Quarantined But Not Sick
Photo provided by: Rylee Malloy
Students in Mr. Kupffer’s third period class are quite close during COVID-19. This is just part of working out the setbacks during the pandemic this school year.
September 30, 2020
Quarantine is a new thing we have to deal with this school year. It creates a mix of many emotions as the time slowly passes. From the perspective of a student who was quarantined as a result of contact tracing was a scary time that I had to face. It was a roller-coaster of emotions from the start to the end.
The first day was the worst as I received the email that told me I was getting quarantined and was not allowed to go to school for two weeks. At first I thought it would be OK but then panic began to set in. Many tears were painfully cried the first couple of days. There are so many things to consider: are my friends and family OK, how do I use WebEx, how am I going to be able to do all of my school work, do I have COVID-19?
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It was a very stressful first couple of days. There were so many difficulties trying to comprehend what was happening. Thinking it is my fault and feeling low as I decided to sit next to someone with COVID-19 unknowingly, and could have endangered my friends and family. It hurts knowing I was exposed so closely to it based on where I chose to sit on that first day.
Having no symptoms really affects your thought process. I wondered why I had to be at home when nothing was wrong with me. I also wondered, why me? I started to blame myself for what had happened, and it was extremely unhealthy for my mental health at the time. I later came to realize that it was not my fault, or anyone’s fault as you can have COVID-19 without even knowing. That is especially if you are asymptomatic and do not show any symptoms at all.
After the first couple of days I started to relax and realize it was not going to be as bad as it seemed. I started to see the positive sides to quarantine after the worry had passed. I was going to be ok and I would get to go back to school in a short two weeks. Meaning, I would feel relief and I would get to come and see my friends at school again. The only downfall was having to sit at a computer all day, instead of getting to come to school and participate in classes face to face as well as see my friends.
Besides being scared of having COVID-19, having to completely flip how I did my school was also on my mind. When the realization that I was going to be okay hit me, it made things easier to handle. All I had to do was get on WebEx at the same time I would usually get on my classes. Oftentimes, I could finish my work before class is done and carry on with work for another class. It gave me a bit of a head start for when I was coming back to school and kept me on top of my school work.
In all, quarantine started off quite stressful and was a tough situation to face. Even though it was a struggle at first, it really did get easier and it benefited everyone around me by keeping COVID-19 from spreading and allowed me to take a little break from the other stresses of school for a short while.
