42 The Emotional Slip N’ Slide that is COVID-19

A little bit about my life at the start of COVID 19

During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic I was living in Norfolk County, Ontario (close to Port Dover). At the time I was 17 years old and in grade 12.   

My COVID-19 experience   

Norfolk Country is made up of farmland and has a small population, so we didn’t have as extreme protocols as other areas. However, schools closed so I had to continue the rest of my high school education from home. In the beginning, I thought it was a lot of fun. I didn’t have to wake up as early and I was able to work at my own schedule. I enjoyed working while surrounded by my pets. This extra time gave me the opportunity to clean the house and prepare meals daily for my family as they were still working in-person. I also took an interest in fitness and health. I was able to get myself in the best shape I’d ever been in by losing 100 pounds and putting on a lot of muscle. I went to the gym, walked, and ate healthily consistently. I also enjoyed watching TV and movie series that I hadn’t had time to watch like Harry Potter.   

However, the novelty of COVID-19 wore off within a month. I started to realize just how quiet my surroundings were. I was alone from 8:00 AM until at least 6:00 PM Monday to Friday. This caused my mental health to decline quickly. I became lonely and my anxiety and depression increased. As a result, I was prescribed anti-anxiety and depression medication. I was also at the age where I wanted to host parties for my friends. However, there were limitations to the number of people allowed in an area at one time. I think it may have started as a six-person limit but was raised to a 10-person limit. Regardless, back then I did not take the protocols seriously. This was partly because I didn’t understand the severity of the pandemic, but also, we were in the middle of nowhere where things could go under the radar. As a result, I still hosted parties, but I stayed very close to the 10-person limit. 

Earlier in the pandemic we were not required to wear masks, but vaccinations were encouraged. By the peak of COVID-19, I couldn’t go into any store without a mask and vaccinations were necessary. This caused a lot of backlash in the community. Norfolk is disconnected from big cities, so, for better or for worse, we have our own way of life. As a result, it’s harder to get this isolated community to comply with things they are forced into. Therefore, there were a lot of protests about masks and vaccinations. I wanted nothing to do with the protests.   

Connect your Covid-19 experience to a course theme.   

To connect my COVID-19 experience to the course, I would like to discuss the lingering blame, secrecy, and stigma that was felt throughout Norfolk County. First, the citizens of Norfolk County blamed a lot of people. Those that were throwing a lot of parties were blamed because they were actively spreading the disease and not caring for the health of others. There was also a lot of blame directed at one farming company in the area. Scotlynn Group is a company that grows and ships fruits and vegetables to the rest of Ontario. However, throughout COVID-19, they were not isolating the migrant workers when they first arrived in Ontario. As a result, hundreds of migrant workers became infected with COVID-19. In the end, they were fined thousands of dollars and experienced a lot of blame.   

There was also a lot of secrecy in Norfolk County. I personally found that when I first contracted COVID-19, I didn’t want to tell my neighbours. In Norfolk County, people were simultaneously annoyed that people were congregating together but also didn’t follow the rules themselves. Therefore, regardless of whether it was my fault that I contracted it or not, I never knew what response I would get from others. When people were infected, some wouldn’t think much of it and others wanted to be as far from them as possible. I also didn’t want to share whether I got the vaccine (I did) because some people supported it, but others felt as though it was just another way for the government to track its citizens.   

Finally, I felt there was a lot of stigma toward some individuals in Norfolk County throughout COVID-19. I saw a good amount of the population protesting the vaccines and mask mandates. They felt as though masks and vaccines were infringing upon their rights. They would give store workers a hard time if they were asked to put their masks on. As a result, I started to feel as though that population was uneducated and never got out of this small town. I felt as though they were stuck in their ways and their ideology was incorrect.   

Life events that I missed out on 

There were a couple of big life events that I missed. First, I couldn’t be in-class for my last year of high school and my graduation was cancelled. As a result, I never got to say goodbye to classmates that I’d been with since elementary school. Also, the start of my university career was difficult. I was completely online during the first year and half of the second year. I did not get to experience the first year like all other students had the opportunity to. COVID-19 affected my ability to make friends so once again, I was lonely. Due to classes being completely online at the start of my university career, I really struggled with my classes – to the point that I was on academic probation. However, due to the pandemic, no one was able to help. In the end, I was able to pull through without the help of the university.

During COVID-19, my Christmases were also affected. Due to the limit on the amount of people allowed in an area at one time, we struggled to plan Christmases for my big family. In the end, we ended up lighting a fire in the backyard and all sat around it. We were outside and distanced, so it worked for us. It ended up becoming a great memory.

Conclusion

Going forward, I think those studying the impact of COVID-19 need to be mindful of the different reactions people displayed during the event. Some individuals were in complete support of the vaccines and mask mandates while others were completely against it. I think there is also something to be said about the rural location of Norfolk County. This population is completely disconnected from bigger cities and has a passion for farming. As a result, a lot of the individuals here never left to get higher education. Therefore, I think some individuals were uneducated and could not make the best decisions for themselves. Policymakers must consider the social aspects of each community to determine the best approach to get people to comply with orders that will save lives.  I will say that even though COVID-19 was very impactful at the time, it was harder to remember my experience now that it has been five years since the pandemic. An individual’s perception of events changes as the years pass.