Effects of COVID on HF

Now that we are a month back into school it feels like we’re relatively used to the way of things and this new adjustment to our day-to-day lives. It’s our new reality, but still, it often seems unfathomable.

I know that if you told anyone last September what life would be like now, they would laugh at you. It’s nearly impossible to even think that so much could happen so quickly. In a blink of an eye, March 13th turned into May, and as flowers bloomed we rapidly approached the sweltering heat of August, then short after September. In just an instant, all of our lives changed forever. Still, six months later, things are not back to normal.

While some of us acted as if covid-19 merely existed, I hope to think that most of us took it seriously and abided by guidelines. I know I’m speaking for everyone when I say it was an immensely difficult and at times, a lonely time period. Whether you spent the past six months with your family, or even the past six months just by yourself... I think everyone had a lot of time to reflect. Kelsi Smith, a senior here at Harborfields High School expressed to me the importance of checking in on loved ones’ mental health during and after quarantine. Time isolating alone can have a detrimental effect on people and it's crucial that we all check on our friends and family. You never know what someone has gone through in these past six months.

In a study done by, The Lancet, psychologist, , explains that “one study17 compared psychological outcomes during quarantine with later outcomes and found that during quarantine, 7% (126 of 1656) showed anxiety symptoms and 17% (275) showed feelings of anger, whereas 4–6 months after quarantine these symptoms had reduced to 3% (anxiety) and 6% (anger).” Clearly, quarantine and isolating ourselves, even if we are around family has significant effects on our mental stability. Our minds can only handle being alone for so long. Being home for months on end becomes repetitive and often unbearable on the hardest days. (https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30460-8/fulltext)

The things all of us have been through within the past six months have been nonetheless, challenging and enduring. I know for a fact that nobody would’ve thought we would have birthday drive-by parades, constant game nights with our families because we couldn’t leave our houses, masks that cover half our faces and create condensation on our skin. Senior, Isaiah Headley, expressed his often forgetfulness of remembering his mask, just like many of us in these unprecedented times. I myself often even find it very difficult to wrap my head around the fact that this is “real life”. That we can’t go into stores without a mask. That we can’t even see some friends if their last name falls under a different half of the alphabet. 

I continue to be confused with our new reality. Even when I’m watching television, I'll question why characters aren’t wearing masks and then I will come to realize that it’s just a show. With all that's going on it is hard to separate reality from pretend fantasies, for example a tv show or a movie. This new routine of wearing masks and keeping our distance is so heavily ingrained in all of our minds, yet also so new.