Before the pandemic had hit the United States my family and I had always been on the go between work, school and sports. A father who works crazy shifts a mother who works your typical eight am to five pm shift for her company then going to pick up her children for any after school activity that may have been going on at the time. We had family time but not enough, not like we had during the beginning of the pandemic. Once we were put into lockdown both my sister and I had been stuck at home, no more sports or clubs. While my mom also started working from home and still is today. It was kind of a blessing with the fact she wasn't driving an hour back and forth everyday. But my dad was still working. Even though my father had still been working on his days off, we had played many uno games, my sister and I had also learned how to play scatt a card game. But overall covid did bring us closer as a family, giving us time to really focus on each other. The photo I chose to send in is a photo of my sister on her first day of high school. High school to a ninth grader is already an unknown territory but going to classes through a computer at your desk at home is not ideal. Which I do have to say she handled it like a champ but it was something new, something so scary. From my experience it was unsettling to never know truly when you were going to go back to the classroom. The lack of interaction too just makes things worse. We got better as time went on but the Pandemic definitely had changed things, some things for the best and some for the worst.

I’m in grad school now for the second time. I got my B.A. in 2009, and since it was right after the recession and collapse of the loan market, I panicked about jobs and went straight to an M.A. program. It wasn’t the best fit for me professionally or academically, but I didn’t have the life experience to identify that at the time. However, it was still valuable, and I met some of my best friends and professional connections I maintain to this day. Starting in 2012, I left academia and worked in a variety of jobs and fields before realizing I wanted to engage with archives and public history academically again. I found out I got into my dream grad program in late January 2020, and I was elated! Almost a decade after leaving my first graduate program, I was ready to start the next step of my educational and professional career. The excitement of a new city, new colleagues and friends, and fresh intellectual challenges awaited. More than anything, I was thrilled that my program wasn’t online, as that is not my preferred mode of learning. I don’t remember the precise dates, but COVID-19 came onto my radar around then. I know I tracked its progression through Washington state and then its spread to the rest of the country. Finally, it came to my town, and everything shut down. I ended up moving cross-country during the pandemic (another story entirely). Then, horror of horrors, classes began—online. The classes I’d been so excited for were moved to Zoom, my new classmates and colleagues nothing more than little squares. Some of them had pets, which was exciting, but in many ways, it felt like a waste of a year in terms of networking and developing camaraderie. Shifting to what is essentially a virtual, full-time job was a unique challenge. I wore pajamas most days, which was fun. I read all the advice telling me to put on clothes that I’d wear to the office or to campus, but I struggled to summon the motivation to do so when I knew I wouldn’t be going outside. My schedule was interesting, at least until I got a teaching assistantship gig that required more set hours. (The sleep inversion that occurs when the only things you’re required to be at are evening classes is incredible.) However, the lack of oversight meant some really great things! For the first time in my life, I was able to develop a reading/writing schedule that worked well for me. I had to, so I did. I was also able to put Netflix on in the background or play podcasts while I worked. Most importantly, I conquered my unease with online education. While asynchronous courses are still not my preference, over a year of remote learning means that Zoom is old hat. I, an introvert, also have a much easier time reaching out to strangers or new acquaintances. As we’ve met in person over the last month, some of those people have become great friends! While virtual learning and teleworking still aren’t my ideal, I love the new possibilities they offer for more accessible work and educational opportunities. [cat pictures] My coworkers were pretty great, and they miss me a lot now that I’m back working and studying in person. I still see them, but it’s just not the same.

This article, published by MassLive, reports on the rising death count among residents at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Nearly three-quarters of the residents had contracted COVID-19, and about one-third had died from it. The title is evocative of the scale of the tragedy.

This article, produced by MassLive, reports on Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker's decision to have flags flown at half-mast at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to commemorate the veterans who had died at the facility from COVID-19.

This article produced by MassLive reports on the efforts to relocate residents from the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to Holyoke Medical Center in attempt to mitigate the spread of the virus after 76 of the 210 residents had already tested positive. The article also discusses the continued investigation into the COVID-19 situation at the home.

This article published by MassLive reports on local legislatures' desire to issue a second investigation into the COVID-19 response at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in light of the number of deaths among residents and the number of cases among residents and staff.

This article published by MassLive.com reports on the suspension of the superintendent of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, after several residents died and numerous other residents and staff members tested positive.

This article describes Holyoke mayor Alex Morse's reaction when he found out about the magnitude of the COVID-19 situation at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home.

This article appeared on MassLive on March 12, 2020. It discusses the safety precautions that went into effect at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The article acts as context for the tragedy that would unfold at the home within the first few months of the pandemic.

I'm going to be discussing how the COVID 19 pandemic affected me and my loved ones.

This photograph is from when my mom, dad, brother, brother's fiancé, and I flew to Georgia to visit my declining grandmother. For my entire life, my grandma, my mom's mom, lived in the next town over, only about seven miles away. However, as she aged and as the isolation from the pandemic set in, my family decided that it would be best for her to move to Georgia to live with my aunt, my mom's sister. Although we tried to take care of my grandma from the start of the pandemic through when she left in October of 2020, we lived in perpetual uncertainty and fear of exposing her to the virus. Every time we had her come over for dinner, we were afraid that we were taking a gamble, especially when the pandemic was just starting. My grandma moved to a care facility in Georgia in April. Since my grandma, my family, and I were all vaccinated, we planned a short trip to make sure we got to see her one more time. Although we were masked and only had a limited amount of time, getting to see us again meant a tremendous amount to my grandma.

Just prior to the pandemic, I got seriously into rock climbing. For me, not only it was a much more fun way to work out, but it is absolutely a social sport. Everyone at the climbing gym was and continues to be extremely friendly, and you can simply strike up a conversation with anyone by simply asking what routes they are working on so that you can help one another find the most efficient way to reach the top. As all the routes are graded, just watching yourself improve and working on harder routes is an amazing feeling. With the outbreak of the pandemic, however, the gym closed until September, and I felt like such an important piece of my life went missing. While it was hard losing an activity and social outlet like that, I like trying to find silver linings in the difficult times. Even though it took me a while to come to this conclusion, I realized that it took the pandemic and losing it to truly appreciate the people there and sport itself. Ironically, I can almost contribute the pandemic to my continued obsession with climbing, even if it did rip it away from me for a few months. Attached is a picture of the first event back at the climbing gym, which was a lights-out event for Halloween where you could only use headlamps to see where you were going.

I took this photo of my brother when I went to visit him while he was living in Concord, Massachusetts, and I was studying remotely at home in West Springfield, Massachusetts. We had just come back from visiting Walden Pond for the first time. My brother was living with his best friend's grandfather at the time, and even though my brother did not leave the house much, he still wore a mask inside the house as a precaution. After he finished eating, my brother went to put his mask on again, except he aimed a little high. Thinking it looked funny, I took a picture and made it into a meme. I felt like having the mask cover his entire face was similar to a face-palm or banging one's head against the wall, somehow symbolic of the grind that pandemic life had become.

I took this photograph with my dad when we went for a walk one day at Bear Hole, the reservoir in my town. Since the pandemic started, my dad and I would go for walks with each other, exploring new places and talking about life. My dad had recently gotten laid off, and I had made the decision in early October to study remotely instead of on campus, so we both had some extra time on our hands. We had our set of usual places that we would go to walk, but the pandemic allowed us to venture to some new spots. Even though we knew Bear Hole was so close by, neither one of us had gone to explore it much. We would plan our walks around my class and work schedule, being sure that we made time for each other a few times a week. Although making the decision to study remotely was a difficult decision because I was a senior and would be away from my friends and professors, I got to spend time with my dad in a way that we were never able to before.

Before Covid-19, I only knew the basics of cooking, and for the most part, I stayed away from the kitchen. However, once the lockdowns began, I started to force myself to cook more. I tried to learn new recipes (which my sister usually taught me) and gradually I began to improve my abilities. One of my favorite foods to make now (which I learned in the summer of 2020) was Chicken Tikka Masala.

While there were a lot of terrible things that happened as a result of Covid-19, I feel that one positive was humanity's return to nature. With so many places closed down, people were forced to go outside and enjoy forests, beaches, yards, etc. I was one of these people, and I discovered a talent for gardening. I enjoyed gardening before Covid-19, but the hobby really took off during the 2020 lockdowns. I grew potatoes, onions, flowers, herbs- anything that could be planted, I planted!

I lived in a rural part of Connecticut during the 2020 Covid lockdowns. Despite the widely publicized nature of the pandemic, at least half of the citizens in my town didn't believe the disease was real. There was a real divide over wearing masks and closing down schools/work because many people felt the disease was over-blown, not deadly, or simply wouldn't strike a rural place as hard as a city. While my town didn't suffer as much as places like New York City did, we still had Covid cases and deaths across the county. It was frustrating to live in a rural place during the outbreak, because even though we were "safer," than city-dwellers, nobody took measures to preserve that safety. This mindset continued when vaccines became available, and the latest rage in rural areas is using Ivermectin (horse medicine) instead.

I attended an indigenous festival at the end of August 2021 called Schemitzun. Called the "Feast of Green Corn and Dance," the powwow took place on Mashantucket Pequot grounds and hosted various tribes competing in music and dance. My family and I attended as audience members and we were truly struck by the spirit of the event. The main announcer explained at various points during the festival that this year's powwow was very special, since Covid-19 had canceled the event the year before. He explained that events like Schemitzun keep the indigenous community connected and vibrant, and this year's event was meant to be a celebration of perseverance and survival. I found it incredibly powerful that indigenous communities continue to thrive and grow despite centuries of struggle, and managed to survive the Covid-19 pandemic on top of that.

In March 2020 Wisconsin had a state-mandated two-week lockdown. So, I went out with a camera (with a zoom lens that wasn't needed) and took pictures of the closed signs on businesses and of how desolate Madison was.

This photograph was taken by one of the photographers at the commencement ceremony for the Providence College Class of 2021 when I was being announced as receiving the honor of highest in academic rank (valedictorian) for my class. Providence had held its graduations at the Dunkin Donuts Center downtown for the past several decades, but COVID-19 restrictions made that impossible for the Class of 2021. Instead, the College opted to have commencement on campus, holding it at Hendricken Field. Each student was only allowed up to two guests. My parents and brother all graduated from Providence College, so it was difficult knowing that the pandemic prevented me from being part of the same traditions that they got to experience as seniors, such as Senior Ring Weekend. My brother had graduated just two years earlier, so I knew what being a senior was "supposed" to be like, but did not get to experience it. However, having graduation on campus was truly a blessing and a unique experience. I was able to get an extra ticket so that my mom, dad, and brother could all be there to see me receive my degree, and my grandmother was able to watch the livestream from her home. After a challenging year full of disappointment and distance, the Class of 2021 was graced with the chance to celebrate our achievements together.

I was starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree when the pandemic hit the globe. At this time (around March 2020) I was planing to work on my senior honors thesis and happy to start my master's degree in October 2020. But in order to finish my thesis, I had to do some intensive research first: my plan was to visit a big German archive in Berlin and also to do some research in a couple of libraries. But just before I could do so, all German institutions went into lockdown and closed for months due to health precautions. As somebody who studied History and had to visit an archive for my thesis, I felt like I was totally stuck in my academic studies. I felt like it was impossible to finish my studies in the scheduled time, and for months I didn't know how to continue my academic work. Luckily, my university was considerate enough to extend the submission date for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knowing if I could start my master's degree in time (and in general not knowing how my academic and financial future would look like if I didn't finish my undergraduate degree in time) the archives and libraries opened up again, and I could continue my research and finish my thesis.

This photograph was taken on the one-year anniversary since the last Providence College Club Ultimate Frisbee practice. I had sent a message in the team group chat about it being one year since we had been able to practice together. The school had not yet allowed club sports to practice again out of safety concerns. Varsity athletes were still practicing and competing, but club athletes had no indication of when they could gather again. We had already missed our spring 2020 season and our fall 2020 season, and it seemed like we were going to miss most, if not all, of our spring 2021 season as well. One of my teammates responded to the message with a burst of enthusiasm and rallied some of us to the field. It was an unusually warm day for the beginning of March, and even though there were only six of us who answered the call to toss and we were spread out and masked, something felt normal for the first time in months. We felt the joy of sharing Ultimate with each other and let the world of stress, anxiety, and worry melt away for a few blissful moments.

I wrote this poem during my senior year shortly after Providence College began its campus lockdown in September of 2020 in response to a major spike in COVID-19 cases. Unable to leave my apartment on campus for days at a time except to go for a walk by myself around campus, I felt the weight of the emotional impacts of the pandemic. I wrote the poem from a place of hurt and concern that my fellow students could not abide by guidelines to keep the campus community and the surrounding community safe. Masks were simultaneously hiding our fears while also being a constant reminder of them. I published this poem in the Portfolio section of The Cowl, Providence College's student-run newspaper. It appeared in the October 1, 2020 issue.

As COVID began taking effect and schools started switching to virtual classes from home, one of my siblings became extremely upset. This was to be their senior year, and suddenly senior trip, prom, and graduation were being taken away from them. Such sentiments were shared throughout their entire class, and even gained attention through high school seniors at a national level. Inspired by similar movements across the country, however, parents and leaders across the community decided to act for these seniors. Out of nowhere an "Adopt a Child" movement began, and nearly a thousand of those within the community all contributed to giving these students gift baskets full of gift cards, apparel, and so forth. Businesses were even a major part of this movement; for example, a few pizza places offered to give out hundreds of free pies to students at extremely reduced prices for the parents sponsoring them. While nothing could likely make up for all that they had lost, this situation not only alleviated some of the sorrow amongst my own family members, but it demonstrated to me how strongly we can come together when those in our community need it.

I was going on vacation out of country and I needed a negative covid test. I went to one of the drive up rapid testing sites provided by a local healthcare facility. Since the lines for testing had grown so much they had this testing site at a local golf course. They needed a lot of space to be able to accommodate everyone and have less of a traffic jam. I had gotten a few tests since the beginning of covid but this one definitely hurt the most. It only took thirty minutes for my results. Luckily it was negative.

I moved out of New York City for a month in the spring of 2020 during the period where my gallery furloughed most employees aside from the principal directors and a select number of sales people. I spent that time with my father in upstate New York in a close quarters quarantine. I was always struck by the quiet during the day and how visible and bright the stars were at night. Two things that seemed foreign to me at times as I grew up in cities and had lived in various Brooklyn neighborhoods for the past year. The passing sound of car stereos and people’s voices on fire escapes from a floor above were white noise. All vibrant - completely alive - no stars. His apartment was a studio and at the time he had not yet begun paying for internet service. Some nights we would drive four or so minutes down the road to the apartment complex where my Dad used to live a few years prior. We would camp outside the complex’s gym which housed one or two treadmills and the outside looked like a glorified garage - but it had wifi. As we were no longer residents and owners of a key pass to the facility, my Dad would pull up to the side entrance and put on his hazards. I would jump out and begin to search for a signal and attempt to connect to the complimentary internet. Whenever a stray person would emerge from their units to retrieve Amazon packages from their front stoop, I would make uncomfortable eye contact with them, as I held up my phone. Yes, yes, this is what you think it is. They hastened back up and quickly closed their door behind them. I found that the most expedient way of downloading content was to position myself by the exterior front left corner and stand with my back flush against the wall. Every night my Dad and I listened to podcasts and drank tea. Despite everything, moments like these helped us laugh and I look back at this memory fondly.

A couple of weeks before lockdown began in March of 2020 I had reconnected with someone I met in college years prior. We went on a few dates before I left to study abroad and nothing developed further, but we had struck up a conversation over text and had made plans to meet in Boston the weekend that New York City declared a state of emergency. Needless to say, we never met for drinks that weekend, yet we talked every day without fail for the rest of 2020. Our initial conversations typically revolved around the different developments of the pandemic but we started to get to know each other as text conversations became phone calls then video calls. Our connection grew as a reaction to the large amount of time we suddenly had and by a new reality where distance meant something very different than before. Although I had not seen him in person for almost 2 years, he was there for me in the only feasible way a person could be during that time. He was there through personal tragedies or minor irritations in an evolving and confused stretch of months. Sometimes we did not have much to say at all - I deferred to topics like what I cooked for dinner or we compared notes on the new show that we had just watched. I called him first when my pandemic furlough turned into a lost job. I called him first when l was chosen for my Executive Assistant position many months and numerous applications later. He texted me on my first day of remote work to wish me luck and he consoled me over video chat through my tears of frustration and defeat as I navigated the new reality of learning a remote position in the typically highly visual and highly performative art world to which I was accustomed. On one of these calls he told me that he had to go back home to Italy. There were many more months of having a friendship and possibly relationship in a state of limbo with this person who now knew me better than most. We had become close through untraditional means; it felt strange at times but then again so did everything else. He came back to the United States in January of 2021 and we have been dating ever since. Connection to others took on a new meaning during that year. How we interacted and who we kept in contact with changed. Speaking with him was something I looked forward to and it gave me a sense of routine. More importantly, our conversations provided a dose of levity and joy to each day throughout a very tumultuous year.

The topic of Language & Communication during the Covid-19 pandemic stood out to me because my father was from Guatemala, and I am of Mayan descent. I recently read an article from last year discussing the impact of Covid-19 on indigenous communities, especially the Mayans. The article mentions how certain problems were exacerbated by the pandemic: for example, the inability to effectively communicate the pandemic situation across many dialects. Despite a variety of struggles, the article highlights several benefits that Mayan communities experienced, including a renewed sense of community, culture, and farming.

As someone with anxiety, existing during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 was very difficult. I found myself even more anxious with health-related thoughts, especially at the beginning of the lockdowns in March of 2020. There wasn't a ton of accurate information being disseminated, and I remember my family and I religiously sanitizing everything, including shopping bags. One of the ways we kept each other sane was by recreating experiences at home. For example, I created a "home theater," for my boyfriend. In reality it was just a sign that said "Home Theater," with a few movies we could stream, but it made the experience fun. We joked about the little movie "tickets" I made (scraps of paper) as well as the theater seats (pillows propped on the bed). In the end, it was moments like this that made the first wave of Covid bearable.

I was very lucky to graduate in Spring of 2021 from Eastern Connecticut State University, as my school managed to create a socially-distanced graduation for us. It was a tricky event for the university to handle, and commencement had to be divided into three ceremonies at various times. You had to wear a mask and each chair was placed six feet apart. Handshakes were skipped in favor of elbow bumps and air fives. Despite all the planning, the event was truly memorable and so special to me. In 2020 my father unexpectedly passed away (not COVID related). Being able to attend a "real" graduation in 2021 meant the world to me, as I felt like I had achieved something and was honoring his memory. Though COVID-19 has limited many events, I was fortunate to have participated in a commencement ceremony this past semester.

writing about covid

Taliban need outside help

There was an incoming case that started to disseminate from my hometown's airport and the adjacent subway line. I lived nearby the airport, so I was inside the "high-risk grid" of this incident. I received countless calls from the community center forcing me to do the covid testing, and I was also asked to do the test at a specific center far away from my home. The photo I'm sharing is taken at 10 pm traveling to the testing point after work. I had to line up for 3 hours in a burning summer night. It is definitely memorable.

The N-95 mask is designed for a very close facial fit and the filtration of airborne particles because its edges are designed to seal around the nose and mouth. They are one of the most effective and sought-after masks by healthcare workers and others. This image shows a dusty and dirty N-95 mask laying in the #11 parking lot on the ASU campus near the Child Development Lab. This image is part of the mask trash series and Arizona State University item set.

Gamers have known for a long time something that everyone else is starting to figure out: there’s community connection on the other side of a screen.

In December of 2020 my family went to Florida to pick up our eldest daughter. All but one of us tried to be diligent in wearing masks, distancing and reducing the risks as much as possible. Yet despite that a week later, on Christmas day, my husband started feeling tired and slept most of the day. That was as bad as it got for him. The following Monday we were all feeling ill and I was in the car line being tested, it was positive. On New Years Eve I went to the hospital by ambulance with my oxygen levels in the low 80's. I couldn't say goodbye to my four kids (two in college and two in high school) because I didn't want it to be a final goodbye. I spent ten days in the hospital. Thankfully the constant oxygen, medications and antibody therapies did their job and I didn't need to be intubated. However, the virus wreaked havok on my body. My eyes hurt and would not focus, my body and joints ached, my focus and cognitive function was shot. I struggled to find balance and felt like I weighted a thousand pounds (heavy, oppressive weight). I struggled for breath yet the oxygen took its toll as well leaving painful ulcers in my nasal cavity and after two months of oxygen, a hole in my sceptum. My sugar levels were dangerously high and difficult to regulate and I shifted from a daily pill to needing four shots of insulin a day. It has been eight months and my body still has not returned to any sense of normalcy. I still struggle with controlling my sugar levels. My cognitive recovery has been slow and things that would take an hour in the past now take three or four (like reading and analysing text). I struggle with exercise as my lungs still have not healed. Even walking up a flight of stairs leaves me in tears as I struggle for breath and feel like I'm drowning. I have to divy up my workable time because my body will only do so much before it gives out. I struggle with odd symptoms. I struggle to sleep and struggle to stay awake. I also struggle with depression and self worth. I now feel like a burden. No, I am not suicidal, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that there are so many times when I feel like my family (my spouse in truth), would be better off without this new version of me. They don't understand why I can't do what I did before and doesn't believe in COVID or vaccines or wearing a mask. It's all media propoganda meant to promote a socialist agenda. I only got this sick because I was overweight and had diabetes before COVID. It cuts like a knife when you hear things like that and when it feels like someone doesn't care enough to want to do what they can to protect the ones they say they love. Maybe that's my biggest takeaway from all of this. It's redefining who I am and how I percieve the people around me. The people I thought loved me the most, who I loved the most. It's opened my eyes to the divisions and the anger that run deeper than just the pandemic. But I've also seen the depth of human compassion and love. Friends who made sure my kids had food and whatever else they needed when they were quarantined. The staff at the hospital who ran themselves ragged caring for patients. My nurse practitioner who has been on this journey with me the past eight months and worked diligently to help me recover. The students I've worked with who adapted and were more accepting and flexible in all of this mess than their parents, as they learned new ways of learning. It gives me hope that while there is bad in this world, there is so much good.

the drawing is a representation of how my mental state has deteriorated and I lost the confidence, ability to socialize well, and my worsening depression.

This is the main page on the Golden Gate Area Council website about Exploration Camp, which was a virtual merit badge camp offered in the summer of 2020. The session information on the side notes the camp ran from June 15 to August 7.

This is the catalog of merit badges offered at Exploration Camp, a virtual replacement for Wolfeboro in 2020 offered by Golden Gate Area Council. Some traditionally-offered badges couldn't be done online, like many nature-related badges. However, the online format made it possible for other badges to be offered, like Genealogy or Game Design, that aren't offered at Camp Wolfeboro.

U.S. biometric database in hands of Taliban

Afghanistan, "None of this had to happen."

Before hell happened I had never exactly been much for being outside, I live in Texas what do you expect? I spent most of my days inside and only ever went out for 1.5 social events a week and weekly classes. Then things started to go bad. Suddenly I had no reason to ever go outside, suddenly I was alone in my room, surrounded by mess and with only the light from my lamp and monitors. I actually started to take more walks because of the pandemic, I just had to get outside, I had to move at all, I had to do something. The human brain is not well equipped for quite this level of repetition, day in day our in the same environment doing the same thing, checking the same few websites to see how bad things have gotten for those still brave enough stupid enough or desperate enough to be out in the world, to see the hell that the world became when everything changed. It is an experience that does not do well for motivation or mental health. I stopped really caring about school, I spent most of my days thoughtlessly doing the same thing and thinking, always fucking thinking about the state of the world and my own life and my own meaningless existence and I just couldn't... I couldn't stop thinking, thinking that my life had no meaning and I was worthless to all those around me and I was alone. Apparently, the human brain is not equipped for quite this level of repetition. It's quite a wonder I'm even stable now, considering the things I went through over this hellish year and a half, but here I am an, my life means nothing and I'm fine with that because life is beautiful, even if people are irresponsible and hateful it isn't their fault, it's the fault of the very people who let this get out of hand in the first place. I was able to finally see that, and I kept realizing it over and over and over and over again, and I'm still realizing it today. The real point is that we are not separated by race or religion or sexuality or gender identity or anything like that, we are all just people, and we need to help each other. The human brain is not well equipped for quite this level of repetition but that's only if we're alone.

Me and my mother drove down to Dell Children's hospital as we always do for our PT. Wednesday are busy days for them, so we parked on the second floor of the parking garage. My knees were feeling bad that day so we took the elevator. A family of three were also taking the elevator, and since the max capacity was four people we had to wait. We walked into the medical center (fully masked of course) but before we could leave the entryway we had to have our temperatures taken (mine was 97.1, like always) and answer a few questions "Have you had any symptoms? Fever? Headache? Coughing? Sore throat? Is anybody in your house being currently tested for COVID?" and since all the answers "no" we could enter. I've had a few days where I felt fine enough to go but because I had a headache I couldn't. The waiting room wasn't packed by any sense of the word, but since we had to make sure to keep our distance from other people we couldn't sit down anywhere. My PT (Physical Therapist) called me in, and we exercised for an hour, fully masked, which makes it a lot more uncomfortable, also making sure to keep our distance from everybody else. I went out afterwards and my mom and I went in our car, put some hand sanitizer on, and left to repeat the process next week.

The photographic story I've uploaded is about my [family member], Andres, who even with the pandemic at its worst peak, in 2020, had to continue in his job. He's an Arizona field laborer, a key worker for the farm he works in. The conditions are difficult, with a minimum wage that doesn't match the amount of work he does. As the photos indicate, his job can start at a very early time when the sun hasn't even risen. His job usually lasts 12 hours, so when it's the night shift, he doesn't come back till the morning hours. There are weeks when he has to stay inside a hot tractor for hours and there are other days when he has to do a lot of moving and carrying around. Due to the difficult weather Arizona may have, there’s a constant danger of heatstroke especially since a lot of his work includes physical labor. Looking deeper, these pictures of the work Andres does feels like a representation of the unequal power there is in the minimum wage system. Here we have a field laborer, who due to lack of education and financial resources growing up, wasn’t able to reach for higher positions that require degrees. He grew up in a poverty-stricken family and alongside being a Latino immigrant, opportunities were few and far between so in order to assure he keeps himself and his family fed and sheltered, so he’s forced to continue a job that doesn’t contain the best conditions or pay. This is only emphasized within the pandemic, minimum wage workers forced to continue working in bad conditions including the risk of getting sick because, in order to keep their head above water, they must. And yet, even with all the dangers and the long hours, their pay doesn’t reflect the job. This also connects to race, minorities most of the time stuck in these places due to the disadvantages they grew up with and continue to face. It’s the life of an individual who is input in a life in which already starts with less compared to privileged others, and then a pandemic hits which only emphasizes the disadvantages already there. Overall, the pandemic truly has put a spotlight on the many issues society already had.

This is the executive order from California Governor Gavin Newsom that introduced California's shelter-in-place on March 19, 2020. The executive order orders Californians to stay at home and only leave home for necessities (buying food, health care, etc.) or for working in certain industries.

I used to work at a store called Bed Bath & Beyond. It was a mediocre job at best. Getting up at 9am and working until 5pm. The occasional customer who’d come in every now and then and brighten my day was nice, but there has to be a balance. The occasional customer who would come in with the sole purpose to ruin your day. Pre December 31st, 2019. After work I would come home and play some video games, do homework, and if I had time go to the skatepark late at night. When I wasn’t at work, I was at school. I went to Palmetto Ridge High School, and it was my junior year. I was looking forwards to just graduating already. It was fun, I met a lot of friends, but it was just getting tedious, going to the same classes over and over again, just to meet the state requirements. I couldn’t wait to go to college, to pursue only the classes I needed for my future career. Life was pretty much mundane, no action, repetitive. December 31st, 2019. I had just awoken from my sleep and was getting ready to go into school, since it was a Tuesday. I turned on my TV and switched to the news channel to see if anything interesting was happening on the news, and to my surprise, this “virus” was said to have started in Wuhan China. Our “wonderful” president said it was nothing more than the common flu, so I shrugged it off and got ready for school. A couple of days had passed since the announcement of COVID-19 and things only escalated. I still thought it was nothing more than a virus, because at the time I followed Trump, (still don’t know why I ever did). That was until a customer came in, coughing their lungs out. I made sure not to check her out because she looked really, really ill. I stayed in the back most of the day, claiming that “Today was just not my day, I am tired, and I do not feel well”. I asked to leave work early that day and left. January 21st, 2020. By now I was seriously worried. I heard over the news that COVID-19 was spreading fast, and that it had just infected its first citizen in the U.S. I did not know what to do to counter it, so I treated it like a plague. I wore a medical mask everywhere I went, and double layered my hands with two latex gloves. My coworkers teased me, saying I was too worried and that it would pass. I almost wanted to listen to them, but I stuck to my guns and wore my protective gear in work. March 14th, 2020. Schools were now closed until April 14th. Things were starting to get serious, now my friends weren’t doubting my use of masks and gloves and they followed in my footsteps. There was no school now, which meant I had to work more hours. It was really weird not going to class, but I was kind of glad we weren’t. I was just happy to still be earning money. March 15th, 2020. I was supposed to work today, it was a Sunday, but seeing as my job was overstaffed that day, I called off saying that I was sick. (I really wasn’t). I wanted to go to the skatepark today with my friends and did not want to work overnight today. I am glad now that I skipped because a customer that had COVID-19 was not wearing a mask and had infected two co-workers. This had forced the building to shut down, and had the CDC close the building down to quarantine it. I really dodged a bullet. August 26th, 2021. (Present Day) A lot has changed over these past few years. Mainly lockdowns and mask mandates. I have been fully vaccinated with Moderna and am going to take my booster shot when the time comes. Oddly enough after the first major lockdown, nature started to come back. A lot of deer in the roads, alligators in swimming pools, and a ton of insects and amphibians. It is present day now, and we have a new variant of COVID-19, named the Delta Variant. Mask wearing was mandated, and then unmandated, and since Trump left office cases dropped with real facts on COVID-19 daily, none of this “fake news” as Trump used to say. COVID-19 is starting to die down a lot more now, but it still is not over. Hopefully people will use their brains and get vaccinated, and if they don’t, hopefully they use masks.

the pandemic although is horrific and affecting many people can have a positive impact on some

I submitted what the start of the pandemic was like from the view of a 16-17 year old and how it started the rapidly changed conditions.

Classes at ASU started last week, since then, this banner has been hanging over the intersection of Mill and 5th in downtown Tempe. It reads, "Welcome Sun Devils, Forks up sleeves up." This banner is meant to encourage people moving through the area to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

A blog post from Banner Health discussing the importance of face coverings.