Lawson Miller of Tooele, Utah conducts an interview with Katrina Beattie of Lancaster, California. In this interview, Katrina explains how the pandemic has affected her job as a teacher, her role as a mother, and the impact of Covid-19 on her family and community. Katrina expresses her hopes for the future and offers insight about the local, state, and federal government response to the pandemic.

Emma Garcia [pseudonym] is a native of California and is attending a graduate program at Arizona State University online, seeking a master’s degree in history. As part of her studies she is working on the Journal of the Plague Year digital archive. The very archive this oral history interview was conducted for and included within. Living with her boyfriend, five months into the pandemic, she explains how life with coronavirus changed her daily routines, relationships with family and friends, where she gets her news, and what she worries and fears the most.

Lawson Miller grew up in Utah. He has studied Political Science and North American History at Arizona State University. He currently works as a classroom instructor at Excelsior Academy. Lawson has a partner and they enjoy extracurricular activities such as reading, school work together, and watching TV shows and other documentaries. Lawson shares that he is a part of implementing a unified LGBTQ+ community for Arizona State University students. Lawson touches on the impacts of Covid-19 specifically the LGBTQ+ community and other minority communities. He also highlights the political and social implications of the coronavirus on all social sects as of prime importance. Lawson’s reflection on past significant global events includes the many school and civil shootings that have devasted United States populations, the George Floyd protests, and the many fights for civil and social rights. In this interview, Lawson reflects on COVID-19 from a perspective of civil and social rights while emphasizing the utmost regard for health and safety priorities for all.

This is an interview of Kiersten Camby about her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kiersten is a fulltime wedding planner. She lives with her fiancé and two German Shepherds in Spartanburg, South Carolina. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kiersten was temporarily furloughed from her job and spent most of her time in self-isolation. Her fiancé is an officer and continued to work. Kiersten was able to return to work 3 months after being furloughed and was able to slowly return to full-time status. During her time in self-isolation, Kiersten continued to be able to see her family to enjoy dinners and at-home movie nights. Kiersten and her family have taken the precautions to remain healthy and she hopes that life will one day return to normal.

It has been 19 weeks, 133 days and 3,192 minutes since my last hair appointment. I know this because my last visit to the salon was the day that the county I live in announced shelter-in-place orders. I dropped my kids off at school and had a 9:30 a.m. appointment. I had a feeling it would be my last appointment for a while so I snapped a photo. In denial about what was to come, I confirmed my next appointment and was on my way. By 3 p.m. that day, only essential businesses were allowed to remain open in our county. I am not a vain person. But I definitely miss my hair appointment! Yes, it's because my hair looks awesome afterward. But it's more than that. I miss my stylist. We have known each other for more than a decade. He did my hair for my wedding. I was in the process of setting up a meal train for him as he was supposed to donate a kidney in June (this has been postponed). We are close and I miss him. I'm sad for his loss of business over these past 19 weeks. I am confused why some business have been allowed to re-open, with safety protocols, but his business has not been offered the same opportunity. I am worried about what the upcoming months look like for his business and for him personally. I hope that someday soon they will be allowed to safely resume business. And when they do, I'll be more than ready to see my dear friend.

According to Bay Area health officials, the only drug that is currently effective in treating COVID-19, Remdesivir, is short supply. This is incredibly concerning. While Bay Area counties are on the California state watch list, health dashboards do not indicate an outbreak. If there is already a shortage of this drug, what happens if there is indeed an outbreak? Concerns from ICU headroom and staffing have been highly publicized. But even without an outbreak, we may run out of the drug needed to effectively treat this virus. As restrictions ease up across the state, I hope people are mindful of the horrific realities that await us all if people are not abiding by the social distancing and mask mandates.

Life has felt very overwhelming lately. While reading the news today, I ran across an article titled "Five new reasons to remain hopeful, from Bay Area health experts." In need of some hope, I gave it a read. The article reminded me that while life remains challenging, there has been progress. The five new reasons to remain hopeful are: 1-we are getting closer to a vaccine, 2-treatments look more promising, 3-testing is getting easier, 4-masks are working, 5-we know more about the virus now. I am choosing to stay safe during this pandemic. And because of that choice comes a lot of personal sacrifice for our family. I hope that I can continue to stay strong and positive as I navigate this new life and world. This article was a good reminder to have faith in progress.

As I gear up to teach high school remotely this fall, many members of my community are demanding "robust" and "rigorous" curriculum with a live daily bell schedule. We have received the opportunity to train on a host of technologies. Conversations are centered around ensuring that students do not fall behind academically. For me, these topics are misguided. How can we teach students rigorous academics without first addressing their emotional well being and the state of their mental health? If we truly want students to learn this year, we need to first focus on who they are and what they need as humans. Only then can true learning occur. Numb, created by Liv McNeil - a 9th grade student in Canada, captures what many of our students are likely experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope that global education systems can prioritize the mental well being of our students over "rigorous" and "robust" curriculum.

Recently my school district announced that we will begin the school year with remote learning. While many members of the community were in favor of remote learning, many were also incredibly vocal about their wish for a return to full in-person learning. This does not surprise me. There will always be multiple perspectives and positions on any major decisions that need to be made that impact large groups of people. Some individuals in support of full in-person learning have taken to social media and have begun attacking district teachers blaming them and their union for the district's decision to start the school year with remote learning. There is an aggressive tone to many of these posts. As a parent of children that attend school within the district, as well as teacher within the district, I worry about the environment that teacher's are going to be educating children in this year. With remote learning, we will literally be teaching in the homes of parents that are openly demonstrating hostility toward teachers. This brings a great deal of worry and anxiety as I prepare for the upcoming school year.

This is an oral history interview I conducted with a law enforcement officer and fellow ASU intern. He is in the History Master's program at ASU with me and it gives the perspective of not only a law officer but also one who lives in a very rural area in the United States during the pandemic.

In the case that schools return in person this fall, I decided to stock up on face masks for the kids. I realized that we'd likely need as many face masks as the kids have socks or underwear and worried that kid's masks would sell out as the school year neared. I found these super cute animal masks for the kids and they love them. I was really worried that my kids have trouble wearing masks. To my surprise, they have yet to complain about them. Although they are young, their ability to grasp the seriousness of this pandemic is truly amazing.

An East Bay school lunch delivery company is switching gears to help serve the community during the coronavirus pandemic. KCBS Radio's Carrie Hodousek has details of the partnership between ChoiceLunch in Danville and the Alameda County Food Book.

Alex Hinely was born and raised in Northern California. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. Following graduation, Alex lived in various parts of the United States, including Florida and Rhode Island, before returning to his hometown of Colusa in Northern California. He now works as an information manager for a Princeton Joint Unified School District. In the fall of 2019, he began his studies at Arizona State University (ASU), where he is currently working on a Master of Arts in history. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he split his hours working from home and campus and began an internship with “A Journal of the Plague Year” COVID-19 archive initiated by ASU. Alex shares a unique perspective as a school district employee, a student, and a curatorial intern. In this interview, he tackles the challenges of living in rural Northern California, where many seem to be disagreeing with California Governor Gavin Newsom, the challenges of social isolation, and how he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing.

Chris Bateman's first entry for his 'Geezer's Diary' articles for the Union Democrat, the local newspaper for the small town Sonora, California. Chris discusses his children's concerns for his travel plans as COVID-19 really got into full swing in America in March, and how he started social distancing as a result of the pandemic.

Chelsea interviews a California pastor about how services were altered in their church during the COVID-19 pandemic and also about his thoughts what COVID was and how it changed life. He discusses how he thinks COVID was an answer to prayer to find time with family and pay attention.

Clinton Roberts grew up in the small town of Blanchard, Oklahoma. He has lived there the balance of his life and continues to work the family-owned Insurance business his grandmother started. In addition to working as an insurance agent, Clinton is also a graduate student of History at Arizona State University. In the interview, Clinton discusses what it means to live and run a business in Blanchard during the COVID-19 crisis. He discusses the challenges he has faced and the changes he has personally made. He further discusses the changes he has witnessed in his local community, within his family, and his relationship with his long-time girlfriend, Kelly McDaniel. He also reveals the toll these changes have taken on his mental health, relationships and livelihood; the fear of “not knowing” his diagnosis after falling ill in recent weeks, and the stresses of taking care of his grandmother during this illness.

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hears from doctors who discuss the racial health disparities among seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mortality rate for older African Americans is 3.6 times higher than for older white Americans. This racial health disparity is also apparent for Native American and Latino populations. Many of these people have no or little insurance and are in poverty, directly leading to poorer outcomes in their health and greater risk of dying from COVID-19.

This is an interview with Chris Twing describing her life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris lives with her husband and her teenage son, and her mother lives in an attached home. In this interview Chris discusses her unhappiness with government response to COVID-19, her hopes and worries, and describes her community’s response to the pandemic.

On July 10, 2020 my best friend, Lauren Ash and her boyfriend, drove up from Marietta, Ohio to Columbus to go to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium with my boyfriend and I. We purchased the tickets right before the Zoo re-opened in early June. The Columbus Zoo is very popular, usually having thousands of visitors a day. However, because of COVID19, they were forced to limit the number of visitors each day and at specific times. So, in order to go, you must buy a ticket in advance for a specific date and time range. From there, they can limit the number of people inside the zoo at a time. We hadn't seen each other since January and missed both of our birthdays during mass shutdowns, so we decided the Zoo would be an easy and safer way to meet up and see each other briefly. Because of some sanitation concerns and social distancing, the zoo was different. Many drink and food stations were closed. All glass had signs on them to "Keep 6 feet apart" (as seen in some photographs) as well as ropes preventing visitors from getting close enough to touch any glass (also seen in some photographs). Paw prints or circles were painted/laid on the ground in front of viewing areas to help people keep 6 feet distance. Some activities were shut down entirely, like some animal identification games in the Africa exhibit (seen in a photograph). The boat ride that winds through the park was closed with tarps over their seats while the boats kept eerily floating through their paths (as seen in the video). Walkways that in the past were usually packed with people going any direction were empty, with signs and painted lines to move traffic in ways that would keep visitors from passing each other too closely. On top of that, there were sanitizer and hand-washing stations scattered around the zoo that had not been there before COVID19. While face masks were only required to wear indoors at the zoo, many people did not wear them at all. My group decided to wear them the entire time, and we took a couple of selfies along the way. Overall, it was a fun and relatively safe trip. I'm glad I got to leave the house for a bit and spend some time with my best friend!

Local restaurant in downtown Columbus, Ohio is offering zero contact carry out orders. These are the various signs - some of which have masks glued onto them - that were posted on the windows and inside the waiting are of the restaurant.

@pennysnark on shared a meme in her instagram story. The meme is a cat wearing a mask in various fashions with explanations on the proper way to wear a face mask.

Penny Snark added this photograph to her Instagram story on 07/21/2020. It's an image of her, strapped in via seat belt in a car wearing a mask and looking off into the distance as in deep thought with text near the bottom that says: "Modern musings: I should get a mask basket for the entryway."

I work at Mimi's Cafe & Bakery on the weekends as a server. These pictures are the cleaning and sanitation guides for the Front of House (FOH) staff. It's posted next to the main drink station servers use to get drinks for guests. It's an easy reference place and guide for all of the new COVID19 regulations! Mimi's in Columbus, Ohio did close down due to COVID19 in late March and re-opened in early June. My first day back was June 11th, which is the day I took these photographs.

I am a graduate fellow for A Journal of the Plague Year from Arizona State University and I have been sharing a link on social media to promote the Share Your Story page. This is a meme I created and posted to Facebook to ask people to contribute their stories.

Schools, education, and the development of students has become one of the new points of contention out of many concerning coronavirus. While in-person education is vital to the development of students, many plans seem to be overlooking the feasibility of safety guidelines, in addition to not fully addressing the fears of teachers and administrators. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #ifschoolsreopennow. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it is highlighting the divide amongst teachers concerning a desire to return and work with students while also fearing for their safety. Link to the article: (https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teachers-reopening-schools-coronavirus-covid-19/amp?__twitter_impression=true)

While much of the debate around schools reopening is situated between politicians and educators, students also have something to contribute to the conversation. Humour seems to be the way that some are choosing to approach the current situation, approaching potential illness and death with a devil may care attitude. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #ifschoolsreopennow. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it highlights the approach that some students/comedians are taking in light of the current debate that is centered around in-person education.

This is an interview of J. Michael Bailey about his life during the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Michael is a high school teacher and speaks about the difficulties of distance learning. He offers his thoughts on the effects of the performing arts community, for which he is a longtime member of. J. Michael also candidly talks about be isolated with his wife and children, as well as the mental and physical stresses of unknown illnesses during this time period.

This is an oral history interview by AG, a 39 year old mother of three young children living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She discusses the stresses and worries about the Coronavirus time.

This article is authored by a woman whose sister was murdered. She now works with a nonprofit called Restore Justice, based in California, whose goal is to positively effect change to all who are touched by violent crime. She reminds the reader that people can change and discusses how the large prison population can effect the population at large and those inside.

The author of this article is a former inmate at San Quentin Prison in California. These days he focuses on justice reform through an organization he helped bring into being, Restore Justice. In this article he explains the medical system inside of prisons and his experience with lockdowns and solitary confinement as a place of quarantine during non-covid times.

This is an oped advice piece from a financial expert advising this year's high school graduates to take a gap year. He suggests travel, earning money, taking classes, and staying positive

2020 is certainly a year filled with disasters, bad news, and unprecedented happenings. This author wrote down a few of them and wonders what's ahead.

This is the story of a 2020 high school graduate, Nicholas Reyan, in Pennsylvania. His mother owns a photography studio--one that takes the senior pictures you see in yearbooks. This year there was no graduation, so they set out to create photographic representations of what graduating now is like. Enjoy!

This is a collection of memes about the Coronavirus. Some good, some not so good, and some viral. Mostly good though. Humor is what helps us cope with stress and difficult times, so it is important.

These commercials are airing on Hulu now. They are all so funny and typical of people struggling to work the video conferencing. One shows an employee, not realizing that she's not muted, talking about the other people at the meetings. Another one shows people's internet cutting out. A third one is a whole conversation about what day it was--a common problem during quarantine when all the days were the same.

Quora is a large forum for Asked to Answer (A2A) interchange. One user can post a question, and any other user or users can answer. In this case, a user posted photos of famous places that are now deserted because of COVID-19. The world is quite different now--hopefully only temporarily

Local San Ramon baker, KrisPetites, features cookies that reflect the reality of masks in our COVID-19 world. The cookies are round sugar cookies with yellow royal icing emoji faces wearing masks. The cookies expression is sweet - as if the cookie is actually smiling - and the masks are vibrant with unique detailing.

Across San Francisco, honey bears wearing masks - created by the artist fnnch - are popping up on storefronts and in resident's windows. The message is clear, "Please wear a mask. It's simple." The featured bears are masked versions of the Bowie Bear, the Bowtie Bear, the Classic Bear, the Pizza Bear holding a BLM sign, the Love Bear near a sign that reads "Hey Honey! Let's stick together." and the Avocado Bear. The originator of this post is also wearing a Honey Bear mask created by fnnch and included a photo of his mask collection that sits near his front door.

In response to California's decision to require schools to begin the school year with remote learning, and to only allow schools to reopen if they have been off of the state "watch list" for 14 consecutive days, local San Ramon Valley Unified School District parents are forming co-op groups. These groups are designed to allow small cohorts of students to learn together during the remote learning phase. California's decision to require remote learning is due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases across the state.

A month into shelter-in-place orders, the streets of San Francisco's Marina District were filled with the sound of a local resident playing an accordion outside. People came out to share in the joy of music during this difficult time.

Our local school district announced that we will begin the 2020-2021 school year with remote learning for all students. When schools shut down at the end of the last school year, we made due with what we had because we believed it to be a short term situation. Knowing that we are heading into a new school year and we are still remote warrants some major workflow changes in our household. My husband will be working from home. I am returning to teaching as my maternity leave has come to an end. And 2 of my kids will be going to school remotely. In order to make it work, we will all need our own workspaces. Target to the rescue! The morning after the district's remote learning plans were announced, I ordered desks for the kids. I sure hope this keeps us all sane and on track this school year!

These images show the Tweet of Adnan Khan, a formerly incarcerated person and activist. Adnan explains that corrections facilities are moving people all over the prison and between facilities. The result is spread of the corona virus when the officials are charged with slowing the spread.

This video shows one families struggle to get early release for their loved one from Rikers Island jail in New York. His sister poses the ten million dollar question, does someone who committed a crime deserve to die? This is the possibility many inmates face in the time of coronavirus because the only way we currently know to slow the spread of the virus is through distance. Something that cannot be done when you're sleeping twelve inches away from another person.

An inmate with a contraband cell phone talks to Vice News about what its like to be in a California prison during the pandemic. He explains they cannot get enough soap, he is less worried about getting the virus from a fellow inmate and more worried about contracting it from one of the corrections staff. While the prison is screening employees, as the interviewee explains covid can be spread by both pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic. individuals.

Due to the architecture and structure of prison life, covid-19, once it sets into a correctional facility, runs rampant. This article explains the higher percentage of cases within the prison system in the U.S.

The Butner prison complex in North Carolina is also a medical facility. Basically a prison that is set up to take care of inmates with chronic illness and disease, like cancer, etc. This facility has so mismanaged the covid pandemic that the few people being released early in an attempt to slow the spread were released, only to find out they already had covid and died after boarding planes to travel home.

In normal times it is customary for inmates and guards to be on opposite sides of nearly any issue. This article shows the opposite. Inmates and corrections officers in south Florida are both concerned about Covid in their facilities.

This is a news article discussing how the military is testing new recruits for coronavirus.While only 2% test positive 60% of those are asymptomatic ringing how the fact that a vast majority of people would have further spread it without this preliminary test.The article also mentions higher than average retention rates which is probably due to the fact that with the economy suffering from the pandemic more people are opting to re-enlist and have the safety net of a secure paycheck and healthcare at this time.

This is a story of how one soldier can make a difference in the pandemic.This private was recognized for her good deeds by NASCAR however the question that begs asking is why it was necessary?why during a pandemic is a shortage of masks occurring especially in the military where people are forced to work in close quarters.

Science is usually something that I felt comfortable understanding at face value, in certain situations. Epidemiology, virology, and the like are areas where I would like the smartest person in the room to have the loudest microphone. It seems that this is not always the case in politics, especially with science that is less than flattering. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #florida. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it shows the disjointed response between the federal and state governments, not to mention local municipalities, over the pandemic. Link to the Washington Post article: (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/16/coronavirus-live-updates-us/?p9w22b2p=b2p22p9w00098&no_nav=true)