March 11th marked the fifth anniversary of when COVID-19 was officially declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. This new virus, which was first discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, rapidly made its way across the globe, causing panic and uncertainty worldwide.
Many Americans left their schools, offices, and workplaces expecting to return to their normal lives after the initially proposed two-week lockdown. In those coming weeks, however, many lives and lifestyles were permanently changed as this disease transformed the nation.
To give more perspective on how much our lives changed during and after the pandemic, the ‘Rock Report staff were asked to describe the best and worst aspects of Covid in their own words:
Fiona McCally, Co-Editor-in-Chief:
Best Aspect(s): Covid definitely helped me take a step back from the everyday hustle of school and sports. It not only gave me a break from everything, but it also made me grateful for the face-to-face connections I did have before quarantine. Even not being able to have simple gestures like chatting with a neighbor or laughing with a friend helped me realize how many social interactions I often took for granted. Coming out of quarantine, I most definitely greatly appreciated the connections I’ve created with the people around me.
Worst Aspect(s): Although many of us were connected online, the feeling of being isolated was very prevalent no matter the circumstances of our living situations. One of the worst aspects of COVID for me was definitely those years in middle school where my class wasn’t able to learn interactively like the students before us; activities such as field trips, group projects, and meeting new classmates turned into zoom meetings and completing classwork at home. I feel as though my middle school experience was often cut short due to COVID.
Katherine Zhang, Co-Editor-in-Chief:
Best Aspect(s): I enjoyed having a flexible schedule and being able to complete schoolwork at my own pace. I would usually finish my work by lunchtime, then have the rest of the afternoon to myself. It was nice to have so much extra free time, because I could catch up on hobbies I didn’t usually have time to do like playing the piano. I was also able to explore new hobbies like baking.
Worst Aspect(s): The worst thing about Covid was not being able to see my friends in person or do any in person activities. It became extremely isolating after a while, especially as someone who didn’t really use technology to communicate with friends that often before. In some ways Covid made it easier to drift apart from friends, since I never got to see them. Also, staying home all the time got boring after a while.
Karianna Cabral, Senior Writer:
Best Aspect(s): More free time
Worst Aspect(s): Not being able to see my friends
Rohit De, Senior Writer:
Best Aspect(s): Some of the best things about COVID were the connections I made or maintained. My brother would normally have been in college, but he spent a lot more time at home because of COVID, so I was able to spend more time with my family then. As communication moved online, my classmates and I used more group chats, and I was able to form friendships with people I might not have become close with had we been in person.
Worst Aspect(s): While I did make connections online during the pandemic, COVID negatively impacted my eighth grade year. Because my school took until spring to return to in-person classes, there were a lot of people I didn’t get to see — especially the people who remained at home. The limited contact (in 7th & 8th grade) made it harder for me to get closure and say a proper goodbye to my friends and a school that I had attended for 9 years. (The end of 7th grade was so abrupt, too; I saw people in March of 2020 before a “two week” break and then never again.) Face-to-face time is important, and COVID made it hard for me to get that time with a lot of my friends.
I think we’re still seeing a lot of impacts of COVID five years on, from the politics that I often write about to student development and performance — especially for kids who were in elementary school during the pandemic. The pandemic was truly an unprecedented, historic time.
James Hern, Junior Writer:
Best Aspect(s): No school
Worst Aspect(s): Very little social interaction
Julia McLaughlin, Junior Writer:
Best Aspect(s): The best thing about Covid for me was being able to complete all of my schoolwork at home. I would do all of my homework by around lunchtime, and then have the rest of the day to myself. Another great thing was the ability to binge whatever Netflix show I wanted to for the whole day.
Worst Aspect(s): The worst thing about Covid for me was being secluded from the whole world. For the first couple of months, everyone was in their homes and could not leave. I remember being so upset because I couldn’t go to figure skating practice for six months. While it had its upsides, being away from my friends was really difficult
Noah Boyajian, Freshman Writer:
Best Aspect(s): There were some nights where I would get some of my closer friends into my backyard and we’d have a bit of a “COVID Party” where we just played video games outside and socially distanced.
Worst Aspect(s): I wasn’t able to see other friends as often, and even though the lockdown ended and we’re all able to see people, it still affects me now socially.
Mrs. Doliber, Moderator of ‘Rock Report:
Best Aspect(s): I was teaching middle school at the time, and at first, it was nice not to have to wake up early and commute to school. I scheduled my Zoom classes and taught from my living room. My dogs loved having me home, too. We took plenty of walks and explored many different trails through the woods around my home.
Worst Aspect(s): The novelty of being home all the time wore off. I started to feel lazy and tired. There were days when I never changed out of my pajamas. I missed having real in-person connections with people. It was also heartbreaking to hear about people who lost their lives to COVID.
I truly admire the bravery and sacrifice that the essential workers, especially medical personnel, showed throughout the course of the pandemic.
Mike Kirby, Feehan alum and retired senior editor of the Sun Chronicle:
The worst thing about the pandemic lockdown was that I went for months without being able to visit my mother, who has since passed, or to take her lunch. I saw very little of my extended family. The same goes for many friends.
Still, there are COVID experiences that I look back on fondly, even if I don’t want to repeat them.
- “The Sopranos”: I missed sports terribly early in the pandemic. My wife wanted to binge a show, not my favorite thing to do. We agreed on re-watching this, the best TV series ever in my opinion, from start to finish. It was a great decision. Viewing all 86 episodes, night after night, we got immersed in the characters and their interwoven journeys. Some nights we couldn’t wait to put the TV on and watch two or even three episodes, munching on popcorn or chips and salsa.
- Walking: My wife and I walked every day, often twice a day, more than ever in our lives. Sometimes it was just in the neighborhood, stopping to talk to friends at a distance and enjoying the colorful chalk driveway drawings filled with messages of hope. Other times, it was somewhere in the area where we hadn’t walked before. Cemeteries were a favorite. It gave us time to talk, something that’s difficult to do when you’re immersed in work.
- Phone calls: When I walked alone, I often picked up the phone, flipped through my contacts and called someone. Often it was my mother. Sometimes it was my brother in Vermont. Other times it was a friend or colleague I hadn’t talked to in a while. Sometimes the conversations were short. Sometimes they lasted most of the walk. But I felt less alone because of them, and I hope anyone I bothered out of the blue felt the same.
Please don’t think I’m getting nostalgic about the pandemic. It was a terrible time, caused horrible pain to so many families, and I don’t ever want to repeat it.
But I did learn you can draw some warm memories from even the most difficult days of your life.
