WEB EXCLUSIVE 

Fevers, dry coughing, shortness of breath— all symptoms that are now commonly known as the coronavirus, or more specifically, COVID-19. When I first began to hear about the illness, I was quick to dismiss the thought. I never considered how serious the outbreak would later become and the impact of it was initially a shock. Like many other high schoolers, I was looking forward to a break from school. I was desperate, counting the days down to the seconds before we could all go home and enjoy our well deserved spring break. Little did I know, we’d get a much longer break than the one we were looking forward to.

Being in quarantine has taken a bigger toll on me than I had originally thought. It’s lonely being stuck between the same four walls for who knows how many months on end. Humans thrive off of connection and communication, something a lot of us have been lacking due to the separation. I didn’t think I’d ever want to go outside this much in my entire life. I miss random, little things I didn’t even know I cared about. Things like the feel of the cold air biting into my skin when I would walk to my bus stop every morning, the ache in my hand from my pencil that I get whenever I write too much, even the taste of the revolting cafeteria food. You never know how much you appreciate something until you don’t have it anymore. I never really realized the truth behind that sentence until now, all thanks to the coronavirus.

Though it isn’t pleasant, quarantine is necessary. Many families haven’t understood how serious the outbreak is, so I’ve had to see a lot of pictures and videos all over social media of my friends hanging out, having fun without me. I couldn’t wait for spring break. I was excited to go to pool parties, see my friends, travel, all the basic activities teenagers were looking forward to, but I didn’t get to do anything except catch up on sleep. Being a normally introverted person, lounging around for days at a time isn’t uncommon for me, but being cooped up inside for so long has been driving me crazy. It might just be the fact that I can’t go outside that makes me want to go outside even more, but that’s not an excuse to give in to my desires, a vital concept families haven’t yet seemed to grasp. Though being positive is the best way to cope with the less than ideal circumstances.

On the bright side, which there surprisingly is one, distance learning hasn’t been that bad so far. It’s a lot simpler to manage and complete assignments at a faster pace. On the down side, online schooling has been messing up my sleep schedule and led me to a pattern of laziness (more than usual) that’s getting in the way of just about everything. I haven’t gotten any exercise these days and I know my peers definitely haven’t either. Just taking the occasional walk doesn’t cut it like some seem to think. Adolescents need the proper amount of physical activity and sleep in order to thrive as an adult, never mind keeping up with their schoolwork, which is already in an iffy place since cheating is so much easier for students to do with technology at their fingertips. Everyone’s grades have been going up, which seems a little suspicious, but you didn’t hear it from me.

The coronavirus has affected the lives of so many individuals. The summer Olympics, graduation, the Kentucky Derby, prom, employees out of work, VidCon, shows, the Daytime Emmys Ceremony, Coachella, the Boston Marathon, concerts, Wimbledon— and pretty much any other event you can think of that you might’ve been looking forward to. In order to move on with our lives, we need a solution. Everyone needs to educate themselves so that they’re informed with what’s going on in our community and stay inside so they don’t infect others or get infected. As a united nation, it’s our job to protect those in it. People we love have been dying, suffering and grieving. I know I don’t want to miss out or have to watch anyone else get hurt, but not enough of us understand how serious COVID-19 really is, and that scares me. It should scare you too.