Covid-19 was explained as a pandemic this week 5 years ago. We ask 3 people who shared their experiences in our “outbreak voices” series, as they think about these years today.
Ayesha Rascoe, host:
It was five years since Covid-19 became a global pandemic. Our life has changed drastically almost overnight.
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Cindy: You try to wear gloves, I think and wash your hands. If you have hand disinfectants, you can use it.
Jenny: When I went on campus for the first time after my spring holidays, it was – to be honest, it felt like another city. It is very empty.
Daniel: It is very hurt not to support my family because I lose my job and lose everything. We sold and pledged everything we had, and we have nothing now.
Rasco: When social distancing became a strange new practice in 2020, with schools and many jobs being closed and the future was so unsure when the Coronavirus spread, we asked people across the country to share their experiences with us. Today we return with a few people how this time stayed with them.
Teadis Pope: It’s like a period of time that came and went, and so many lives were lost.
Rascoe: The mother of Teadis Pope was one of the first people who died from Covid in the USA. She was a nurse who worked in a hospital in Boston.
Pope: The loss of a parent will never be something that you will forget. We couldn’t be with her for her last breath. We were rejected the physical things that conclude them.
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Pope: The holidays have always been difficult. You are still hard. She definitely missed. Especially when it is your siblings who come together, you always have the chance to see, you know who is not there. You know she missed the birth of her last grandson. She wasn’t here for that. The master’s degrees, which were earned by two of her grandchildren – made it the goal of being at every degree she met. You know what I mean? She had a few grandchildren who came from the high school and she won’t be there for them. So we think about it and how she will miss all these moments that were really important to her, especially if she was surrounded by education.
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Rucoe: To honor her mother, Teadris Pope’s family began a scholarship in their name and they hope to gather again this year to celebrate their lives.
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James Ainsworth: There is an element of grace that was accompanied by pandemic, and it was quite liberating for me in many ways.
Rascoe: James Ainsworth is a journalist and copywriter. He uses a wheelchair because it is paralyzed from the waist. It was challenging and at times insulating from pandemic. But when so many activities moved online in 2020, he was suddenly able to take part in the church and classes and in community events. James Ainsworth is pleased to report that it stays that way.
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Ainsworth: People forget that there are many people who only have limited mobility, only limited opportunities for travel, entertainment, etc. It opened doors and deepened relationships with people and the groups that I have as part of my life.
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Shehrose Charania: My name is Shehrose Charania. I am 25 years old.
Rasco: And she started March 2020 as a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But when campus closed, she lost her student job and landed in Chicago and lived with her parents and sister in a small house with three bedrooms.
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Charania: I didn’t even have space to really sit down and work. I was sitting in a corner. My parents had to make a living and worked in places such as airport and hotels where there are many people. So they were more susceptible to Covid than me, and I always felt guilty for it.
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Charania: I can’t help but say, but I almost lost my parents. They actually became covid. My two parents are actually diabetics. There were many feelings to be frustrated, being angry, you know, I think I even border was angry with what – what I had to do with sick parents and then also tried to end school. But I realized that there is an inequality that exists for people who have to live this life of the catch, perhaps unpersonal (pH), diseases or illnesses. It was a very scary, but eye opening experience and paved the way for me how I would like to be in the future.
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Charania: I actually work with Kaiser permanent and make the experiences of our members and our patients much better. And my story, as a first generation student, grew up – it was a very – a very cycle in which I supervise teams that work on various projects and work with the management team to better take care.
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Charania: Pandemy taught me that it is so important to have a community and family and really evaluate these relationships. You know, my parents are still working in the same jobs. At some point I would like to be financially in my career in a stage where I can fully support my parents where they can retire. I know that I will arrive there at some point. It is only for some time to this point.
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Rascoe: This is Shehrose Charania. We also heard of James Ainsworth and Teadis Pope, who think about life five years after the beginning of pandemic.
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