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2021-07
Trip to San Francisco July 2021
During the summer of 2021, my girlfriend and I traveled to San Francisco for a week-long vacation. Travel and business restrictions were greatly lessened but still in place. As seen in the photo masks were still very common, especially in a big city like San Francisco where there was less anti-mask sentiment (my mask was off just for the photo). We wore masks for the majority of the trip, including while on planes and trains or in any public space. One of the bigger impacts of the pandemic that we experienced during our trip was how many restaurants and other businesses closed at earlier times than before. Additionally, while our trip was happening the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were finally occurring after all of the delays to its start. We were able to watch many events from our hotel room that would have otherwise occurred a year prior. -
2021-05-05
2021 National Park Road Trip
In May 2021, my friends and I took a 17 day road trip out west visiting 7 national parks, and several national forests and state parks. It truly was the trip of a lifetime. We had been planning the trip in February of 2020 but then COVID happened and we delayed it to the next year. To document our trip, I submitted pictures from the trip that I made in 2021. Some of the highlights are Death Valley National Park, Yosemite, and Zion. This was my first time traveling west of the Mississippi so I loved experiencing the culture, food, and meeting the people who lived in many different regions of the US. When I went, there were surprisingly very few restrictions other than having to wear masks at the occasional business. I do remember in Zion the staff told us to stand "1 condors wingspan apart" even though its wingspan was about 10 feet. I took hundreds of photos and I unfortunately could not upload all of them so I picked these ones. This trip was very important to me because it represents the places I've been, and the memories I have made with my best friends as we experienced this amazing trip together. Finally, I should mention that I went on this trip and missed my in person college graduation ceremony, and I don't regret it for a moment. -
2020-10-10
Disney During The Pandemic's Lost Year - A Glimmer of Fun in Chaos
Half full fights, social distancing and Disneyworld -
2021-12-25
Immunocompromised at Christmas
The impact of COVID-19 on travel and tourism over the past three years has been significant, and in my experiences, travel for me in post-COVID era has been wildly different - as my mind swirls around a large concern that I could possibly do harm to my immunocompromised husband. He’d experienced major spinal and heart surgeries in the summer of 2020, and the following year a round of COVID left his nervous and immune systems permanently weakened. My parents had planned a large family trip in May 2021, and my thoughts continued to swirl around the potential for another round of COVID afflicting my husband. I had us cancel. Months later, my family finally convinced us to get on a plane for Christmas to Austin, Texas to see my sister’s new home. It would be our son’s first flight, too, which only added to my anxiety. It was December 2021, and most restrictions were still in place at airports at this time. I was grateful for the number of passengers on the flights, in the airports, and in public transportation hubs utilizing masks and maintaining distance from one another. I recalled seeing one family, completely maskless, at the airport. They seemed so out of place - and to be honest they looked very uncomfortable - too. Luckily, like us, my extended family was hesitant to explore the hustle of downtown Austin, so much of the trip was spent with everyone at my sister’s new home, cooking, reading, completing puzzles, and most importantly: getting her lawn familiarized with several dozen rounds of Bocce ball. It was the first time we were all able to come together after the start of the pandemic, and I felt grateful for the opportunity to be with my family in the same safe space. We got way too competitive, but the laughter during Bocce proved the most memorable part of the trip. I loved how happy my family looked in this moment, especially my sister (front in orange) and my husband (over her right shoulder). I am not sure what the future looks like for COVID and travel, but for me, I know that it already looks different - I will continue to mask, I will distance, and I will choose options that will do the least amount of harm to those I love and the people I may meet along the way. -
2021-08-15
Pandemics, Wildfires, and Climate Change
The Covid 19 Pandemic is and was a transformative event representing history in the making. The state of Oregon and particularly Portland witnessed a trifecta of converging crises beginning with the lockdown on St. Patrick’s Day in 2020. That summer was one of the hottest in recorded history and saw the city and state divided in smoke-filled chaos. The literal last words of “I can’t breathe” uttered by George Floyd were being chanted in the streets downtown as wildfires raged in all corners of the state, set against the backdrop of a global pandemic. Everything felt surreal and the tension in the city was like a powder keg. By the following summer some advancements had been made, the first round of vaccinations administered, but the same underlying issues were present in Portland. Houselessness, fractured political ideologies, and Far-Right and Far-Left members clashing in an invisible maelstrom on the Willamette River. My husband and I had adhered to the very stringent guidelines and protocol set by both the city and state to the letter. For a bit of context, my husband worked on the front line as a department manager at a grocery store and wore a mask for eleven hours at a time often six days a week for a year and a half, while I volunteered at the Red Cross and held down the home front. In August of 2021, we finally decided that we needed to get out of town, so we grabbed the dog and set a course for the Crooked River in Central Oregon. It was a two-week period of sheer peace and glory bookended by fear and anger at the negligence of fellow humans. We camped on the river and practiced mindfulness and being present every day, breathing deeply the fresh air ushered in by a strong breeze from the East. The “going there” and “going home” portions were marred by anti-mask protestors with weapons arguing about state’s rights, as death toll numbers were rising. The fires had already burned over a million acres with no signs of slowing down, and the reality of Portland’s social justice issues did not disappear just because we did. The experience left us feeling gratitude for the opportunity to explore, our good health, and open minds, it was our 18th wedding anniversary, in which porcelain is traditionally given as a gift. Ironic, given the fact that not only is porcelain extraordinarily beautiful but also incredibly delicate, a perfect representation of the state of things during the summer of 2021. -
2021-06-01
Post-pandemic Beach Trip
Unlike most people that we knew, we did not travel anywhere during the pandemic. We did not have any visitors outside of our family and continued to use social distancing until the restrictions were lifted. When the world opened up again, we still chose to stay fairly close to home. At the time, we were living in Harrisburg, PA and decided to visit Virginia Beach. We stayed at the Hilton and were shocked to see how to the pandemic had effected the tourism industry. The hotel was wildly understaffed as they had let many employees go over the past year and it was chaotic. The rooms were not cleaned on time for check-in so there were people packed into the lobby, bags everywhere, just waiting to get to their rooms. The employees were overworked and mostly rude; wholly unlike how it had been pre-pandemic. When we were finally able to check into our room, we got onto the elevator and found that there was some kind of liquid all over the floor. We tried to show an employee but there were none around to help. After getting into our room, we pulled out the sofa bed to find that it was full of sand and that the room had not been properly cleaned. Eventually, someone did come up to clean it but it took hours. Our trip could be summed up as unrelaxing; nearly every employee seemed as though they were at their limits. There were still mask guidelines in place and all of the people there seemed angry about it, whether it was because they were wearing one and others weren’t or because they did not want to wear one and were angry that the guidelines told them to. It seems as though no one could be satisfied and everyone was inconvenienced no matter which side they were on. -
2021-03-06
Escape from COVID: San Antonio to Galveston
I submitted this story because I wanted to explain what my first trip after COVID was like. -
2022-06-12
Eurostar station in London, June 2022
During my honeymoon, my husband and I were in London, Summer of 2022. We had spent two weeks there and it was time to take the Eurostar train through the Channel Tunnel to Amsterdam. What particularly struck me was how serious the ticket agents and French government officials (the train must enter through France) were about Covid-19 Vaccine Record Cards. If someone did not have their official government-issued Covid vaccine certificate, they were absolutely not permitted on the train. It was very serious and made me anxious, even though I held on to mine tightly, along with my passport. We waited in the entry line for 40 minuets to an hour to get to the check point, the guards were very intense and scrutinized every passenger, and we eventually entered the train on to our destination. This was the first trip we had taken since the pandemic began, and by this time Europe and parts of Asia were opening back up for tourism. Many people we saw in London and Amsterdam at this time were no longer wearing masks, and since my husband and I were vaccinated, neither did we. We had an amazing honeymoon and I am grateful that the pandemic was slowing down and the countries we visited were accepting tourists. -
2021-10-14
Alone
When travel restrictions were lifted, did you take a trip? If so, where did you go and why? What are your memories of this trip? Were there any continuing COVID-19 restrictions in place? Once the Pandemic restrictions were eased, not necessarily lifted, my family and I traveled to northern Arizona, southern Nevada, southern California, and Korea. During the Pandemic, life continued on as normal for me, not so much for my spouse. I was a social worker who continued to do home visits. My spouse was an elementary educator who was able to work from home. Life during the early-, and mid-stages of the Pandemic was busy, and it felt like we were going full-speed ahead - faster than before the Pandemic. Traveling has always been my family's go-to experience; however, the Pandemic halted travel as the areas we usually go to, road trips to California, or flying to Korea, were off-limits. Once restrictions were eased, we immediately traveled to those areas to get away. Restrictions were still present, mask mandates required us to wear masks in California, and Korea. One of the memorable moments was wearing a mask for a lift, a 14-hour flight, to Korea with a one-year-old who constantly wanted to pull the mask off. Lastly, the most memorable moment throughout the whole trip to California and then off to Korea was the feeling that we were always alone, during the day or night, everything felt like a ghost town. -
2022-06-01
Covid Europe
My family and I really like to travel, like a lot. We usually do a big vacation every year, and Covid-19 really threw a wrench in our annual plans (as it did to every single person alive). March of 2020, my family and I had traveled to Washington D.C. When we got back home to Utah, not even 24 hours later, Washington D.C. had shut down entirely. We felt lucky we got to go, but hopeful this shut down would only be two weeks. Fast forward two years, and we (again, like the rest of the world) were unable to go anywhere. My sister and I had gotten Covid-19 in November of 2020, and then the vaccines started to roll out. We had heard that if you were fully vaccinated, places were starting to slowly open for those individuals. We thought since we already had Covid-19, why not get vaccinated so we could travel? So, my mom, myself, and my sister all got vaccinated. Solely to travel. We are by no means 'anti-vaccination' people, actually quite the opposite. But we did have the normal hesitations of getting this vaccine just to such little prior research. Regardless, we got the vaccine. We started looking at places where we could go, from cruises to domestic travel to international. And then, the booster comes out. The rules are now that you have to have all three shots. And then, I get Covid-19 again in November of 2021, after having been fully vaccinated. Finally, we start to plan a Europe trip for the summer of 2022. Every plane, train, and automobile that would take us to and around Europe required a valid Covid-19 vaccination card. There were so many Covid-19 tests we had to take prior to departure from the US, then when we got to Europe, and then when we were getting ready to return home to the US. We had to fill out numerous forms verifying that we were not sick and had not been sick in the previous 14 days. While we were in Europe, the mask mandate had lifted for everywhere but Austria, but we didn't know that. We went to board an Austrian airlines flight without a mask, and we were then told we could not fly without a mask. We had to beg the flight attendant to give us one, as we didn't know (they were not nice about it). Keeping up with everyone's different rules and regulations and testing and forms definitely made our trip more difficult than it would be now. -
2020-08
Tourism During the COVID-19 Pandemic: 2020 Mississippi River Social Distancing Trip
This photo was taken along the Mississippi River in August 2020, shortly after stay-at-home orders were lifted in the Midwestern U.S. but still when other states (ex: New York) had tighter restrictions and 14-day quarantine policies upon arrival. My family chose to take this drive because most attractions were outdoors. We traveled here because it was extremely easy to escape crowds and still provided excellent scenery -- and I always enjoy going to more remote areas for that reason. One thing I remember is not visiting any restaurants due to fear of contracting COVID; we ordered all of our dinners to go and had a picnic lunch every day. Since this photo was taken, I have traveled to many other destinations, as I received my vaccines in early 2021, and felt more comfortable interacting with the public. -
2021-10
Woodcrofts in Post-Pandemic Iceland
First, let me say that I am not a big traveler. I was never bitten by the travel bug, and I had no strong desires to see the world. A bit controversial, but I remember feeling even just a few months of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic that I needed to get out. I needed to escape my house, not because being quarantined and working from home with my husband was problematic or bad as far as our being with one another 24/7, but I just felt very confined and small, almost suffocated. There’s a difference, I think between choosing not to travel or leave your house and not being able to leave your house because of guidelines and the risk of spread illness. My husband and I had planned a trip to go to Iceland in September of 2019, but I just started a new job and couldn’t get time off that soon after starting, so we pushed it off to – as luck would have it – March 2020. In fact, it was planned for about a week or so after the entire world shut down and said “stay home.” At that point, we were “refunded” our tickets and accommodations, and were in this place of not know when or if this trip would happen. By refunded, I mean that the airline gave us a credit for the amount needing to be spent within a year after this date. So we felt in a bit of a dilemma and unsure of what to do. The news of the pandemic and the guidelines were – understandably - constantly shifting, and we were looking at international travel, so we had to frequently check the U.S. travel restrictions as well as Iceland’s restrictions and compare. Even then, restrictions fluctuated, at some points saying travel was allowed on one end, at others, if you test positive you may have to stay there for your entire quarantine period in a designated space away from others, extending your stay for potentially a month. It was a force to even consider planning. Finally, the stars aligned, and we were able to schedule our trip for October 2021, two years later that we had originally planned, but we were going and excited, if a bit nervous. I remember from the day we picked the flights looking up the travel restriction websites every day. I bookmarked the U.S. and Iceland’s sites to check to see if anything had changed in terms of guidelines or cancellations. We knew that we needed to schedule a covid test about 1 week prior to the flight and upload and bring proof of a negative result for the airline. We had been vaccinated, so we had to bring our cards for verification at customs. We also at that point, scheduled our return flight’s covid testing in Iceland to make sure that we had another negative result so we could come home. It was incredibly stressful trying to schedule all this, some sites were booked up, we had to take time off of work to get available appointments before going, all while reminding ourselves this is supposed to be a fun trip, a vacation in a country neither of us had visited before. Luckily, everything by way of travel went well. At that point, being in such a crowded area, like an airport, felt strange and uncomfortable. Everyone wearing masks, but still getting closer to us that we were used to now. We had heard stories of how planes are breeding grounds for covid, the air was recycled, so if someone on the plane is a false negative, they’ll give it to everyone. But we landed 6 hours later, and were relieved to do so. Despite not seeing a single puffin, our week in Iceland was absolutely fantastic; however, I can’t say that it wasn’t hindered a bit by covid and the transitioning public guidelines. After planning this trip for two years, we had read and marked up a number of travel guides that suggested areas to visits, restaurants to try, and trips to take while there. None of these books were equipped to prepare us for what vacation would look like post-pandemic. On one side, the sites and streets, even in the city of Reykjavik, were not nearly as crowded as we had read and expected it would be, which, for someone like me, who gets incredibly overwhelmed when around too many people, was perfect. We were able to visit museums, go on a virtual flyover of Iceland’s landscape, and see sights with no line or trouble. On the other hand, many store, restaurant, and attraction hours had changed or were complete shutdown, and were not updated on Google or on company sites. Occasionally we would finally reach a destination and find it was closed, but we understood that this was a small price to pay overall for a trip to Iceland so soon after things re-opened. One restaurant we stopped at in a small town south of Reykjavik was completely empty, we were the only customers from when we walked in to when we left. We were able to talk to the owner, who was saying that this is what it has been like for them since the start of the pandemic and restrictions on travel, especially international travel and tourism. It was a family-owned restaurant, where the owner and his wife sold art and homemade Nordic pieces on one of the tables in the back. They relied on tourism and the income of international visitors, and they said that this was the hardest part of the pandemic for them, seeing Iceland, a huge tourist spot for years, now hit financially and, really their way of life, changing because of this long ban on travel. For our trip across the country, fortunately, as it is, my husband and I are moderately outdoorsy people, so most of what we wanted to see or wanted to visit was outside and didn’t have the same restrictions that we found in town. We were able to spend a day at the Blue Lagoon, climbing a relatively recently active volcano, walk on the black sand beaches, and just drive around, climb out of the car and hike up a hill for the view. Early on, we decided to abandon our strict itinerary and just think of what we might want to do the next day and plan from there. It was jarring for someone like me, who is almost too reliant on structure and order, but the flexibility worked better and developing that mindset of being adaptable in this post-pandemic time helped combat the frustration and panic we felt after realizing so much had changed from the typical and expected. A stark difference we noticed while there was the general feeling towards covid-19 guidelines and vaccinations there compared to the U.S. at the time. Since the start of the pandemic, so many people were outspokenly skeptical and against the restrictions and guidelines in place and the vaccine, but we never really experienced any of that in Iceland. Rules and guidelines were quietly followed wherever we went, wearing a mask or maintaining distance, there was never a fight or resistance to this. We never saw or heard of any anti-vaccination groups or protests, as we had experienced both where we lived and on the news across America. All in all, our trip coming out of the pandemic was great, if not a bit unexpected because of the guidelines and transition period that came from international travel post-covid. -
2023-07-13
My trip to Xinjiang
For myself and many others in China, people were faced with policies and travel restrictions that were put in place due to the Covid19 pandemic. These policies and restrictions included, but were not limited to: quarantines, frequent nucleic acid tests, scanning a code in order to enter all sorts of places, and working from home. These covid policies and travel restrictions were finally, and fully, lifted this past winter, in January of 2023. This summer would be the first chance my family and I have to travel, and we will actually be starting our trip tomorrow, on July 13, 2023. As this is the first summer after covid policies were lifted, I’m expecting many places to be crowded. My wife has already done some research and has come across some videos on social media that shows some scenic spots that are crowded. As for the trip, we will be going on a road trip to Xinjiang, which is China's westernmost territory. We chose this place because we have never been there and have always wanted to visit. It is supposed to be one of the more beautiful places in China. While we will visit some urban locations, they will not be our primary focus as we are more interested in natural scenery. We’ll be starting out trip tomorrow, on July 13, 2023 and will be driving to areas in regions around Urumqi, Xinjiang. Among the places we will visit are Turpan, Sayram Lake, and Tekesi Bagua City. After that, we will drive back to Beijing, stopping at various places along the way and spend a few days in each place. Along the way, we plan to take many pictures and buy some souvenirs. My children might also have to write about the trip as well for an assignment for school. -
2022-06-20
Mask in Germany
I found this mask on the ground outside of a subway in Germany. At the time, masks were still mandatory on transportation, which was surprising since most of the world didn’t make masks mandatory. They even had someone walking around to either give people masks or to remind them of the mask mandate. -
2023-06-20
Finally got COVID
I finally got sick with COVID after 3 years. I went on a cruise to celebrate my fiancé’s graduation and had to remove my mask when the heat was so bad in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. I’m mostly worried about getting my fiancé sick who is disabled, but hopefully we don’t live together just yet. I’m currently being isolated in my parents house watching people stream on Twitch.TV and playing Animal Crossing. I had a fever of 101 yesterday, and hopefully am able to return to work on Friday which means I’ll be able to represent my work at Hampton Roads Pride on Saturday. Since it’s pride month, me getting COVID feels very homophobic -
2023-04-29
Post COVID in El Salvador
I recently went on a trip with my dad to his home of El Salvador. I wasn’t too surprised that most COVID restrictions had been lifted three years later. I was more surprised that some people were still wearing masks. I leaned that people who work hospitality are still required (or strongly suggested) to still wear masks. There are hardly any remnants left from all the COVID mandates but I found these signs at one of the restaurants we went to reminding people to social distance. It’s interesting to see people now still wearing masks and sanitizing their hands in excess. I wonder if this is the “new norm” we were all talking about two years ago. -
2020-12-10
My pandemic mental condition
During pandemic, I was in the online English Bridge program of my university. The amount of assignments were a lot, and all I did during the pandemic was just waking up at 5am, eating break fast, going to class on zoom, eating lunch, doing assignments, eating dinner, and sleep. I could not even going grocery store to buy food or snacks because I could not finish assignments unless I just kept studying. Thus, in my room, I was alone and studying without any joy. My family supported me a lot for my study but I felt that only I was doing what I wanted (study), whereas my family was just working and doing domestic affairs. I was so depressed because if I was not existed, I did not let my family work so hard. I wanted to disappear at the time. -
2021-09-30
Masking through the pandemic
I have submitted this picture to show what it was like just to be at school during the pandemic. This is a picture of my friend and I in band class. We had to wear masks, and even had special musician masks we had to wear while playing our instruments. This was a very hard time, especially with it being my senior year of high school. I just wanted things to be normal again. -
2023-05-15
What we need to learn from Covid
This is based off of what I have seen and heard throughout the pandemic. I have decided to post this because we need more awareness of the issues in education. -
2023-05-14
Pandemics are Not "Great Equalizers" - Comparing COVID-19 to the Bubonic Plague Outbreak of 1870-1905
With the designation of COVID-19 as a "public health emergency" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ending as of May 11, 2023, public healthcare facilities throughout the US are rolling back protections they once employed to try to keep people safer during this ongoing pandemic. So, as this unit asks of us students, are pandemics the “great equalizers” in terms of social inequalities, and is there more equality now that the "emergency" has been deemed to be over? I argue that this is not the case, as immune compromised and disabled people have been more or less left for dead. A huge swath of healthcare facilities have removed mask mandates for care providers and hospital visitors, which leaves vulnerable and immune compromised people at a much higher risk of getting COVID-19 while receiving the medical care that is necessary for them to manage their conditions. In response, people and organizations, such as the Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity in the tweet above, have begun to mobilize in favor of maintaining COVID-19 protections in healthcare settings by organizing strikes, protests, petitions, and phone banks to public officials. The reasons for maintaining COVID precuations such as mask mandates, access to COVID tests, and enhanced filtration in healthcare settings are clear. As the Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity describes in their petition titled "Patient Strike Authorization Vote," the CDC "advises immunocompromised people to avoid crowded indoor settings, which now includes all healthcare institutions without universal masking," essentially maintaining that COVID is dangerous to immune compromised people while giving them no option but to risk exposure if they want to receive their necessary healthcare (Patient Strike Authorization Vote). The petition text explains that "[n]ational leaders in hospital epidemiology argue that universal masking should become the new standard of care, as gloves became with HIV" in order to keep people with compromised immune systems such as young children and elders safe (Patient Strike Authorization Vote). Currently, disabled and immune compromised people "are being locked out of safe healthcare" and are facing discrimination that makes them unwelcome and unsafe in healthcare settings (Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity). In order to relate this modern COVID-19 pandemic to our course materials and demonstrate that discriminatory treatment during times of disease is not new, I will compare the above post to points from the text "The Chinese as Medical Scapegoats In San Francisco, 1870-1905" by Joan B. Trauner. This text discusses the discrimination against Chinese and other East Asian people living in San Francisco's Chinatown during a bubonic plague outbreak in the late nineteenth century. Sinophobic and anti-Asian sentiments, similar to those that arose during the epidemic Trauner details, have also been evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, so much so that even US President Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the "China virus." Ableism has also been prevalent throughout the COVID pandemic, as many people no longer care about the effects of the virus, because it harms disabled and immune compromised people most, especially people who also face racial discrimination in healthcare. Trauner explains that, because white people in the US believed the plague primarily affected Chinese and other Asian people, and because plagues were bad for business,"[t]he governor of California, Henry T. Gage, and executives of big business and of the large railroads, in conjunction with the San Francisco Board of Trade, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and the Merchants Association, were all determined to prove that the plague did not exist in San Francisco" (78). The author of the Patient Strike Authorization Vote argues that today, we see a similar pro-business sentiment that comes at the expense of immune compromised people who are more likely to get sick with and die from COVID-19, writing: "Hospitals that remove masks and surveillance testing are making a value judgement about our lives, because they want to preserve their profit margins" (Patient Strike Authorization Vote). The CDC's ending of the COVID-19 public health emergency designation and the resulting halt of COVID mitigation procedures indicate that people are ignoring the needs of immune compromised people so that everyone can feel more comfortable going "back to normal" and maintaining consumption habits that are desired by businesses. Additionally, in both the past plague outbreak and the current pandemic, public health officials have shown hesitancy to give people vital information, which has led to harm. As Trauner explains, during the bubonic plague epidemic, "San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmitz refused to approve the printing of health reports and vital statistics and even attempted to remove from office four members of the Board of Health who persisted in stating that plague existed in San Francisco" (79). Today, because the public health emergency designation ended on May 11th, 2023, the CDC is "no longer reporting aggregate cases and deaths, COVID-19 Community Levels, COVID-19 Community Transmission Levels, or COVID-19 Electronic Laboratory Reporting (CELR) data," all of which have been used to determine the severity of the situation throughout the pandemic (COVID Data Tracker). Meanwhile, over one thousand people are dying of COVID every single week, but COVID transmission levels are not being tracked, so people cannot know how many COVID positive cases there are in their county and how likely they are to contract the virus by going out in public (COVID Data Tracker). Another similarity between the COVID-19 pandemic and the bubonic plague outbreak of the late nineteenth century lies in the responses of the people facing discriminatory treatment in public health settings during these respective disease outbreaks. Trauner writes that before, during, and after the bubonic plague outbreak, Chinese businesses and health practitioners constructed and operated their own hospitals that would treat the people of Chinatown, because they were not welcome at other hospitals due to racial discrimination (81). Trauner explains that "[e]arly Chinese immigrants realized the necessity of banding together and providing for their own health care needs," in light of the government abandoning their health needs (81). Activists and organizations like the Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity are currently banding together and fighting to get better and safer care for immune compromised people during the COVID-19 outbreak, as they are also facing discrimination at hospitals rolling back COVID precautions, because these spaces are not safe for them. The organizing they are doing to try to make healthcare settings safer for immune compromised people looks different, as no one is proposing the creation of immunocompromised-specific hospitals. They are fighting for better treatment, still, using slogans like "We Do Not Consent to Get COVID at the Doctor," and urging people that "[w]e must take collective action to prevent this mass violation of our human rights and federal rights to safe care," as stipulated under the Americans with Disabilities Act (Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity). In both disease outbreaks, it has been the duty of those being discriminated against to take care of and advocate for themselves. So, in fact, pandemics are not "great equalizers"; in reality, they not only make pre-existing inequities even more visible, but exacerbate them even further. As Trauner argues, "Health policy [...] manifests not only the state of the medical sciences, but the expectations and the value system of society-at-large," and as such, if society-at-large is racist and ableist, then the health policies put into place will reflect these discriminatory values (70). These governmental measures come at a cost to everyone, and especially those facing racist and ableist discrimination. Had the nineteenth-century bubonic plague outbreak been determined an emergency and treated as a serious threat in spite of sinophobic and anti-Asian sentiments, perhaps more research could have been carried out sooner, and more lives could have been saved. If people in the US continue to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously and not dismiss the pleas of immune compromised and disabled people to continue precautions, perhaps loss of life and further disablement from COVID infection can be mitigated. -
2020-03-14
My Sedentary Lifestyle Prepared me for What Came
In the year of the pandemic I was not aware of everything that was occurring all around me, I did not watch the news; however, I did get news updates on my phone and people would tell me what was going on. I was working as a personal attendant at an elementary school when covid began, and I did not feel the effects that covid 19 has been changing society, the community that I lived in, and in my life until the lockdown began where everyone had to stay inside their houses. Before the lockdown began I was living a sedentary lifestyle where I would spend the whole day inside the house on my phone or watching TV, so staying in my house was an everyday thing for me and many of my family members and friends did not live near me, so I would always call them; however, I have heard about a couple of family members who I have grown up with mention to me that they had covid and before I returned to work after the lockdown was over my mother tested positive for covid, so this is when covid 19 was hitting hard to me because many people that I was close to were getting sick, when my mother was sick I began to worry whether I had covid 19, because I fell ill before her, however, I tested negative for covid 19 which I admit was a huge relief for me, but I was worried about my mothers well being, until she felt better. In news updates I heard about a lot of people who lost their jobs, and places that were shut down, because of the pandemic, so I felt fortunate to still have employment at the elementary school even if my hours were shorter than before because of the changed school hours, but I still felt fortunate that I still had employment and that none of my friends or family lost their lives to covid 19. When I first heard about the lockdown it was when I realized how truly serious the situation was, many people had trouble staying inside their houses during the lockdown; however, I always stayed inside on my phone, playing video games, and watching TV so remaining in my house was never such an issue for me since this was part of my everyday life so my sedentary lifestyle is what prepared me and got me through the lockdown during covid 19. -
2020-08-22
Finding peace during the pandemic
During the pandemic, like most people, I experienced high amounts of stress and feeling kind of hopeless. I would spend the majority of my day playing video games in my house which doesn't really seem like a bad thing to be doing, but over time I could feel myself being lost and not the same person anymore. This was because before the pandemic, I was constantly on the move and interacting with people, so when this was taken from me I was unable to resume the things that I had always done. I began school at a local university and found myself unable to make friends as I had easily done in the past, because my social skills had taken a huge fall due to the pandemic. I found myself being a really quiet person and would only talk when I was talked to, and also found that I did not have the drive to complete tasks that should have been easy to complete. The way I began to overcome this was when I joined a local dance group. They were practicing at a park following social distance regulations. I did not instantly feel comfortable because I was unsure of myself and was not very confident when I first joined. However, the group was very welcoming and friendly towards me and they gave me all of the time and space I needed at the time to begin coming out of the shell that the pandemic had formed around me. Within about a year, these members have become some of my closest friends and we hang out daily. My confidence has reached an all time high that honestly I think might have caused me to become bored whenever I know something is a waste of time but is something that I have to do. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because it is definitely an improvement from before where I would not attempt to do things because I did not feel the confidence to complete them. Had I not joined the group, I would've stayed in my shell and would not have made the friends I have today. They gave me a chance to become active again and become socially active as well. -
2023-03-20
Disorientation: The Feeling I had on March 11th, 2020
What Happened on March 11th, 2020 -
2020-04-01
Coronavirus Journal: April 2020
The essay is composed of entries from my daily journal during the month of April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic quarantine. It shares the perspective of my partner and me, retired senior citizens in Up North Michigan. -
2021-09-06
Terrariums out of Boredom
Covid took us away from everything and reality was hard to cope with. I decided to retreat into nature. The struggle was that I hated being in my house and I couldn't stay outside forever. I decided that I would bring nature indoors and started to make terrariums. I was able to exercise, practice a hobby, create art. and safely quarantine all at once. -
2020-03-13
March 2020
March 13, 2020 was a memorable day for all of us. It's the day we got the call that the schools would shut down for who knows how long due to the virus that was rapidly spreading. It was a scary time for everyone due to all of the unknowns. We were stuck in our houses for months with nothing to do. Being quarantined did teach me a lot of things, such as how to have fun at home. Once the restrictions got lifted, and we were allowed to see our friends, I remember spending everyday outside, finding our own ways to have fun since everything else was closed. 2020 was year none of us will forget. We found ways to make light of a horrible situation. -
2020-03-13
Bread?
Before this was taken, I found out school would be online for the rest of the semester heading home for spring break plus two weeks. Boy if only I knew what I know now... -
2020-06-22
Outside on the streets of Staten Island and Brooklyn
These photos depict some of the events and activities I was part of during the summer of 2020. I marched to protest the killings of innocent black men by police, I attended a street festival held in honor of Eric Garner (on the anniversary of his death), I worked at a Brooklyn Greenmarket doing "covid support" (a very stressful job), and I visited the peaceful grounds of Snug Harbor, wearing my favorite polka-dot mask made by a friend. -
2020-06-06
Currents
During the COVID-19 lockdown, I was bored. I started to listen to an unprecedented amount of music. Including music from the artist Tame Impala. This photo shows me listening to his “Currents” album via Spotify. Currents is now one of my favorite albums of all time. Everytime I listen to a song from it, I think back to 2020 and as a result, that time holds a sentimental value to me. -
2023-03-30
Dancing In The Face Of Uncertainty
My family and I were shown immense grace as the world endured the heart wrenching sorrow of the COVID-19 pandemic. May those whose lives were stolen by the coronavirus live forever in memory, and rest in eternal peace. At the onset of my second Freshman semester, the chatter among friends included ignorant musings such as: "what would happen if we got it?”, and my favorite, “the virus would NEVER come to the island.” Before Costco lines evoked Walmart on Black Friday, and up-to-the-minute death tolls became the linchpin of our media diet, the Bayonne Bridge signified a seemingly impenetrable chasm safeguarding Staten Island from a quarantined cruise ship in February 2020; because obviously airborne particles don’t pay tolls, right? A strange sense of wonder and excitement overtook the CSI campus on March 11, 2020: the day Gov. Cuomo announced CUNY & SUNY schools would “pause” in-person instruction. I'll never forget hearing the announcement on radio before walking to class for the last time until September 20, 2021. As I drove down Loop Road, a group of students (presumably upperclassman) cheered while blasting music on the Great Lawn. If those students truly were upperclassman, their dancing in the face of uncertainty would spite the commencement celebration they would never receive. I suspect a webpage and some pre-recorded speeches is an inutile stand-in for sitting among thousands of graduates on that very lawn. In tandem with devastation, panic, and uncertainty, the pandemic thrust society into a hard reset. So much of life is spent planning, yearning, and working towards the future - all of which are meaningless novelties to a hellacious virus. To survive the pandemic, besides evading COVID by way of masks, social distancing, and grace from above, each of us had to sift the remnants of our livelihoods to make out what our “new” present would look like. I thrived through the pandemic with music blasting, self-reflection, and a sense of liberation. Family bonds grew stronger, passion projects were completed, and for the first time in a decade, my life felt tranquil. I am repulsed by the fact that while millions took their final breath, businesses shuttered for good, and anxiety tormented the world, I found inner peace reminiscent of my childhood summers. Eerily, I vividly recall sitting in the basement of 2N during a 8am Geology class wishing for, “all this crap to end”, and lamenting, “why didn’t I go to SNHU or some college online?” I guess someone got their wish, and dragged humanity down with him. My father was the only non-essential worker in the house; he didn’t get that fancy paper from the state which supposedly let you free if cops pulled you over. We spent the first full day of lockdown scouring local stores for the coveted (and effective) N95 masks. At a time when the CDC told people to not wear masks so medical professionals had supplies, we were on a mission to guarantee we had protection for the long haul. My family recognized that the “pause” would not be a 1 to 2 month patty cake. My father was adamant his Window Cleaning & Power Washing business would collapse from the indefinite closures of his commercial clients. Our first purchase was the last 3-pack of Milwaukee N95s with those gaudy exterior respirators from homespun Garber’s Hardware. The ever-jovial gentlemen behind the counter adamantly said something to the effect of, “we’re gonna be here ’till they tell us to shut them doors.” 3 masks wouldn’t cut it, so we continued down the way to ye olde Sherwin Williams; where the employee had no suspicion we needed a 20-count box of 3M's finest for anything other than some recreational spray painting. Mask wearing wasn’t en vogue just yet. Those masks were needed when my Uncle could not get out of bed at 1:30pm the following Saturday. He worked the night prior, Friday the 13th, at his second job as a bouncer in Manhattan. On Saturdays he would saunter out of bed by 10:45 the latest; but here he was: frozen in bed, voice hoarse, and coughing like a smoker. I threw on the 95 and nitrile gloves just to speak to him from the hallway. That day was also the first time I ventured out in full biohazard regalia. I still remember the condescending scowls at my neighborhood’s second rate deli counter. The treatment advice the CDC hotline provided was to load up on Extra Strength Tylenol and guzzle water like there was no tomorrow. Thankfully my Uncle did see tomorrow and recovered in about 5 days. While my Dad and I kept our distance as my mother tended to the patient, we realized there must be a fruitful pastime besides burying our eyes in CNN coverage all day. My father, perpetually seeking the next project, came to the realization that, in plain english: we needed a pool table. When I was 6 years old, my father built a pool table out of wood when he was working for a contracting firm that operated in what is now Brooklyn’s Industry City. At 9 feet It conveniently sat atop our giant dinning room table. It was a gorgeous deep blue with every authentic accoutrement short of nicotine-reeking cloth. The table lasted about 8 months until my mom wanted her dining room back, fair enough. For a long time that table felt like a fever dream. After the it departure it was seldom mentioned; the balls and commemorative Coca-Cola cuestick sat dormant in the far reaches of our old home. The biggest hurdle to this project was space. The only feasible location was the unfurnished room in the back of our basement. The room experienced iterations as a screen-print emulsion lab, woodshop, actual chocolate factory, punching bag area, and video recording studio. After countless YouTube tutorials, including a Filipino gentleman building an unleveled table where all balls rolled to one side, we ventured to Lowe’s “Indoor Lumber Yard” to rekindle the magic of 2007. We sourced only the finest un-warped 2x4s and the purest synthetic wood crafted by the hands of man: Unfinished MDF Board. The 97 inch composite wouldn't fit down the basement stairwell, so we asked the one employee not running from us to cut it down the middle. Our makeshift table now presented two unique considerations: first, the board had to be precisely glued back together, and second, did you know commercial lumber dimensions are several inches off the actual product size? And in case you were not aware, “real” pool tables are made of slate. Breaking ground on March 19th, we used our decommissioned 20-year-old kitchen table as legs for our new creation. The board’s overhang allowed pockets to sit freely (no ball return system needed). On the days I had online class, my father intended to go downstairs “for about an hour” in the morning, before getting stuck in a jam by lunch, and working until dinner. I would assist in between classes, and when I was free, we’d get caught up in the room for hours on end. With Music Choice and MTV Classic the soundtrack of our toil, my Dad and I measured “tournament standard” dimensions - only to be slightly off, argued about what the heck a 142 degree cut really is, and savored the aromatics of wood glue and contact cement. The room was coated in sawdust, with scrap wood scattered neatly about. I was finally involved in my dad’s carpentry prowess after years of staring at his convoluted tools. Have you heard a Mitter saw in action? The grinding of the spiraling blades drown your ears with the screams of a motorcycle whizzing through a tunnel. I’d wince in fear that the time would come when the blade’s “SHING” would be followed by an agonized scream. My dad made mention of how woodshop teachers were always missing an appendage. He even shared horror stories like the time the blade guard failed to engage on a circular saw, skid free, peeled the side of his boot, cut through floor tiles, and sputtered wildly until it sliced the power cord. When I did schoolwork upstairs while listening to SiriusXM (another pandemic coping tool) I regularly heard my dad belt obscenities en español louder than both of our blaring radios. The table was declared playable at 8pm on Monday March 30th. I know this because the music on tv tuned to a channel recording CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (I DVR’d many movies during lockdown). The table is not 100% complete, and has some quirks which challenge you to be a better player. We practiced and played on that table at least an hour a day everyday until in-person classes began to cloud my schedule. Under lockdown, my family spent days and nights hanging out in the backyard, barbecuing and laughing loudly, before we capped the night with rounds of pool. In homage to the California Spring Break shelved by the obvious, I burned a best of California Hip-Hop Mix CD to play on our old stereo that found new life in the pool room. As New York overcame the epicenter phase, the laid back qualities of spring carried into the summer and fall. Everyday felt like a celebration of life. People were out in parks and open spaces, roads were traffic free, and in my case, I was able to hold the people I love closer. I wish everyone could have experienced the “new normal” as I did - with their own sense of peace. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved ones who no longer walk this earth because of the pandemic, and myself and my entire family experienced onset and lingering side effects from both the vaccine and the coronavirus. I do not think I would have survived contracting COVID as I did in May 2022 if I was not vaccinated. I look back at my lockdown experience so fondly because I choose to focus on the joyous moments in the midst of global tragedy. Perspective is key. Perhaps I was forsaken the “true college experience”. I know for sure I was afraid of COVID. I only stoped wearing my N95s after having them for 12 hours straight while coughing phlegm from the virus. I feel a sense of sorrow and shame when people tell me the lockdown screwed them mentally; regardless of whether or not they lost someone. But what did I get out of the pandemic? A furnished room, an unbroken streak of Straight A’s, an endless summer with those close to me - and at what cost? I’m still the same shoddy pool player after three years of practice. What the lockdown gave me, more than anything, was the one thing that is unequivocally fleeting in this life: time. Maybe in hindsight, those revelers on the Great Lawn had the right idea. -
2020-05-28
Covid 19- The First Wave
Schools were shut down, business were closing. My parents stood outside my living room waving as they dropped off Easter baskets for my children. The monotonous routine of my husband coming home from his shift as a police officer and bagging his uniform in a garbage bag in the garage so I could immediately wash them for fear he had brought home Covid. Two months passed of this until that dreadful day when neither of us could smell or taste anything. He had brought home Covid. At first, it felt just like a cold with the exception of the loss of taste and smell. But a few days into our positive results, my husband's symptoms became more severe. He began having trouble breathing at night. We had medicines and took precautions to get him through those nights. I was scared because we had two young children at home and they began to show signs of Covid as well. I didn't feel like I had anywhere to turn. In the beginning, you were told only to come to an ER if it was absolutely necessary and even then, the people who were checking into the hospitals were not checking out. It felt like a death trap to bring in my husband. Days passed and symptoms improved. We were lucky, it had passed. We had long-lasting effects when it came to rapid heart rates and regaining our taste and smell, but feel very lucky we eventually recovered. -
2023-03-25
Lockdown Story from A Different Perpective
“During the lockdown, it seems that everyone took on a small hobby to keep themselves busy. For me, I took on a couple to keep me busy. One of them included going for daily walks and taking photos of the scenery around me. I’ve taken walks even before COVID, but this was the only time where I really took my time and payed attention to my surroundings. I normally don’t bring my phone as that time is my 20 to 30 minutes away from technically, however I started to bring it along with me to take photographs of the trees blooming in spring and everything starting to grow and looking amazing. For the remainder of 2020, I kept to my hobby of taking photos and made sure to capture scenery I thought looked interesting. I especially made sure to snap photos in the same spots to capture what they look like in each one of the seasons. Luckily with it snowing weeks before Christmas that year, I was able to get a photo of one street during each one of the seasons. To me, they looked really cool!” Photo by Kyle Collesano, April 19th, 2020 #lockdownstatenisland -
2023-03-25
Our story from Walbrooke Avenue
This is a chronicle of the pandemic from March through December 2020. It shows how normal things were abnormal and yet somehow the same. -
2020-03
Old dog/new tricks! a new way to teach.....
I finally became a video star.....that was never my intention when I started teaching fifty years ago! I am an adjunct art professor. When lockdown came and I couldn't teach in person, I had to find a new way to teach my class.....Zoom felt too complicated to me so I communicated with my students via email and videos that my husband and I made in the basement! A 15 minute video took over 3 hours or more between the filming and the editing! In addition, I really had to work hard to find the best way to communicate-the most effective way to present the lesson, as no questions could be asked as I presented the material. It really got me to think and be very clear about the subject and the best way to teach it. Once in front of the camera, I made believe I was talking to my class and just ran with it! I felt comfortable once I started. It was funny though, as we had to carefully think about camera angles and outfits that worked well as I moved! After all, this was permanently on tape...And, I had to be brave! My Brooklyn/StatenIsland accent was forever heard, as well as facial features, expressions and body parts that have always plagued me be forever seen! Overall, though, a great experience!!!! Who would have thought that such an awful, disturbing period could bring about new, positive experiences! Ah, but that is life after all, isn't it? -
2021-09-11
Essential Immigrant Stories - Photo Book 2021
Essential Immigrant Stories is a photo-documentary project by visual artist and photographer, Arlette Cepeda, that focuses on highlighting the challenges and opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic has created for Staten Island’s immigrant community members through portraits and accompanying stories. The goal of this project is to elevate and validate the immigrant experience and their impact in our Staten Island community. “Through portraits and accompanying short stories, I'm interested in documenting the experiences of the often neglected, silenced or omitted immigrant population of this particular north-shore neighborhood.” “It is my hope that this project can help create awareness, increase empathy, acceptance and understanding of our otherness, narrowing the divide and discrimination often faced by immigrants.” - Arlette Cepeda -
2021-07-30
Silver Lining- creativity brought on by the pandemic
I found myself doing “creative” things that I hadn’t had time for previously and so I asked Staten Island artists what they had created during the pandemic. For some it was a reaction to the politics of the time. For others it was an opportunity to try new media. -
2020-03-16
A Year of Workspaces
When lockdown started, I was quarantining with my husband, our 2.5 year old daughter, and our elderly cat, Floofy. This series of images captures a year of my workspaces (March 16, 2020 to March 15, 2021). I worked all over our house. The living room when I was on kid duty. The porch when the weather was warm enough. A brand new desk when the porch got too hot. The bedroom when my husband, who had been laid of in March 2020, needed the desk to job hunt and eventually began doing off and on temporary work in December 2020. I returned to the office some of the time in September 2021. My husband is now fully employed again. Our daughter returned to pre-school in September 2020. Floofy died in January 2022. She had attended every work meeting with me. -
2023-03-21
Escaping from Fear at the Shoreline
Submission for #LockdownStatenIsland exploring Fear and the complexity of emotions during COVID Lockdown while at the beach - a place I visited often for a little peace and tranquility during that scary time. -
2023-03-21
My experience
Since I am a homebody and like my solitude, the lockdown was not terrible for me, personally. I was thankfully able to work remotely, and used my sparetime, cooking, taking on line classes and learning about homeopathy which I use as my health path, but delved more deeply into it by taking on line classes. The meditation groups that I would attend in person, were able to convert classes to zoom, which was a truly wondrous thing. Other groups followed suit, and before I knew it, I was involved in groups all over the world by zoom - AMAZING! My cousins and I would meet every Sunday on Zoom to share experiences and catch up on "us". My mom who is now 95 was able to facetime with family several times a day (she was given an ipad by her grandson the year before) and it saved her from feeling isolated. Food deliveries were readily available, thanks to Pam Silvestri keeping us aware of the food community happenings. I realize many people had negative experiences, job losses, etc. or not able to cope, and I myself knew many people that passed during that time. I think this is a great idea to document the stories of the lockdowns and how it affected people in different ways. There is so much more to say, but I will keep it summarized and leave it here. -
2020-04
Getting Our Time Back
The Covid-19 Pandemic was a hard time for everyone. People were sick, out of work, losing loved ones, and going through several other mental and physical health problems. However, we also had a lot of time on our hands during the pandemic, and my family took the as the perfect opportunity to bond. During the pandemic, we spent a lot of time together, we would paint, talk, watch movies, play games, basically anything we could do get together. This gave me the chance to grow closer with my family during a hard time and I really cherish the time we spend together. . -
Summer 2020
Culture at a Social Distance
My submissions for #lockdownstatenisland are two examples of creative measures local cultural institutions implemented in Summer 2020 to continue to serve the public safely outdoors. The first is the #WomenoftheNationArise outdoor exhibition at the Staten Island Museum. The gallery exhibition opened a week before lockdown during Women’s History Month - March 2020. Since the galleries had to be closed, the outdoor exhibit gave visitors to Snug Harbor Cultural Center had the chance to explore Staten Island’s role in the fight for women’s right to vote from a #socialdistance. The second is at Historic Richmond Town’s socially distanced recreation area. With picnic tables and chalk circles on the grass, Historic Richmond Town provided a safe outdoor space to enjoy fresh air, sunshine, a book, an ice cream cone, and some time with friends or loved ones. -
May 2020
Family During Lockdown
Most of my lockdown experience was spent making sure my grandmother was taken care of. My siblings and I did not want out grandmother going out to run errands, so we did them for her, making sure to disinfect all items given to her before hand. We also knew that she was getting bored being in the house, with not being able to go to church events. We often took out dog or our cat to see her. -
April 10, 2020
2020 Grocery Store Fashion
“This morning’s grocery store fashion,” I wrote on April 10, 2020 when I posted this photo to Instagram. I tagged #socialdistancing #maskedcrusader and #newyorktough. This was the first time I wore a mask when I left the house and it was one of only a few times I’d gone farther than my backyard or front stoop since lockdown began the month prior. I had been listening to public health officials who advised wearing “face coverings” to help “flatten the curve” (reduce the number of new infections to prevent overcrowding in hospitals). I also followed their advice to opt for cloth and save the real masks for health care workers on the “front lines” of the pandemic who were facing a shortage of “PPE - personal protective equipment.” So many new words and phrases had entered the lexicon and I was struggling to keep up. Masking felt like a way I could protect myself and family and contribute to the effort to squash Covid-19. I found a video tutorial for how to make a “no sew” mask using a bandana folded over hair ties for ear loops. I added a coffee filter in the middle of the folds for good measure. I used this type of mask into the summer of 2020 when I realized masks weren’t going away anytime soon and started wearing more fitted cloth versions. I remember masking felt strange and changed the way I interacted with people I passed who couldn’t see my customary polite smile of acknowledgment. I started nodding slightly and learned to squint my eyes to indicate a smile when I passed people to make up for this impediment. Masking made it difficult to be heard and understood especially through other precautionary barriers like plexiglass shields at checkout counters. These days when I encounter people I first met when masking was more widespread, I sometimes don’t recognize them because I’ve never seen the bottom half of their face. It’s a bizarre set of circumstances. Now I usually only mask if I have respiratory symptoms or if I am around someone particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. When I do mask, I choose an N-95 respirator which is readily available and more effective than my cloth mask and coffee filter creation of April 2020. -
2020-08-05
Only Student on Campus: My First and Second Year at College
The item that I am submitting describes my life as a student throughout my senior year of high school toward my first year of college. I emphasized the feeling of being alone and dealing with the college on a fully virtual level. As months passed it was important to validate the experience and the growth from being in an online setting to an in-person setting. -
2020-04
Saved
The pandemic has not only been a devastating experience but a time of reflection. -
2020-10-20
How covid affected NYC?
Covid has affected everyone by the way you live your everyday life. Covid has affected New york city in many different ways , For example covid affected business to close down months including schools . Schools having to go remote . Another way New york city has been affected by the transit , The transit systems like the trains ,buses and commuter rail and ferries as a result to this the transportation has plummeted . For the subways in New York City it went down 90 percent and the buses went down 75 percent. The reason for this happening is people in quarantine and not going to work since some are working from home . Covid has affected health care workers. For example health care workers like doctors and nurses are around people who have it so they are more prone to get it. .This pandemic caused a lot of changes in the world. It caused everyone to be less social and not go out as much as it caused us to wear masks everywhere. It also caused a lot of people mental and emotional health to go down. For example there’s been a lot of social isolation which caused families to not be able to see each other as often. COVID-19 has impacted social mobility on child care cost and for families school dropout rate has increased due to fear of getting Covid. COVID-19 especially affected families due to not having jobs or working from home or being put on unemployment there’s been a big impact of Covid on families and family relationships creating a lot of tension and feeling depressed or not being united together. These pandemic parts of the population in different situations continue to affect people living in poverty situations with older people and disabilities. A lot of people have been put on unemployment and not being able to pay the rent. Covid has caused a lot of deaths and people could not be able to bury their loved ones. During The beginning of the year when the Pandemic was occurring depending on the situation of others some people were probably affected mentally Health care was provided to those who really needed it due to people not being able to pay for it and The state of new york lost money as well , It affected relationships and people got help by going therapy and staying connected to people . This pandemic affected many people personally. Covid has affected everyone's plan including travel because there's been travel bans and going to the airport has a lot of restrictions. A Lot of businesses are closing down to this pandemic by not giving income . Due to health care a lot of pregnant women had very high dress levels that affected their pregnancy . Which caused health care workers to be very aware of what was going on . Their risking their own lives to help us and young teens and kids were not able to fully able to enjoy the success of completing in graduating either high school such as prom or etc.it affected everyone's life and still is . This has caused a lot of stress and tension but has allowed people to be stronger in a sense and to appreciate the little things in life . Covid 19 has caused many hardships including loss of jobs . Some questions that still remain on this subject would be , When are things going back to normal ?, When is the vaccine coming out to prevent this ? When will this end ?. A message of hope i would say is everything will get better with time. The productivity has been slow due to employment going down ,People losing jobs . my personal experience with covid has become a learning experience . For example this pandemic has showed me to not take things for granted . -
March 13, 2020
unbeknownst emptiness
I worked/attended CUNY Hunter College during the start of the pandemic. On March 13, 2020, we were informed that we would not be returning to work until further notice, and I believe that a majority of late-night classes/activities were cancelled. As a result, my friend/coworker and I walked around the near-empty campus. We ended up sneaking into an empty lecture hall, ate some snacks, and chatted about the future. I took a photo of our feet up on the seats as a sort of fun memento, to show how crazy it looked to see ourselves amongst the empty hall, and when a coworker asked where we are, we sent them that. The photo meant almost nothing at the time and was just a casual photo I took amongst many in my every day. Looking back now, it holds nostalgia as well as dread. I think the emptiness shows what was to come, and how terrifying it would be, and just how impactful the pandemic was on our lives. I have not stepped foot in Hunter since then, so that was truly my last time being in that school. It makes me sad and makes me think what the future would have held had these events not happened. -
2022-03
Yesteryear
Yesteryear is the product of pent up anxiety, confusion, loss, depression and hopelessness, painted in 2022. It is how I would describe life before and after Covid-19. Separated into two pieces the anterior canvas is multicolored, to represent the carefree state of life. It can represents the high points in my life pre-pandemic, inclusive of freedom and family. The oil protrudes in some parts and is flat in others signifying the highs and lows of everyday life. The posterior canvas is quite the opposite if viewed closely, some of the colors used in the painting above have been covered in dark colors. It is smooth to the touch. No high points in this instance. All lows. Dreary. Dark. The red bordering both , represents the vitality of human nature. At the top it was uncontrolled, bleeding into all other aspects of life pre-Covid. As it travels south, it becomes thinner, more rigid, more linear. It then starts to completely disappear and despair has taken its place. -
2020-03-11
CUNY closures
I took this photo of my friend, Sarah, cleaning everything she would be touching in March of 2020, the same day CUNY announced they would be closing due to COVID-19. I remember thinking she was silly for her paranoia. I was in denial that anything was really happening, and I think that was me trying to keep myself calm in all of the uncertainty of what was going to be happening. Looking back, Sarah was valid in her fears of this virus. The seriousness of the situation did not hit me until the announcement of the closure of CUNY schools. -
2020-03-06
Going Home
At the start of the pandemic I was a freshmen in college at the University of South Carolina. We went on Spring Break and never came back to school for the rest of the semester. Classes were all online for about the next year, but I rented an apartment in Columbia so I could still be at school.