by Zoe Phend, 04/07/2020, Traverse City, MI

Middle School (6-8) Category

When the first talks of the Coronavirus began back in December, I really wasn’t that concerned. I thought it was just a little bug that was infecting a good amount of people. I remember everyone making jokes about it, brushing it all off. As mid January came up, things started to become serious. The background noise of the nightly news went from everyday issues, to nonstop worry about the virus. When I went into history class one day, we spent the entire class period talking about all we know concerning Covid-19. We took a look at the CDC website and saw there were cases popping up around the United States, mostly around California. In my eyes, I still just thought of it as just a little red flag, and that nothing would happen to me. That same day, the virus was the hot topic at lunch. When I talked to my friends about it, some were super scared while some were hardly concerned. I remember telling everyone that it will pass, and that there is a super low chance of it getting to Michigan, let alone our small town, Traverse City. However, I would be proven wrong in early March, when the first cases in Michigan had started. That was when the realization occurred that everyone was at risk, even me. I had always brushed the thought of it off, but now I know that this is a major issue. I had already been having a rough school year, but this was the lightning in the storm. Since January, the news has been nothing but “Coronavirus Outbreak!” and “The Biggest Pandemic Since the Black Plague!” Everything was moving at such a fast pace, we could hardly keep up. I’m pretty sure I was the only person who was happy about school closings. I’m content for many reasons, such as not dealing with the day to day anxiety that comes with school, finally catching a break, and everyone being able to stay safer. In fact, people have actually started to become annoyed and angry with me just for being excited for school closures. I have learned that everyone has their own, different opinion about this pandemic and that we all need to spread happiness and positivity to support one another. Everyone can see how eerie and sad everything is. The roads are empty, people have lost the opportunity for extracurricular activities, we all have hardly socialized in the past month, and if people do happen to go out, everyone is wearing masks and gloves. It’s a crazy time we are living in, however I know that life will go on and everything will go back to normal in a matter of time.