117 An Unexpected Pandemic: My Story

Anonymous

Over five years ago in March of 2020, I was in the eleventh grade in history class. One of my teachers, Mr. Bryson, informed us of a possible extension of our march break because of an incoming virus sweeping globally called Coronavirus. I laughed and honestly was thrilled with the idea of having more school days cancelled so I could spend some more time with the guys. My teacher was more serious, even exploring the idea of maybe never returning to school that year in the case it spreads quickly, which I thought was insane at the time. I was naïve of the possibility that a virus could have the ability to alter our lives on a global scale. Then a week of march break turned into two, then turned into a month, then the rest of the schoolyear being online.  

In terms of how my family reacted, it was difficult as my parents were both in the airline industry. My stepdad is a pilot, and my mom was a flight attendant at the time and with the reduction of flight traffic came more nights of us being at home together. This was bittersweet as I love my parents but the circumstances that brought us all together were horrifying. When restrictions and social distancing measures were in place, it was increasingly difficult to see my friends as they were adhering to Health Canada’s guidelines along with most of us. Virtual schooling for the rest of that school year was non-existent because of the policy they made that your grades were frozen so they could only go up and not be negatively impacted. I was in good academic standing, so I tossed the idea of looking at any assignments at all during that year. 

My biggest challenge that first year was my mental health, it became draining that I was not able to see my friends for so long and I sat in my room just wishing things were different. When I talked to my friends, they felt the same way and were gutted that they had to sit inside all day. I remember checking the total infection/death count of Canada and just saw exponential growth of people being afflicted by the pandemic. I was really scared at the time, as my father has diabetes and lives in Quebec, so I was unable to see him for so long. Even when we eventually saw each other down the road, we made sure to be as cautious as possible. He was part of the vulnerable group of people that COVID-19 took its toll on, so I made sure to have him constantly update me on his health.  

My parents and I eventually decided that I was not going to be in full lockdown if I took the necessary health precautions like washing my hands a million times, using hand sanitizer generously, and made sure if I were to go out that I was not sick of any degree and that I would be only outside practicing social distancing during this time and not indoors at someone’s place. I was in lockdown for about two months so around May 2020 I was able to go out. This is where I feel like some good came out of COVID-19 for me. I took my bike out and rode with my buddy Simon through every possible trail that we could cover in the city of Guelph. We both wore masks during the duration which was annoying at times since you would sweat profusely on your face, especially if you used a reusable cloth mask. I made sure to carry a box of disposables with my which I would regularly change during our bike rides. The sun shining and the flowers blooming while I was on those bike rides really made me happy and made Simon and I closer than we already were. We would talk about life at home and how our parents are doing, we would talk about what is going on with COVID-19 in the world and make sure we kept in contact with all our buddies regardless of whether we felt like they were struggling or not. It was important for our group of guys at the time to talk to each other and not hold in any feelings that were built up about this sudden change. 

The pandemic brought out the best, and especially the worst in people’s lives. A course theme we talked about was blame for afflictions and how people are quick to scapegoat certain groups which impede overall response times for pandemics like COVID-19. At times of crisis, people look to have something or someone to blame so they can make sense of fear and uncertainty. This was highly notable with the Asian population when COVID ground zero was proven to be in Wuhan, China. I remember my Vietnamese friend from elementary school talking to me about the racism and prejudice he and his family received from simple things such as going to the grocery store to buy essential products. Some people would yell at them in public and say horrible things to them of how they started the pandemic even though they have lived in Canada their whole lives and were not even Chinese. Social media during the pandemic was especially prominent in spreading misinformation about the virus as well as promote racism and hate speech. Even when vaccines were rolling out near the end of 2020, false claims and misleading statistics fueled the hesitancy for people to get vaccinated which prolonged the length of the pandemic response time. 

During the rest of my high school experience and even going into first year of university, I feel like I missed out on a lot. My senior year, I missed out on my last time being able to play hockey and soccer at a school level which really killed me. I was depressed about not being able to have one more shot at the title, not being able to be with our team, and not being able to create more cherished memories that I had from previous years. During the end we had a mock prom that was very small, and didn’t really feel like what I envisioned. It was still awesome to spend time with my friends before we all went off to university but the whole event felt bittersweet. First semester McMaster I barely had one in person class, and it was a tutorial so when I finally had some in second semester, I was excited to be able to see my professors and finally be able to experience genuine schooling in almost two years. I hope that when scholars study COVID one hundred years from now, they’ll see human resilience and adaptability. I hope they’ll learn from us in the case of another global pandemic. I hope they’ll learn how the virus exposed disparities in healthcare systems, the importance of how quick response times and structured planning. Most importantly, I hope they see that this pandemic was not just a health crisis but a shift in society that reflected the best and worst capabilities of human kind.