104 A Snapshot of My “Two Weeks” of COVID

Anonymous

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, I was in my second semester of grade 11. Sitting in my biology class, I remember my teacher and classmates discussing the possibility of school shutting down for a couple of weeks in response to what was mainly referred to as coronavirus at the time. Being just 16, soon turning 17, I had little understanding of how diseases spread or how we as a society handled pandemics. My teacher explained how she believed this would be a worldwide issue and that we would be away from school for much longer than 2 weeks.

It turned out that my biology teacher was more than correct. A couple of months into COVID, I found myself fully locked down in my childhood home with my family. My mother and father both worked throughout the day, as they were required workers in their fields. So, it was my sister and me in the house during the day. Being from Vaughan, Ontario schools were fully closed during this time, and there was no online learning either due to the school board still planning the logistics behind online classes. So, what did I do during the day? Well, I did what I loved most, playing video games. Almost every day, my closest friends and I would call each other on Discord and play our favourite games together. Despite the chaos and social disruptions going on in the world, playing games was a great escape and it is what I think got me through the pandemic. It allowed me to maintain that social connection even though we couldn’t meet up with each other in person. Looking back, I hold those memories very close. 

School work during this time was put on the back burner due to the lack of synchronous learning. My classes only really handed out assignments that were due every 2 weeks, which made school much less of a priority. We were also told that our grades could not lower, further adding to that carefree feeling regarding school. However, without the in-person interactions and activities relating to school, I did feel that I was missing out on what it was like to be a teenager. Just as my friends and I were starting to get our licenses and more freedom, it was cut off by the lockdowns. These lockdowns lasted the rest of my grade 11 semester and throughout the summer. In September, when I started grade 12, my school board had created a new plan for synchronous learning both in person and online. This meant that those who wanted to come into class were able to, with an option to learn at home through Google Meet if needed. At my school, we only had 2 classes for half a semester, then another 2 for the other half. Although slightly confusing at first, this is when I felt like things were turning back to normal. I was able to get through almost a whole semester of in-person classes. But then the second wave came, and around the end of 2020 and start of 2021, there were full closures of schools, and they were fully moved online. This lasted the remainder of my senior year.

By the end of grade 12, me and the rest of my graduating class had both our graduation and prom taken away from us by COVID. Two of the best high school experiences that everyone cherishes, and we were not able to have either. At least not in the way you would imagine it. While my school did not organize a prom due to COVID, there was a graduation. I will admit, however, it was very lackluster. My graduation involved driving to school and picking up my diploma while still in my car. We also got a livestreamed event that could be watched at home which played a slideshow for all the graduates, like how they would have done it if it were in person. 

Missing out on these experiences was disappointing for many in my class, and I no doubt think that this, along with the loss of social interactions, was a significant factor in the declining mental health associated with the youth today. COVID pushed many of us even further to live through our phones and devices as a means of social connection. Social media, however, is not the best place for improving mental health as it mainly shows perfected snapshots of people’s lives. Seeing other people have fun or showing off while you are stuck at home on lockdown can be very draining for people’s mental health, especially for people my age. The loss of school also prevented people from making new friends easily. If friend groups broke apart because of COVID, many would have been without a group that they could rely on for support. Luckily for me, the close bond I had built with my friends, got even closer as we continued to stay in touch throughout the lockdowns. It was great seeing them in person again once the summer of 2021 came around, when restrictions were beginning to be lifted.

One course theme that outlines itself throughout my COVID experience is blame. Blame was present throughout the pandemic, with blame towards the government, medical professionals, and specific groups like anti-vaccinators. With such conflicts occurring every day, there were many attempts to try and pinpoint one issue (although there were many) as the reason why we were in this horrible situation. Blame led to a lot of mistrust due to misinformation being spread around. In my COVID experience, I had to encounter this many times. 

During grade 12, I had just started to learn about mRNA, transcription, and translation in grade 12 Biology, around the time the vaccine was first rolling out. I was beginning to understand the science behind the mRNA vaccine and was able to make an informed decision on getting myself vaccinated when the opportunity arose. However, when I saw people blaming scientists for creating a “harmful” vaccine, I was concerned about what would result from the misinformation floating around. In my situation, tensions arose in my family about concerns surrounding the vaccine, causing some conflicts. I found that having discussions with my parents about the technology behind the mRNA vaccine, what it does, and how it helps, using the information I was learning at the time, helped sway them in the right direction. Looking back at it now, being a Biochemistry major and understanding the dangers surrounding misinformation and blame, especially from a healthcare perspective, has made me learn the importance of scientific communication.

However, I was not innocent of placing blame on others either. I would place blame on those who chose not to take the vaccine for the case numbers increasing. Today, I can see how, on a societal level, this attitude I had would not have worked to help the situation we were in. Taking away from my COVID experience, blame only causes division. In my opinion, I believe that COVID may be a part of the reason we see such political division around the world and in Canada today and I hope in the future we can change that.