COVID-19 NARRATIVE

The year is 2020 it was the mark of a new decade and the mark of many other beginnings that no one expected. Coronavirus or COVID-19 is a virus that had a more predominantly affected China and France then soon found its way to the United states. This virus has caused anxiety through many families forcing us to return home from our colleges            /work and stay there. Humans are social creatures and most of us have a significant other or someone they care a lot about, whether they live with them or not. Everyone was asked to stay home and only go out for essential needs like food or businesses. Of course, for me as a freshman not being able to finish the rest of their first spring term, it was tough. I play football for UNE and due to these circumstances, we couldn’t compete in our spring training, meaning I still won’t be able to experience it for my first time. It took me awhile to really grasp the situation and when I was packing all my belongings from my dorm is when it hit me, that my freshman year is basically over. It has been a few weeks since this has happened, and the pandemic only got worse by having a huge increase in cases of the coronavirus and in deaths. At this point the anxiety of everyone was high and my mom began to worry for when I would have to go get groceries or when I was going back to UNE to get the things that I did not pack before. As there are more negative and positive when it comes to this situation, the positives are hidden amongst the fog. We get to spend more time with our family for people that may not be able to see often and for a lot of people this can be one huge deep breath. For me this is an obstacle that I will be able to learn from so in the future if I ever face a problem small or this big of scale I will be prepared. The skies are bluer the water is cleaner because it is not being used, as though many people are falling ill and some are even dying, there are valuable moments that we can take from an experience like this, moments that we could pass down through generations.

Moments like this are important because they help you realize a lot of things and can be seen as a “wake-up call” to many people and families that are being affected by this pandemic. There are many things that I have learned through this experience, even if it has not been that long. I have learned the importance of staying sanitary in an era where we interact with many different people daily. I have learned a lot of the things that are taken for granted by a lot of people before this pandemic started. The freedom of traveling and for many, doing the things you love have been put on a pause for what has felt like years, with no clue of how long it will last. It is to the point where we are even restricted from leaving our own house or city, with people staying six feet away from each other and avoiding all unnecessary interactions. As a community, there are a lot of things that are learned from this, I realized how fast a small problem can turn into a big pandemic and a lot of it is due to how we react to the small problem. As a community it has shown that in my city we have seen minimal cases of coronavirus because of the standards that are being presented to us like the “stay at home” precautions that took place soon after neighboring states and cities have enforced it too. It is breath taking on how fast students and especially athletes’ lives were changed in such little time. It has only been a few weeks, and within the first few many sports and schools were cancelled. Seniors that had played a spring sport had barely began their season and it was over before they knew it. It saddens me being an athlete myself that someone would have to go through that, because to many people that play sports, I believe they could all agree with me that, it is always more than just a sport. With the absence of sports, all the non-seniors are told to workout in their controlled environment. For many this can be one of the most challenging tasks, because not only are gyms being closed but, unless your own weights and space you are very limited to the workouts that you can do. On the top of the workouts, professors must continue their curriculum the same as it was when you were at school which isn’t just stressful for student-athletes, but every student. The stress of the virus has been causing anxiety to many and in some if not most cases, home is not the best environment for a student to be focused, whether it is due to situations at home or just simply the fact of being very comfortable in your house to the point where you start to slack off.

It is evident that in any perspective you look at it in, the negatives surely outweigh the positives making it very hard for everyone. People are fighting this virus and I am sure it has hurt and stressed a lot of families, because I know that it has stressed me out quite a bit. Although that might seem like the case, like I have mentioned I am a believer that everything happens for a reason and to know that if we take the precautions and stay safe the scale that shows the negatives winning will start to change slowly. Within these few weeks the pollution in the earth has went down and many families get to spend more time than they typically would with each other. And soon I believe we will find a cure for not only the virus but for the stress and toll that it has taken on families that are suffering. Coronavirus has taken a lot from us but there is one thing that could never be taken from us, our hope.