While many of my peers and neighbors struggled through the loneliness of quarantine, I felt right at home as I was mandated to stay at home. I welcomed it as the introvert I am. This is my story as a New York student throughout quarantine.
3/22/20:
Tomorrow will be the start of the first week of remote/online learning for my high school and many other schools in NY. In this entry, I'd like to call attention to the social effects covid-19 has had on the community. For example, I have seen many disheartening posts of violence aimed at the Asian race. Yesterday, I saw a comment on a post about China receiving medical supplies from Japan and now sending medical masks to Italy. I was very happy to see countries working together to fix this global issue.
Then I saw a comment stating “China doesn’t deserve it tho.” This comment made me extremely angry because it suggested that China should instead be suffering and that everyone who is working and fighting the disease doesn't deserve to be helped. No one in China, Malaysia, Italy, the Us, anywhere in the world deserves to lose their loved ones. These families and kids who are suffering, are quarantined and don't deserve what’s happening. Some kids are so young that have done nothing wrong. It hurts me so much to see these kinds of comments.
3/23:
Earlier this week, my dad told us that he would have to stay at his workplace to limit his commute time. New York holds 5% of Covid-19 outbreaks worldwide. Health officials are urging the general public to stay at home. As a result, he would stay at work from Monday to Thursday, coming home for the rest of the days. His boss told him that he could either stay to work or stay home and not get paid. My brother and I wanted him to stay, but he said he had to go to support our family. My brother at first sad was now bouncing across the walls as he realized t
hat meant he could watch extra pokemon episodes before going to sleep. However, it took a grave turn when we learned that someone in my father's department had tested positive for covid. When we faced timed my dad, he said that he was doing alright and eating a lot. However, my dad is a very picky eater and only likes to eat Asian cuisine, while his workplace served mainly western dishes. I'm really worried about him. He still jokes around saying that he should have brought ramen in his suitcase instead of his laptop. I wish I could be as strong as my dad right now.
Yesterday was the fifth week of our quarantine. I feel like life has become very schedule-based, with every day having a new assignment but still following the same regimen. However, I feel that the workload allows me a safe place to forget the constant loss around me. For a few seconds, I can go back to focusing on Latin declensions rather than the haunting days ticking till my father's covid results come out. In this way, life goes on.
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