚生労働省が全国の5都市で新型コロナウイルスの感染歴を調べる抗体検査をした結果、東京都では0.9%の人が抗体を持っていることが分かりました。半年前の9倍に増えています。 田村厚労大臣:「かなり自治体でばらつきが出ている。多くの方がかかって集団免疫という話では全然ない」 厚労省は去年12月、東京・大阪・宮城・愛知・福岡で約1万5000人を対象に抗体検査を実施しました。 2種類の試薬を使い、両方で陽性が確認された人を「陽性」と判定しています。 その結果、東京で0.91%、大阪で0.58%、宮城で0.14%、愛知で0.54%、福岡で0.19%の人が抗体を持っていたことが分かりました。 去年6月の調査では東京は0.1%でした。 -
2021-01-23
Friends and Family Dealing with Covid
Many of my friends contracted the virus and were perfectly fine, no symptoms or even pains. My siblings got it and even I got it. We felt sick for a tiny bit but it eventually wore off. We had to quarantine in our rooms for a week or so but nothing too extreme. -
2020-01-22
Experiences of Covid Symptoms
Currently, we know much about the symptoms of covid. For some people, it just like a flu, for others, all you get is a cough. My grandfather got covid, and all he got from it was a heavy cough. I got covid, and I barely even had a cough. -
2021-01-20
Mo had to go
My bible teacher's family tested positive for Covid. He had to go home for 2 weeks. So even though we are at school we have to be zoom. A bunch of my friends had to go home because their history teacher tested positive for Covid. -
2021-01-22
Personal story about how someone you know got covid and has effected you.
Covid is annoying cause it causes everything to go off and on and kind of pauses the world at times. I was sort of effected by covid in a way that my sister was hanging out with her friend that got covid. Before we knew that her friend tested positive, I was hanging out with her. She after that was in her room for about 9-10 days in quarantine. So I haven't been effected by covid much at all. -
2021-01-22
Cases of Cvid
We as a family have only known one person that has had covid and luckily we were never near them when they had it. It was a cousin that lucky couldn't make it to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. After they were in the hospital we got updates about their health almost every day and visited them (with masks) after they tested negative and feel much better. I personally would never want to get it because I heard it could cause damage permanently and you could be in the hospital for weeks. So I guess we were very lucky to not have someone with covid at our dinner table for Thanksgiving this year. -
2021-01-22
My Experience with COVID Symptoms
When COVID-19 had just started I had heard a lot of people had gotten sick, but no one that I had known. Fast forward a couple of months into the pandemic I get the news that my friend had gotten COVID when I had just seen her a couple of days ago. She has five siblings, one of them was a toddler, her older sister who had a one-year-old was staying with them, and she was pregnant for the second time. Thank god everyone ended up all right including the baby who had not even been born yet. Out of the 9 people that were living in their house at the time only two of them got it bad. The second oldest siblings along with her mom had body aches, a fever, a headache, lost their sense of taste, had a couch, stuffed nose, and couldn't get out of bed for a week. The rest of them only had a cough and a stuffed nose. Lucky they weren't infectious yet when we saw them so my family did not contract the virus from them. Another time this happened, my dad had a business meeting with his co-worker. Three days late his co-worker had tested positive for coronavirus. Once again our minds filled with worry. My grandma was staying with us at the time and because of her age, she was high risk so we sent her along with my uncle to a hotel nearby our house. We waited till we reached the five-day mark and my parents went and got tested. Luckily they tested negative and my grandma and uncle came back home and we celebrated the New Year all together with some negative COVID tests. -
2021-01-22
Covid Positives that Effected Me
One Covid positive that effected me was my nanny. She lives with us and one day she visited her mom. When she came back, she had covid. She had to go stay with her mom while she quarantined, and my whole family had to get tested. Although we were negative, we still had to quarantine for a week. I didn't get to do any sports or hang out with any friends. -
2021-01-22
Covid Exposure
We have a night nurse (NCS) come over to take care of my 3 month old sister. One night we were eating food when the night nurse came down and said that she had bad news. She said that she tested positive for Covid but still decided not to wear a mask when telling us and came really close to us. We had to tell her to put on a mask and go because she asked if she should stay regardless of having Covid. This was a week before Christmas so of course it ruined all of our plans and didn't have anyone over. A couple days later after she confirmed she had Covid, we went to get a rapid test, and a normal test in both of my nostrils with a total of 4 swabs and i was very much against it. They all tested negative. We then got tested again a week later with again another 4 swabs. We had a total of 9 swabs so far because i also got one in early quarantine. They felt like they were stabbing at my brain and one time gave me a gushing bloody nose. Luckily we still tested negative but Christmas wasn't as good all because our night nurse didn't tell us that she had an exposure (which she new about for days before telling us). After a couple weeks she tested negative and came back. -
2021-01-21
My experience with Covid.
One day I was out for a walk with my dad and when we came home my mom told us that our neighbors, who we had hung out with the week before, tested positive for COVID! This was a bit of a surprise for our family because we had been really careful so that we didn't get our grandparents sick. Our neighbors ended up being perfectly fine, and so did we. We never ended up getting COVID. the week before they had gotten it we had played football with them at the park near our house. -
2021-01-21
Lion in Hibernation
The beginning of 2020 was actually going really well for me. February was Lunar New Years, and it was one of the best years I’ve had lion dancing. Later that month it was Vietnamese culture night, and me and some school friends decided to form an impromptu team to perform for the event, and eventually it led me to starting an actual lion dance team for my school. A little context to this is that I’m a very young, but passionate lion dancer, and I’ve been lion dancing since I was in 7th grade. Growing up I always wanted to be a lion dancer, and never in a million years would I have imagined that I'd end up starting and running one. So when I did it was one of the most exciting things that happened to me, and life for me was starting to look good; I was doing well in school, I finally asked out this girl I had a crush on, and I somehow recruited members for this school lion dance team. I will always rember that day, March 13th, 2020. I remember it was a wet and rainy day, but the rain had stopped for a bit. So we decided to have practice. I remember in the middle of our practice, we had received an email from the school saying that we would shut down. (Ironically, I remember being in 5th period, joking about how I’d take one for the team and get COVID so school would get shut down) I remember everything was just quiet in that moment, then suddenly everyone started to freak out. They worried about their AP exams and their stuff from sports and yearbook, etc. On the inside I was freaking out too, but I tried to keep my composure and tried to get back to practice. But eventually we all decided to end practice early. I remember going with my brother after that to get sushi with our Vietnamese teacher and we just thought it was going to be a short term thing. In the beginning I thought it would be a fun and breezy 3 weeks. But 3 weeks became 3 months. And 3 months became 9 months. I remember just sitting at home and feelin devastated about the current situation. I didn’t think that it would ever be so bad and it’d be such a low point in my life. I remember waking up everyday during summer feeling more and more worthless, with no goal or idea of what to do next. And this thought basically continued into the new school year, but it suddenly got worse. It was the middle of November and I remember jogging and i felt like i was choking, I rember i got home and fell down and just started gasping for air. Later my family got tested and turns out I had COVID. And what I thought was isolation became even more isolated. I was all alone, both emotionally and physically. There comes a time where you become tired of everything and you just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling and wonder, “Why the hell is this happening? Is everything I do a failure? Why do I even have these hopes and aspirations when it seems like the world doesn’t approve of it anyways?” But there was one thing that really comforted me, and that was anime and manga. I remember re-reading one of my favorite series, and a certain line always stuck out to me, especially during my quarantine. It was a simple line said by the protagonist(?), Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan. “We need to keep moving forward, even if we die, even after we die.” I think this line really stuck out to me because it gave me a simple yet unclear solution to this unprecedented situation. I just need to keep moving forward; because there’s really nothing I can do except dwell on all that I've lost. But if I just sit and dwell then I would never know if there’s hope moving forward. Even now as I’m writing this, it is approaching Lunar New Years, but almost everything is cancelled. Sure it hurts to see lion dance teams around the globe take off while mine is stagnant, or see people finding new romance while I’m here getting rejected and ghosted, but what more can I do except continue walking. If I had to sum up my whole lockdown situation with one word, it would be hibernation. I don’t know if lions hibernate, but mine is, and so am I. We’re not resting per se, but waiting for this tough time to pass so that when we come out of hibernation, we come out better and stronger than before. -
2021-01-10
COVID-19 Possible Symptoms
[REDACTED] Covid-19 has been a thing for quite a while now, and the vaccines for he virus had come out. On Thursday, when my _________ teacher, ______________, did his daily COVID-19 test, he came up negative for COVID-19, but on Friday, he came up positive, making anyone who was in his class on Friday need to stay at their homes for a week and a half. On the Zoom Room that he used to come into the class without actually being there, he discussed he had a light fever, and he coughed excessively. It was nothing bad in his case, and he will be able to survive it just fine, despite his age. -
2021-01-21
COVID
The mild symptoms you might have from COVID is a fever or chills, cough, maybe fatigue too. They would also get muscle aches, sore throat or a runny nose. Some severe symptoms you might get are difficulty breathing, high fever, persistent pain in the chest, or an inability to stay awake or wake up. The mild symptoms you just need to stay home for but the severe cases you would have to go to urgent care for. An experience I've had with one of my relatives getting covid wasnt really serious. it was my uncle and he was dealing with it fine with no severe symptoms and he only had it for a couple days. After that, he just took the precautions until the doctor said he was ready to go out again. Now he can't have covid for about 4 more months. -
2021-01-21
symptoms
My REDACTED teacher came down with the covid 19 virus. He said that he had a fever, chills, and felt really sick. So, he went to the doctors office and got tested, he was positive. He called the school and said he couldn't come because he was sick. We were all worried for him but he is doing just fine now. My family has been spared from covid, non of our family members have had it thankfully. -
2021-01-11
First thoughts of covid
When I first heard about the virus I was at school in the hallway going to Spanish. I didn't know much about it, but I remember them saying we might have to be online for a month or two, maybe even going through summer. When I got home that day I watched the news about the virus with my dad and saw details on it I originally thought it was like the flu and I turned out to be right. And when I found out that we would maybe have to wear masks wherever went, I was distraught. But I learned to live with it and shockingly we still have to nearly a year later. I don't know many people who got covid except for my aunt and her sister who had gone on a trip to Europe and got it on a plane. She lost her taste and smell for a few days and she was better in about 2 weeks and she slept in the same bed with her husband and he or her kids didn't get it. So to the average population, I believe that it's not too harmful as long as you are healthy and aren't too old. -
2020-03-13
Canadian PM Trudeau's wife tests positive for coronavirus
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, wife of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, has tested positive for coronavirus after returning from a trip to London, a statement from the PM's office says. -
2020-12-11
Chengdu has new confirmed cases of COVID-19
There is four new confirmed cases in Chengdu, China and the source of this outbreak has not been confirmed. All patients have been admitted to hospital and receiving treatments now. Sadly, there was a girl who did not know she was positive and she went to bars, restaurants, hair salons, etc. and these places had to be temporarily closed to be disinfected and trace the closed contacts. The girl was being cyber bullied by many because she was spreading the virus even she did not know she was confirmed, this has lead to a social conflict with many people defending her and many cursing her. -
2020-11-21
University COVID Isolation Experience
This is a photograph of my final meal delivery on the 17th consecutive day of Northeastern University’s COVID isolation. I woke up the morning after election day to a text from one of my friends saying that he tested positive with COVID. Northeastern is very thorough with their COVID protocol, and I knew that I was minutes away from a phone call from the university telling me that I was contact traced. Immediately, I packed my suitcase and made sure to pack a pillow and blanket as I knew they weren't provided. Shortly after, my case manager called me and gave me instructions to move to the quarantine dorm and begin my 14-day lockdown. Most of my friends that were contact traced with me had their parents pick them up to avoid the very unappealing experience. The ability to work in person is crucial for my parents, so I would have felt very guilty if I brought COVID into the house. My decision to stay was very challenging, as the 14 days were incredibly daunting. Completely my usual schoolwork felt way more difficult because of the unmotivating environment. The food made the experience way more difficult; I couldn't receive any outside meals. On my 7th day, halfway through, I woke up to several university voicemails urging me to call back immediately. My heart was racing while on hold because the intent of the call was obvious to me. Sure enough, they explained that I had tested positive and needed to follow new procedures. The worst part was my duration extension. The protocol is ten days after a positive result landing me at a total of 17 days. Fortunately, my professors were very understanding given the circumstances, and I made up the assignments I missed from the ordeal. As a young and healthy person, the symptoms I faced were very mild and curtailed in only a few days. We were all so surprised that it took me an entire week from exposure to test positive. I was satisfied that I stayed in quarantine and avoided bringing the virus home. The more excited I was to leave, the slower the days went by. I kept my bags from my daily food deliveries to illustrate the time I had been in quarantine. Picking up my last bag from the hall was a fantastic feeling; I knew that I could return to my regular routine the following morning. After leaving, the university's restrictions that used to bother me seemed so insignificant. I realized that following the protocol was commendable because we all want things to go back to normal. -
2020-11-04
Isolation
This is a picture of the gifts that Northeastern had sent to me while I was in Isolation after testing positive. This story is special to me because it shows the community that is shown towards others even through hard times. Northeastern still took care of me as a student and person even after I had tested positive. This attention towards students is what creates a strong academic community and should be displayed towards everyone. -
2020-12-02
The Covid-19 Pandemic
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit America in March of 2020, all of us were caught off guard and unaware of how long this would last. Today we have adjusted our way of living with the promise that things would go back to how they used to be but with no promise date. Being honest, i don't think life will ever return to the way things were before this pandemic, but that could have positive effects potentially. Surface level things like wearing a mask on public transportation and to doctors offices and such, but also deeper things like the public movement for young people to be conscious of the effects their actions have and a need to protect our elderly. My story was that of a high school senior, graduating during a pandemic, and now a college freshman at Northeastern University still trying to learn while a pandemic is going on. Not to mention I live in a hotel instead of a dorm, making my freshman year housing the best housing I'll have during my whole college career. There have been many adjustments that is just part of the social norm now, like me freaking out when i forget my mask in my room; a mask being just as important as having my phone and my wallet. Getting tested every three days is now not only normal, but expected and upheld by the students. Even with all these precautions taken by the university and myself, I currently am positive for Covid-19. It's been an experience to say the least, and I was not one of those fortunate patients to have no symptoms partly because I do have asthma. Yet through this the Northeastern Wellness department has done an amazing job of making sure I was connected to a doctor and safely isolating as well as quickly contact tracing everyone. I'm currently recovering and still able to do my work thats thankfully online as well as in person, but I could easily switch to remote learning. -
2020-07-31
Australian Health Worker quote on difficulties of Mask
We're trying to maintain that positive energy for the benefit to the community and the benefit to our colleagues working in health and to really promote the great work that they're doing. Quote from Female aged 43, Other Health Services. Image created by the Health Worker Voices project: https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/healthworkervoices -
2020-11-20
Rick Scott Latest GOP Senator to Test Positive
There seems to be another outbreak in COVID cases among GOP lawmakers. This week, Rick Scott, the Republican Senator from Florida, tested positive for COVID. He is the most recent case, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa also tested positive earlier this week. Both have been quarantining themselves and working from home. -
2020-09-24
Zlatan Ibrahimović Gets COVID, Bad Idea
During the return to play, Zlatan Ibrahimović was like any other player, he wanted to return to the game as fast as safely possible. During the next couple of months, the European leagues would open up with no crowds, cutout fans in the stands and the simulated sounds that tried to make it seem as fans were in the stands. Obviously, these players were not all free from COVID, with the traveling and the other people they inherently came in contact with play that would happen. Players were tested regularly, and sure enough Zlatan Ibrahimović tested positive. -
2020-03-15
Covid changed my life positevly
I could've write this in French, but i feel it would be way easier for you to get everything out of my story if i was writing it in english. When COVID started, it gave me a good reason to stay for long periods of time at my girlfriend's house, placing me away from my violent and alcoholic roomates and the insecure environnement i was in. Being away from them lowered my stress levels and this was the first step of my depression recovery. Then, when university went online and offered us to extend our projects due-dates to the end of the summer, i was more than happy to put my school work aside to focus on my mental health. Because of the situation, I was able to reach out to a university psychologist and we worked out memories and discovered i was a sexual assault victim when i was young. This information being brought up, she was able to testify for me to a gov. agency that helps criminal activity victims to get psychological help. So i got a weekly psychologist (uni. psy was short term only) and then i started digging deeper and deeper into my traumas. At the same time, i moved out to a student residence in a 1 and a half appartment on the campus. In this environnement, i had total control over everything and i started feeling safer and safer. I had no one to see phisically and i was able to determine the way i was to live my life in the daily matters (ex-roomates were sleeping until 2pm, hurting my freedom to just use my old appartment as i wanted to ) This situation made me understand how my well-being is inherently attached to my hability to control my environnement and to have the freedom to realise the person i am. I started meditating everysingle day, i started taking care of my appartment, of my body's health and i started performing way more in school. Being a ADHD person makes it that i find online classes better than offlines... i can pause, record, fast-foward, go back .... love it. I also started taking care of my spiritual sides, studying viking runes, their meanings, their wisdom and the way they could teach me about life. Covid saved me, made me realize i should take care of myself, it made me realise i have something to bring to the world. I didn't have any suicidal toughts since 2-3 months and it feels great. -
2020-10-12
Losing it
Financially, we took a hit, so that put more added stress on me. Having my kids home, juggling meals, class work, homework, along with toddlers, a full time job & part time job has put me at my wits end. Not getting daily needed exercise or sun light... 4 months into the shut down, we tested positive for covid. I was the only one with symptoms & they were bad. I was in bed for over a week & with symptoms for 3 weeks & still had to juggle my daily life. I felt like i was falling into a slight depression. It’s been a struggle beyond belief. It’s very overwhelming & there are days that I just want to run. I don’t feel we have caught a break in any way. -
2020-03-16T12:00:00
Finding Myself During Covid
My story discusses how throughout Covid , I found a way to make it positive. A global pandemic turned millions of lives upside down. But, I won't allow this disease to kill off my dreams with tennis. -
2020-10-11
In the Pandemic Journey
I am an international student from Colombia. I was in the middle of my fourth semester as a sophomore in college when I heard that the pandemic hitting the world just entered the U.S. I was excited at the time because my girlfriend and I bought tickets to go to New York City during spring break. I thought we were going until I heard that New York City was a hot spot for COVID-19. We did not want to risk anything, especially if we were going to encounter a virus that was completely unknown to us, so we cancelled the trip, but the airline still gave us the tickets to fly anytime between then and the end of 2022. After that, spring break came, and it was announced that the university was closed after spring break and we would have to go completely online. I live with my girlfriend since I first came to the U.S., so I stayed with her at her home that is two hours from the university we are enrolled in. We finished the rest of the semester there at her home. We then stayed for another month there and while we were in complete isolation we took advantage of that to go running together to be healthy, we did not let ourselves get bored, we were always doing something, we would do zoom video calls with our friends, watch movies, play video games, etc. After that we came back to Stevens Point to work on campus for the summer (with the required restrictions) so we could make some money to pay for our tuition. Though this is considered by many one of the worst years they’ve lived in, I had the most fun summer since I first came to the U.S – me, my girlfriend, and our friends had a blast; we hung out almost every day, we went to isolated beaches and went on boat rides, we had bonfires, we partied amongst ourselves, we went hiking, we went biking, we played soccer, etc. When the summer was over, we went back to classes and I got also got interested in learning new languages, so I downloaded the app called Duolingo to learn Portuguese and practice some other languages. Since Spanish and Portuguese are so similar, I am quickly picking up the language. I started my junior year in college, and I could not be happier with the classes I picked. My girlfriend and I thought that since we have classes online and more time at home, it would be the perfect time to get a dog, so we adopted a Doxiepoo, the combination of a Dachshund and a miniature poodle. She is 4 months and we have had a lot of time to train her and we couldn’t be happier with her. Everyone has their ways of coping, and with this ongoing journey through a global pandemic, I have learned that my way of coping is not only adjusting to the situation but also taking advantage of the variety of opportunities that arrive and make the best out of it. This pandemic has taught me in a way that just because we are adjusting, we should not stop living in the moment and while I understand that for some people this pandemic might be harder, it is up to us to either make it a living hell or make it one of the most memorable experiences of our life. -
0202-10-08
Time to Slow Down and Reflect
What I have learned the most through COVID 19 is how much hate there is in the world. I am a miniscule piece of this planet and if I can strive and share a positive attitude, I would want that for everyone else. Life isn’t perfect, but we can try to be more respectful, caring, and understanding of others. This time of quarantine has really shown me how much I needed to slow down. Slow down and really reflect and meditate what is truly important to me now, and what is important to me and for my future. The hate that we focus on in our society comes from years and years of hurt and hatred. But it’s time for a change; it’s time for us to learn about each other and get to a point where we can all respectfully understand each other. You can never understand what everyone is going through, but they go through it every single day. It’s important to make sure others aren’t alone, and that healing takes time. The constant grind that we live going to work, being social, going to school, and traveling gets tiresome and the quality time of it all gets drowned by the stress and drama. We can use this time of quarantine to stop and realize what truly is important for our health: mental, physical, and spiritual. -
2019-02-12
COVID19
I just wanted to leave my reflection on COVID-19. I personally didn’t have any one in my family become ill from this in fact no one has gotten it besides me. I found out I had it in the middle of February. This was before COVID really became a problem or before people were getting it in the US. I was tested for flu, strep throat, and pneumonia and they all came back negative. The only symptoms I had in the beginning were muscle pains and a fever of around 100-101. After a few days I then began to have a sore throat and a day later is when I began coughing and I became hoarse. But I was already feeling so much better at this point. I never had any trouble breathing, runny or stuffy nose, vomiting, or very high fever that a lot of people mentioned they had when they had COVID. I was lucky mine didn’t get bad and I am even mire lucky none of my family contracted it from me, or even any of them at all. -
2020-08-23
A Unlucky, Lucky Case
This screenshot is a routine "how are you?" text I got from one of my coworkers. She is a mother figure at work, and always made sure to check on me and keep me updated on work drama, updates, and just positive thoughts. She knew I was bored and made it a point to have a conversation with me almost every day. I was so bored because I was a lucky case and barely had any symptoms. I'm a healthy, twenty-two year old who caught it after taking a trip to Iowa to visit some friends. The whole group had it and it varied on the severity, but no one was affected too badly; although, one girl did lose her sense of taste for three weeks. My boyfriend and I were holed up for nearly two and a half weeks, due to waiting for negative test results for job-return purposes. While my boyfriend had symptoms that kept him in bed for a week, I simply lost my taste, had a stuffy nose, and minor body aches. I was very lucky because I could barley tell I was sick, and after 3-4 days everything cleared up except my sense of taste, which lasted a week. I will always be thankful that I didn't experience a bad case and that all my friend were okay after. -
2020-08-10
Reflection
It's a flip side and it is important because it highlights one of my main transitions -
2020-07-24
Be skeptical
My older brother has a friend named Rory. Now this happened sometime in late July 2020. Rory's wife Kayla went into labor with their first child. When Rory alerted his parents told his parents to come visit the kid they decided they should get tested for Covid-19 just to be sure they signed in and registered for the test, then they waited inline to get tested, and after about an hour of waiting they decided to leave and just go see the baby. After visiting them they went home and life continued. About 4 days later they received a letter from the hospital that said "Unfortunately your tests came back positive for Covid-19" which was odd since they didnt get tested. -
2020-08-27
My COVID-19 story
Getting corona can be scary for some people especially if you get it. My grandparents got it, but only one of them got it bad. My grandpa had to spend a few weeks in the quarantine section of a hospital and he was in rough shape. My grandma however, even though she tested positive, was asymptomatic. She was scared though for my grandpa. He is much better now but my grandparents do take more precautions now that they have had it. This is important to me because it shows that people can survive the corona. I personally am not afraid of the corona but that does not mean i wont be careful. -
2020-04
Faith
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted my family and I drastically but by having faith we were able to overcome it. It has been a very difficult time for my family and I as we were tested positive a few months ago for the novel coronavirus and shortly after we recovered, one of my uncles passes away due to complications of the virus. I chose this image above and the title because it reflects what I had during everything that my family and I went through due to COVID-19. Having faith is what got me through it all and it’s very important for me to always continue to believe in it. -
2020-08-09
A World With COVID
This global pandemic is something that no one at my age expected. At my age, all people can think about is starting a career soon or finding that special someone soon. A pandemic as severe as this seemed impossible. At the beginning of this pandemic, my family and I were under extreme caution, never going out unless it was work related and never seeing other people. Eventually, this lifestyle became too much for my parents to handle and they started seeing friends in small groups. I would advise against this as much as possible but they would never listen or care. Eventually, they wanted to plan a trip to Mexico to visit family. Again, I advised against it but they attacked me in numbers, saying that it was family and we needed to make time to see them. After much begging, my family convinced me to go to Mexico with them. I would later find out that this was a terrible mistake. We spent a week in Mexico and then my family started to become extremely sick, all besides me. I started to believe that they were COVID-like symptoms but my family disagreed and ignored me. They started to become so sick that they decided to come back from Mexico earlier than expected and went to the doctors here. The doctor recommended a COVID-19 test and thats when we found out that our entire family tested positive for COIVD-19. The first two weeks after testing positive were extremely tough for the entire family. My older brother and parents nearly never slept, had trouble breathing, and couldn't even hold food in their stomach to eat. Luckily, I was asymptomatic throughout this entire process but taking care of my family was draining and harder than I could ever imagine. I would have to wake up in the middle of the night to help out because my parents to were too weak to get up and do anything themselves. At one point of time, my mother was so weak that I actually had the thoughts that she might not be able to pull through this and she still refused to be sent to the hospital, for reasons I couldn't even understand. It has now almost been an entire month after testing positive for the first time and all of my family has regained their health and are up and walking around the house. We have gone back to test about three times as a family and each time, it comes back positive. Although we're not able to return back to society as normal people, we are all healthy and happy again and I am just praying for the day that we test negative and can go back to our normal pandemic lives.