Pandemic Essays

By Katie Shea-Moskop

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by Subhra Sarkar Roychowdhury

As of December of 2020 life right now is very complicated in the U.S. I can still remember back in January when I was going to school and about my business normally. Then, all of a sudden, the pandemic just rushed in and changed everything. I first heard about the virus at the end of 2019. I had thought of it as a small thing which couldn’t possibly get as far as it had. Now, it’s dangerous to even go outside. I’ve had to use laptops to actually “go” to school everyday. I hear of many concerning things happening in the world. I’ve had to stop going to the extra-curricular classes I have been attending for years. Our economy is breaking apart. It’s completely chaotic.

The coronavirus, the rapidly spreading virus keeping everyone at home, has been a bane to all the world. It’s killing old and young people alike, but it is especially deadly to those above 60 whose immune systems are generally weaker than others. In the same way, people with other diseases like asthma and diabetes are also more vulnerable to the virus than others. Not only that, even some pets have been affected. Hospitals and the ICU are being overfilled with patients, and many people who do have rooms there don’t have a ventilator for themselves. Fortunately, there are vaccine trials taking place. But nothing more than trials has happened yet. I hear the phrase, “Wear a mask,” get repeated almost everywhere I go. It’s on the news. It’s written on signs by restaurants. But even then, I see people walking around bare faced. The matter of social distancing is also something I notice many people not following even though it’s strictly explained in detail exactly like the mask rule. Consequently, there have been 1.5 million deaths worldwide, and the United States makes up 300K of them. The virus started in December of 2019. It’s just been growing ever since. Sometimes, even after recovering, people are infected again. Others experience different symptoms after healing like kidney damage, heart diseases, and lung problems. The symptoms include a fever, breathing difficulties, fatigue, headaches, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea. Emergency symptoms are persisting pain or pressure in your chest, new confusion, not being able to be awake or stay awake, and bluish lips or face. In addition, some individuals are asymptomatic. So sometimes it’s impossible to tell if someone has the virus until it’s too late. The virus gets in through the gaps in your body, and it’s mainly spread by someone coughing and sneezing. That’s why people are asked to wear masks to cover their mouths and noses so the germs are kept in your mask and not directed toward other people. They are also asked to maintain a distance of 6 feet from other people and are encouraged to wash their hands thoroughly whenever they can. What makes it worse is the virus can stay airborne for an amount of time. At any rate, my parents are very strict about protecting myself from the virus, so I always wear a mask when I go outside and keep my distance from people.  I don’t see any problem with following the safety guidelines. 

I never imagined I would have to attend class using video calls. The day when they announced we would be learning from home, I realized that it was, in fact, the best approach to the situation. It was noticeably strange to be in a video call trying to learn. There were many distractions around me at home. In a normal classroom environment, it was way easier to pay attention, but in a video call, the teacher was on a small screen and could barely even see me and vice versa. That made everything much more difficult than in a normal and physical classroom. It got slightly better as time went on, but it really wasn’t to the same degree as a physical school.

All the extracurricular activities outside of school I had been attending had to either get cancelled or start teaching online. I only went to two. My piano class continued remotely, but my martial arts class did not start online classes until after a while. Even then, it wasn’t the same as how I used to attend them. But something like learning the piano online is very much easier than going to school online in my opinion. 

I can see that our economy is slowly falling into pieces. Businesses have had to fire employees and close down because they could not pay for one thing or another. Restaurants have had to force people to eat outside because of the relation between air circulation and Covid-19. Airports have had to shut down because of the lack of people riding with them. Small shops are going bankrupt. People are running out of money, can’t pay their rent, and are afraid to travel. Another thing is there are so many protests in the U.S., and many of them are getting violent. I don’t live in the locations of the protests, but Mount Prospect is near Chicago. From -here, you can’t tell there are any protests at all. I only see it on the news. Another thing I hear is lots of people are being overworked. People are starting to fall prey to hunger because they can’t afford enough food. Doctors are working day and night to help covid patients. Scientists all around the world are struggling to find a cure for this illness because of how it mutates. In every country the coronavirus is different, and that makes it all the harder to find a solution. There’s talk of a vaccine coming out in December of 2020 though. Even then, I can tell that the economy is unmistakably crumbling apart.

Everything is slightly more strenuous than it was before. Part of it is that I have to get used to it, but it’s also more difficult in general. I wish everything could go back to the way it was before the pandemic. I know it can’t happen immediately, but I hope it will start happening soon.