37 A Covid Chronicle: The quarantine voices have claimed squatter rights, and my couch has a permanent dent

When Covid began emerging, it would’ve been December of 9th grade for me (2019). I was 14. Like many others, escaping from academic hellscapes with the arrival of March break (2020) and hearing Dougie Ford announce the 2-week extension felt like a godsend. More time for me to read manhwas and avoid practicing French conjugations while rotting at home. It was glorious. And the cherry on top, the break just kept growing longer and longer. With school boards later offering online schooling options, I managed to stay home all the way from March of 9th grade to April of 11th grade.

My parents, being (overly) fearful individuals, enforced full lockdown mode in our house. For the majority of Covid, I was cooped up in my house, making an egregious dent in our living room sofa that to this day remains. My mother loves to complain about it. Lockdown was a very welcome public health measure for my pre-existing distaste for going outside and interacting with people. Even when schools began reopening in 10th grade with masking mandates, I didn’t go. Not like I wanted to either. If I remember correctly, there were less than 10 times within those ~2 years my brother and I went outside into society for things like shopping trips and getting Covid vaccinations—always done wearing a mask and disinfecting our hands several times throughout. Though it’s been years since the pandemic, I still haven’t been able to kick the excessive hand-washing habit; my knuckles look horrific in the winter. Our family was also one of those people who began disinfecting groceries with soap, Lysol, and white vinegar. And I am ashamed to admit, we still do.

Throughout the school year and summer school, I would wake up minutes before class started, scramble to throw on something in case my teachers asked to turn our camera’s on, and I would like to brag that I have perfected my lying capabilities on having a broken mic. Day-to–day, it was comfortably monotonous. I would be reading books, listening to music, and watching YouTube while still in class learning about Lewis diagrams and Orwell’s rules. I did, however, miss the feeling of working on assignments in class and interacting with classmates. The biggest adjustment was my time management skills and self-regulation of completing my work, studying for tests, while also making time for goofing off. Virtual school was both the best and worst.

Looking back, lockdown and virtual schooling did have long-term impacts for myself and many others. For me, the lack of in-person interaction made it hard to stay motivated, and made my learning very rushed and worsened my procrastination. There was a huge sense of disconnection from my friends and the world in general. I remember CP24 news anchors commenting on how many people were dying per day. My dad, especially, was obsessed with checking the Worldometer Covid stats and seeing the numbers rise every day, hitting millions, felt apocalyptic. With the amounts of deaths and fear surrounding the pandemic, it is not surprising many people had dips in mental health. Being stuck inside all day, with no real social interaction, would have made many feel lonely and anxious for any at–risk family members or for what the future would look like. Personally, while I felt like I was thriving during lockdown, reentering society was my Achilles heel. Remaking friends and getting back into the swing of things was much more anxiety-inducing than I expected. Technologically, many also began using social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, which though allowed some form of social networking, also had disadvantages. Nowadays, social platforms are very common, especially among younger generations, and have been linked to harmful representations such as ED’s, misinformation, unrealistic life and body expectations, and even cyberbullying. As Mike Tyson perfectly put it “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”

With the rise in technology, it was very easy for Covid to be stigmatized, especially in the beginning. Similar to many other previous diseases, blame was among the first few themes associated with the pandemic. Turning on the news and seeing America’s orange, Donald Trump, refer to the disease as the “China/Chinese virus” was infuriating. Many theories on  Covid origins arose like the Chinese were eating bats and the Covid-19 lab leak theory. These presumptions were exacerbated with technological misinformation, global government disorganization, and general racism. I remember the “Stop Asian Hate” demonstrations that were held to eradicate the racist narrative surrounding the disease along with cases in Toronto of Asians getting pushed onto the TTC tracks. Overall confusion, fear, and disorganization were other themes that fueled the pandemic’s reach; information ‘soups’ on travel restrictions, quarantining, and vaccinations befuddled many. Many countries also had Anti-vaxxers and maskers; gee I wonder how many of them worsened the spread by numbers or ideologies. There was also stigma around those who got Covid, as if they were contagious even after the quarantine period. Coughing or sneezing in public felt like a social death sentence and a sure-fire way to get a couple of side-eyes; I speak from experience. Rightfully so, given how fast Covid hit global levels. Unsurprisingly, many people weren’t willing to disclose if they had Covid, either due to the stigma or other more important factors such as financial, work, and school constraints. Personally, I knew a classmate who came to school despite knowing they had Covid during 10th grade when some classes were in-person. That student ended up spreading Covid to half of the students in that class cohort and was labelled “patient zero” behind their back. Slightly mean, yes; selfish on their part, also yes.

Overall, while life has gone pretty much back to normal, time doesn’t feel the same anymore. Covid feels like 10 years ago and last year simultaneously. While the Covid-19 era wasn’t all bad, with some very monumental pop culture moments like X Æ A-12’s existence (poor kid), some horrible movies like Songbird, toilet paper hoarding, Tiger King memes, seemingly endless amounts of bread baking TikToks, and phrases like “flattening the curve” and “6 feet apart”; many people also struggled mentally, socially, physically, financially, and health–wise. So, in a way, Covid was more so memorable—like a car crash you can’t look away from. But hey, we survived………….well, most of us did. In the end, if nothing else, I think we can agree the pandemic taught us the importance of mental health and hygiene, how adaptability is key to getting over tough times, and how much better Justin Trudeau looked with his scruffy “quarantine hair” and pandemic beard. Bring that back king !