Item
Jared Walpurgis Oral History, 2020/12/08
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Jared Walpurgis Oral History, 2020/12/08
Description (Dublin Core)
Three months ago, Jared and I conducted an interview talking about our personal reactions and experiences with COVID. Now, he provides a shocking update as well as answers to how we can relate themes of anti-masks and anti-vaccines to past pandemics.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
December 8, 2020
Creator (Dublin Core)
Kasia
Jared Walpurgis
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Kasia
Partner (Dublin Core)
Northeastern University
Type (Dublin Core)
Audio Interview
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Education--Universities
English
Pandemic Skeptics
English
Health & Wellness
English
Social Distance
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
mask
university
quarantine
infection
isolation
roommate
history
vaccine
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
12/08/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
06/15/2021
06/04/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
12/08/2020
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Kasia
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Jared Walpurgis
Location (Omeka Classic)
Boston
Massachusetts
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:08:38
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Kasia 0:02
Hi, everyone, its Kasia from Edison, New Jersey, I am conducting an interview of Jared, if you could introduce yourself, that would be great.
Jared Walpurgis 0:11
Yep, this is Jared Walpurgis from Northeastern University, it's 9:12 on December 8. I give my consent for this interview to be recorded, and then also uploaded to the corporate COVID, our COVID-19 archives.
Kasia 0:24
It's a bit of a tongue twister. You hit all the spots there. And now, I wanted to ask you, how have you been since our last talk? We did a similar interview about three to four months ago. I know that you're living on Northeastern University's campus, but please provide me with some updates.
Jared Walpurgis 0:43
Okay, well, I'm me and my apartment did actually get COVID in between then and now. One of my roommates tested positive, the other three of us somehow didn't, I still don't know how that worked out. But um, we were sent to quarantine housing for 10 days. So I got the I got the full Northeastern quarantine experience, which was a very not great, we were given about half a day notice to move out. Not fully, of course, we just had to like grab a duffel bag with clothes and then go to an empty room in international village and live there. So I had a very tiny, tiny dorm for about 10 days with provided food and I couldn't leave.
Kasia 1:25
Wow. Just you yourself. And you essentially
Jared Walpurgis 1:31
Yep
Kasia 1:31
for 10 days. Wow. And how did your roommate get COVID? Like they I thought Northeastern University's being super cautious about social distancing and following regulations it like how did it come to be?
Jared Walpurgis 1:48
Well, um, we do follow COVID regulations, we the only people we really interact with are other Northeastern students who also test negative like, all the time, so
Kasia 1:59
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 1:59
but then we hardly leave our apartment, but um, especially when they got COVID. He doesn't go out that often. But I guess we just got it. He got it specifically from just walking down Huntington getting his mail, getting food, I guess, like getting takeout. Like some somewhere along the line it just coincidentally ended up in our apartment.
Kasia 2:21
That's crazy. Because, I mean, maybe this is a fabrication in my own mind. But usually, we're told that if we're following the protocols, we're wearing a mask or social distancing. I know from you that Northeastern is trying to do all of those things. And it seems like all your roommates are following those regulations. It's crazy that he was even to get COVID, I didn't know that, um, I just thought it was going to be so rare.
Jared Walpurgis 2:52
Well, even with like everyone wearing masks, or hopefully everyone wearing masks, it just takes one person to screw that up, like,
Kasia 3:01
Right
Jared Walpurgis 3:01
masks, only the masks that we use only really keep what we have in like from us breathing out. Like if I had COVID it would keep that COVID more in line for myself. But if somebody else had it, and I was wearing a mask, it wouldn't do that much if they were to, like, breathe COVID into the air, like the mask wouldn't do that much for me personally. So if somebody just didn't have a mask, and they were a positive case walking around, then that that creates a problem for everybody. Um, so like this opposition we're seeing really is just causing problems for everybody. Like, it's not it's not our own responsibility. It's our responsibility to everybody. So not wearing a mask just is is quite selfish, and all things considered.
Kasia 3:51
Right. And we know that this is a relevant story for how many not just how Northeastern campus is reacting, but also just like America in general. But have we seen a similar story like this play out in history, especially when we've learned about so many pandemics? Has this see this theme of like rejecting protocols versus dissent has shown up before?
Jared Walpurgis 4:19
Well, I'm pretty pretty prevalently in American history. Like for just there's examples from every pandemic, but uh, with the 1918 flu specifically, that was more modern, like they did have a mask protocol back then, too. And people were they there was a whole anti mask council that was like formed to go against it. Like people actually formed a rebellion against wearing masks or masks like compulsory mask protocol, which I guess is a bit more over the top than what we're seeing now. No one's actually making a formalized league against it or anything, but it is still this idea of like, we don't want to be told what to do the government can't control me, even if that's even the government's trying, just trying in a way that contain the pandemic. It's like, even with vaccines that are being developed during when smallpox was a problem, people were against those. But I guess at the time for smallpox, it was a bit more, I guess it was more understandable because there weren't really vaccine regulations. And no one really knew what a vaccine was. But.
Kasia 5:28
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 5:29
So I guess I guess it just becomes less and less reasonable as we get more modern.
Kasia 5:38
Right, exactly. So what's your take on this, these, like the people who reject what is being recommended to them, especially when it's known to be successful? Given that, you know, hundreds of years ago, there might have been instances so like, in smallpox, they didn't really have medical advice at their fingertips rather than now. Like, what is your take on the reactions now? And how do you think these reactions will play the rest of the pandemic for us?
Jared Walpurgis 6:12
Well, sort of, as I said, it's like, the past is a little more reasonable. But like as, as we are becoming more modern, especially now with COVID. There's so much more information that people can just access. Like, before vaccines, like the smallpox vaccine was literally made in secret, like the the cow pox, cow pox inoculation against smallpox was conducted in secret, that
Kasia 6:39
Mmm-hmm.
Jared Walpurgis 6:39
experiment. But now, vaccines and how they're being developed, what they are, like, where these protocols are coming from, what the viruses like, you can just look that up. It's not, it's not like an educated elite that mostly has access to this information, like anyone can access it. So just going against it for the sake of, I guess, protecting your civil liberties in a way, like that just seems mostly selfish. And like, you don't want to accept facts being presented to you, which I guess is a pretty American concept, especially in these last four years, rejecting facts that are obviously true, but you just don't want to believe them, or having skepticism of the government or that the disease even exists. People. Some people still reject COVID as like a real problem, which
Kasia 7:29
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 7:29
which is amazing, considering how much the world and America especially suffering from it. But.
Kasia 7:36
Right, so as a closing question, like, what do you think it'll take to finally get everyone the same? on the same page in America?
Jared Walpurgis 7:46
I'm, I'm not entirely sure. But with the past, people became a lot less oppositional to the smallpox vaccine, when they saw how much it actually helped their like that it did not turn them into cows or kill them.
Kasia 8:01
Right.
So with now, I think there's enough current desperation for the quarantine to end like I think everyone's slowly losing their minds. But I think also the, like seeing actual effects, especially if the COVID vaccine will just motivate people to, like, take the step to, to solve it, like solve it for themselves and solve it for the community.
Gotcha. I appreciate you taking this time to answer my questions. Thank you so much, Jared.
Jared Walpurgis 8:31
Yep, it was a it was a pleasure. All right.
Kasia 8:35
All right. Good night.
Jared Walpurgis 8:37
Night.
Hi, everyone, its Kasia from Edison, New Jersey, I am conducting an interview of Jared, if you could introduce yourself, that would be great.
Jared Walpurgis 0:11
Yep, this is Jared Walpurgis from Northeastern University, it's 9:12 on December 8. I give my consent for this interview to be recorded, and then also uploaded to the corporate COVID, our COVID-19 archives.
Kasia 0:24
It's a bit of a tongue twister. You hit all the spots there. And now, I wanted to ask you, how have you been since our last talk? We did a similar interview about three to four months ago. I know that you're living on Northeastern University's campus, but please provide me with some updates.
Jared Walpurgis 0:43
Okay, well, I'm me and my apartment did actually get COVID in between then and now. One of my roommates tested positive, the other three of us somehow didn't, I still don't know how that worked out. But um, we were sent to quarantine housing for 10 days. So I got the I got the full Northeastern quarantine experience, which was a very not great, we were given about half a day notice to move out. Not fully, of course, we just had to like grab a duffel bag with clothes and then go to an empty room in international village and live there. So I had a very tiny, tiny dorm for about 10 days with provided food and I couldn't leave.
Kasia 1:25
Wow. Just you yourself. And you essentially
Jared Walpurgis 1:31
Yep
Kasia 1:31
for 10 days. Wow. And how did your roommate get COVID? Like they I thought Northeastern University's being super cautious about social distancing and following regulations it like how did it come to be?
Jared Walpurgis 1:48
Well, um, we do follow COVID regulations, we the only people we really interact with are other Northeastern students who also test negative like, all the time, so
Kasia 1:59
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 1:59
but then we hardly leave our apartment, but um, especially when they got COVID. He doesn't go out that often. But I guess we just got it. He got it specifically from just walking down Huntington getting his mail, getting food, I guess, like getting takeout. Like some somewhere along the line it just coincidentally ended up in our apartment.
Kasia 2:21
That's crazy. Because, I mean, maybe this is a fabrication in my own mind. But usually, we're told that if we're following the protocols, we're wearing a mask or social distancing. I know from you that Northeastern is trying to do all of those things. And it seems like all your roommates are following those regulations. It's crazy that he was even to get COVID, I didn't know that, um, I just thought it was going to be so rare.
Jared Walpurgis 2:52
Well, even with like everyone wearing masks, or hopefully everyone wearing masks, it just takes one person to screw that up, like,
Kasia 3:01
Right
Jared Walpurgis 3:01
masks, only the masks that we use only really keep what we have in like from us breathing out. Like if I had COVID it would keep that COVID more in line for myself. But if somebody else had it, and I was wearing a mask, it wouldn't do that much if they were to, like, breathe COVID into the air, like the mask wouldn't do that much for me personally. So if somebody just didn't have a mask, and they were a positive case walking around, then that that creates a problem for everybody. Um, so like this opposition we're seeing really is just causing problems for everybody. Like, it's not it's not our own responsibility. It's our responsibility to everybody. So not wearing a mask just is is quite selfish, and all things considered.
Kasia 3:51
Right. And we know that this is a relevant story for how many not just how Northeastern campus is reacting, but also just like America in general. But have we seen a similar story like this play out in history, especially when we've learned about so many pandemics? Has this see this theme of like rejecting protocols versus dissent has shown up before?
Jared Walpurgis 4:19
Well, I'm pretty pretty prevalently in American history. Like for just there's examples from every pandemic, but uh, with the 1918 flu specifically, that was more modern, like they did have a mask protocol back then, too. And people were they there was a whole anti mask council that was like formed to go against it. Like people actually formed a rebellion against wearing masks or masks like compulsory mask protocol, which I guess is a bit more over the top than what we're seeing now. No one's actually making a formalized league against it or anything, but it is still this idea of like, we don't want to be told what to do the government can't control me, even if that's even the government's trying, just trying in a way that contain the pandemic. It's like, even with vaccines that are being developed during when smallpox was a problem, people were against those. But I guess at the time for smallpox, it was a bit more, I guess it was more understandable because there weren't really vaccine regulations. And no one really knew what a vaccine was. But.
Kasia 5:28
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 5:29
So I guess I guess it just becomes less and less reasonable as we get more modern.
Kasia 5:38
Right, exactly. So what's your take on this, these, like the people who reject what is being recommended to them, especially when it's known to be successful? Given that, you know, hundreds of years ago, there might have been instances so like, in smallpox, they didn't really have medical advice at their fingertips rather than now. Like, what is your take on the reactions now? And how do you think these reactions will play the rest of the pandemic for us?
Jared Walpurgis 6:12
Well, sort of, as I said, it's like, the past is a little more reasonable. But like as, as we are becoming more modern, especially now with COVID. There's so much more information that people can just access. Like, before vaccines, like the smallpox vaccine was literally made in secret, like the the cow pox, cow pox inoculation against smallpox was conducted in secret, that
Kasia 6:39
Mmm-hmm.
Jared Walpurgis 6:39
experiment. But now, vaccines and how they're being developed, what they are, like, where these protocols are coming from, what the viruses like, you can just look that up. It's not, it's not like an educated elite that mostly has access to this information, like anyone can access it. So just going against it for the sake of, I guess, protecting your civil liberties in a way, like that just seems mostly selfish. And like, you don't want to accept facts being presented to you, which I guess is a pretty American concept, especially in these last four years, rejecting facts that are obviously true, but you just don't want to believe them, or having skepticism of the government or that the disease even exists. People. Some people still reject COVID as like a real problem, which
Kasia 7:29
Right.
Jared Walpurgis 7:29
which is amazing, considering how much the world and America especially suffering from it. But.
Kasia 7:36
Right, so as a closing question, like, what do you think it'll take to finally get everyone the same? on the same page in America?
Jared Walpurgis 7:46
I'm, I'm not entirely sure. But with the past, people became a lot less oppositional to the smallpox vaccine, when they saw how much it actually helped their like that it did not turn them into cows or kill them.
Kasia 8:01
Right.
So with now, I think there's enough current desperation for the quarantine to end like I think everyone's slowly losing their minds. But I think also the, like seeing actual effects, especially if the COVID vaccine will just motivate people to, like, take the step to, to solve it, like solve it for themselves and solve it for the community.
Gotcha. I appreciate you taking this time to answer my questions. Thank you so much, Jared.
Jared Walpurgis 8:31
Yep, it was a it was a pleasure. All right.
Kasia 8:35
All right. Good night.
Jared Walpurgis 8:37
Night.
This item was submitted on December 8, 2020 by Kasia using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.