End of Semester Covid-19 Interview Oral History 2021/12/08

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This interview is about our thoughts and understandings of the Covid-19 pandemic after having taken a semester-long course about the history of pandemics spanning from the black plague until the Spanish flu. We've discussed how we think the world could have handled this pandemic differently, the similarities and differences between this pandemic and previous pandemics, and how this pandemic affected our personal lives.

December 8, 2021

Nishta

Sophia

HIST1219

Northeastern University

Interview

English Public Health & Hospitals

English Healthcare

English Social Distance

English Social Class

English Government Federal

universal health care

socioeconomic class

sanitation

SARS

pandemic

interview

college

covid

experience

12/08/2021

05/11/2022

05/30/2022

06/03/2022

12/08/2021

Sophia and Nishta

Sophia and Nishta

Audio

English

00:07:35

Students Nishta & Sophia interview one another and discuss the similarities between the COVID 19 pandemic and past pandemics. In this interview they also discuss social reaction to the current pandemics, anti-maskers, universal healthcare, socioeconomics, and differences between the current pandemic and past pandemics.

Nishta 00:00
Hi, my name is Nishta and I contend to be interviewed.

Sophia 00:04
Hi, my name is Sofia, I also continue to be interviewed. Today is Wednesday, December 8, it is 3pm. So, um, my first question for you is how do you think this pandemic compares to previous pandemics?

Nishta 00:19
I feel like this pandemic is kind of similar in some ways, but kind of different. Because there's always going to be a group of people who reacts to the safety measures are saying, like, oh, it's oppressive, like, this goes against our rights. But then there's also like, the more logical group of people that's like, No, we must do the Senate's like, even in the government's of constant, like push and pull. So that's always been like a constant between like previous pandemics and comparing it to the one going on right now. Um, do you feel this pandemic has been handled better than previous pandemics?

Sophia 01:00
I think personally, I think for the amount of technology and resources we have today, this pandemic was not handled as effectively as it could have been considering the the like the, the amount of like information that could have been spread in order to ensure safety among people, and put in place health protocols that could have been done much earlier on in the process, rather than like, one cases were already starting to spread, people were already starting to die, comparatively to previous pandemics. They did not have the means of technology to spread information. It was much, it was a much slower process. And obviously, they they couldn't, they didn't have like the medical developments to to treat people as effectively. And so if if, if we could if we used all our resources as effectively as we could, as we could have today, then I think that this pandemic would have been much different. What have you learned? What do you think humans have learned about previous pandemics? And how was that knowledge applied to tackling this pandemic?



Nishta 02:22
I feel like people started to like, grasp the concept of like, proximity is like the ideal breeding ground for pandemics. So it's like, things like social distancing, like always, like in the winter has always been like, make, like, even when the flu is going on, like flu season, make sure you're not like on top of someone like cover your space, cover your nose when you're sneezing, when to cover your mouth and your coughing. So it's kind of like people are starting to, people have learned from previous pandemics that, um, obviously that if you're in close proximity with someone like that, it makes it easier for diseases to spread. People have also learned the importance of developing vaccines as a way to combat the spread. And I also feel that they that they have improved when it comes to like, sanitary, like sanitation services, people are starting to be like, really on top of that, even in like the lower income areas of the world, like people are still making sure like not to fully dump it on the street, but like have a certain area for where to get rid of their waste. So for you, how does COVID compare to what you've learned about prior pandemics?

Sophia 03:42
I think, just like you mentioned earlier, there are a lot of similarities and differences between this current pandemic. And in previous ones. The main similarities are that like there are obviously divides in the people who go against, like there are people who go against what the what the government and like health, health health officials are recommending to ensure the safety of everyone. And then there's then there's another group people who, like it's very extremist with health precautions and like, refuses to do anything that puts them even remotely at risk, even though like the risk has gradually gone down as the pandemic has progressed. And in the past, there have been similar groups. But I feel like now, because of all the information and like technology and scientific evidence that we have, we should we as like a population should be more inclined to listening to what scientists have to say. And my last question for you is what do you think humans can do better to attack future pandemics?

Nishta 05:01
I feel like in order to attack future pandemics, it's important that whenever, like a certain disease or virus pops up, I think it's important to remember to develop a vaccine for that. Because I remember on the news I heard somewhere, I forgot which which channel it was, they were talking about a doctor was talking about how like SARS and COVID were related, and how instead of, if they instead of waiting out SARS, like had they developed a vaccine COVID may not have happened, or if COVID would still have happened, like, it would have been easier and much faster to develop a vaccine and kind of stop COVID from reaching like the level it has reached at this point, like, so many mutations, like it could have prevented that. I still think it's important for them to kind of come to grasps, and like, expand on the idea of universal health care, instead of just saying, like, oh, we have universal health care, like actually do something about it and make sure it's like, even if like you can pay as much as like a richer guy, like, you're still going to get the same treatment and same level of care. So I think it's really important that people make sure everyone is taken care of, and not just like the higher classes versus the lower classes. So how did you feel regarding having your first semester of college be during like, this time when COVID was still going on,

Sophia 06:32
I think, well, comparatively to last year. And like class of 2020s, ca- first year college experience, we had a much better overall experience during the pandemic, because we didn't have to take all of our classes remotely, and we were still able to go out and do stuff. And the vaccine was already readily available to all of us. So we like obviously, it's not ideal, but definitely better than last year circumstances. And I'm hoping that it just gradually gets better in the future because there are still some strict rules that are put in place that are just annoying to have to follow. When I'm used to like not having to follow those in a non-pandemic world. But yeah, overall, not as bad as it could have been. So this is the end of our interview. Thank you for listening and have a nice day.