by Kendall Kaberle, 04/09/2020, Traverse City, MI

Middle School 6-8 Category

Coronavirus was introduced to me in January and made it to Traverse City in March. Within a matter of days, the number of people in the United States surpassed an amount that was safe. This caused the need for social distancing and abnormalcy in everyday activities. Businesses have had to shut down, airlines are closed, the economy is at a loss and many people are unemployed. Schools are shut down all across the world and most people are doing online work. The importance of staying home is crucial to people’s health and well-being during this time. It will prevent the spread of the virus, since it is extremely contagious. I am frightened at the thought that my dad could bring home the virus from work, even though his business is curbside pickup only. I want people to know that they will be okay and this will pass, but it will become worse if we don’t self-isolate and stay home. If by chance someone has to leave the house, it should be done cautiously and you should be wearing a mask, gloves, etc. I cannot express the sheer amount of anger that wells up inside me when I see on social media that someone doesn’t understand or know how severe this is and goes out in public for an unnecessary reason, hangs out with friends they aren’t quarintined with or travels to another state. I cannot control what other people do, yet I can control what I see and what I do, which is all that matters. Mental health is also important during this time too because the information that you feed your mind will fuel your emotions, feelings and actions and will affect you every day during quarintine. In the future, if I choose to have children of my own, I will tell them that I lived through a horrible global pandemic that spread very fast and took a long time to get better. At this point, nobody has any idea what will happen, when this will end, if there is a cure, and so much more. The number of people recovered is a fairly good amount, but the number of deaths scare me. Although I am not in the age range of people who die from the virus, it is still extremely scary to me. My grandmother lost her husband due to cancer just over three months ago and she is living alone, while being self-isolated. We go and see her on a daily basis and sit on her porch while keeping a safe distance and talk to us through her screened in door. We cannot go to her house because of my dad’s job. I would do anything to be able to go to her house and spend time with her, but we cannot risk her health if anyone in my family may have the virus. My hope is that this will all go away soon and we will be back to normal before summer comes.