41 Echoes of an Empty World

Anonymous

Pandemics have plagued humanity for centuries; people have managed to persevere through each one. Just how people made it through past pandemics is a question anthropologists still ponder. Despite having all the resources at their disposal, they cannot say with certainty what those people experienced; only one who has lived through it all can. I, having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic myself, will provide this first-hand account. Here is my COVID-19 story.

I remember the day as if it were yesterday — the afternoon of March 13, 2020, in Brampton, Ontario. I was at the school gym after classes finished (I was in grade 10 at the time), where my gym partner informed me that schools in the Peel Region were to close for two weeks due to coronavirus spreading in our community. My 15-year-old self was ecstatic. I was falling behind on my schoolwork and saw this school closure as a blessing in disguise. At first, everything was perfect; I was able to catch up on sleep, finish my schoolwork, and stay up all night playing video games without any repercussions! However, I quickly became bored and couldn’t wait for those two weeks to pass. However, to my annoyance, the two-week closure got extended again, and again… and again. Soon, those days turned to weeks, and those weeks to months. What made this situation far worse was the fact that all non-essential services were shut down, this included gyms, theaters, retail stores, restaurants, and more. We entered a full lockdown. 

Several major changes occurred in these few months. Prior to the province-wide shut down, I took my health very seriously. I would participate in a plethora of sports, go to the gym, and eat clean. However, during lockdown, I severely neglected myself. Additionally, I became very lazy and hated doing any work. As a result, my living space would always be a mess through the lockdown. Beyond these physical changes, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted my mental health, something I am dealing with to this day. During the lockdown, I transitioned from a social butterfly to an antisocial introvert. I initially felt lonely due to the isolation the lockdowns brought on. Eventually, this empty void, once filled by social interaction, became my new norm. Honestly, dealing with social isolation, and my mental health as a whole, was my greatest challenge during the pandemic. I also became easily irritable, and recall ranting to my close friends on calls. And I wasn’t the only one expressing these frustrations; others around me did too, albeit not in the kindest of ways. 

Plagues often take a narrative form, and at their height (the climax), people resort to blame in search of explanations. In fact, many of history’s largest pandemics were accompanied by scapegoats. During the Plague of Justinian, as well as the Black Death, Jewish people were strongly discriminated against, and often physically punished for “supposedly causing the Bubonic Plague.” Similarly, South Asian immigrants were subject to prejudice over the cholera outbreak during the third cholera pandemic. Hence, I feel heart-broken to say that history repeated itself during the COVID-19 pandemic. In their frustrations over country-wide shutdowns, people turned to hate as a coping mechanism. The Asian community faced severe discrimination as the virus originated in Wuhan, China. People of Asian descent were assaulted, not only through hate speech, but also physically. I also recall several Asian-owned small businesses getting vandalized and looted in my area. Influential people like the president of the United States, Donald Trump, intensified the stigma by calling the COVID-19 virus the “China virus” on multiple occasions. Just as people in Africa with HIV were once accused of having intercourse with monkeys, Asians all across the world were accused of eating bats. All this hate birthed the “Stop Asian Hate” movement, where many protested against the violence and stigma targeted towards Asian people.

This initial lockdown period lasted for about three to four months, before restrictions eased slightly. During the summer of 2020, my family and I decided to go on a road trip to Montréal, Québec, to visit some family. However, this was not the Montréal I remembered—it was a ghost town. Famous attractions like Mont-Royal, Le Vieux Montréal, and the renowned botanical gardens, where the longest of lines once stood, were empty. The worst part however was ironically seeing my cousins. Since this was around the end of the first wave of the pandemic, we wore our masks and kept our distance the whole time we were seeing them, as a precaution. In fact, we wouldn’t even step foot in their houses and instead met our family in the backyard to avoid risking the virus’ spread. The entire trip felt so surreal.

The lockdowns were on and off from this point forth. Schools reopened in September of 2020, along with many non-essential services, although with tight restrictions. We completed daily COVID-19 screenings before school, wore masks, and carried proof of vaccination to many places, all while maintaining social distancing. Everything shut down again (aside from essential services) as the second wave of the pandemic hit in January of 2021. From here on out, the restrictions were slowly lifted, one by one, until we returned to some sense of normalcy.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic was not all bad. Seeing how I had wasted my time during the first wave of COVID-19, I used the second lockdown to be more productive. Namely, I began volunteering at my city’s main hospital, as “COVID-19 support staff.” Seeing all the doctors and nurses risking their lives every day in the fight against the virus, I felt inspired, feeling the strong urge to contribute. This brings me to another good thing to come out of the pandemic — unity. During the times COVID-19 hit its peak, the healthcare workers, deemed the frontline workers, fought hard to save as many lives as possible. Society as a whole rightfully called them heroes and stood behind them, cheering each and every worker on. Never had I seen a front so unified as I did during the pandemic. The cherry on top, I met my girlfriend, my first and only love, during these tough times. We really bonded over our shared experiences during the many lockdowns. In fact, not only did I become close with my significant other, but also my family and friends. Ironically, the pandemic brought more people closer together than it did drive them apart. 

So what should you take away from this? For starters, while you are studying the biological aspects of this pandemic, you cannot overlook its social and cultural impacts. Additionally, pandemics like COVID-19 bring forth a sense of isolation you would not believe, the effects on mental health are staggering. Additionally, you should know that people can unite when they have a common enemy. This pandemic was truly a testament to how strong humanity’s will and unity can be when pushed to its limits. Also, as a side note, thank your doctors and nurses for the work they do, for we would not be where we are today without their altruistic efforts.