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by Seth Munro, 04/09/2020, Traverse City, MI

Middle School 6-8 Category


Life in a pandemic is interestingly boring. It is in some ways very similar but also different than portrayed in movies. I mean that in the sense, yes, there is hardly anyone outside and when they are, they usually wear masks. In another way this is like a movie, almost everything is closed and there are warnings from the government to only leave the house if it’s absolutely necessary. But, in movies there are chains on every door and people are in HAZMAT suits. My friends and I hardly text about it. We mostly message about random things that come up, but occasionally, we do communicate about the virus, usually about the statistics. I mean statistics like where Michigan and the U.S is in the ranks of both infections and deaths. A while ago, we talked about if we thought we would go back to school this year. Obviously we won’t be.
Some people probably thought that being in quarantine and lockdown would be interesting but the worst part about it is that it’s incredibly boring. There are jokes that during quarantine people will watch every show on Netflix. I know that it’s a joke, but it shows the point that people are having trouble staying entertained with their new time. They cannot go to a restaurant to eat, and just about everything but grocery stores are closed so people are getting creative to use their spare time. I would say that there are still some normal conversations, but a lot is about the virus. Some people are optimistic and say we will be fine. Others are pessimistic and say things like we are all going to die.
I hear a lot about the crisis. My family usually watches CNN and I personally watch some late night TV clips on YouTube. They now have a lot of interviews with doctors and people on the front lines dealing with this pandemic. CNN also constantly has a convenient counter on the screen that keeps track of how many infections and deaths there are in the whole world and just in the U.S. And if the president speaks himself, they usually play direct clips, so I feel like my sources are pretty reliable. I hear that the virus is spreading fast, that it is mostly risky to older people, that recently the infection rate has been reaching a plateau, and that if people go back outside we could have another spike in infections.
I would say to my children in the future if they went through this situation to be careful, wash hands, don’t touch their face, stay inside and wear masks if going to the store. I say that because Covin-19 cannot enter your body through your hand, it is incredibly important to wash hands and do not touch your face. If you do those things, even if you had the virus on your hands, it cannot enter your body if you don’t give it a point of entry.