This reflection essay was written by Anushka from Parkway South High School. To submit your own work to the student blog, please email [email protected].
The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
COVID-19 hit the world by surprise in December of 2019 in the town of Wuhan, China. This may make me sound like an inconsiderate person, but my initial reaction was this is probably like a small outbreak and it will die down soon. I did not really know much about it besides it is a virus. No one had died initially, so I thought it was a miniscule problem, and it would not have any major repercussions. I thought this would be a small issue and be limited to a small space only in China. To be honest, I didn’t care that much, but this is because never in a million years, did I think it would change my life here in the US, halfway across the world. Humans have the inclination to only care about themselves and not others around them. The media in the past has had a tendency to over exaggerate news such as the spread of yellow journalism in World War 1. I did not know what to believe and what I was hearing was true and what was false. The media is corrupt to the point where you can not believe anything until fact checked by multiple sources. These sources have to be reliable also such as major news sites and the government. However, the public does not really know how the news companies and government are skewing the information given to the public. The news companies are all at each other’s throat with only one main objective; to make money. The government is unreliable as we have seen in the past from one example to another such as with the Pentagon Papers. In today’s society, it is sad that the public has to doubt their own government. I did not really know what COVID-19 was until a debate tournament, where I had to create a radio report on it. This is when I learned it was a major issue. Even though it hasn’t spread yet outside of China, this virus was deadly. The virus had no cure and it was spreading exponentially. It was spreading like a wildfire over all of China. The problem with COVID-19 is that it spreads by any contact with the infected person. The incubation period is also very long as the virus can live for 1-14 days. I knew the people in China had to do something, but again I did not care to the extent because it was only in China. I believed it would stay enclosed. However, as time passed my reaction changed. The world uncovered the source of COVID-19, which was the bat. This news spread like a wildfire. The media blamed the whole virus on the Chinese people and believed they deserved it for eating bats. All of the United States, even though not affected by the virus yet went crazy. This started targeted racist attacks and people stopped buying supplies from Asian stores. This frenzy negatively impacted many Chinese- Americans. This is heartbreaking, but it shows the core of the human population. We all want to blame each other, so we don’t end up being the ones blamed in the end. The population blamed Chinese people as a whole for this issue. This is an example of race stereotypes at the finest. After all, the rest of the world did not blame the US for when diseases such as Polio were discovered. The world knew that there were more important things such as finding a cure then to be at each other’s throats. The US should do the same now. COVID-19 represents a problem health wise of course, but also morally. Wow. Looking back at the last two weeks, my life has been a roller coaster and has changed immensely. Everything from the small things in life such as food to the bigger things like school has been impacted. The last two weeks have been probably the worst and best two weeks of my life. Everything has changed, I can’t think of one thing that is the same. School is now online. I like this because I can work at my own pace and sleep in. However, I dislike this because I don’t get to see my friends. I miss them all so much. FaceTimes are not the same as in person interaction. Also, all after school activities are cancelled including lacrosse and debate. I miss these activities immensely, however it has given me more free time. This has allowed me to stop and reflect on my freshmen year so far. I haven’t had a breather in so long. This break is nice, but it is simply too long now. Sports are all cancelled. Yes, I dreaded tennis and 5 am swim practices, but I miss them. Humans don’t appreciate things until they are taken away. I love skipping practice every once in a while, but I miss the sport and the people now. I have so much free time. This is good because I can focus on self care and I have more time to myself. However, this is also bad because I worked so hard all year, and now it is going to take me a long time to get back to the level I was at. Smaller things such as food have also been affected. My parents stocked on food, but not with the stuff I liked. They filled our freezer with necessities such as frozen vegetables and fruits. They said food like ice cream was not essential. This made me mad, I understand that we do not know how long this pandemic is going to last, and we have to be prepared for the worst. Also, we can’t go out. Missouri is in lockdown. This means we can’t do the fun recreational activities we used to do like I can’t go to the mall with my friends on the weekends anymore. These are only a few of the many aspects of my life impacted by this virus.
