My biggest challenge was to remain disiplined in my daily life and chores. There were so many days I wanted to sleep in or pour a glass of wine at 4pm. It was hard to stay motivated – so you really have to push yourself and stay focused. But I got lucky – I was able to thrive in this environment. My cluster of people never took any moments for granted. This made phone calls and in-person get togethers much more meaningful.
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We need a nationwide mask mandate. Certain states took better measures than others. Maryland, where I live, did well in the beginning, but they have opened up businesses etc too soon. Mostly I worry that I am not being stringent enough with the rules – I think everyone should follow, eg always wearing the masks correctly, keeping my ‘pod’ small.
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The night I gave birth (March 19th) California went into lockdown. The nurse told us we were not able to leave our room until we were ready to go home. The first three months of lockdown I spent with my husband, my Mum (who luckily flew in from London a few days before the lockdown) and newborn baby. The baby kept us busy! Mother planned to stay for two weeks and due to the quarantine ended up staying for three months! Read more
I was crushed when I found out that the summer I had planned of spending time outside of the US with my partner and family, and all my research plans would never really come to fruition. I got closer to other international students like myself—over the summer break we really didn´t have any hometown/family/friends from back home to go and see. Read more
United States is the epicenter of the pandemic with over 180,000 deaths and my home town of Miami is one of the worst hotspots in the country. We need more and faster tests, a system of contact tracing to measure outbreaks, and a PSA campaign on the need to wear masks. Read more
I am afraid of what the world will look like in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, etc. Is the world forever changed? We should never forget that things can change in an instant. We should learn to be respectful of others. We should learn that health comes first. Read more
The weekend prior to lockdown I had invited several of my friends over for a dinner party, including my best friend and his girlfriend from New York City. As the weekend progressed, the girlfriend realized that going to NYC was probably not the best idea given the exploding positive cases, so they both stayed with me. As of today, they are still staying with me! Read more
Back in March it happened really fast. When the NBA announced they were canceling the season, I was at a bar and heard the city announcement that all bars were to close the next day. The next day at the office, they instructed us that we were to work from home for the forseeable future. That evening I rode home from work with a computer monitor on the back of my bike. Read more
My partner has cystic fibrosis and is a double lung transplant survivor, so she is immune-compromised. For this reason, we will continue to practice physical distancing until there is a vaccine or reliable treatment widely available. We never leave the house unless we can keep a physical distance outside. Read more