35 Covid-19: The Solution to My Senioritis

When Covid emerged, I was 18, finishing my 12th grade of high school, and living in Niagara Ontario. The first time I was introduced to Covid was in my biology class. Our substitute teacher attempted to explain the severity of the situation and virus before the Ontario government announced the lockdowns. Due to the teacher’s reputation for being a hypochondriac, my class did not take his statements very seriously. Ironically, the reason we had this substitute was because our teacher was sick. After the lockdown and contact tracing protocols were put in place, our class was contacted to notify us that the reason he was off work was because he had Covid. It is ironic that my class was making a joke of the substitute being worried about world health and Covid, meanwhile, our teacher had the virus and exposed all of us unknowingly before we knew to be concerned.

The day that unknowingly became my last day of high school was incredibly memorable. It was the day after the announcement that Niagara would be going into lockdown for a few weeks because of the virus. On March 13th many of my teachers behaved strangely, wearing rubber gloves, walking around the classroom reading the ingredients in cleaning products, and excessively cleaning all the surfaces of the classrooms. What ended up being my last class of high school was a comical scene. Our teacher was standing in the middle of the classroom, shouting instructions and utilizing us as a cleaning crew to disinfect every inch of that room. Students were spraying sanitizer on the floor while others used mops to spread it around. Some were responsible for light switches and wiping the walls, others worked on the desks and chairs, while the rest were on their hands and knees scrubbing the floors. This made my last memory in high school quite unique and incredibly amusing to look back on. 

Ontario responded with lockdown, however there was no curfew (although it was heavily debated). The government had outlined a multiple stage plan that each had their own set of protocols to help reduce the spread. As cases declined, we proceeded to the next stage to begin lifting restrictions. These stages were in place into 2021, with almost 2 years with stages of restrictions that greatly impacted our ability to live normally. For example, during the first year of lockdown some of the restrictions included wearing a mask in public places, social distancing, and restrictions for how many people can gather (no one from outside your household and eventually lifted to 5-10 people). Many public buildings were closed (including theatres, shopping malls, restaurants, etc). 

During the first 6 months of lockdown, there were many new ways that people stayed connected. My dance classes were held on a Zoom meeting, my friends decided to hold weekly game nights on Zoom (the game “Among Us” became incredibly popular at this time due to its ability to be played remotely with friends). At the time of the lockdown, I was starting a new relationship. Not seeing each other or going out on real dates presented a challenge, however, this aided in building a strong foundation of communication and quality time for our relationship. We had to get creative for dates to stay connected. We often had Netflix watch party dates online, played online games, and when restrictions began to lift, we would have socially distanced picnic dates in a nearby park. Similarly, I typically spent most of my time with my best friend, so when lockdown began, we found ways to see one another but stay distanced for safety. For example, we would walk up and down our street for hours talking, walking on opposing curbs of the road, putting us around 12 feet away from one another.

The pandemic resulted in missing many monumental milestones such as my final competitive dance season, prom, and high school graduation. Though my school attempted to maintain some normalcy for our graduation while adhering to public health protocols, it was unlike a typical graduation. My school hosted a drive through celebration in our parking lot with our teachers cheering us on as we drove past. They did this in hopes that we would be able to have a real ceremony in the fall assuming by then Covid would be in the past. However, by October it was still prohibited to have a proper ceremony. The school put together a graduation video that announced the grads, showed their picture, included the valedictorian speeches, and awards. Essentially, my high school graduation took place on my living room couch. Covid also impacted my ability to start university in the traditional way. The first year and a half of classes were entirely online. Our class did not get to experience welcome week or living on residence which are significant moments in the university experience. 

I believe that the Covid-19 pandemic had many themes that can be applied, such as blame, secrecy, stigma, etc. I believe that the most impactful theme was blame because during the Covid-19 pandemic blame led to stigma and the presence of stigma led to secrecy. Anyone that got Covid was blamed for furthering the spread. There was an assumption that by following the protocols it would prevent you from being sick, limiting the spread. When it came to people getting sick it was assumed that they did not follow the rules, and did not consider that necessary daily activities contribute to the spread as well. This created a stigma around those that got sick and those that did not follow protocol, which then created secrecy when it came to telling others that you were sick. I remember when I got Covid years after protocols were lifted, it still felt as though I had done something wrong to have gotten sick. This pandemic became very political in nature, as the anti-vax and anti-mask community fought against those that were following or enforcing protocols. This caused a division of people within the community and a constant shift of blame. The anti-vax were “to blame” for the prolonged spread and inability to flatten the curve. The government and those that follow protocols were “to blame” for the collapse of the local economy. This concept displays how blame was placed on different groups for the impacts of the pandemic, which allowed there to be stigma associated with belonging to either group. 

Looking back, it is easy to assume that spending time at home with no responsibilities and having more time to spend on old or new hobbies paints a picture of enjoyable relaxation, much like a vacation, but this was not the experience of everyone. I feel that this will be misunderstood by future generations. Much like a vacation, lockdown was fun for a few weeks, but eventually we wanted to go back to normal. We wanted to go back to school/work, to be able to resume our extracurricular activities, and go see friends and family. Instead, we were stuck in this isolating “vacation” for months. Restrictions were in place for over a year, with the reality of the situation and fear beginning to set in as the virus continued its destructive path around the world and most impactfully, around our own neighbourhoods.