A pandemic is not something that many would imagine happening in a progressive medicinal society, like today. However, in 2020, this is the case. In late 2019, right before the new year, strange cases of pneumonia were discovered in the Wuhan province of China. In March of 2020, schools, restaurants, and other public areas were shut down for periods of time (“Coronavirus Disease”). Students and citizens, like me, have been left in quarantine, unable to see others or resume a normal life.
Everything was normal for the first two months of the year. Many either knew or were learning of the virus, and many pushed it aside, as to them it wasn’t that big of a deal. The president of the United States, President Donald Trump, began to blow the issue off. There were not many cases in the states yet, and those who were sick were quarantined, and the exposed were, too. After a while, the president began to take steps to protect citizens by declaring a national State of Emergency in March to begin slowing the spread. Around this time, it came to the knowledge that some states were having breakouts without knowing at all.
Washington State was one of the first states to be infected with the virus and seemed to have an outbreak beneath the noses of officials, with a huge jump in cases. New York, which had no cases, saw an extreme jump after their first positive case on March 1st, 2020 (Goldstein, et al). Other states, like California, which was one of the first with the diagnosis, was infected but has been seeing a reduction in the number of cases due to social distancing and other precautions. Illinois, also one of the first states with cases, has been seeing more of an increase, with the sickness spreading to almost every point in the states, especially around the Chicago area. Officials have begun to minimize the spread and do what is necessary to keep Illinois citizens safe.
On Friday, March 13th, 2020, the governor of Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker, announced that schools would be shut down for two weeks, and with that, closed dine-in restaurants to prevent the spread. The two weeks turned into 3, which became a month, and on April 17th, schools were canceled for the rest of the year. Before this, the first case was identified in January and had a slow spread at first. Eventually, it became a state-wide pandemic quickly, with thousands infected.
The infection hit Randolph County on March 29th, 2020, when two individuals tested positive for the virus. Since the infection, there have been over 50 cases in the county, with one death, a Chester citizen (“Press Release”). Personally, I know a few people who have been infected, and my family was friends with the man who unfortunately passed away. Many teenagers are tired of quarantine and resist it, being with friends and going out, even with knowledge of those they know who are sick. The best bet for anyone is to stay at home and away from others, which I have been doing my best to do, even when it feels hopeless.
Being in a family of farmers, as soon as my dad found out that we were out of school, he declared that my siblings and I would be working on the farm until school resumes. I have been given days off to work on my homework, but my life has revolved around some online school work and the farm, which I am not opposed to because after I have been working all of this time, I definitely will be able to have money in college. My cousins, who are also working on the farm, have been taking any necessary days off for homework, but have similar workweeks to mine (since farming is an essential business, we have to work now, and I have to be around my cousins who do not live in the same household as me).
My week goes like this: Sundays are almost always the day off. I will work on homework, sit in my hammock, go for a walk, etc. Mondays are the days in which work starts back up again. At the beginning of quarantine, we were hauling crops from last year and cleaning out grain bins, which are the worst jobs. Recently we have begun hauling things, so my days are spent on trucks and tractors. Tuesdays are also normal workdays, and Wednesdays are the days I normally take off to do online class calls and homework. The rest of the week lines out to be normal workdays. I don’t have time for much leisure, but when I do, I have a variety of things to do.
Due to driving a lot of vehicles, I have begun to listen to a podcast about stories of murder and the paranormal, as it is something that I enjoy greatly or the soundtrack of the musical Hadestown. At home, I may be listening to the podcast, enjoying the outdoors, or watching movies and television. I have been watching the show Grey’s Anatomy since Fall 2019, and have been watching it ever since. As I mentioned the outdoors, I have been able to enjoy the nice weather in my hammock outside, go on walks, and at the beginning of the state shutdown, my cat had a litter of kittens. There are four of the little furry friends, and they are absolutely adorable, so I spend some of my time sitting and playing with them. Besides my own activities, my mother has been orchestrating a lot of family time.
Movie and game nights have recently been popular in my house during the pandemic, much more than usual. We tend to play card games, like rummy or euchre, or we will play other games, like Scattergories. Our movie nights happen almost weekly, where we gather downstairs to see what kinds of movies we can find on Netflix. Having activities has proven to be a good mechanism for my family to remain as one cohesive unit during these troubling times.
Personally, I am glad that I have this time to work and earn money before I go to college. However, the extra earnings have fueled my online shopping addiction. In the past month, I have bought 80 dollar sandals, that I love, a college algebra book, to prepare for college, and two popular makeup palettes, which were luckily on sale. I’ve managed to stop with the impulse purchases and have interested myself with other things.
Personally, I believe that a great way to deal with the current pandemic is for a nice change in scenery. In the first week of quarantine, I remodeled my room, which was refreshing. I have also taken it upon myself to use semi-permanent hair dye on myself, twice. However, the most productive thing that helps my mind to ignore the struggles going on currently is to get things I have pushed off done. I have focused on my studies, done things for college, and filled out forms for the summer camp that I am scheduled to work at this summer.
The most challenging thing for me to face is the possibility of Camp Ondessonk, my employer, to be canceled. As I am trying to remain as positive as possible, I am preparing for the news of camp being canceled this summer. The year-round staff has been trying to do as much research as possible on how camp could function, if at all possible. However, the most I can do is to hope, pray, and stay home to make sure camp happens, or my summer will be flipped upside down. Besides the unpredictability of camp, high school and all other public events have been either canceled or postponed.
For me personally as a high school student, my senior year has been seemingly off the rails of what I expected. When school was originally pushed off, events such as prom and the spring musical were pushed to later dates. Originally scheduled for March 19th to the 22nd, the musical was postponed to April 30th to May 3rd. Since then, it has been rescheduled for July 16th to the 19th. My high school prom, originally scheduled for April 18th, has since been postponed to around July 25th (Aug. 2 Tentative Graduation Date). These cancelations have caused more and more time for everyone at home, which can cause problems.
In my household, sometimes tensions can arise. Siblings being annoyed and parents being picky occur. Although not terribly often, these problems can make a person wish everything would go away as soon as possible. Personally, I can’t get away from it, as my extended family that I see at work tend to be some of the worst parts of quarantine. My relatives tend to think that they don’t have to abide by the rules, going out to see people and risking the rest of us. When I try to tell them why it is wrong, I am called a “know-it-all,” and they don’t listen. I am waiting for us to get sick because of these attitudes. As soon as everything is over, I am going to try to stay away from my cousins as long as I can. Luckily, I can get days off from seeing them and being agitated to work on homework and relax.
Life under quarantine has gotten better since spring began in full bloom. The birds, trees, and scenery have made staying at home a little better. As stated previously, I would walk outside, pick flowers, or hammock for some time. Other times, I may go outside to take pictures of whatever I may see. Luckily, working over this time has allowed me to save up money, which I plan to use to buy a new camera. However, whether I work or not, it doesn’t make the COVID-19 situation any better.
I would be heartbroken if Camp Ondessonk would get canceled, or that college would be postponed because I crave to get out of my hometown. Recently, those who I have considered friends have been ignoring me in online gatherings, such as “group chats.” I recognize that they may be ignoring me because what else are they doing, staring at a wall? As previously stated, this makes me feel like all I want to do is to leave my town, but I can’t even leave the house. To attempt to get through the pandemic, I just try to take it one day at a time. However, some days are better than others.
Most days seem to be rushed together in my memories. However, a good day for me is the days that I am given off to be able to relax and catch up on homework. On Wednesday, April 8th, I was given the day off for classwork. It was the first truly nice day that I was able to enjoy. Once I finished my classes fairly early in the morning, my father let me take the rest of the day off. I proceeded to get well into my homework, managing to do it outside and completing most of it early, too. I then proceeded to enjoy the day. I went on a walk, played with our new kittens, and then even went on a small boat in our lake with my brother for laughs. He decided to put his dog with us, who proceeded to get in and out of the boat, soaking us. It was all fun, nevertheless. As I said, this would be a good day for me as a day off, however, not all look like this.
While I have good days, I also have days that are not as pleasant. On a day towards the beginning of quarantine, I was working on the farm, hauling things down to and from fields, when I got lost. I decided to use Google Maps to get from one destination to the next, and I found myself stranded, as there was water on the road in front of me, and I wasn’t able to turn around. I ultimately had to abandon the tanks I was hauling on the road for my father to get them out. To add to my worry, the vehicle I was driving was running low on gasoline, which made me worried about running out. That day alone was very stressful for me, and I learned that from now on when I have to haul things on the farm, I will make sure to fill up with gas first.

COVID-19 Effects on Sister in the Ruma Convent
For the Catholic sisters in the Ruma Convent, my original ethnography subjects, a lockdown has been in order since the very beginning of the outbreak. Due to the number of high-risk sisters living in the convent, the convent had to shut down early to protect the health and well-being of those who lived there. This shutdown happened before the announcement of school closures in Illinois and has been like this since. The preparation of the convent is a good decision on their part, as they are striving to keep everyone there safe, but has postponed their work.

The world has been on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting everyone and postponing the school year for high schoolers, deeply affecting the Class of 2020. Schools, businesses, churches, and everything in between have had to deal with shutdowns, or increased security on these businesses to prevent the spread. Illinois and federal officials have been sent a lot of backlash due to their decisions, although they are trying to protect the state as a whole. In the end, citizens need to protect themselves so that life can go back to normal soon enough, and as a high school senior, incoming college freshman, and camp counselor, I want this to be over as soon as possible, as I am desperate for life to be normal again.

Works Cited
“Aug. 2 Tentative Graduation Date.” The Sting, chssting.com/4186/news/aug-2-tentative-graduation-date/.

“Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Events as They Happen.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen.

McKinley, Joseph, and Jesse Goldstein. “Coronavirus in N.Y.: Manhattan Woman Is First Confirmed Case in State.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/nyregion/new-york-coronvirus-confirmed.html.

“Press Releases.”  Randolph County Illinois, https://am.randolphco.org/index.php/healthdept-pressreleases.