I realized the seriousness of the situation when schools and kindergartens were closed. An alarming sign was also when different countries began to close their borders, especially in Europe, where citizens have been able to move very freely from one country to another. My family lives in Finland. It’s been hard not knowing when you can visit your family next time. Read more
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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Not knowing how hard the virus would hit and for how long was the biggest challenge within the last months. In the beginning we had no clue about it, and did`nt really know how dangerous it was for example to do a simple thing like grocery shopping. Sneezing in the shop resulted in other people almost panicing. People are getting used to the new “normal”, with more strict hygiene standards. For normal I think Norwegians like to keep distance to other people, but now it`s much more than before.
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The biggest challenge within the last months was home schooling for me. I´m still on furlough from work and redundancy is looking more and more likely for a lot of people. But family means more than working all the time!
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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
Due to the crisis I realized that it can take one single event to shut a world down. In my hometown Kingston in Jamaica we are not experiencing community spread right now. But I think the government needs to close inter parish borders so the disease cannot spread from one city to another. Read more
I don’t have a very active social life. I spent the lockdown alone and just coped with household jobs and watched TV. I´m not really afraid of getting the Coronavirus – what’s to be will be. But I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the government for all the money in the world. 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
We’ve been on lockdown for around 200 days now, starting in mid-March. In May I exhibited symptoms so I had myself tested just to be sure; it turned out to be seasonal flu exacerbated by my allergies, but I’m glad I went ahead and took it just so I don’t have to worry so much. I’ve self-quarantined thrice, once because I exhibited symptoms, and twice because I moved cities. Read more