Storyteller: Phyllis Schmitter
Before the pandemic, Christina worked as a shift supervisor at an assisted living facility. She just went through her days busily, spending time working and barely seeing her children, two of which had moved out and the third was still going strong in her senior year. She first found out about the pandemic in December, a little before COVID-19 even arrived in the United States, from a Filipino news station that she often watched just to get a few more glimpses into her home country. When the pandemic finally hit the United States, her world was shaken, but not utterly flipped.
Suddenly, things grew more restrictive and she had to be more careful, especially since her work involved being around elderly people. Due to the panic slowly setting in around the world and the sudden disappearance of commodities such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer, Christina grew more worried about the current state of the United States. Her freedom was suddenly restricted as she couldn’t go out anymore and socialize with friends and family. On the brighter side however, she did get to see her family at home more often, such as her husband and two of her children, one of which no longer had in person classes and the other of which had to move home due to losing his job amid the pandemic.
Work continued on, with visiting restricted and the occasional scare of a co-worker contracting COVID-19. Life continued on, sparsely going out and keeping up with friends, missing out on big family events that’d been tradition for years upon years. The pandemic had surely restricted Christina’s life, but not destroyed it and offered a unique opportunity to spend time with family and do things that she doesn’t normally get the time to do anymore. Overall, the pandemic, for Christina has been an interesting experience that offered many unique challenges and also unique opportunities.
MIPandemicStory 