Will, Sanford County

Storyteller: Toby Rey

Will lives with his two parents and two sisters who lived on their own before the pandemic. He works at an old person home serving food and cleaning up dishes and tables after the old folk have returned to their rooms. He first heard about COVID-19 in his history class, his teacher Mr. Evans liked to keep his students up to date with things going on in the world. He asked the class if they thought COVID-19 would reach the U.S., and like many others everyone said no they did not. Little did he, he would not be attending that class or much else in a couple of weeks.

When COVID-19 first hit Will’s, daily life changed significantly. He no longer went to school, his workplace added on a lot of new restrictions, such as a face shield over his mask to protect the older people. Will noticed that this shield fogged up a lot and made it really hard to see. Because of this he even accidently spilled a plate of food on an old person while serving food and although this was embarrassing at the time, he gets a good laugh out of it now. A few things Will lost during the pandemic work were hours and family time. Will noted that he did not mind losing a couple of hours of work but was disappointed he wouldn’t be able to visit his grandparents in Canada this year for their annual trip.

Although many negatives came from the pandemic Will also managed to gain a few good things. During the pandemic he got into his first relationship, spending a lot of time on the phone together and not having many other things to do allowed Will to form a close bond with his significant other. But one night they decided to meet up and she almost gave Will the virus, her sister had gotten it from a basketball tournament she played in at Indian. Luckily upon both of their testing neither of them had it. During this time will also gained a sense of pride in himself, he started working out and realized he was making a difference by helping the elderly. The pandemic also taught Will that patience is important in many situations whether that is helping the elderly with the new restrictions or staying calm when his parents are being loud during online class.