Storyteller: Heather Henry
Tammy is 52 years old and is employed as an elementary school social worker. Her first recollection of Covid-19 was in January. She had heard about it on the news when large amounts of China were being affected. So many people had been dying and it was spreading throughout Europe. Her day-to-day life became filled with worry. She was concerned about contracting the virus, as were many others. Information had also been unclear and constantly changing, which increased her levels of worry. Many of her habits that she had done every day had to change to keep herself and those around her safe. She had to worry about touching people and being around people. There was a constant underlying fear, and no one could go anywhere. She also notes that she was worried about running out of toilet paper due to the large shortages that had occurred. Tammy has gained an insight as to the kind of person she is. She had not realized that she was a hugger and toucher. Being unable to come in to contact with people opened her eyes to how often she had previously made physical contact with others. She has also experienced losses. She lost a friendship due to the other individual being highly concerned about contracting the virus from Tammy and her family. She could no longer talk to her friend about what she was doing because the individual was so concerned. There have been a multitude of sensory details that she has noticed. She has noticed that it is hard to breathe with a facemask on, lips get easily chapped, glasses fog up, and people who are touchers cannot touch or be touched by others. Tammy is also hard of hearing and has been able to notice through the pandemic that she relied more on reading lips than she previously realized. The humor that she has found in the pandemic is others being not properly dressed in Zoom meetings. She has been able to take away several things from the pandemic. She has noticed that she does not like being away from people, she has learned how to avoid people in the grocery store, and she has learned that she is able to get along with her whole family without hurting someone. She has also taken away some rather helpful lessons about conserving toilet paper and when the best times are to get toilet paper from Sam’s Club.
MIPandemicStory 