Storyteller: Jordan Hartley
Jorn is a 49 year old mother of 2, who currently resides on Drummond Island, Michigan. She is currently employed as a realtor outside of the island, and helps her husband with expenses as she currently also does the accounting for their construction business which provides help on and off the island, but keeps to the local area.
Like most, Jorn heard about a virus from her friends, her family, and the local news. It wasn’t until March however that this virus started to affect her way of life. In March her and her husband were not permitted to work. Fear of COVID-19 was at an all time high, and she wasn’t allowed to do open houses, or interact with customers in person. This made her job very difficult as she couldn’t convince people to purchase a home without showing them the home first.
Being in a small township such as Drummond Island, the way of life didn’t change around too drastically. Businesses were able to easily conform to the new rules surrounding the government’s orders. Jorn’s husband was still able to do his contracting work, however it was still difficult for her to find people who would allow them to do work on and around their homes, but there are still some who aren’t concerned with COVID-19 in the area.
Other than being unable to work for a few weeks, Jorn says that she was mostly unaffected by COVID-19. She still practices safe practices, as she says she doesn’t want to put her family and friends in danger. Jorn also says that she can’t wait until she is able to go out with her girlfriends without having to worry about masks and hand sanitizer.
MIPandemicStory 