An example of what zoom looked like during the pandemic.
March 13, 2020, the world went quiet as the president declared a national emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. A two-week mandatory quarantine turned into two years; grocery stores emptied as people rushed to stack up on essential needs.
April 3rd, 2020, the CDC announced a mask mandate that recommended all people wear masks outside of their homes. A task as simple as wearing a mask has caused political wars and arguments between people who think they are too superior to wear a mask and protect themselves and other people.
CHS freshman Korbin Gordon says, “I like my life more now than I did before the pandemic.” He says he would absolutely be in a different spot if the pandemic never happened. He lost some relationships due to people moving, but he said the pandemic never truly affected his mental health. “I’ve had the same mindset for a very long time and it's a very positive mindset,'' Gordon says. He was definitely ready for the pandemic to be over.
The world was completely shut down; it all became the new normal. It was a shock to see big crowds of people or crowded events. People sat in their houses as covid cases rose and watched people succumb to this deadly virus.
Julia Dixon, a 10th grader at CHS says, “It made me lose the experience of real schooling for a short period of time.” The pandemic caused her to be more aware of sickness and to keep everything clean. “It kinda kept my family apart for awhile,” she said. Dixon admits the pandemic dragged her mental health to the ground and it was the lowest and worst point in her life.
Schools were closed for around a year and a half. We sat in front of computer screens for a whole year on Zoom. Grades plummeted and students lost motivation. We wanted to socialize and be in a classroom with our friends, not sit in our bed with our friends name displayed on a black screen.
Junior Matthew Grocha says he sat inside all day at the beginning of quarantine and felt wasteful and it really messed with his mental health, but he also got to spend more time with family and friends. “I thought it was honestly gonna only last two weeks, but at the same time it kinda scared me,” he said. He wasn't expecting for it to last as long as it did. Matthew declares, “I was 100% ready for the pandemic to be over; it was so boring with everything being closed.”
As quarantine came to an end, businesses started opening up, and schools started to open. We all slowly converted our lives back to like they were before covid. We have adapted to life the way it is now. Covid will truly never be gone but we can live our life the way we want to again.
Photos: Emma Cherry