Pandemic, a global outbreak of an illness or disease. In our present time we are currently facing a pandemic. This pandemic has caused a lot of fear in the world. People are scared to leave their houses. This disease started in China and I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was on the other side of the world and it won’t hit me. A few weeks later there was a case in Washington State. I still didn’t think much of it. It was on the opposite side of the country and no one normally goes to Maine unless it’s the summer. I also felt like they would be able to contain the disease before it reached this side. Maine managed to stay pretty clear of the Coronavirus until it hit New Hampshire than I knew it would be in Maine in no time. But before it hit New Hampshire a lot of schools were closing and switching to an online format. I didn’t think UNE would switch until it hit Maine even then I didn’t think it would close until it was at least in Portland. Every email from president Herbert made it seem that even if the virus hit Maine we would not close the school. UNE was one of the last universities to close in Maine. I kept getting messages from my friends who go to different colleges saying that they have to move back home. 

I’m not normally one to get scared of getting sick. I tend to get colds pretty easily and I just have to deal with them. Once the virus hit the US all my social media platforms were about how I shouldn’t be scared of the Coronavirus because all it is an extreme cold and that it is only deadly to those who have weak immune systems and elderly citizens. I have a few family members that are in the medical field and that I have been very worried about. My sister in law works as a nurse at the Boston hospital and is also currently pregnant.

Over this whole quarantine I realized that I miss being with my friends on campus. I never really enjoyed being on campus while I was there. I would always go home on the weekends because I hated being at school. Now that I’m home I noticed that I miss certain aspects about being at school. I miss being able to go where I wanted when I wanted, I miss having meals at the dining hall, even though they weren’t always that great. But most importantly I miss my friends. Most of my friends on campus live in different states, so it’s a bit hard to really meet up or hang out when we aren’t on campus. This quarantine has also prevented me form seeing a lot of my family members. My nephew is due this month, but because of the Corona and quarantine we aren’t able to go see him once he is born. 

Along with missing family and friends this quarantine has made me realize that I procrastinate really bad. I mean I already knew that, but I didn’t realize how bad it was since I don’t have actual classes now. I would have never thought that I would be spending the rest of my second semester in my room. 

Despite all we are struggling with, there have been many pandemic much worse than this. In 1918 we experienced the flu pandemic in the U.S. WW1 so most doctors and nurses were out aiding our soldiers. Most of the medical personnel that were still here were volunteers. They also weren’t as advanced in vaccines and antibiotics. For this current pandemic we have many nurses and doctors working everyday to help the citizens. My sister in law and cousin are both pregnant and working in the medical field. I also have a lot of friends here at home that are nurses at local nursing homes and at the hospital. My fellow classmate Danielle has a sister in the medical field as well. Her sister works in the intensive care unit at Harford Hospital in Connecticut (Danielle). I’m sure there are many others that have family in medical work. 

The 1918 flu pandemic was also a lot more gruesome. People were dying on the streets and their bodies were left there. One of the survivors of the pandemic told a story to her son Drew about her childhood during that time. Drew says that when his mother was a child she remembers being home sick and going out onto her patio. When she was on the patio she looked out across the street and saw her neighbors, but it was just her neighbors bodies. They had died because of the flu (Jeanne Shinnick).  There were bodies of the deceased scattered around the yards and street sides. No one was picking up the bodies so when you looked outside that is what you saw.