The New Normal
The many ways our lives have been impacted by Covid.
Taking a walk on their beautiful campus, Mckenna Campbell and her roommates stop for a selfie. Mckenna attends Virginia Tech and has very strict regulations. Regular Covid testing is done and if you were to come up positive, you would have the option to go home or stay in a “quarantine dorm” as Mckenna calls it.
Never did anyone think a year ago that we would have to prepare ourselves for a pandemic. Little did we know that in in January of 2020, we would have the first case of Covid in our country. Many lives haven’t been affected by this pandemic, but there have been 1.09 Million deaths from Covid all around the world as of today. There have been 38.6 Million cases worldwide. Though some may feel nothing from this virus, others may have life-threatening symptoms. This pandemic has caused a lot of peoples lives to be put on pause such as jobs, sports, education, etc.
High school students have been challenged to this new online schooling. Many of these students have been really struggling with this new lifestyle. It is the new normal and many of us are still getting used to it. Ryley Guiseppi, a student at Lafayette High School, said “My life really took a turn when the Corona Virus first started happening. I didn’t know back then that it would have gotten taken this far. I thought that it was only going to last a few months, but this is something that we are going to have to deal with for a long time. The Ryley that I was about 7 months ago is very different from the Ryley I am today. I do wish that we were in school, but online school hasn’t been that difficult for me. Since I’m in my own house its easier for me to get my work done because it’s easier to focus. But sometimes the amount of school work overwhelms me.” Students have been taking this new challenge in different ways. Some hate it and want to drop out, some love it because they get to be in their home all day and relax, and some are kind of in the in between about it.
It has been especially hard for working parents who rely on school for their childcare. Some may not be able to go to work and provide for their families because their children cannot go to school. Also, people have been having to rely on unemployment and help from the government because their jobs aren’t there anymore. Parents have become stay at home parents because of schools not re-opening due to this pandemic. For low income families this can be extremely difficult.
Lots of people have been going back to work, but there are rules such as wearing a mask your entire shift, getting your temperature taken when the shift starts, of course social distancing and the list could go on.
In Virginia, some schools have been opened, but not many. Our governor, Ralph Northam, has talked about a plan for elementary schools to open back up locally. WJCC Schools have a chance of going back in January, but there will be lots of regulations. Alicia Jones, a senior at Lafayette said, “I don’t want to go back to school because I don’t want to have to wear a mask all the time.” She also said, “I feel like social distancing is going to be weird and if we have to be far away from everyone, we might as well just not go back.”
TV shows such as Dancing with the Stars, Big Brother and The Bachelorette have been able to go on. For DWTS, contestants must stay quarantined during the show and get tested regularly for the virus. The Bachelorette is very similar, but a little stricter. To be safe, they had the men get tested multiple times for Covid while quarantining with no outside world connections. For 3 months they had to stay in a hotel room and quarantine. This is very similar to what Big Brother did.
