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  2020-03-12

  Little Did We Know

  This is a Tik Tok video from my sister’s account of her documenting the day we were sent home from school. In the video, she’s telling her viewers that school has been cancelled for three weeks, due to the rise in COVID-19 cases across the globe. This video says a lot about the pandemic, because personally I felt that the closing of schools and businesses for the sake of quarantine was a really defining moment of the pandemic. There haven’t been many moments/ pandemics in history that have provoked the closing of institutions, so the fact that this happened says a lot about the magnitude of the situation. This personal account also says a lot about the pandemic, because similarly to my sister in the video, at the beginning of COVID-19 many people were scared and unaware of how long this pandemic would ensue. I feel this video captures her reaction very well.
• 2022-06-01

  Covid-19 Through the eyes of a young adult industry worker

  I remember the days leading up to lock down, one of my professors was warning us that if need be we would effortlessly be able to transition the remaining weeks of class online. To my peers and I, we thought that was a little extreme to talk to us about going remote, we didn't think something that was happening in another continent would reach us so quickly. Fast forward a week or two, work was so slow we were ordering food and sitting around talking for the entirety of our shift. At the time I was a host and was getting paid hourly so I didn't mind but I didn't think about the way it was affecting our bartenders and servers. Within the next two days we were shutdown and I was filing for unemployment. Interestingly enough, that time was the most money I've ever made in my life. I was collecting 2-3x more money than I would have gotten if I was working. I changed my life style, I started nannying once August of 2022 came around because I couldn't afford to only have my hourly host pay once things started to open back up again. I was eventually given a promotion at work to Bartend once my nanny family no longer needed me since they were comfortable with the kids going back to school and day care. I was making a livable wage but it was nothing compared to what sales were before covid. It was never consistent, when the numbers began to spike people, reasonably so, would stay home and money was tight. I was so unhappy at my current job I was despiertly seeking a new one but in January of 2022, it was still a little scary, numbers were spiking and finding a new industry job seemed next to impossible. I found one but it came with a lot of consequences. I struggled financially for months. If it wasn't for the support of my family, I wasn't sure if I would have been able to make rent, pay my car, or even feed myself. Thankfully as the months have gone on it's gotten better. It's now June of 2022; over two years since the pandemic first started, and while nothing is normal, it's the closest it's ever been. Those who were once in the same position as me, scared of how they were going to survive are back to making livable wages. But I won't lie, I'm still scared, there is no certainty or promise that things will stay as "normal" as they are this 2022 summer. All we can do is hope and pray, and be thankful and grateful we're here to talk about it.