Storyteller: Emma Smith
In early February, Christina had heard about Covid 19 through social media. Christina was 39, and a dietary cook for around 100 residents at a nursing home. It had not yet affected her at that time, but in early March she had to start taking her college classes online. She then found herself going out less and being more fearful for her family’s health after hearing about so many others getting sick.
Christina began having to wear a mask at work, as well as take more precautions around the people she was close with. While working in the hot kitchen with a mask, she would often have a hard time breathing, and get claustrophobic. Her place of work also began having staff testing twice a week, this put some financial strain on Christina because the workers had to pay for their own tests.
It became apparent that the virus was not going away anytime soon, this caused Christina’s children to miss their freshman and senior year of high school. She thinks it is funny that people were very against places closing, but when everything opened again there was a spike in cases, causing us to close again. Christina also thought it was weird that people were getting sick and dying and there were still people who thought this virus would just go away after the U.S election was over.
From this pandemic Christina has gained perspective, knowing that this could happen at any time, with no warning. She feels that she has lost her sense of security. Through it all Christina has learned to value her time spent with her family more, it has also taught her that there are still good people in the world, not everyone is bad.
MIPandemicStory 