62 “Isolated Unjustly, Years Lost” COVID Reflection

Anonymous

I chose this title because after the research I have done I have come to the conclusion that Canada (and other countries) overreacted to the emergence of COVID. There were too many skewed numbers and missing digits to accurately gauge that COVID was any more dangerous than a regular flu (albeit a very contagious one).

During COVID I was in grade 11 studying in Cayuga Secondary School. I am a Canadian resident. I lived in the middle of nowhere (Canfield) with little access to any sort of human interaction. Canfield is in Ontario, close to Binbrook, which is close to Hamilton. I lived on the outskirts of Canfield in a farmhouse with my family.

I went into full lockdown. The lockdown lasted just under two years. I spent most of my senior years in my room losing out on the most valuable years of my life. I went from making friends and connections to barely having the drive to get out of bed to attend an online class that didn’t matter if I attended. At the beginning of grade 13 (I took an extra two years of high school because McMaster required one to have had a COVID vaccination to enter) I was able to go back to school (while wearing a mask) and mingle with brand new people I had never met, similar to how one would feel transferring schools. I went into grade 14 after getting accepted to McMaster again (but still not being able to attend due to vaccination reasons) I touched up on math courses because I wanted to study economics at the time. Life during that time was less than ideal.

My greatest challenge during COVID was my restricted mobility. I could not go to restaurants, I could barely go to school, recreational activities were off the table. There was nothing good that came out of my COVID experience (except being able to spend quality time with my family)

For me and many others my age, virtual schooling was a nightmare. The teachers were unfamiliar with online work and it showed. During the first year of COVID, courses were transferred online suddenly, and it was not an easy transition. People my age missed out on valuable time to mold our minds in ways that were necessary. Most people my age became anti-social or socially awkward due to not talking to another human being face to face outside their family for two years.

Big life events are vague. I missed out on developing myself in any meaningful way. I missed out on progressing toward the career I hoped to strive for at the time. I missed out on valuable work experience that companies would love to see. 

The cultural changes are similar to what I was talking about earlier. Cayuga Secondary School fostered a culture of inclusiveness and fairness, but with no students actively talking with each other, the culture became one where people shut others out and withdrew from society. 

My mental health was negatively impacted by COVID. I am sure others of my age would agree. Our mental health took a spiral downhill. We were heavily impacted by online media, and it developed into what people today call “brain rot.” People’s attention spans got increasingly short and finding the drive to do anything was a challenge. People being completely online for over two years through our developing years impacted our mental health in ways that I can’t begin to put into words.

In 100 years, scholars should have gathered and known that COVID was a stress test on all our political, economic, and social structures. They should see the disparities between people of wealth and those without wealth by the vaccine distribution. They should see the mistrust and conspiracies that arise as something goes south in a society (I am guilty of this part). They should see how our generation’s mental health deteriorated. They should see how our society could come together to solve a common issue at hand and the progress we could make given we are driven into a corner. Although I had a bad COVID experience, that does not mean that everyone had a bad experience.

The concept of stigma is a potent influence that moulds interpersonal relationships, public opinion, and legislation. People with HIV/AIDS were frequently shunned, condemned, and even held responsible for their own misery during the pandemic. Public personalities that promoted damaging narratives that portrayed AIDS as a kind of divine punishment included Pat Buchanan and Jerry Falwell (as seen in the reading). Despite their circumstances, many people, including Ryan White, who contracted the infection from a blood transfusion, experienced severe discrimination. However, his story changed public opinion by drawing attention to the unfair treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

In the same way, those who refused to get vaccinated during the COVID pandemic were frequently characterized as reckless, hazardous, or even undeserving of being a part of society. For me, this stigma had practical repercussions and was more than just a social problem. Due to vaccination requirements, I was unable to attend McMaster University and had to continue my high school studies for two more years. My sense of alienation was heightened by my exclusion from dining establishments, leisure pursuits, and other public areas. Like many impacted by HIV/AIDS, I believed that a general, frequently uncontested public narrative took precedence over my personal autonomy.

Friendships and community support also broke down because of the shame associated with vaccine choices. I saw how unvaccinated people were viewed as social outcasts, much to how friends, family, and institutions abandoned AIDS victims. Assumptions were made, discussions were heated, and people who disagreed with the conventional wisdom were frequently treated with animosity rather than with constructive discussion.

In hindsight, stigma, whether associated with COVID or HIV/AIDS, acted as a potent instrument of divide. It fosters an “us vs. them” mentality that excludes those who don’t fit the mould of reigning society and hinders constructive debate. I now have a better understanding of how stigma operates, not just as a historical phenomenon, but also as a persistent problem that influences how societies react to the crisis, thanks to my experience during COVID.