The Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Grace Kang, Writer, Contributor


In late January, 2020, America had it’s first case of Covid-19, and as the days went on, the number of Covid-19 cases increased everyday. After 2 months, many schools began closing, and the weight of Covid-19 became significantly heavier, and on March 11, 2020, Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic. Two days later, on March 13, 2020, Carle Place High School decided to shut down for two weeks, meaning school would have had to resume by Monday, March 29, 2020. However, as the days came close to March 29, school was shut down for another two weeks. This process had repeated itself to the point where March 13, 2020 marked the last day of in person classes for the 2019-2020  school year in Carle Place High School. There were many different feelings that went into quarantine. Some were excited to take a break from the outside world, some felt nervous about the future of the pandemic, some felt anxious about the impact of Covid-19, and some felt saddened by the thought of being stuck at home for at least two weeks with their feelings. At the start of quarantine, most people started watching more TV, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, etc. The excitement of not having any school, and all this free time to most students meant that it was time to binge all the TV shows that they have wanted to watch. Most of the people watching all these movies and TV shows were watching out of boredom, however, some were watching TV shows and movies as an escape from their own thoughts. As every month passed, the desire to be out of the house and with people at events grew stronger and stronger, but the number of Covid-19 cases were rising higher and higher. The feeling of being at home all day led to a feeling of being stuck and trapped for many people. By August, most people have had enough of quarantine with strong feelings of anger, sadness, and a want for escape. Quarantine had been a learning experience that led to many realization. From allowing people to see how they can grow as a person to what skills they should work on improving, and even to future college plans. Although quarantine seemed to be the relaxing lifestyle that most students wanted to live, it quickly became clear that there were many negative factors that came into play. After 5 long months of quarantine, it was clear that this was not the lifestyle that most students wanted to live. By the end of August, as schools had started to resume in person classes, Carle Place High School had announced it’s plans to resume classes in person. Due to Covid-19, everyone’s life had changed in some sort of way. To stay sane, many have been listening to music, facetiming friends, going on relaxing walks, bike rides, runs, or finding a new hobby. To maintain a healthy mentality is very important in any case, and especially in difficult times like these. Finding way to stay motivated is definitely a really good way to stay sane. Another very important thing is to keep a positive mind set. A hopeful mindset will allow for a better outlook for the future, and a better outlook leads to a healthier lifestyle. Finding a new enjoyable hobby would also be one of the best things to do so that you are able to relax, and have fun doing so. Unfortunately we can’t change what is going on outside of us, but we can find a way to keep a positive mindset. Covid-19 also showed many that when we have the ability to do something, we should use the time to do so. Some students explained that because of Covid-19, they set higher goals for themselves after seeing how much the pandemic took away from them. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted every single person differently, and taught everyone of us a different lesson.