Item
Caitlyn Kirchoff Oral History, 2020/05/19
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Caitlyn Kirchoff Oral History, 2020/05/19
Description (Dublin Core)
Caitlyn Kirchoff, a senior at Augusta High School in Augusta, Wisconsin, discusses the difficulties and disappointments of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the State of Wisconsin’s quick and effective response, Caitlyn expresses excitement at the thought of stores reopening, summer vacation plans, and attending college in the fall. As a part-time employee at a local restaurant, Caitlyn describes the shift from dine-in to take-out service, outlining newly imposed food service regulations. Caitlyn recalls the full range of emotions experienced by high school students as the initial excitement associated with school closures quickly became displeasure at the thought of canceled rites of passage. Addressing the shortcomings of distance learning, Caitlyn describes technological malfunctions responsible for incomplete assignments and the travel required to obtain reliable internet service. Caitlyn openly expresses concern around other states reopening too quickly and believes a slow reopening will help keep the number of positive cases low in Wisconsin.
This is part of the Chippewa Valley COVID-19 Project. Students of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire are interviewing residents of the Wisconsin Chippewa Valley to document their life experience during the pandemic.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
05/19/2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Isaiah Steig
Caitlyn Kirchoff
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Chippewa Valley COVID-19 Project
Partner (Dublin Core)
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Economy
English
Education--K12
English
Food & Drink
English
Recreation & Leisure
English
Labor
English
Government State
English
Emotion
English
Online Learning
English
Social Distance
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
distance learning
high school
graduation
restaurant
employment
Wisconsin
online learning
Chippewa Valley
university
college
postponed
cancelled
Collection (Dublin Core)
Service Industry
Lost Graduations
K-12
Foodways
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
07/14/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
10/21/2020
11/17/2020
02/23/2021
03/08/2021
05/13/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/19/2020
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Isaiah Steig
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Caitlyn Kirchoff
Location (Omeka Classic)
54722
Augusta
Wisconsin
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
Video
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:32:06
Bit Rate/Frequency (Omeka Classic)
53 kbps
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
IS: All right, so we're live. All right, so I'm just going to state for the record that it's 10:45pm. It is—we're in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, you are in Augusta [Wisconsin], and the number of coronavirus cases is 1.56 million, and the number of deaths in the US [United States] is 92,258. So, all right Caitlyn, how are you doing?
CK: [laughs]
IS: How's it going?
CK: I mean, right now, it's better than what it was before, I guess. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. So, what was it like before?
CK: Well, the mall is opening up tomorrow—
IS: Really?
CK: And the last... Yeah. And some restaurants are having dine-in now. And that—and before there was like none of that. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do—do you know what the rules were gonna be for the mall? Like, because the county says there can't be more than 10 people in a group.
CK: Yeah, I have no idea how that's gonna work, but I have a feeling tomorrow will probably be packed.
IS: Yeah, it's gonna be packed probably. Yeah. So, yeah, for starters... Oh, there goes my video. How has—how has school been going for you?
CK: Really stressful. [laughs]
IS: [laughs] Do you want to allaborate?
CK: Because—because it was like, all of a sudden everything is just online. Because at first, the governor put in like no school for like I think two weeks. So, we were all like, you know, happy about getting a break, but then it was, "Oh, you're never coming back to school again, actually." So, everything was just online. And it was like, "Okay," like kind of hard, because I don't concentrate very well like through online stuff, because you can't really ask questions as often, you know? And my school doesn't do Zoom meetings like this. So, like, yeah, it was—it was hard. And it was stressful, because I was like, "Well, if I have a question, I know I can email the teachers, but how fast will they get back to me," you know?
IS: Yeah, yeah. And I guess—so—so like none of your classes have had any kind of Zoom or online meetings at all? Like, none of it's been face-to-face at all?
CK: No, not with my classes, but my principal did want like a—a Zoom meeting with my senior—just—just the senior class to like talk about graduation stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm. Wow, okay. So, like—so like, when did you first hear about that like—that your school was gonna get shut down and stuff? Do you remember like what like—what—what it was like when when you first heard that school was gonna get closed? Do you remember like what the other students were saying about it?
CK: Right. So, it was actually my friend Riley. He told me—he like sent me—he's like, "Oh my God, did you hear that we're gonna have a break from school because of the coronavirus?" And I was like, [laughs] "No." And because at that time, it was only like a month off of school.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And so, I was like, "Oh, well now we can't have a spring break [laughs] or now we can't have, you know, like any more breaks until the end of the school year.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I thought that I was gonna get out of school later too, like into my summer.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, by the way, just for the record, do—do you want to state your first and last name and your age and what—where you're going to high school?
CK: My name is Caitlyn Kirchoff, I'm 18, and I'm going to Augusta High School. I'm a senior.
IS: Yeah, yeah. So—so as a senior, you know, I'm sure you have a unique experience, you know, like with this whole thing, because you're not gonna get a graduation ceremony.
CK: Actually, I believe I will get one, but it won't be until the end of July. [laughs] And I was supposed to get it in the end of May. Like literally on Friday, this Friday, is when I was supposed to graduate, but—and I guess technically I am, I just don't have my diploma, and I—I won't like be getting that for a while.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And we were supposed to—we were supposed to have like a lock-in too on graduation night, where we get all these gifts. And, yeah, like none of that's gonna happen now because of this.
IS: Yeah, yeah. That's pretty nasty. Oh, gosh. I'm—I am having serious camera prob—problems this time. [laughs] I'm working on a faulty laptop, so... It's a sign of the times. [laughs]
CK: Get an iPhone. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, there you go. Do you remember the first time you—you heard about coronavirus?
CK: Oh my God, yes. And if I'm being completely honest, I thought it was a joke at first, because I—when I first heard about it, it was on Instagram, and it was a bunch of memes about people—someone eating a bat, and like—and like, "Oh, it caused the whole world to be chaotic," or whatever. And like I thought it was just a joke and people started talking about it being actually serious. And then places started to actually shut down, and I was like, "Whoa, this is like, not a joke. This is serious."
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like—so like, you—you saw a bunch of memes on Instagram and stuff and online and like—and like—and like other people your age were kind of making like jokes out of it and like memes and stuff, because like it wasn't serious?
CK: Yeah. And people weren't really taking it seriously or talking about it seriously.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And that was before—before like, schools shut down, before restaurants were shutting down. And then I realized that the MLB [Major League Baseball] and like the NBA [National Basketball Association] canceled like all their games, and they're not letting like anybody in to any concerts or anything, and then I was like, "Whoa, this is like, starting to get serious." And then it—I started getting scared. I'm like, "Well, what else is gonna happen?" And then I noticed there was like no more toilet paper left.
IS: [laughs]
CK: And—and I—I actually thought that was like a joke too, like some—like stupid joke with that. So, I actually literally went to Walmart with my friend, and I saw that there was no toilet paper there, and I was like, "Oh my God, this is—this is not a joke. People are actually doing this."
IS: Yeah. And I—yeah. And I still have no idea why, because—yeah. It has nothing to do with toilet paper. I—I still have no idea why that happened. But anyway.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. I mean, do you remember like the first thing that happened that—that actually made you think like, "Oh, this is actually gonna impact like me personally?" Like, I mean, I know like—I'm not sure if you go to many MLB or NBA games, you know, or stuff like that, but like do you remember the first thing that you saw on the news that was like, "Oh, wow, this is actually gonna personally affect me," or was it—or was it just school closing was the first thing?
CK: I can't remember like if I found—if—if I thought the school would affect me more than like my job. [laughs] But I guess it was when I found out that schools were getting closed. And that's—that's kind of when I was like, "Well, how is this gonna work then? Like, am I still gonna graduate? Like, am I still gonna have a ceremony? Am I still gonna like, you know?"
IS: Yeah, yeah. And—and I mean—and I mean, how has it worked this semester for you so far? Because I know you've been only online since the beginning of April or end of March?
CK: End of March.
IS: End of March, yeah. So, like, do you want to—do you want to tell everybody like what—what like just a normal school day online for you has been like? Like doing your assignments, checking your email, like stuff like that, you know? How has your education been?
CK: Yeah. Well, because I'm a senior, like my principal and like my superintendent and all my teachers, they always hand out these surveys, which seems like like every day, trying to get like their responses from seniors, you know? And—so yeah, I—I go on to my email first thing, and I see all these like surveys and like, "Oh, when do you want graduation? Like, what do you want to do for graduation and all that stuff?" And then I pretty much just like go on to Google Classroom and like see like everything I need to do that day.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Or everything that's due. And I pretty much just do all of that.
IS: Yeah, yeah. And—and has like—have you had the available technology to like—to be able to do your homework? Like has it—has it been functioning well for you? Or have you had problems accessing things you need to access? Or turning in homework. Like, is everything working for you, or have you had to do other things to make your experience at school actually work?
CK: Actually, some—sometimes I would have everything that I needed, and then there's other times where I didn't, because all I had was a laptop, and my teacher would need like me to download PDF [Portable Document Format] files or like go on to Adobe Flash. And I don't know why, but like my laptop wouldn't be capable with like Adobe Flash like downloading that kind of stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: So, I would have to email her and be like, "Hey, is there like a different solution that I can do? Because it won't let me download this." And then they'll just basically like take me off. Like not give me a zero, not like fail me for the—for the thing, but like they would basically just take me off as like, you know? Not—not gonna use—not gonna like work on it because I couldn't.
IS: Okay, okay. So, like, there wasn't any like serious penalties if—if like you missed the deadline—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Because of technology or anything like that. Okay, okay.
CK: That's—yeah, that's like one thing that I'm like really grateful for, because a lot of teachers are really understanding too. Like at my school, they're actually really understanding right now.
IS: Okay, okay. That's good. And I know—I know—I know you've had to—you've had to go to your sister's house a bunch of times to work on homework and stuff because at your place, you don't have internet, right? Or you have kind of bad internet?
CK: Yeah, I have really bad internet that—I only have a hotspot. And hotspots working with computers nowadays, they don't work that well. So...
IS: Yeah.
CK: And—and I also—I also live out in the country, so it's like—it's like hard. And also, my sister is in college. So, like, I feel like having her by my side would also be a plus.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How far have you had to drive like every day or every other day to do homework like at your—at your sister's house?
CK: I would have to drive like about 25 minutes to half-an-hour, depends on traffic. But... [laughs]
IS: Like there and back or—or—or one way?
CK: Like—like one way.
IS: Mm-hmm. So, it's about—so it's about like 50 minutes to an hour every day to drive.
CK: Yeah.
IS: There and back. Yeah.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: Wow. Well, I mean it's a good thing your teachers have been understanding though. And not, you know, too hard on you.
CK: Yeah. Yeah.
IS: Yeah.
CK: I appreciate—yeah.
IS: Yeah. What's the mood like for some of the other seniors that you know? Like, are people just like really disappointed? You know, like obviously they're not gonna be able to get their graduation ceremony right away. I mean, are they? Like, do they think that—that they should hold it anyway? Like, do they agree that it—it should have been postponed for safety reasons? Or do they think, "Oh, like, we should just have it now?"
CK: They—they agree with like every—well, I feel like I can't speak for everyone, but with my class, I feel like everyone's like understanding, even though we're all sad, or they're all like sad. Like, "Oh, no, we're not going to be doing all the things that the senior classes did in the past." And, you know, I can—I can understand that, but like, this is a serious thing, and this is a scary thing.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: So, I think—I think it's more to worry about the world than just like your own class, I guess. If that makes sense. [laughs]
IS: Most of you guys have been thinking about the bigger picture rather than your own—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Experience.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, that's good. That's good. Have you had to push anything else back? Like, I—I know, like I'm—I'm sure there's some graduation parties too.
CK: Oh, yeah. Yeah, actually, I was supposed to go to my friend's graduation party this weekend, but you know, that's not gonna happen. [laughs]
IS: Yep.
CK: There's—there was a lot of graduation parties that were supposed to happen this weekend, because people like to have it the weekend that they graduate.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And obviously, they're all canceled. My—my best friend's graduation party was supposed to be June 20th, but she had to cancel that. And my graduation party is supposed to be June 27th, and I don't know. It's—it's—it kind of depends on like that stay-at-home rule, how long it will—
IS: It's in that weird gray area, yeah.
CK: Yeah. So, I'm still waiting. Well, I really hope I don't have to cancel it or move it. [laughs]
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. [laughs] Well, I mean, one of the other bigger things I was excited to talk to you about, too, is just that, you know, I mean—I mean, I remember my—I remember my high school, like, teenage years being kind of crazy, but like I'm sure years I've just been, you know, nuts the last couple months. So, like—so like, what's it—what's it kind of been like just being a high schooler, like, in this time? Like, being a teenager in this time? Like—like, you know, there's nowhere to go. You know, like—like you—you can't go see a movie with your friends. You can't go to the mall, it's shut down, you know? So, like, there's been a really limited access to things. Like—like, how have you been holding up mentally? Like, have you been able to see your friends or like has it been... Like—like, how—how—how has your—your personal experience changed, I guess, since this big thing has happened?
CK: Well, some of my friends, I have been able to see a—a lot. And that's because they're adults, and they're like allowed to go out. But I still have friends who are like 17, 16 and who can't go out, because their parents are like concerned of the coronavirus. So I haven't been able to see them a lot, but I definitely do like FaceTime them, and it's just—I guess it has been hard mentally, because I love my friends more than anything, and it's just like so weird not being able to see them, especially since summer is coming up and like you're supposed to see them whenever—like a lot.
IS: Yeah, yeah.
CK: And now—now you can't because of the coronavirus. And it—it really sucks, because I had so much plans this summer, and it's like pretty much all canceled now. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. You graduated high school, and now's the time to, you know, go out and celebrate and stuff.
CK: Yeah, but now I can't. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. Well, we'll see. Yeah. So how has this affected your job then? Like, where do you work? What do you do? How's that differed?
CK: I work at a restaurant and they had it closed for about a month. So, it was really hard at that time, because I was pretty much broke. [laughs] And I was trying to get unemployment money, but it was—it took a long time. I think it took me like almost a month [laughs] to been able to get my unemployment checks, but when I finally did, it actually helped me a lot. So—but it was really scary at first, because I was broke. I didn't have a job. I—I had to like travel to and from my sister's house just to do my homework, and it was so weird. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. I can imagine. So, like, how do you feel about the whole stay-at-home order thing, you know, going until May 26th? And like, how do you feel about like, I guess this is kind of a big question, but like how do you feel about like the state and like the federal government's response to the coronavirus? Do you think that they've done a decent job protecting people, or do you think that more could be done? Is there something you want to see more of?
CK: Honestly, I think—I personally feel like our government has been doing a good job with the stay at home stuff. Especially, I feel like they've been really like—like, more caring, well, I don't—I don't want to say more caring, but they—they really thought a lot about the kids, especially with school and like maybe like concerts and like the MLB and like the NBA, because, you know, people love to go that stuff, but it—it all had to be canceled. [laughs]
IS: Yep. Yeah, yeah. So, you would say that—that the state government seems more caring in terms of like the school stuff and likes taking care of the kids?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, yeah.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: How do you feel about—how—how do you feel about what you know about the—about the federal government's response to the things? Like with the federal shutdown and how, you know, like the how—how—how the president's been handling everything. Like, do you think it's been doing an okay job, or do you think there's something you could see more of?
CK: Well, it's—it's really hard to like answer that, because you feel like you can see more, but then again, what more can you see? Like, there's not—there's not a lot you can do without people accusing the government as a communist. [laughs] [coughs]
IS: Without being accused of being authoritarian? Yeah, yeah.
CK: Yeah, like—yeah.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. Do—do—do you think—do you think that there's anything that could have been done to stop it from getting to this point, like preventative? [clears throat] Or do you think that it was pretty much inevitable that things were gonna get this bad?
CK: I—yeah, I feel like it was pretty much inevitable, because like, I don't know, there's—there's not really much you can do in these situations. Like, you can't stop a virus.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And there's no vaccine that can happen overnight, you know?
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: It takes a while.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of that, though, I actually do want to add for the record, just today, news came out that a—a health care company has tested a vaccine for the coronavirus, and in all of its limited testing in—it's 25-milligram, I believe, and 100-milligram doses, it's been proven 100% effective. So that might be moving towards like a more final product—production soon. So yeah—so yeah, May 19th, they've had a big successful trial of a vaccine. So, that's certainly interesting.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yep. [laughs]
CK: [laughs]
IS: Yeah. So—so, you mentioned that work was closed for about a month. Is it back open now?
CK: Yes, it is.
IS: Yeah? And how—how is that different now compared to before you closed?
CK: Well, honestly, the customers have been so amazing and—because they love the restaurant. And like before, we were just doing only take-out before we were closed, and we were kind of dead. [laughs] Like, there wasn't a lot of people coming in, but now there's like, we're so busy.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I'm honestly very thankful for that. Like, I'm—I'm like—I was thankful to be working in the first place, but now I'm just like, I'm so—I feel so blessed to be back to work and make money.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's—it's been pretty busy since you reopened though, huh? Like, does that worry you at all? Or has the restaurant taken precautions for your health? Or...
CK: Yeah, we all—we all have to wear masks. And it has—I mean, I guess it can be stressful at some points, but it's not bad at all. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do you want to—
CK: [coughs]
IS: Do you want to talk more about like how the—how the restaurant was able to open, like how—how like—how the customers have to interact with you now, like how the restaurant has changed to meet the new standards?
CK: Well, now the rest—now there's like bits and pieces of restaurants that are doing dine-in now, but I feel like they're—they're being very careful with that.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Bt the restaurant I work at, they're not doing dine-in yet.
IS: Yeah. What are they doing?
CK: They're—we're doing takeout, and we're also doing like car hops. And that's basically like a drive-in, that thing.
IS: Yeah.
CK: [laughs]
IS: And you—and you—and you didn't do that before, right?
CK: No. No, that's—that's first—first time I remember doing that.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. Were you guys—were you guys pretty prepared for that—for that change in how you worked? Or has it been a little stressful to adjust to the whole new method of serving people?
CK: Yeah, it's definitely been stressful with like a new method, but like—it's definitely been stressful, but it's like fine, you know? [laughs]
IS: Yeah. It's alright with you?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, nice. Have you heard anything from your friends or anything like—do you know many people who think—who are more skeptical of the coronavirus and how serious it is? Like, do you have—like, or how should I ask this? Have you—have you experienced anybody who—who—who has thought that like it's not as big of a deal as it's made out to be? Have you seen anything on the news?
CK: Oh, yes.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Yes.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Yes.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Yes. A lot of people are like, "Oh my God, they're just afraid of the sniffles, or they're just afraid of the flu." If it was anything like the flu, do you really think restaurants would shut down? Do you really think that NBA? Do you really think Disneyland and [Disney] World would shut down? Like, no. This is obviously a serious thing. And people—just because we're wearing masks doesn't mean like we're over-exaggerating. We're just trying to help our community and help ourselves.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You don't think that wearing masks is like a—
CK: [coughs]
IS: Isn't necessarily oppressive then like some people are claiming.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, yeah. All right. Let me see, what else is there talking about? [laughs] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you, has this affected your college plans at all? Like, you know, this is a pretty great big transition for you. Like, have you thought about how this might affect your freshman year in college?
CK: Right. Well, I'm starting college in August, and I know for sure the coronavirus won't be wiped out by then. So, it's—it really is like scaring me, I guess, or making me nervous, because I don't want my freshman year of college to be online. [laughs]
IS: Yeah.
CK: Like, I want to—I want to—I've always—like four years in high school, I've always wondered what it's like to be in a classroom or be in like a college classroom with a professor. And like, I just want to see that right away, you know? I don't want to wait anymore for that.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Because you've waited a long time to be out of high school, right?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, that's true. Do you think that most college campuses like will be ready by September to be able to accommodate, you know, large groups of people and things like that?
CK: I think, like United States-wise, maybe. Yeah. But I feel like Wisconsin as a whole, not necessarily. Because I feel like we're really trying to like be cautious about this whole thing, which is good.
IS: Okay. Yeah, yeah. So, you think that—so you think that some states are opening up too early, but Wisconsin you think is taking its time, and that's a good thing?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. Like, have you heard anything about other states that have opened too early so far, as of right now, that—that you think is kind of, like a—a horror story or a bad story of states opening too early? Do you know anything about that? Like, I know Texas and Florida opened early.
CK: Yeah. Yeah, I know—didn't like Texas open early, and then they had like a breakage of coronavirus cases?
IS: Yeah, I believe—
CK: Wasn't it something like that?
IS: I believe they've had over 1,000 cases for eight or nine days in a row. Yeah, but I'm—I'm not quite sure.
CK: That's insane.
IS: Yeah, I'm not quite sure if we're seeing the effects of that yet, though, because I think it—I think the virus takes about between six to 12 days to show itself, I believe. So, I'm not sure if we'll see the effects of that quite yet. I mean, it could—it could get a lot—a lot worse for those states, or it could be totally fine, I guess. It's a little early for us to know yet.
CK: Right.
IS: Yeah. But yeah. Have you heard anything—anything good on the news about—about this at all? Like, are—are there any kind of feel-good stories that you've seen about people helping each other out? Like people like in your own community or people in the state or, I mean, even just, you know, nationally? Have you seen any good stories of how people have like come together during this time to like support each other?
CK: I—not necessarily, but I do feel like people who are washing their hands a lot and doing social distancing and wearing masks, I feel like that's a lot of help already, you know?
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: We're a community.
IS: Yeah. Have you been—have you been really following—like—like—like national news at all? Or have you been getting a lot of your information from like your friends and like your family and like online circles and stuff like that? Have you been following the news on it a lot?
CK: I actually haven't, only because you don't really know what's real or fake these days.
IS: [laughs]
CK: So—and one thing I did realize was like, the stuff that is true on the news, eventually it will get back to you, but all the fake stuff won't, so that's why I don't really pay attention to the news.
IS: Yeah, yeah. You think—you think—oh, that's a cute cat. [laughs]
CK: [laughs]
IS: Show the cat for the camera, Caitlyn. [laughs] What's his name?
CK: Andy.
IS: [laughs] [snorts] Yeah. Anyways, though. You think—you think that's a problem, though, that—that—that news sites and news channels and stuff, like—like you aren't sure what's real and what's fake and some people—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Have been taking that too far.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: Yeah, like can—like can you think of any specific examples of something you saw that like turned out to be not true that people were talking about for a while?
CK: Yeah, there was—I know that there was like some people over-exaggerating the cases of the coronavirus.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I know that like some of that data was lied about. And so that's also why people are like, "Oh, it's not a big deal. They're lying about this data." Like, okay, just because they're lying about data doesn't mean it's not serious, but...
IS: Yeah, yeah. And like—and—and it's also super hard for like the numbers to come out because, you know, like testing has to be high for us to actually know the real number. And—and the numbers change so quickly every day. Like, it's hard to keep track of.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Gosh. All right. Well, can you think of any—any plans this summer that—that—that you—that you can use to kind of get around the coronavirus? Or do you think it will be a pretty boring summer for you? Or do you think things will open up in time for you to be able to do something fun?
CK: I hope things will open up in time. I did do research, because [coughs] I was planning on going to Wisconsin Dells [Wisconsin] over the summer.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I saw that they're opening up in like—like sometime in June, so I'll hopefully—
IS: Oh, wow.
CK: Yeah, it was like June something. Yeah.
IS: Have they released any—any rules or anything like that, about how that's gonna be different? [laughs]
CK: Honestly, no. They just pretty much said on their web page, "Oh, we're opening up at this time." But yeah.
IS: Interesting. Wow. And do you want to tell people what—what the Wisconsin Dells is quick, just for—in case, you know, someone's outside of Wisconsin?
CK: Yeah, Wisconsin Dells is basically like—it's basically Disneyland but like with waterparks [laughs] in Wisconsin.
IS: It's just like one giant waterpark.
CK: Yeah. And there's like other separate waterparks in that waterpark.
IS: Yeah. And that's a good place for people to congregate in large numbers and possibly contract the virus.
CK: Yep.
IS: Yeah. Do you feel like it's safe enough at this point for them to open in June since we're in May? It's—it's almost May 20th, it's almost June.
CK: It's really hard to tell.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Since there is no vaccine out, I guess, no, it's not safe enough.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: It really sucks, though.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do you know if the amount of cases in Wisconsin has stabilized yet? Or...
CK: I don't know—
IS: Yeah.
CK: Actually. Do you know? [laughs]
IS: I honestly—honestly, I'm not quite sure. I think—I think we have flattened the curve by now. Yeah.
CK: Yeah.
IS: But it'll be interesting to see though, since the businesses have opened up recently, it'll be interesting to see where we're at in a couple weeks here.
CK: Yeah.
IS: But yeah. All right. Well, I think we're getting close to the end, though. Is there anything else that you want to share with everybody about your experiences, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic? Or...
CK: Don't take anything for granted. [laughs]
IS: [laughs]
CK: Don't ever, ever take anything for granted.
IS: Mm-hmm. What are some of the things that—that—that you've—that you think that you've taken for granted before—before this?
CK: Well, before I started working again, it was definitely my job. Like, I never thought I would miss getting stressed out. But like, I kind of did. Like, you know, I miss like driving home at night from work and like listening to music, and I missed—I feel like I took for granted like the amount of times I had with my friends, spending—not spending enough time with them or not having enough fun. Oh, my cat just jumped up on here.
IS: [laughs] That's all right. That's part of the times.
CK: Yeah.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. And my camera stopped working halfway through because my laptop camera has cracked. So, I am limited by the tools that are available to me in this crazy time. So... [laughs]
CK: That's not fun.
IS: Nope, but we're getting through it. All right. Well, Caitlyn, I think it's close to that time. So, I want to thank you so much for this interview. I think we've got a lot of really valuable stuff, and I really appreciate you helping me out. You're really awesome.
CK: Thank you. Thank you for interviewing me.
IS: All right, All right. I'll talk to you later, okay?
CK: All right. Bye.
CK: [laughs]
IS: How's it going?
CK: I mean, right now, it's better than what it was before, I guess. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. So, what was it like before?
CK: Well, the mall is opening up tomorrow—
IS: Really?
CK: And the last... Yeah. And some restaurants are having dine-in now. And that—and before there was like none of that. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do—do you know what the rules were gonna be for the mall? Like, because the county says there can't be more than 10 people in a group.
CK: Yeah, I have no idea how that's gonna work, but I have a feeling tomorrow will probably be packed.
IS: Yeah, it's gonna be packed probably. Yeah. So, yeah, for starters... Oh, there goes my video. How has—how has school been going for you?
CK: Really stressful. [laughs]
IS: [laughs] Do you want to allaborate?
CK: Because—because it was like, all of a sudden everything is just online. Because at first, the governor put in like no school for like I think two weeks. So, we were all like, you know, happy about getting a break, but then it was, "Oh, you're never coming back to school again, actually." So, everything was just online. And it was like, "Okay," like kind of hard, because I don't concentrate very well like through online stuff, because you can't really ask questions as often, you know? And my school doesn't do Zoom meetings like this. So, like, yeah, it was—it was hard. And it was stressful, because I was like, "Well, if I have a question, I know I can email the teachers, but how fast will they get back to me," you know?
IS: Yeah, yeah. And I guess—so—so like none of your classes have had any kind of Zoom or online meetings at all? Like, none of it's been face-to-face at all?
CK: No, not with my classes, but my principal did want like a—a Zoom meeting with my senior—just—just the senior class to like talk about graduation stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm. Wow, okay. So, like—so like, when did you first hear about that like—that your school was gonna get shut down and stuff? Do you remember like what like—what—what it was like when when you first heard that school was gonna get closed? Do you remember like what the other students were saying about it?
CK: Right. So, it was actually my friend Riley. He told me—he like sent me—he's like, "Oh my God, did you hear that we're gonna have a break from school because of the coronavirus?" And I was like, [laughs] "No." And because at that time, it was only like a month off of school.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And so, I was like, "Oh, well now we can't have a spring break [laughs] or now we can't have, you know, like any more breaks until the end of the school year.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I thought that I was gonna get out of school later too, like into my summer.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, by the way, just for the record, do—do you want to state your first and last name and your age and what—where you're going to high school?
CK: My name is Caitlyn Kirchoff, I'm 18, and I'm going to Augusta High School. I'm a senior.
IS: Yeah, yeah. So—so as a senior, you know, I'm sure you have a unique experience, you know, like with this whole thing, because you're not gonna get a graduation ceremony.
CK: Actually, I believe I will get one, but it won't be until the end of July. [laughs] And I was supposed to get it in the end of May. Like literally on Friday, this Friday, is when I was supposed to graduate, but—and I guess technically I am, I just don't have my diploma, and I—I won't like be getting that for a while.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And we were supposed to—we were supposed to have like a lock-in too on graduation night, where we get all these gifts. And, yeah, like none of that's gonna happen now because of this.
IS: Yeah, yeah. That's pretty nasty. Oh, gosh. I'm—I am having serious camera prob—problems this time. [laughs] I'm working on a faulty laptop, so... It's a sign of the times. [laughs]
CK: Get an iPhone. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, there you go. Do you remember the first time you—you heard about coronavirus?
CK: Oh my God, yes. And if I'm being completely honest, I thought it was a joke at first, because I—when I first heard about it, it was on Instagram, and it was a bunch of memes about people—someone eating a bat, and like—and like, "Oh, it caused the whole world to be chaotic," or whatever. And like I thought it was just a joke and people started talking about it being actually serious. And then places started to actually shut down, and I was like, "Whoa, this is like, not a joke. This is serious."
IS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like—so like, you—you saw a bunch of memes on Instagram and stuff and online and like—and like—and like other people your age were kind of making like jokes out of it and like memes and stuff, because like it wasn't serious?
CK: Yeah. And people weren't really taking it seriously or talking about it seriously.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And that was before—before like, schools shut down, before restaurants were shutting down. And then I realized that the MLB [Major League Baseball] and like the NBA [National Basketball Association] canceled like all their games, and they're not letting like anybody in to any concerts or anything, and then I was like, "Whoa, this is like, starting to get serious." And then it—I started getting scared. I'm like, "Well, what else is gonna happen?" And then I noticed there was like no more toilet paper left.
IS: [laughs]
CK: And—and I—I actually thought that was like a joke too, like some—like stupid joke with that. So, I actually literally went to Walmart with my friend, and I saw that there was no toilet paper there, and I was like, "Oh my God, this is—this is not a joke. People are actually doing this."
IS: Yeah. And I—yeah. And I still have no idea why, because—yeah. It has nothing to do with toilet paper. I—I still have no idea why that happened. But anyway.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. I mean, do you remember like the first thing that happened that—that actually made you think like, "Oh, this is actually gonna impact like me personally?" Like, I mean, I know like—I'm not sure if you go to many MLB or NBA games, you know, or stuff like that, but like do you remember the first thing that you saw on the news that was like, "Oh, wow, this is actually gonna personally affect me," or was it—or was it just school closing was the first thing?
CK: I can't remember like if I found—if—if I thought the school would affect me more than like my job. [laughs] But I guess it was when I found out that schools were getting closed. And that's—that's kind of when I was like, "Well, how is this gonna work then? Like, am I still gonna graduate? Like, am I still gonna have a ceremony? Am I still gonna like, you know?"
IS: Yeah, yeah. And—and I mean—and I mean, how has it worked this semester for you so far? Because I know you've been only online since the beginning of April or end of March?
CK: End of March.
IS: End of March, yeah. So, like, do you want to—do you want to tell everybody like what—what like just a normal school day online for you has been like? Like doing your assignments, checking your email, like stuff like that, you know? How has your education been?
CK: Yeah. Well, because I'm a senior, like my principal and like my superintendent and all my teachers, they always hand out these surveys, which seems like like every day, trying to get like their responses from seniors, you know? And—so yeah, I—I go on to my email first thing, and I see all these like surveys and like, "Oh, when do you want graduation? Like, what do you want to do for graduation and all that stuff?" And then I pretty much just like go on to Google Classroom and like see like everything I need to do that day.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Or everything that's due. And I pretty much just do all of that.
IS: Yeah, yeah. And—and has like—have you had the available technology to like—to be able to do your homework? Like has it—has it been functioning well for you? Or have you had problems accessing things you need to access? Or turning in homework. Like, is everything working for you, or have you had to do other things to make your experience at school actually work?
CK: Actually, some—sometimes I would have everything that I needed, and then there's other times where I didn't, because all I had was a laptop, and my teacher would need like me to download PDF [Portable Document Format] files or like go on to Adobe Flash. And I don't know why, but like my laptop wouldn't be capable with like Adobe Flash like downloading that kind of stuff.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: So, I would have to email her and be like, "Hey, is there like a different solution that I can do? Because it won't let me download this." And then they'll just basically like take me off. Like not give me a zero, not like fail me for the—for the thing, but like they would basically just take me off as like, you know? Not—not gonna use—not gonna like work on it because I couldn't.
IS: Okay, okay. So, like, there wasn't any like serious penalties if—if like you missed the deadline—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Because of technology or anything like that. Okay, okay.
CK: That's—yeah, that's like one thing that I'm like really grateful for, because a lot of teachers are really understanding too. Like at my school, they're actually really understanding right now.
IS: Okay, okay. That's good. And I know—I know—I know you've had to—you've had to go to your sister's house a bunch of times to work on homework and stuff because at your place, you don't have internet, right? Or you have kind of bad internet?
CK: Yeah, I have really bad internet that—I only have a hotspot. And hotspots working with computers nowadays, they don't work that well. So...
IS: Yeah.
CK: And—and I also—I also live out in the country, so it's like—it's like hard. And also, my sister is in college. So, like, I feel like having her by my side would also be a plus.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. How far have you had to drive like every day or every other day to do homework like at your—at your sister's house?
CK: I would have to drive like about 25 minutes to half-an-hour, depends on traffic. But... [laughs]
IS: Like there and back or—or—or one way?
CK: Like—like one way.
IS: Mm-hmm. So, it's about—so it's about like 50 minutes to an hour every day to drive.
CK: Yeah.
IS: There and back. Yeah.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: Wow. Well, I mean it's a good thing your teachers have been understanding though. And not, you know, too hard on you.
CK: Yeah. Yeah.
IS: Yeah.
CK: I appreciate—yeah.
IS: Yeah. What's the mood like for some of the other seniors that you know? Like, are people just like really disappointed? You know, like obviously they're not gonna be able to get their graduation ceremony right away. I mean, are they? Like, do they think that—that they should hold it anyway? Like, do they agree that it—it should have been postponed for safety reasons? Or do they think, "Oh, like, we should just have it now?"
CK: They—they agree with like every—well, I feel like I can't speak for everyone, but with my class, I feel like everyone's like understanding, even though we're all sad, or they're all like sad. Like, "Oh, no, we're not going to be doing all the things that the senior classes did in the past." And, you know, I can—I can understand that, but like, this is a serious thing, and this is a scary thing.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: So, I think—I think it's more to worry about the world than just like your own class, I guess. If that makes sense. [laughs]
IS: Most of you guys have been thinking about the bigger picture rather than your own—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Experience.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, that's good. That's good. Have you had to push anything else back? Like, I—I know, like I'm—I'm sure there's some graduation parties too.
CK: Oh, yeah. Yeah, actually, I was supposed to go to my friend's graduation party this weekend, but you know, that's not gonna happen. [laughs]
IS: Yep.
CK: There's—there was a lot of graduation parties that were supposed to happen this weekend, because people like to have it the weekend that they graduate.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And obviously, they're all canceled. My—my best friend's graduation party was supposed to be June 20th, but she had to cancel that. And my graduation party is supposed to be June 27th, and I don't know. It's—it's—it kind of depends on like that stay-at-home rule, how long it will—
IS: It's in that weird gray area, yeah.
CK: Yeah. So, I'm still waiting. Well, I really hope I don't have to cancel it or move it. [laughs]
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. [laughs] Well, I mean, one of the other bigger things I was excited to talk to you about, too, is just that, you know, I mean—I mean, I remember my—I remember my high school, like, teenage years being kind of crazy, but like I'm sure years I've just been, you know, nuts the last couple months. So, like—so like, what's it—what's it kind of been like just being a high schooler, like, in this time? Like, being a teenager in this time? Like—like, you know, there's nowhere to go. You know, like—like you—you can't go see a movie with your friends. You can't go to the mall, it's shut down, you know? So, like, there's been a really limited access to things. Like—like, how have you been holding up mentally? Like, have you been able to see your friends or like has it been... Like—like, how—how—how has your—your personal experience changed, I guess, since this big thing has happened?
CK: Well, some of my friends, I have been able to see a—a lot. And that's because they're adults, and they're like allowed to go out. But I still have friends who are like 17, 16 and who can't go out, because their parents are like concerned of the coronavirus. So I haven't been able to see them a lot, but I definitely do like FaceTime them, and it's just—I guess it has been hard mentally, because I love my friends more than anything, and it's just like so weird not being able to see them, especially since summer is coming up and like you're supposed to see them whenever—like a lot.
IS: Yeah, yeah.
CK: And now—now you can't because of the coronavirus. And it—it really sucks, because I had so much plans this summer, and it's like pretty much all canceled now. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. You graduated high school, and now's the time to, you know, go out and celebrate and stuff.
CK: Yeah, but now I can't. [laughs]
IS: Yeah. Well, we'll see. Yeah. So how has this affected your job then? Like, where do you work? What do you do? How's that differed?
CK: I work at a restaurant and they had it closed for about a month. So, it was really hard at that time, because I was pretty much broke. [laughs] And I was trying to get unemployment money, but it was—it took a long time. I think it took me like almost a month [laughs] to been able to get my unemployment checks, but when I finally did, it actually helped me a lot. So—but it was really scary at first, because I was broke. I didn't have a job. I—I had to like travel to and from my sister's house just to do my homework, and it was so weird. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. I can imagine. So, like, how do you feel about the whole stay-at-home order thing, you know, going until May 26th? And like, how do you feel about like, I guess this is kind of a big question, but like how do you feel about like the state and like the federal government's response to the coronavirus? Do you think that they've done a decent job protecting people, or do you think that more could be done? Is there something you want to see more of?
CK: Honestly, I think—I personally feel like our government has been doing a good job with the stay at home stuff. Especially, I feel like they've been really like—like, more caring, well, I don't—I don't want to say more caring, but they—they really thought a lot about the kids, especially with school and like maybe like concerts and like the MLB and like the NBA, because, you know, people love to go that stuff, but it—it all had to be canceled. [laughs]
IS: Yep. Yeah, yeah. So, you would say that—that the state government seems more caring in terms of like the school stuff and likes taking care of the kids?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, yeah.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: How do you feel about—how—how do you feel about what you know about the—about the federal government's response to the things? Like with the federal shutdown and how, you know, like the how—how—how the president's been handling everything. Like, do you think it's been doing an okay job, or do you think there's something you could see more of?
CK: Well, it's—it's really hard to like answer that, because you feel like you can see more, but then again, what more can you see? Like, there's not—there's not a lot you can do without people accusing the government as a communist. [laughs] [coughs]
IS: Without being accused of being authoritarian? Yeah, yeah.
CK: Yeah, like—yeah.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. Do—do—do you think—do you think that there's anything that could have been done to stop it from getting to this point, like preventative? [clears throat] Or do you think that it was pretty much inevitable that things were gonna get this bad?
CK: I—yeah, I feel like it was pretty much inevitable, because like, I don't know, there's—there's not really much you can do in these situations. Like, you can't stop a virus.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And there's no vaccine that can happen overnight, you know?
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: It takes a while.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of that, though, I actually do want to add for the record, just today, news came out that a—a health care company has tested a vaccine for the coronavirus, and in all of its limited testing in—it's 25-milligram, I believe, and 100-milligram doses, it's been proven 100% effective. So that might be moving towards like a more final product—production soon. So yeah—so yeah, May 19th, they've had a big successful trial of a vaccine. So, that's certainly interesting.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yep. [laughs]
CK: [laughs]
IS: Yeah. So—so, you mentioned that work was closed for about a month. Is it back open now?
CK: Yes, it is.
IS: Yeah? And how—how is that different now compared to before you closed?
CK: Well, honestly, the customers have been so amazing and—because they love the restaurant. And like before, we were just doing only take-out before we were closed, and we were kind of dead. [laughs] Like, there wasn't a lot of people coming in, but now there's like, we're so busy.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I'm honestly very thankful for that. Like, I'm—I'm like—I was thankful to be working in the first place, but now I'm just like, I'm so—I feel so blessed to be back to work and make money.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's—it's been pretty busy since you reopened though, huh? Like, does that worry you at all? Or has the restaurant taken precautions for your health? Or...
CK: Yeah, we all—we all have to wear masks. And it has—I mean, I guess it can be stressful at some points, but it's not bad at all. [laughs]
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do you want to—
CK: [coughs]
IS: Do you want to talk more about like how the—how the restaurant was able to open, like how—how like—how the customers have to interact with you now, like how the restaurant has changed to meet the new standards?
CK: Well, now the rest—now there's like bits and pieces of restaurants that are doing dine-in now, but I feel like they're—they're being very careful with that.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Bt the restaurant I work at, they're not doing dine-in yet.
IS: Yeah. What are they doing?
CK: They're—we're doing takeout, and we're also doing like car hops. And that's basically like a drive-in, that thing.
IS: Yeah.
CK: [laughs]
IS: And you—and you—and you didn't do that before, right?
CK: No. No, that's—that's first—first time I remember doing that.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. Were you guys—were you guys pretty prepared for that—for that change in how you worked? Or has it been a little stressful to adjust to the whole new method of serving people?
CK: Yeah, it's definitely been stressful with like a new method, but like—it's definitely been stressful, but it's like fine, you know? [laughs]
IS: Yeah. It's alright with you?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, nice. Have you heard anything from your friends or anything like—do you know many people who think—who are more skeptical of the coronavirus and how serious it is? Like, do you have—like, or how should I ask this? Have you—have you experienced anybody who—who—who has thought that like it's not as big of a deal as it's made out to be? Have you seen anything on the news?
CK: Oh, yes.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: Yes.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Yes.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Yes. A lot of people are like, "Oh my God, they're just afraid of the sniffles, or they're just afraid of the flu." If it was anything like the flu, do you really think restaurants would shut down? Do you really think that NBA? Do you really think Disneyland and [Disney] World would shut down? Like, no. This is obviously a serious thing. And people—just because we're wearing masks doesn't mean like we're over-exaggerating. We're just trying to help our community and help ourselves.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You don't think that wearing masks is like a—
CK: [coughs]
IS: Isn't necessarily oppressive then like some people are claiming.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah, yeah. All right. Let me see, what else is there talking about? [laughs] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you, has this affected your college plans at all? Like, you know, this is a pretty great big transition for you. Like, have you thought about how this might affect your freshman year in college?
CK: Right. Well, I'm starting college in August, and I know for sure the coronavirus won't be wiped out by then. So, it's—it really is like scaring me, I guess, or making me nervous, because I don't want my freshman year of college to be online. [laughs]
IS: Yeah.
CK: Like, I want to—I want to—I've always—like four years in high school, I've always wondered what it's like to be in a classroom or be in like a college classroom with a professor. And like, I just want to see that right away, you know? I don't want to wait anymore for that.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Because you've waited a long time to be out of high school, right?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, that's true. Do you think that most college campuses like will be ready by September to be able to accommodate, you know, large groups of people and things like that?
CK: I think, like United States-wise, maybe. Yeah. But I feel like Wisconsin as a whole, not necessarily. Because I feel like we're really trying to like be cautious about this whole thing, which is good.
IS: Okay. Yeah, yeah. So, you think that—so you think that some states are opening up too early, but Wisconsin you think is taking its time, and that's a good thing?
CK: Yeah.
IS: Yeah. Like, have you heard anything about other states that have opened too early so far, as of right now, that—that you think is kind of, like a—a horror story or a bad story of states opening too early? Do you know anything about that? Like, I know Texas and Florida opened early.
CK: Yeah. Yeah, I know—didn't like Texas open early, and then they had like a breakage of coronavirus cases?
IS: Yeah, I believe—
CK: Wasn't it something like that?
IS: I believe they've had over 1,000 cases for eight or nine days in a row. Yeah, but I'm—I'm not quite sure.
CK: That's insane.
IS: Yeah, I'm not quite sure if we're seeing the effects of that yet, though, because I think it—I think the virus takes about between six to 12 days to show itself, I believe. So, I'm not sure if we'll see the effects of that quite yet. I mean, it could—it could get a lot—a lot worse for those states, or it could be totally fine, I guess. It's a little early for us to know yet.
CK: Right.
IS: Yeah. But yeah. Have you heard anything—anything good on the news about—about this at all? Like, are—are there any kind of feel-good stories that you've seen about people helping each other out? Like people like in your own community or people in the state or, I mean, even just, you know, nationally? Have you seen any good stories of how people have like come together during this time to like support each other?
CK: I—not necessarily, but I do feel like people who are washing their hands a lot and doing social distancing and wearing masks, I feel like that's a lot of help already, you know?
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: We're a community.
IS: Yeah. Have you been—have you been really following—like—like—like national news at all? Or have you been getting a lot of your information from like your friends and like your family and like online circles and stuff like that? Have you been following the news on it a lot?
CK: I actually haven't, only because you don't really know what's real or fake these days.
IS: [laughs]
CK: So—and one thing I did realize was like, the stuff that is true on the news, eventually it will get back to you, but all the fake stuff won't, so that's why I don't really pay attention to the news.
IS: Yeah, yeah. You think—you think—oh, that's a cute cat. [laughs]
CK: [laughs]
IS: Show the cat for the camera, Caitlyn. [laughs] What's his name?
CK: Andy.
IS: [laughs] [snorts] Yeah. Anyways, though. You think—you think that's a problem, though, that—that—that news sites and news channels and stuff, like—like you aren't sure what's real and what's fake and some people—
CK: Yeah.
IS: Have been taking that too far.
CK: Mm-hmm.
IS: Yeah, like can—like can you think of any specific examples of something you saw that like turned out to be not true that people were talking about for a while?
CK: Yeah, there was—I know that there was like some people over-exaggerating the cases of the coronavirus.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I know that like some of that data was lied about. And so that's also why people are like, "Oh, it's not a big deal. They're lying about this data." Like, okay, just because they're lying about data doesn't mean it's not serious, but...
IS: Yeah, yeah. And like—and—and it's also super hard for like the numbers to come out because, you know, like testing has to be high for us to actually know the real number. And—and the numbers change so quickly every day. Like, it's hard to keep track of.
CK: Yeah.
IS: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Gosh. All right. Well, can you think of any—any plans this summer that—that—that you—that you can use to kind of get around the coronavirus? Or do you think it will be a pretty boring summer for you? Or do you think things will open up in time for you to be able to do something fun?
CK: I hope things will open up in time. I did do research, because [coughs] I was planning on going to Wisconsin Dells [Wisconsin] over the summer.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: And I saw that they're opening up in like—like sometime in June, so I'll hopefully—
IS: Oh, wow.
CK: Yeah, it was like June something. Yeah.
IS: Have they released any—any rules or anything like that, about how that's gonna be different? [laughs]
CK: Honestly, no. They just pretty much said on their web page, "Oh, we're opening up at this time." But yeah.
IS: Interesting. Wow. And do you want to tell people what—what the Wisconsin Dells is quick, just for—in case, you know, someone's outside of Wisconsin?
CK: Yeah, Wisconsin Dells is basically like—it's basically Disneyland but like with waterparks [laughs] in Wisconsin.
IS: It's just like one giant waterpark.
CK: Yeah. And there's like other separate waterparks in that waterpark.
IS: Yeah. And that's a good place for people to congregate in large numbers and possibly contract the virus.
CK: Yep.
IS: Yeah. Do you feel like it's safe enough at this point for them to open in June since we're in May? It's—it's almost May 20th, it's almost June.
CK: It's really hard to tell.
IS: Yeah.
CK: Since there is no vaccine out, I guess, no, it's not safe enough.
IS: Mm-hmm.
CK: It really sucks, though.
IS: Yeah, yeah. Do you know if the amount of cases in Wisconsin has stabilized yet? Or...
CK: I don't know—
IS: Yeah.
CK: Actually. Do you know? [laughs]
IS: I honestly—honestly, I'm not quite sure. I think—I think we have flattened the curve by now. Yeah.
CK: Yeah.
IS: But it'll be interesting to see though, since the businesses have opened up recently, it'll be interesting to see where we're at in a couple weeks here.
CK: Yeah.
IS: But yeah. All right. Well, I think we're getting close to the end, though. Is there anything else that you want to share with everybody about your experiences, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic? Or...
CK: Don't take anything for granted. [laughs]
IS: [laughs]
CK: Don't ever, ever take anything for granted.
IS: Mm-hmm. What are some of the things that—that—that you've—that you think that you've taken for granted before—before this?
CK: Well, before I started working again, it was definitely my job. Like, I never thought I would miss getting stressed out. But like, I kind of did. Like, you know, I miss like driving home at night from work and like listening to music, and I missed—I feel like I took for granted like the amount of times I had with my friends, spending—not spending enough time with them or not having enough fun. Oh, my cat just jumped up on here.
IS: [laughs] That's all right. That's part of the times.
CK: Yeah.
IS: [laughs] Yeah. And my camera stopped working halfway through because my laptop camera has cracked. So, I am limited by the tools that are available to me in this crazy time. So... [laughs]
CK: That's not fun.
IS: Nope, but we're getting through it. All right. Well, Caitlyn, I think it's close to that time. So, I want to thank you so much for this interview. I think we've got a lot of really valuable stuff, and I really appreciate you helping me out. You're really awesome.
CK: Thank you. Thank you for interviewing me.
IS: All right, All right. I'll talk to you later, okay?
CK: All right. Bye.
Date Accepted (Dublin Core)
2020/05/21 12:04:57 PM AST