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2021-02-04
Reusing the old ward for coronavirus patients Chiba Cancer Center (February 4, 2021)
This is a news of using old medical hospital that is not used for COVID-19 patients’ areas because hospitals are being packed with COVID-19 patients. This will definitely help hospitals that are overloaded. However, I am surprised that they have not started this earlier, when japan was hitting the first wave of COVID-19. Personally, Japan does take a lot of time to initiate something like this (MY PERSONAL OPINION) so maybe they had some sort of reason why they didn't do that initially. Video translated by me. Reuse the unused wards for people infected with the new coronavirus. It is the old ward of the Chiba Cancer Center that begins accepting patients. It was not used because a new ward for cancer was opened in October last year. In Chiba prefecture, the prefecture was becoming more overloaded, such as the occupancy rate of corona beds approaching 70%. They we will start accepting elderly people with mild symptoms from the 5th, gradually increase it, and finally accept about 70 people. 使っていない病棟を新型コロナウイルスの感染者のために再利用します。 患者の受け入れを始めるのは千葉県がんセンターの旧病棟です。 去年10月に新しい病棟ができたため使われていませんでした。 千葉県内ではコロナの病床の稼働率が7割近くになるなど医療が逼迫(ひっぱく)していることを受けて、県が準備を進めていました。 症状が軽い高齢者を中心に5日から受け入れを始め、段階的に増やして最終的に70人ほどを受け入れるということです。 -
2021-02-04
My Mother Will Be 80 Years Old This Week
My mother will have her eightieth birthday this Sunday. She is not likely to share her story here. She has a computer and uses the Internet. However, she usually only looks at other people’s posts on Facebook and does not use Twitter at all. I will therefore tell some of her story myself. My mother has been stuck in her house for nearly a year now. She lives only a mile or two from each of us, so my sister and I get her groceries for her so she does not risk exposure to the virus. My mother was resistant to this for a while, from a combination of independence, a disinclination to impose on others, and a plain desire to get out of the house. My mother probably has not gotten a hug from anyone in nearly a year. We call her nearly every day, and we do visit with her on patio, but we always keep our distance. As much as she would like to see people more, she does not want to break social distancing. In her view, she has stuck with it this long and does not want to waste that effort. When I talk to my mother, she often expresses boredom. She reads, works on puzzles, watches television, and calls family (although she does not want to bother people). The other day I half-jokingly suggested that she spend some time writing her memoirs. It would be a gift for her children and grandchildren to record her life experiences. My mother has started writing several pages a day. She writes long-hand in a notepad, then types up what she wrote on her computer. I was amused when she told me this, because I have not written that way in more than thirty years, and younger generations likely could not imagine doing it this way. My mother made one of her rare trips outside the house last week. She was able to navigate the website and get herself an appointment for a COVID vaccination. I was rather proud of her for persistently navigating a website that I found confusing and difficult to use. Her persistence in seeking a vaccination speaks to her eagerness to get life back to normal. -
2021-02-04
My Grandma's Passing
Travel restrictions and emotional impact. -
2021-02-01
Vaccine Story
Introduce yourself, where you live, age, and occupation Randall McNerlin, 73, of Phoenix Arizona. Retired airline pilot. · How did you feel before getting the vaccine Physically, I felt find before getting the vaccine, although I was a little concerned about the possible consequences of getting the virus before I could get vaccinated. I had had numerous instances of close contacts with people not wearing masks. I had always worn a mask in public since the early spread of the virus but still felt exposed on occasion. · You can record the moment you get the vaccine/if you already received it, what do you remember and where were you? The day I got the vaccine, I had received word that there was a walk in line, referred to as aisle four, at the State Farm coliseum. I took my wife and son with me in hopes we could all be vaccinated but we were turned away when I told the admittance guards that I had no appointment. I determined to try again the next day but came alone. I told the guard that I had an appointment but once in line I told the volunteer agents that I was hoping to get in as a stand-by. They offered me the shot and I was very relieved to have started down the path of getting some immunity started. · What vaccine did you get (if you know) Pfizer · How did you feel about getting the vaccine? Grateful to science, grateful to the luck of being where one was available and relieved. · Why did you get the vaccine? I listened to science and logic dictated that the achievement of herd immunity of the public was of paramount importance. I wanted to be part of the solution. -
2021-01-31
Volunteering Breaks Hearts
I volunteered at one of the County’s vaccination clinics last week. The health department ramped up their vaccination schedule, and we saw nearly 50% more traffic than the week prior, which was already 30% above its projections. Many of the folks over 65 (group 1C) here in Tucson are going up to Phoenix to be vaccinated as local health officials are still working their way through the 75+ crowd (Group 1B1). It has been both heartbreaking and frustrating that about a third of the vehicle occupants beg and plead for some special exemption for a family member who’s with them. Despite not yet being entitled to be vaccinated themselves, they hope someone lets them cut in line. Everyone has a special need and a special, unique circumstance that should enable them to jump ahead of their neighbors, and the selfishness of it agitates one of my few prejudices, especially when they don't take the initial 'no' for an answer. The public is so terrified, and many seem to fear they won’t manage to avoid illness in the coming weeks despite having done so for ten months now. It hurts my heart to see their suffering, to hear their fear and anxiety, to have to turn them away, and to know they’re asking for special treatment that might deny the delivery of vaccines to the most vulnerable populations. The hardest part has been, though, the number of elderly folks entitled to be vaccinated who can't navigate the online portal to get an appointment. The current vaccines are stored so cold that we can't deviate from the allotted appointments, but every day brings in elderly people who can't function in a digital world. The county can't spare personnel to offer immediate and realistic registration help to them, and many have complained of waiting on the phone for hours, only to have the county phone line hang up on them. The situation makes me want to find their grandchildren and ask why they don't give a damn about helping their grandparents. I also found out last night our organization's portion of the operation is winding down, and I do not expect to again be able to help facilitate vaccinations in my community. With time and eventual immunization, I hope to find other ways to serve my neighbors. -
2021-01-31
Suffering and Loss
I work as an investigations contractor assigned to assist my county health department with interviewing positive covid-19 patients. I recently spoke with an 85-year-old C19 patient who was hospitalized and awaiting surgery for a brain bleed at the time of our conversation. She explained that she had fallen in her backyard trying to retrieve her feral cat's bed from a rainstorm, tripped, and laid in the rain for almost two hours before anyone found her. Both she and her late husband contracted covid-19 around Christmas, and he died soon thereafter. The hospital where he received his final treatments allowed her to visit him just before he passed, which is an unusual and gracious blessing at this time. The medical interview that normally takes 30 minutes required almost two hours and tears from both of us. When we finished, I wished her well, offered that I looked forward to speaking with her soon, and asked God to bless her. I called her hospital gift shop and ordered a carved wooden angel to be delivered to her room, as she’s a woman of faith. I had the card signed from me and the Health Dept, so I suppose I’ll find out this week if anyone complained about it. More than anything else, I’m hoping her file shows a successful discharge and recovery by now. She told me she looked forward to trading in the cafeteria food for her son's gourmet cooking, and I pray she's already done that. -
2020-01-28
IMMY Labs offers POD to help distribute Oklahoma vaccinations
IMMY Labs is a local company in my area that had previously offered free COVID testing to Oklahomans. Starting last week IMMY Labs created a POD at the Embassy Suites in Norman, Oklahoma. This offered senior citizens and healthcare workers the opportunity to receive the Pfizer vaccine and automatically sign up for the follow up vaccination. The POD is processing approximately 1200 people a day. Before many people in my area were driving up to 150 or more miles, roundtrip, to try to get vaccines. This has greatly improved availability for the elderly in my area. -
2021-02-28T10:55
No shots for you!
This picture shows what I get when I try to schedule a COVID-19 vaccination through the Arizona Department of Health Services website. I'm basically out of luck for the time being. It is good that a vaccine is available now and the end of the pandemic is in sight, but the process is frustrating. While I understand that our state agency had to develop their website in a short time, they've known for months that vaccines were on the way. Their site is needlessly complex, buggy, and non-informative. I initially got hung up on a page that required me to enter my health insurance information; it took several tries and a few phone calls to figure out exactly what I needed to enter in each of the fields. Once I get through, I can't find an open appointment. There is no indication on the webpage, but it seems that the system returns no open appointments for me because I am not yet eligible. My mother who is more than 75 years old has managed to get an appointment and get her first shot. I'm concerned that many other people, particularly the elderly who need the vaccination more than others, will not get access to them because they will not be able to navigate through the website. I have read a number of media reports about this. It seems like poor planning to set up a process that relies on individuals to use the internet without offering an alternative. -
2021-01-26
Documents that Explore Vaccine Differences Between States
It shows the differences in vaccines between states which will be valuable in the future. -
2020-12-31
They Never Saw the Sun
For every birthday and Christmas, I get new running shoes. I tell my mom and husband to buy them when they’re on sale, save them, and wrap them up for me. I run A LOT. When quarantine started in March, I took one run outside. Two days later, the CDC confirmed everyone’s worst fears - the virus was airborne. Although running is a low risk activity, where I run, the trails are very narrow. Unfortunately, the people who walk/bike/run there are apparently pretty narrow minded and refuse to wear masks. Could I run outside and not catch COVID? Probably. But with both my husband and I working from home, my +65 mom living with, and a perfectly fine treadmill, that risk just didn’t seem worth it. Man, I miss those trails. But I am lucky to have my treadmill. In July, I pulled out a new pair of running shoes. I honestly didn’t think about how long they’d been tied to the treadmill, I just laced them and put them on like I had done so many times before. One virtual marathon, three virtual 10Ks, and 600+ for fun miles (all on a treadmill) later, it was time to retire my trusty running shoes. On December 31, I announced their retirement with a snarky picture on my Instagram. But what a bizarre pair of shoes to retire. Perfectly clean on the outside, completely destroyed on the inside. The poor things never left the house, they never saw the sun. As a trail runner, my running shoes are always filthy by the time I’m ready to retire them. How strange to retire a pair of shoes that look brand new. How tired they are inside. A symbol of the bizarre year that was 2020. -
2021-01-24
Community Members in AZ Getting the Vaccine
97-year-old Alexander White, a Holocaust survivor, got a vaccine with a push from Arizona lawmakers. -
2021-01-25
COVID-19 Stats and Story
Coronavirus happened so quickly. It is difficult to recall details from March 14 2020. The day my family and thousands of others went into quarantine. March 14 2021 is approaching quickly. Back then it seemed like nobody knew anybody who had the virus. It was all rumors and stories. Now it seems like everybody knows or has had Coronavirus. A prediction is that 1 in 3 people in LA county have had Coronavirus, which is totally insane. Los Angeles county has over 10,000,000 residents. Meaning that about 33,333,333+ people have been infected, many without knowing. Although it is an estimate, that shows how serious this virus is. 1000-3000 (about) people in America die due to Coronavirus each day. About 15,000 people die each day worldwide. There have been almost 100,000,000 Coronavirus cases and 2 Million deaths. 1/70 of the world has been diagnosed, not including those who are asymptomatic and those who were not or do not have access to tests. About 2 million people have died. That is 1/50 of those diagnosed. Seeing these numbers shocks me. It opens my eyes and makes me realize how truly important it is the wear a mask and to be safe. My grandpa, I call him Papa, is getting the first dose of his Coronavirus vaccine tomorrow. I am so excited that he will have immunity. There are 11 cases of Coronavirus in his 200 person retirement home. He is 84 years old. I am so glad that Papa will be safe. He was widowed when my grandma, Grammy about 11 years ago, so I believe she had been his guardian angel just as she has been mine. My final thought is that I cannot wait for Coronavirus to be cured and for the vaccine to have wider distribution. -
2021-02-25
COVID Statistics
As of now, there have been roughly 100.17 million COVID cases worldwide. Of those 100 million people that have had COVID, about 2.14 million have died. This means that the death rate of COVID-19 is about 2%. Most people who get the virus have little to no symptoms, and recover quickly. However, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions are more likely to develop complications because of COVID (respiratory tract infection). Luckily, everyone I knew who got COVID were pretty healthy. My cousin Michael, who just graduated from UC David and is training with the Marines, contracted COVID and recovered very quickly. My family cancelled our Christmas celebration in Burbank to prevent my 94 year old grandpa from getting COVID. He is definitely in the high-risk category because of his age. I am thankful that no one close to me has died of COVID, and I pray for those who have passed away. -
2021-01-25
Statistics
As we may know a lot of people had or have Covid-19. Compared to the world population there are 7.8 billion people in the world and 99 million people have gotten it. The top cases are in the USA (25 million), India with (10 million), and Brazil with (8 million). Overall there has been 2.1 million deaths and the average age is 60+. I had a personal experience with my peers being represented in these statistics. My great grandma, my history teacher Mr., Newman, and my volleyball teammate. The one who hurt the most was my great grandma because she ended up passing away shortly after she caught Covid-19. In conclusion, I miss her very much and a big amount compared to the population got Coronavirus. -
2021-01-24
An uneasy Quarantine
My experience during the pandemic was a little unsettled. My fiancee and were in the process of selling our house when this new SARS virus started to really spread throughout the United States. Surprisingly we received many good offers and one was too good to pass up. We had a house lined up in a rural area of Florida but that deal fell through. It seems as the pandemic got worse and spread rapidly in the major cities a lot of other people began buying properties in rural areas driving the prices up so the deal fell through. We then began looking for a house in the suburbs of Fort Myers, Florida. In the meantime, I had to live with my parents while we closed on a new house. This was an anxious time as both of them are over 60 years old and my father has existing lung problems I was and am dreadfully worried about him. However, with some luck and a great deal of vigilance and adherence to recommended conduct by the CDC, none of us ever got infected. My fiancee works in a large hospital because of her knowledge of safety procedures and warning signs our family has so far never gotten sick. Despite a few people close to us contracting the virus including our neighbor and her brother who was frail before contracting Covid and is now fighting for his life. These are scary and painfull times. -
2021-01-24
Navajo Nation COVID vaccine rolls out for elder population
Tséhootsooí Medical Center hosts drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine event. Elderly residents, 75 and older, of the Navajo Nation (Fort Defiance), are given the COVID-19 vaccine at Tséhootsooí Medical Center -
2021-01-24
Students Accessing the Vaccine
College students have been left out of many of the COVID relief efforts such as the stimulus payments. And now due to their status as healthy and young adults, many of them are now at the back of the line for receiving the COVID vaccine. An estimate reported by best colleges states that college students can expect to get the vaccine in April with the rest of the general population. North Carolina initially planned to prioritize college students but has now recently revised its plan so that this is no longer the case. For college students, the COVID process can be incredibly frustrating as they exist in an economically precarious place, as they are going to school and in many instances unable to work full time or worked service jobs that do not exist under COVID conditions. Vaccine access seems to be another area in which college students are disadvantaged due to their status and age. https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/when-college-students-will-receive-covid19-vaccine/#:~:text=Most%20college%20students%20will%20wait,outstripped%20supply%20in%20many%20areas. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2021-01-14/nc-to-vaccinate-those-65-college-students-not-prioritized -
2021-01-24
Food, COVID-19, and my Mother
My mom raised her children around food. She made sure everything revolved around it just like the Earth revolves around the Sun. We ate whether we wanted to or not, as food was her way of showing love. Mom is now in her late 70's and still works miracles in the kitchen. When we visited my parents' house (pre-pandemic), she fed us until we could not eat anymore, then declared we were still hungry and loaded our plates with more. That is what Mexican moms do, she always says. Even though we protest, my husband, kids, and I love it. All of this changed once COVID-19 hit. Worried about my parents catching the virus, we did not see much of them in 2020. When we did, it was from a distance in their backyard and not for very long. It took an enormous toll on my mom. My parents cannot visit with their children and grandchildren, but almost just as worse, my mom has no one to cook for but my dad. Although she still enjoys cooking for him, it is not the same. Although we all know what food means to her, none of us realized just how much until this pandemic hit. Normally, she is rarely sick, loves to hike, and enjoys going to aerobics with her friends. However, lately, she has felt melancholy, is getting headaches, and is sleeping more. This is extremely unusual for her, which has us all very concerned. This pandemic is wearing on her both physically and emotionally. This feisty woman is slowing down, which is scary to us all. Over the past year, we continue to tell her we want to come over but would never forgive ourselves if we unknowingly pass the virus to her or my dad. Mom did not and still does not understand. She just wants what she wants, which is her family surrounding her. My dad is much more pragmatic about this situation, but mom will not have any of it. She is incredibly frustrated and is not afraid to tell us about it. Luckily, both of my parents just got their first dose of the vaccine last week. My dad said this gives them renewed hope that their family will be together again soon. I hear this hope when I speak on the phone with my mom. She is ready to get busy again in the kitchen. I cannot wait to eat her homemade tortillas straight off the stove, her spicy chili, and all of her other tasty dishes. People are now talking about the 'new normal.' I do not want a new normal. I want to get back all that this pandemic has taken from us, including my family crowding around a table full of my mom’s food. -
2021-01-24
A Story of the Pfizer Vaccine
97-year-old Alexander White, a Holocaust survivor, got a vaccine with a push from Arizona lawmakers. -
2021-01-24
Anxiety, confusion remain over COVID-19 vaccine rollout at mass vaccination site at CCSF
This article discusses the confusion over how vaccines are being rolled out to eligible individuals in San Francisco. A vaccination site is allowing individuals to get vaccinated without an appointment if there are extra doses at the end of the day. However, while texts are being sent out to let people know they are eligible, without an appointment there is no guarantee they will receive a vaccine if they go to the site; this is leading to people arriving, hoping to receive one of the leftover doses, only to be turned away. This is just one example of how confusion and misinformation about the vaccine is leading to anxiety and disappointment, and a desperate sense of hope that the kinks will be worked out soon so that the vaccination process will improve. -
2021-01-23
Change of Life A Friends Story!
I realized the seriousness of the pandemic when I began an exercise program on February 6, 2020. There was not much noise being made about the pandemic yet. I got my nails and hair done on February 11-12, 2020. I would realize now that this would be the last time since I have done this in a year. As the pandemic progressed things were places shutting down and I left my exercise program on February 28, 2020. I early voted on March 2, 2020, and wore a mask. Saw my dentist on March 4, 2020, and got my hair done one last time. By May, I went practically to my doctors and my general physician via telehealth, and then finally I realized this was very serious. People I know began to test positive for Covid. One of these people came into direct contact with me so as a result I went and got a Covid Test as a safety precaution. I found out it was negative. I began to not leave the house now due to the rising cases in my community in Florida. In August cases began to surge even more as people returned to school since summer was over. The holidays came in December and the numbers continued to grow and caused me to not leave the house anymore. This has been a terrible year of isolation and has caused me to lose many dear friends due to the pandemics of isolationism and people's change in attitudes. I am blessed to have a great spouse and a home with a bed to sleep in. I got vaccinated in January 2021. While this brings hope I have to figure out what I am to do and how to move forward as a result of the ongoing pandemic while I have to still maintain safety protocols. I hope the end is in sight due to there now being federal government oversight. -
2021-01-21
Covid Christmas
During Christmas we had a lot of family go to my one of my Grandmas house and we had Christmas Day there. A couple weeks later we found out that my Aunts brother was exposed to Covid. My parents got tested and they were negative, and so was my Aunt. The not so good thing is now, my other Aunt has been staying with my Grandma since then and makes us wear a mask when we visit our Grandma. That was my story. -
2021-01-21
A personal story of how I have been affected by someone testing positive.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I had both sides of my family get it. My dads parents and my cousins, and my cousins on my moms side. This was really hard because I usually visit them every holiday or try to at least. Since they had COVID I wasn't aloud to see them or visit them. This was really hard because since wasn't aloud to see them I didn't know if it would be there last day, my grandparents are all 80+. This was a personal story of how I have been affected by someone in my life getting COVID-19. -
2020-11
How People I Know Testing Positive Has Affected My Life
My grandparents tested positive right after Thanksgiving, but we didn't go up there since they were not feeling well. Other than that, my orthodontist and his wife tested positive, but I haven't had/needed an appointment in quite a while. That is just about it. -
2020-10-21
Spend time doing what matters to you most.
During the COVID-19 pandemic I have had to surmount multiple extremely challenging situations that were only made even more difficult by the pandemic, including the death of my last grandparent. As someone with pre-existing conditions, I usually have to be very careful about not just protecting myself when I leave my house in Chandler, Arizona, but making sure I don't spread any disease to my family. When I got the news that my Grandmother probably didn't have much time left due to her cancer, it was extremely distressing for several reasons. The main reason was the fact that I was losing my grandmother, but one factor that was just as, if not more distressing, was the question of how to be able to best safely spend time with her. After a long discussion with my family, I made it clear that just being on video chat or on the phone with my grandmother was not enough; I wanted to find a way to travel to her house in Kansas, and physically be there for her. It was not an easy decision to make, especially when one takes into account that my method of transportation was to fly, which made me very nervous as someone with pre-existing conditions. Fortunately, I was able to take a safe flight to Kansas, but I was shocked to find family visiting my grandmother from out of state that not only refused to wear masks around her, even though she had virtually no immune system left. Despite such stressful conditions, I was able to spend a week with my grandmother just before she passed away, even though COVID-19 made it very hard. The fact that I was able to do such a thing is striking to me, especially when compared to the vast amount of people around the world who aren't able to spend time with loved ones infected with COVID-19 before they pass away. Looking back, I am very lucky I did not get sick, and I was even more lucky that flights were beginning to become regularly available again after they had been shut down earlier in the year. Most of all, I feel very grateful that I was able to spend time with my grandmother, especially when so many people are dying alone all over the world, leaving families distraught, and without closure. -
2021-01-21
Symptoms
I have only had 1 family member get COVID-19. It was my great grandma (102) who passed a few days ago due to COVID-19. She had trouble breathing and One of the people in her home must have brought it to her. One of my teachers also got COVID-19. He said that he only had like a fever for a few days but still doesn't feel 100%. One of my friends family went to dinner with someone with the rona but didn't know at the time. They found out and freaked. Emily and I were at their house when they found out. They all got tested and were negative which made sense because none of them felt bad. My step-aunt and her house got COVID and they all had different symptoms. One kid lost taste and the other lost smell. My aunt got a fever and my uncle had trouble breathing. The symptoms of COVID-19 are all different. -
2021-01-20
The Trials and Tribulations of Getting This Shot
It's important so that people realize that just because a vaccination is approved for use, it does not mean that it's readily available -
2021-01-18
Covid -19 vaccination at 23
My name is Cassidy, I have lived in northern Utah for the last six years. I’m originally from Mesa Arizona. I am twenty- three years old. I currently work at a hospital in northern Utah. I’m a certified nursing assistant. I have worked on the Covid-19 unit and helped many patients who have had Covid in the beginning of the pandemic. I currently live with my parents. My parents are considered high risk. My dad is 76 with COPD, emphysema and cancer. My mom is 65 with an auto immune disorder. At first I didn’t want the vaccine, I was super weary of it since it was manufactured so quickly. I honestly thought it was just over hyped. But working with the Covid -19 patients I realized it affected everyone differently. Even though I personally wasn’t worried if I got Covid-19 . I was worried about catching it and giving it to someone who couldn’t fight it off, especially a loved one. And then I realized everyone has a loved one. And that’s when I decided to get the vaccine. On December 22, 2020 i received my first dose of the moderna Covid 19 vaccine at the hospital I work at, Ogden regional medical center. At first I didn’t even feel the shot. After I received the vaccine I had to wait 15 minutes to make sure I would have no side effects. I was fine then I left the hospital and headed to school and did my certification for my class. The next morning I woke up and my left arm was super sore and I had a really hard time moving it, since it was so stiff and painful. I experienced some chills but other than that I was fine. And today January 18th 2021, I went back to the hospital I work for and I received my 2nd dose of moderna Covid -19 vaccination. I felt the shot this time, the serum was a thicker consistency. My arm is tender and I feel a general feeling of malaise. I was told by the nursing supervisor at work to take Tylenol before my vaccine and to take it following the vaccine, and to make sure to get the vaccine on a day where I won’t be working or doing anything the next day. Unfortunately I work and go to school full time. So tomorrow I have school but I’ve been keeping up on taking Tylenol. I received this vaccine not for myself but rather for others, because I would hate if my parents caught it and didn’t make it. And everyone has a family member that could possibly not make it if they caught Covid-19. -
2021-01-09
Visiting Home
I live relatively close to the home where I grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts which is about 10 minutes outside of Boston. It’s a simple home where six of us shared a bathroom and thought nothing of it! My parents, one of whom just hit ninety years old, still reside in our home and never plan to leave with my mother asserting that she will only leave on a gurney. My parents now feel essentially locked in due to the pandemic which makes visiting, which I did this weekend, both more important but unnatural in some ways. We are Italian, for the most part, and Italians are a touchy group, always hugging, which in my family is our non-verbal communication of love. With the risks involved with close contact there is no more hugging, and it’s hard to even want to express ourselves to these 90 year old's with a tacky elbow tap or fist bump. Verbal expression has been temporarily substituted but it is an inadequate alternative and will never replace the connection one feels from a sincere and long held hug. -
2021-01-08
Covid over winter break
Over Winter Break my family and I drove in our Black SUV Ford Explorer Sedan 1200 miles or 18 hours to Cheyenne, Wyoming to visit my Grandparents. Along the way we stopped at the local Starbucks' to pick up a coffee for my coffee obsessed mother and we were on our way. When driving through Los Angeles, California you should always expect to be caught in traffic which was a minor setback, but we still made it through. The rest of California is very ugly being that its just Desert for 200 miles. During this time my sister spends her time spreading her nasty feet across the seat onto my body and refuses to move them for at least an hour. When I attempt to do this I am immediately yelled at and pushed off within 3 minutes. My dog which is completely lazy lays his little butt down between my sister and I and sleeps 3 quarters of the trip. My dad drives the whole time because my mom throughs a fit and refuses to drive even a single mile. And I sit down under my sister's legs under her super hot grey blanket in a cramped SUV in the desert and despite all that the car ride was pretty nice. When we finely arrived at our hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado we went out to Applebee's which I got to say is pretty good. I got the rib plate and a kiwi lemonade which I got to say is really good. At around 7:00 we arrived back at our hotel where we all collapsed and went to bed. At 5:00 we got back up, got dressed, brushed our teeth, and walked out of our hotel in to 20 degrees ferenheit. I made a mistake and decided to do it in sweat pants and a T-shirt. The rest of the drive was much shorter and a lot more scenic with the beautiful Colorado mountains and snow on the ground. we stopped at a local Maverick Gas Station to fill up and we all got out and used the facilities, even the dog. and the rest of the trip was nice. When we finally arrived we hugged our Grandparents and went inside. They have a enormous beefy Black Labrador named Hatti that for some reason liked to lick my dogs ears. Around 5:00 my aunt, uncle, and cousins came over and once again we hugged and visited for the rest of the night. over the next few days we went over to our cousins house to hang out and have a ping pong tournament, I lost badly. Over that time we went to my cousin's friend house to look through a telescope and witness something that only happens once every 400 years. Jupiter and Saturn join together in the sky and and create a bright light known as the Christmas Star. After that we went back to our Grandparents house to spend the night. the next day we went ice scating at the local arena and I swear I spent more time hitting and bruising my body parts on the ice then on my scates. The next day we spent most of the time playing pingpong with our cousin's. The next day we went to an escape room which we successfully completed and the next day it was Christmas Eve. That day was absolutely amazing. It started with launching a potato with a potato cannon across the ranch my grandparents own. After that we went to the shop and we did our own scavenger hunt which is our tradition. And then we went back to our Grandparents house to have our Christmas dinner with our great Grandma who is 92 and had our annual lemon cake. We went to bed and woke up and it was christmas. I got a lot of good stuff. like clothes a new football and a new build your own remote control rock crawler jeep. and then it was time to leave and go to our other Grandparents in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There we had a second Christmas Where I got New Airpods and a lego set. we hung around the house for mostof the days but we went to our other aunt and uncle's house and visited them for 2 days. And then it was time to leave to go back home the way we came marking the end of our trip. -
2020-12-25
Christmas During the Pandemic
This year's Christmas was different. For example, we didn't visit with my Grandpa as much as we normally do, though we did stop by and say hello. Also, My Grandma didn't come by our house on Christmas and do the gift exchange with us. This year, it was just me, my brother, and our parents at home together. -
2020-12-25
Christmas in Covid-19
It was the morning of Christmas Eve. Me, my mom, and my two siblings usually fly to Arizona to see my grandparents but because of Covid we had to drive. It was about a 6 hour trip so not too bad. When we got there, the tradition of every year is my cousins come who I never get to see. But again because of Covid, they cancelled out. To me, Christmas didn't feel like it had in the past. No cousins, wearing masks, I just didn't get in the Christmas spirit. I tried to make the best of it with my grandparents and see the good in that it was Jesus' birth which helped me brighten up my mood. -
2020-12-25
Christmas 2020
The Christmas of 2020 was not too different from past years for me. On Christmas Day, my family opens presents and eats meals together, we did that again this year with little change. Christmas Eve, however, changed a lot. Normally, my family and friends would gather at my Grandmother's house to eat and talk. But, we could not do that in 2020. Instead, we only saw my Grandmother. Overall, Christmas didn't change much, the only thing different was the lack of people. -
2021-01-06
Christmas 2020
This year, my Christmas was much different from any other that I have experienced. instead of having a big party at our house or our grandparents, our grandparents came over to our garage with masks on and they didn't come inside at all. We ate smoked chicken that my dad made on the barbecue. With my other set of grandparents, it was a little bit different. They allowed us to come over to their house and we ate dinner together. We had a Brent's Deli sandwich platter. All of my family was very generous with gifts, as usual. In short, I had a different Christmas from any other year. -
0000-01-06
Covid-19 Christmas
My Christmas was normal in the sense that we were in a pandemic. My family did follow the rules that governor Newsum sent out. We were only supposed to have 5 family members come over, but at my house in California, we had 11. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and my cousin with her husband all came over for Christmas. I live in a big house in California so we were the best house to host at. Me and my mom hate hosting so this year was torture. My chocolate labrador, Dania was very excited to have so many people over. The morning of Christmas was very normal. My grandma and my aunt made cinnamon rolls. Making cinnamon rolls is a tradition on Christmas in my family. I am the youngest in the family so I am in charge of handing out all the presents that were under the tree. In my family, we call that job the Elf. That job was a lot of work for me to do all on my own. After we upon all the presents, I helped make lunch. At night we watched the second Wonder Woman. In the middle of the movie, my uncle's mom died of covid-19. -
2020-12-25
Covid-19 Christmas
My parents and my grandparents had been texting about what we were going to do for Christmas with Covid-19. We had stayed apart on Thanksgiving so we were planing to do the same thing but we really wanted to be together on Christmas like every year. I woke up at 9:00 AM and went over to my parents room. We eventually went downstairs after everyone woke up but it was weird. Last year my uncle stayed with us and he was there when we woke up. We open our presents in the morning and then around 2:00 PM my grandparents either come see us or we go see them. This year we had to be on zoom and it was weird. When I went to sleep that night it did't feel like we just had Christmas. -
2021-01-06
Christmas 2020
it shows how corona isnt that bad -
2020-12-05
How Christmas was like for me this year.
This year Christmas wasn't exactly normal with covid ragging everywhere and in a few places getting worse. Normally For Christmas, we travel out of state but without being able to get on a plane, as it would put us in danger of getting Covid. So instead we drove up to Lake Tahoe to see our grandparents, aunt, and uncles, as well as cousins. However, we didn't stay up there very long as we wanted to be home for Christmas. Besides that, we were home all of the time and I and my family had a little case of cabin fever so we spent some time with friends that we had been previously been exposed to. All in all Christmas this year was very different. -
2021-01-06T12:49
A Covid Christmas
This Christmas was unlike any other. I woke up on Christmas Day knowing that I wasn't going to be able to see my family because of the current regulations in my city. It was sad because we have many traditions we partake in each year. On Christmas Eve, me and my family, including my grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins, usually eat a delicious seafood feast, made up with crab, oysters, clams and linguini, shrimp, and other seafoods. It is a tradition that we have held up for many years, and it pained me that it didn't happen this Christmas. On Christmas Eve, my family also exchanges presents with each other with our extended family, and our living room felt so empty this year without the laughter and joy that my family brings to Christmas. On Christmas Day, we usually have delicious meet-filled ravioli that we make homemade weeks before Christmas. Because of the current circumstances, we were not able to make the ravioli, nor eat it. This is one of my favorite parts about Christmas, and I was devastated that it didn't happen. On Christmas Day night, me and my family usually go to the other side of my family's house to eat delicious food and exchange presents. My grandmother and grandfather on that side of the family have been very strict with COVID and didn't allow us to come over. It hurt me, but I understood because these are very hard times, and I did not want to put them at risk. Christmas is usually my favorite time of the year, joyous and merry and filled with family and cheer. But this year, Christmas was a solemn and lonely time; it was very hard to get through the holidays without my family by my side. This experience has taught me to be more grateful, and I am, I am grateful that my family is alive and healthy. To end this, I would like to say, we always have Christmas next year, and the next year, and the next year, etc. We need to keep our heads held high during these tough times. -
20201-01-06
A 2020 Christmas
My winter break in the year 2020 was drastically different compared to the other years. I usually take a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to Shenzhen, China, sleep and watch at least 2 movies on the plane, and arrive at the destination all tired and jet-lagged. My dad would welcome my family and me and promise to have a good dinner tonight when we got home. I would see all the skyscrapers in the city on the way, sometimes being too tall to see the top just from the car window. I would admire all the lush green hills, for LA, had brown hills with dried out bushes and dead trees. When we arrived and rang the doorbell, my grandparents would open the door and say how much they missed us. This year was different though. Instead of packing clothes and gifts for my relatives overseas, I stayed at home, playing card games with my family. Instead of getting together with grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins and having a big Christmas dinner, we made steak, mashed potatoes, and a pie while listening to Christmas music. Instead of playing my first round of golf for a new year at Mission Hills in Shenzhen with my dad and mom, I played with my mom, getting ready for a golf tournament I had in two days. I missed my overseas family and was able to see them over facetime and in photos. But this Christmas was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. My family got playing cards and different board games to play. We would laugh at each other when they had bad cards, or argue at each other when they wanted to trade property with each other in Monopoly. This Christmas was different, but I enjoyed it like always. -
2021-01-06
COVID Christmas
On December 23, I received an email from my youth group leader, saying that her daughter had just tested positive for COVID-19. I had been displaying no symptoms, but my mom and twelve-year-old brother had been feeling a little sick, so they were tested the next day. A man came to our house with full protective gear and used a mouth swab instead of the more common one in the nose. Since we were trying to be responsible, when we went to Christmas Eve mass, we sat in our car in the church parking lot and listened to the sound using the radio. My youngest brother, at age five, was quickly bored. When we went home we had dinner. It was Mexican food. My mom had set out all of our nice silverware and china. Over dinner we received the results of the tests taken earlier that day, which were positive. My mom began calling people and friends we had been in contact with and later went to bed. My brother tried to wake me up several times in the early morning, but I was actually sleeping well for the first time on Christmas Eve and told him to go away. When I finally did get up we went into our living room and I saw that I had gotten a new bike. It was a really nice one too! Later we picked up gifts from our grandparents. It was a sad sort of Christmas; our Christmas dinner was eaten in the living room in front of the movie Soul. It had just come out on Disney+. -
2020-12-25
Christmas 2020
My family did what we always do for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we all went to church. Our church, Calvary, in Westlake Village, California, had 2 in person service so we went to the one at 3. We had to wear masks and social distance, but you had to do that everywhere. Being inside a church was a weird feeling because we haven't been in the church for about 10 months due to Covid-19. Then my grandma, mom, aunt, uncle and sisters, went to my aunt and uncles house for dinner. We were suppose to get beef Wellington but the butcher messed up and gave us steak, which defiantly worked for me. We played games like scene it and 80's music trivia. Then my sisters, mom, grandma and I left because to was 10 pm. My grandma slept over on Christmas Eve like she used to when we were littler. We woke up the next day and my sisters and I opened gifts from "santa" and my mom. We then went over to my aunts and uncles for a brunch and opened gifts from each other. It felt pretty normal all together but when we go out into public it is not by far. -
2021-01-04
Planning to Roll Out the Vaccine at KSU
Kennesaw State University notified faculty and staff on January 4, 2021, that the university would serve as a distribution site for the COVID-19 vaccine to students, faculty, and staff according to CDC guidelines. All employees and affiliates not slated for the first wave, which includes people over age 65 and designated first responders, will fill out a survey on January 14 to indicate their interest in receiving the vaccine and enable them to be added to the vaccination schedule. Although I am only 36 years old, I am teaching in person this semester, and I am eager to get the vaccine. -
2020-12-11
Interview with Jean Kechely
Interviewee: Jean Kechely Interviewer: Kelly Lindemann Date of interview: 12/11/2020 List of acronyms: JK = Jean Kechely, IN = interviewer Background: Jean Kechely is my grandmother, an avid tennis player who spends the winter months in La Quinta, California. The purpose of this interview was to gain insight into how the retired population has responded to COVID-19, and to get her personal perspective on how COVID has affected her life. IN: Hello Grandma! Thank you so much for participating in this interview about your experience during COVID-19. I appreciate your time, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the pandemic. Before we get started, could you tell me about where you’re living now, and maybe a bit about what your life there was like before the pandemic started? JK: I’m staying in La Quinta, at my home that I spend winter months in. When I came down this season, of course we were in the thick of it. It actually started last season when I was here. January and February were kind of normal, and then we had one large event - I think about 20 or 25 thousand people come to it annually- called the La Quinta Arts Festival. I do volunteer work there, and it was a lot of fun, but that was the very last event where there were large numbers of people. The following day - [the festival] was March 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th- they made an announcement that the big tennis tournament, called the BNP, was going to be cancelled. That meant all the world class players, like Roger Federer and all of the big ones, would not be coming. That was totally unexpected, and they felt they had no choice, that they would be endangering their health, if they came. A lot of people were inconvenienced tremendously because they had come from all over the country, and had hotel or Airbnb reservations made ahead of time and had spent a lot of money just buying their tickets. And of course the community in this area of the desert really loses out on a major event. That event, over a period of two weeks, generates a crowd of 450-500,000 people, which is a huge economic impact to a relatively small geographic area. So that was pretty amazing, but you had to take it in stride. However, things went on, but there were no big get togethers. I live in a community that likes to have social activities -there are two hundred and eighty eight home in my area- and we have a wine party every months, the ladies get together for ladie’s luncheons once a month, and those events were all cancelled at the beginning of the year and are still cancelled. We don’t have any idea when they are going to be resumed. IN: It sounds like being surrounded by people who have similar interests and social circles is a really valuable source of contact. I’d like to hear a bit more about what it’s been like to have those circles somewhat shut off from you- how have you perceived the change, and what has the pandemic meant for you and your friends as far as how you can socialize? How have you adapted to social life during the pandemic? JK: Well actually, I would have to tell you that I feel very minimally impacted due to being a retired person and in excellent help, which enables me to engage in the normal activities that I enjoy, which I would describe as healthful recreation. I still play tennis three times a week, and my tennis club had to make a couple of changes. They require all of us members to wear a mask when we enter the property, but once we’re on the court and actually playing then we can remove our masks. Another big change was that we could not invite any guests to the club; that was something that we all enjoyed doing, but they felt that they couldn’t allow that. So, that’s how it still is right now. IN: As far as your companions in the club, are you all fairly like minded in your reactions, or are there differences in people’s opinion on how to respond to the virus? JK: Oh, there are many, many differences. Some people feel that they just don’t know what to believe about it. They don’t know what advice to follow, so anything that is actually mandated by the government, then we have to follow that to be good citizens. Several of the women with whom I play would have an adult child tell them “Well Mom, I don’t think you should be playing any longer because you have no control over where those people are going, or with whom they’re associating”. So, I’ve had a couple of players that I know stop playing, though now they’re back. There are a lot of people from Canada who are members of my tennis club. As soon as this started happening, I’d say around February, they left quickly to return to Canada because they were afraid that the borders would be closed down. This year almose none of them have come back, and the composition of our membership is greatly reduced and very changed. There is one Canadian couple who did fly down, quarantined for two weeks and had their car shipped down, which they’d never done before. Around here, a lot of the women are middle aged, fifty or older, and I am considerably older. Some of them didn’t even feel comfortable visiting each other’s homes, but some were so bored and needed socialization since they couldn’t do their regular activities that they were willing to go to somebody else’s house here in the neighborhood. I have a couple of friends who come over once a week to play Rummikub or Scrabble. One of my good friends has been volunteering for eleven years as an usher for the McCallum Theatre. They get top entertainment for very short runs, maybe only a weekend or an evening, but they have top entertainers like Rhonda Fleming, for example. She is dreadfully missing the wonderful entertainment that she got to see, and misses the people with whom she used to work as an usher. There’s still no idea of when they will be able to resume, since entertainment contracts like those are created at least a year ahead of time. That’s been a big loss for her to not have that. She’s someone who comes over and plays Rummikub or Scrabble with me. IN: It seems quite valuable to have a close circle of friends that you can get together with. Our social lives are very important and have a significant impact on our mental health. JK: And especially as you get older, they say that socialization is very important to help maintain your psychological health. I feel very fortunate that I can do this, and am very happy that there are some women in the area willing to go out and go to somebody else’s house. But I know there are a few who still don’t feel comfortable leaving their own homes, and it must be very difficult to them. IN: I’m interested in your perspective on the relative levels of safety and comfort that people have around protecting themselves from the virus. From what I’ve heard, the virus is more dangerous to people who are immunocompromised or older. I’ve seen a few submissions to the Journal of the Plague Year that center around older people who have a lot of apprehension of the virus, and many of them have taken drastic measures to protect themselves. As someone who is older, do you consider yourself to be vulnerable to COVID, and what is your attitude towards the virus? JK: Well age-wise of course I am vulnerable, but fortunately I do not have any underlying immune problems and am grateful for having such good health. I realize how difficult this pandemic has been for so many American families- parents are trying to keep an income stream, many of them have school-aged children at home and have to supervise their schoolwork, and try to keep the family engaged in outdoor activities. It’s almost too much to expect of a great many families, especially when it’s gone on since February or March and accompanied by harsh lockdown measures. A lot of people that I talk to are not certain that the advice they were given at the beginning [of the pandemic] has been accurate. They feel that a lot of the advice handed down by government bodies has been inaccurate. But you can’t blame them, since this is the first time such a thing has happened in our lifetimes, and everybody is having to go carefully and listen to what is advised. If you are a responsible person you listen to the advice, since these are the people who are in the NHI and the CDC and we should listen to what they think is best. A lot of people say, “We’ve been misled and don’t know what to believe”. I think with the mask thing there’s been a lot of resistance, and of course when you have your president so often appearing in public without his mask, that sends a poor message. I think that wearing a mask is a very small thing to ask of a person, whether it’s going to help other people or yourself- it’s such an easy thing and we should all be willing to do it. IN: I think so too, and on that note would like to bring up how the virus has been politicized, especially as it’s occurred during an election year, and how our governmental bodies have taken strategic stances on it. If you recall, back in March there were conflicting news articles about the subject of wearing a mask- some of then claimed that wearing one would increase your chances of getting it, or make it harder for medical workers to get the masks they needed. There was so much conflicting advice in the news, and I think that really impacted people’s perception of the virus and made it much harder to for them to know how to respond. Living in a community where people are from different areas and backgrounds must have given you an interesting view into the different ways that people perceive the virus. JK: I do hope that we can have this vaccine soon, but even with that there are many people who say that they won’t get the vaccine until its proven to be safe and effective. And I do understand that, but am glad that it will be made available first to healthcare workers and elderly people in nursing homes. IN: On that topic, some of the stories coming from nursing homes are heartbreaking, especially since they’ve had to be strict about limiting visitors. Living in isolation is hard for anyone, but living in a community away from your friends and family must make it a level of magnitude more difficult. JK: Oh yes. I have one of my friends whose husband is- was- in an Alzheimer’s care facility, and she would visit him every Tuesday and Thursday for over a year. When COVID-19 hit, the facility would not allow any visitors, even family. That was very hard for her, but they were able to arrange telephone and Zoom visits so she could actually see him. He passed away before I was abel to come down for the season, and I was very, very saddened for her. IN: The amount of suffering that people have had to endure is astonishing, and I hope that having a record of people’s experiences during the pandemic can help us to remember what people went through and maybe help us do better in the future. I sincerely appreciate that you’ve participated in this interview to share with the Journal of the Plague Year, and thank you so much for having this conversation with me. -
2020-11-26
Thanksgiving in 2020
It was Thursday, November 26, 2020. Thanksgiving day. It was unlike any other Thanksgiving I had ever had. My usual Thanksgiving day would be me going to each of my grandparent's houses for dinner. But this year was different. We decided to go to only one grandparent's house this year. So we went to their house and instead of walking inside and having dinner, we had to stay in our car. My grandma came out with a little tray of food and handed it to us. It had turkey, gravy, salt, pepper, and pie. It was very hard for me to do this because I couldn't hug my grandparents (or anyone for that matter) and I couldn't go inside the house. This Thanksgiving was much different than any other. -
2020-12-08
90-Year-Old Woman Becomes First Person to be Vaccinated
The 90-year-old woman, Maggie, became the first person to received the fully tested and approved COVID-19 vaccine as the United Kingdom became the first country to approve the vaccine. This was remarkable due to how fast the vaccine was developed. This could be considered the beginning of the end of the pandemic. -
2020-06-03
Gerry and George Savoring Life after COVID
This story talks about the ordeal that two people went through with COVID and how they are now enjoying the simple pleasures in life. They are no longer taking for granted the simple things. This is important to me because it's a stark reminder of how easy life can be taken and how we should not take for granted the ability to enjoy the simple moments in our ife -
2020-12-09T17:33
First Year of Marriage and the Pandemic
I got married on May 11, 2019. There were no masks and no need to distance from each other. In July 2019, I got my first job working for my grandma as her caretaker. Since I had graduated ASU, I didn't have much going on, and I needed some way to occupy myself, as well as make money. I did things such as picking the oranges that would fall from the trees in her backyard and trash them so the area would look nicer. I cooked, I cleaned, and I assisted her in computer tasks that she didn't understand how to do. In December of 2019, my grandma had a few unfortunate things happen to her. First, she got pneumonia and had to be taken to the emergency room. She survived, but was weak. Later on, she ended up falling, and was then taken to a care center so that she could regain her strength and do physical therapy. When my grandma came back from the care center in January, I had a new job. Learning from what the physical therapist taught me, I used the exercise recommendations for her and helped her walk better again. It was no easy task, as my grandma can be quite stubborn, but luckily, she was willing to take direction from me in order to move around easier. We have been doing the physical therapy as part of her daily routine ever since. Due to my grandma's worsening condition, my mom and dad decided to move to my grandma's house in January, leaving the apartment mostly to me and my husband. This change was greatly welcomed, and it felt like we could experience married life without my family intervening nearly as much. Overall, January was a pretty good month for me and my husband. One of the biggest events that happened to me before the virus was the death of one of my cousins. On February 11, 2020, he commit suicide. It was a jarring experience. He had lived nearby with his wife and kid and helped install new electrical outlets in the apartment me and my husband were sharing with my parents until a new apartment opened in that same complex. Despite this, we were able to have a normal funeral, which was nice since it gave me some closure. I mostly felt bad for his wife and kid he left behind, since they would now have to figure out how to continue without him. By the time February hit, I was well aware of the virus by this time, but I was sure that majority of the problem was in China. Earlier that month, I had gone to the Dominican Republic to do some volunteer work, as I knew how to speak Spanish. I noticed travel restrictions to and from China at that time, and thought that the travel restrictions could help. This is why I mostly thought the pandemic was mostly China's problem. This idea was quickly changed when March hit. When March 2020 hit and there was a declaration of national emergency, I was very stressed by it. I kept on having images flash in my head of empty grocery aisles that I've seen from social media. Due to the panic that had occurred over the national emergency declaration, the grocery store in my area was completely out of eggs, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer, and the meat aisle was nearly emptied. There were rations on the amount of canned goods you could get. Me and my husband were able to grab a few, some of which my husband said were the "good ones that no one wanted". After that, my anxiety lessened and I felt like I could handle it. I was wrong, as I was not expecting full lockdowns later that month. By the time April came along, the lockdowns felt so severe to me that I couldn't escape anywhere. Bedsides my husband having to comfort me, one of the only things keeping me sane was the job of working for my grandma. I became even more thankful for that job since had I gotten a job in the service industry, or even a basic office job, I would have likely been let go due to being too new. Additionally, I was working full-time for a while, so money wasn't as much of an issue for me as it was before I had gotten the job. April was also when I had one of my worst anxiety attacks, and so to help me, my husband took me out to get some fast food and eat in a parking lot in order to not feel so enclosed. March felt similar to April. The big difference here though was that my brother had to come back from his LDS Church mission six months earlier due to the pandemic, so we ended up having someone new to live with when he got back. One of the nice things my family did, since church services were changed due to the virus, was having by brother bless the sacrament, as he had the authority to do so. By dressing for church and having it at my grandma's home, I was able to feel a bit more normal again, which helped me reduce my anxiety. When May hit, it was me and my husband's one year anniversary. For this special occasion, I booked an Italian restaurant and were able to dine-in for the first time in months. As more places started to open up, I felt my anxiety decrease, as I knew I could enjoy more things again. I am now writing this all in December 2020. The endless monotony of living without as many places to go has made this year feel like both the longest and shortest year that I have experienced. I know that things will change and things will go back to normal, and that is one of the things that is keeping me happy. My anxiety is the worst it has ever been this year due to the restrictions on everyday life, but I've learned that I can live through it, with the help of my husband. This was a trying year for many people's marriages, and to have this experience within the first year of marriage has made me realize how much I depend on my husband, but also that we can get through many tough things together. -
2020-06-23
An Emptied COVID Border
Being a dual-citizen has its perks under normal circumstances, but was incredibly useful when the United States-Canada border was closed amidst the pandemic. Every summer, my family and I do the road trip from Denver, Colorado, all the way to my grandparents' cottage in northern Ontario. However, this year, all unnecessary travel was completely restricted to non-citizens. Since we are all dual-citizens, we were allowed to enter, given we complete a 14-day quarantine before seeing anyone. It had been almost a year since my Granpa had a massive heart attack, and then survived triple-bypass surgery. Thus, my family and I thought traveling and completing the quarantine would be worth the risk if it meant we got to see them. Masked up, we drove across the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia Ont. and Port Huron, Michigan. Normally, this bridge would be filled with cars and trucks, backed up in a 30-45 minute long line. COVID changed that. As we approached the border station, there were no other cars or trucks in sight. We slowly entered the only open crossing lane, and eerily, everything proceeded relatively normally. The pandemic killed travel, especially international movement; but I never would have expected to be the only vehicle crossing into Canada. It felt so unnatural and was an abnormal experience I hope I never see again. -
2020-11-27
– COVID-19: A rapid increase to 60 people with severe symptoms in Tokyo this week (November 27, 2020)
Tokyo continuously has increasing number of severe symptoms patient of COIVD-19. Despite this, Japan still wants to make the economy running, and all the restaurants are not taking proper CDC measures. Japan’s restaurants tend to be way smaller compared to here, and therefore opening one seat or a table apart from each other does not really help. Tokyo continuously has increasing number of severe symptoms patient of COIVD-19. Despite this, Japan still wants to make the economy running, and all the restaurants are not taking proper CDC measures. Japan’s restaurants tend to be way smaller compared to here, and therefore opening one seat or a table apart from each other does not really help.