It is safe to say that the impacts of COVID-19 on me and my family’s lives has been strange, and unbelievable. While my family and I are taking social distancing seriously and are doing our best to abide by suggestions of our local and national government, it has still been an adjustment. Being uprooted from school has been particularly hard for me. I love my family and while I am happy to be safely at home with those that I love, the timing wasn’t amazing. We heard about going home during spring break so what I thought would be a week hiatus from my friends at school, turned into months. I just wish I would have been able to say goodbye and it stinks that all of our plans together and the events I had planned on campus through clubs were halted.
School has been a bit of an adjustment. I feel kind of lost because I have always had to attend some sort of classroom atmosphere. It is weird trying to schedule my own time and also be working the whole day alongside the rest of my family. My dad is home from his job and my brother is also doing school from home so at least I have some buddies to keep me motivated! I have also had online classes in highschool so I am confident in my abilities to manage my time and have enough discipline to get my work done, it’s just weird never leaving the house to do school. While all these feelings regarding school and friends are legitimate I am reminding myself that the only thing that truly matters is I am healthy and safe and ultimately the protection of the public health is a priority. There are people right now in this world either sick, or have loved ones who may die from this virus and my complaints are insignificant compared to what they must be feeling. Thus, I am trying to stay positive and enjoy this opportunity to be with my family!
It has honestly been absolutely crazy to think about how this virus has spread across the whole world and it is intriguing to watch how governments, medical staff, and public health organizations handle this situation. My mother is a nurse at Atrium Health Pineville and she goes back to work this Thursday. While I know she will do her best to be particularly mindful of her contact with patients and others because of the virus, she undoubtedly will still do her job to the best of her ability. Thus, I am a little concerned for her, but thankfully this class has allowed me to gain education to settle down some of my fears that I previously may have had. Due to this class I know that the main concern regarding my mother is her potentially carrying the virus to those immunocompromised, not if she or even my whole family gets the virus. To be honest, it is making my family angry at people who are not abiding by social distancing or hosting dinner parties during this time. What people don’t understand is that the longer people don’t take this seriously and continue to contact others, the longer people are going to have to be hunkered down in their homes. I just don’t appreciate people complaining about how they are bored in their house when my family and I are about to send my mother in the direct path of danger.
Allison Roney's Microbiology Blog 