Covid in other Countries

     For this entry, I interviewed my past foreign exchange student from Argentina to discuss how they went about handling the virus. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, and her parents are both doctors. Her mother’s hospital was actually converted into an isolation unit for Covid patients. Unfortunately, their whole family contracted the virus and was placed under quarantine around the same time I was. 

Football Season

     With everything else that the virus has altered it has definitely taken a toll on sporting events. One of the most exciting parts about coming to the University of Kentucky for me was football season. I could not wait to finally attend the games as a student at the university. Though it is not exactly how I pictured it, football season is finally here, and students are allowed to go to the games (with restrictions obviously). 

    How the university is allowing students to go to games is having them enter a lottery to keep the capacity at Kroger Field to a minimum. If you win the lottery, you get two tickets for $11, and get to attend the game in your assigned seat. If you do not win, you still have a chance to go to the game by purchasing unclaimed tickets from the UK athletics app. Over the weekend I went to the Mississippi St. game, and it was totally different than the last college football game I went to.

    When people think of college football, their minds typically go to the massive crowds, tailgating, and celebrating with strangers once something exciting happens. However, that is not the case this year. Sitting in the student section is totally different than that image. Obviously, we had to wear masks the whole time unless we were eating food or anything like that. Also, we were only allowed to sit two people at a time. Everyone was super spaced out, and there was way too much room to celebrate with strangers. There was no tailgating or pregame festivities. This year, you are solely there to watch the game.

Below is a picture from where I was sitting. Notice how empty and spaced out the stadium was. 

Covid, class, and college

    Personally, I do not like the online college experience. I think learning comes from being able to have social interactions with both teachers and students, which is obviously very difficult to do during this pandemic. School and education is a time for students not only to expand their knowledge, but increase their social interactions. With the current restrictions, I am pretty much confined to my dorm room the majority of the day. All of my classes are online, so I sit inside and do schoolwork pretty much all day every day. 

    I do not think anything should be implemented in regards to help students who are failing coursework. First off, I do not think anything like that could be carried out fairly. Second, college is a time where you have to figure things out on your own and become much more independent than before. Yes, Covid is making school extremely difficult, but it is still the student’s responsibility to make sure they succeed in their learning. The University of Kentucky has numerous resources that are built to help students succeed, so everyone who is struggling should be taking advantage of them. 

    For me, I am much better at learning in person. I like physically going to class because it wakes me up in the mornings and makes me feel productive about my days. I also learn more in person because there are less distractions in a classroom. This semester I find it harder to focus and have had less motivation as a student than ever before. Also, I feel like I cannot get as much information online as in person. For example, I have two labs this first semester, and they are both online. One lab consists of watching videos and filling out worksheets, while the other is a simulation with questions. During these labs, I cannot actually see what is happening which makes it very difficult to learn. 

    In the future, I think this could potentially affect the job market. Personally, I want to go into the healthcare field, and I do not think the way my classes are being carried out are preparing me for this. I do not feel that I am able to get the hands on experience I need to be competitive in this field. For example, it has to be extremely difficult to do clinicals online because you are not getting the hands on experience you need to be successful. 

My Own Personal Experience

 I knew this day would come, the day the virus would catch up with me. I finally caught the virus. It sounds like I am relieved to have had it and recovered, but in reality it was not. Everyone has different experiences with the virus, and this is mine.

    My roommate started experiencing symptoms, and neglected to tell my friends and I. Therefore, we all got it, and let me tell you, it spreads fast. We all went down like dominos as each one of us started experiencing symptoms day after day. It’s crazy how quick everything happened. One minute I was out and feeling fine, and the next I had to tell my friends to leave my dorm because I felt so run down. 

    I went into isolation the minute my fever started because I did not want to expose anyone else to potentially give them the virus. I had gotten tested the day before my symptoms started because I figured that once my roommate had it, I would have it too. I drove back home immediately, and learned that I would be self isolating in a house by myself. I had all the classic symptoms. I had a fever, chest pain, fatigue, nonstop coughing, shortness of breath, and worst of all a loss of taste and smell. My smell still has not totally come back which is disappointing. 

    A few days had passed and I still had not heard about my test results. All of my friends who had been exposed had already gotten calls that they were positive, so where was mine? Eventually, I called UK’s testing site only to learn that I had tested negative. I knew this couldn’t be right because literally everyone I am with all the time had tested positive. I explained to them my symptoms, and they suggested that I go get another test done because I probably had a false negative.

    I scheduled a test the following day, and that one came back positive. Quarantine itself was not bad because I felt so bad I never really had the energy to do anything except for sleep. Honestly, I think the most I did in one day was have a movie marathon. 

    A few more days went by after I got my test results before I remembered no one from Louisville metro’s health department had called me yet. I did some research, and found the number to see what was going on. After many long phone calls, I only learned that they did not even have a record of me getting a test and testing positive. Therefore, I had to put myself into the system, so I could be released and come back to school as soon as I was allowed. 

    The worst part of the quarantine was the constant battle with the health department. With guidelines always changing, I heard so many different things from so many different people. I swear every time I talked to someone different, they gave me different answers. 

    The day to be released had finally come, so I called about my form. This was extremely disappointing because I found out again that I was not in the system. This was odd, however because the health department had emailed me the isolation contract to sign. After many long phone calls, I was finally able to get my form so I could come back to school.

    After the virus, I wish I did some things differently before. I wish I had been more careful. Now, whenever I see someone not wearing a mask or following appropriate guidelines, I always warn them what is at stake so they do not have to go through the same experience I did. 

UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines?

Deciding who gets a Covid vaccine is extremely difficult. You are basically picking and choosing who has the possibility of getting infected or not. With limited resources, I would do a full assessment on the population to decide who gets to be vaccinated. This would assess all the patients’ medical conditions, medical histories, and family histories to see who is at a higher risk. For example, those who are immunocompromised would get a vaccine over someone who is not. This is because the person who is immunocompromised is at a greater risk in developing complications with the virus. I would also assess how many people in the county’s population wants to be vaccinated. Some may not, so that would automatically eliminate a number of people who would get the vaccine. 

COVID-19 Infecting Pop Culture

It feels like COVID-19 has truly taken over our lives. We see it everywhere from the media, and it always being the central topic. Though the thought of the virus may put a damper on things, it doesn’t always have to be that way. People have tried their best to turn this situation into a laugh by incorporating and creating anything that you can imagine out of the virus. This ranges from songs, art, memes, etc. The following contains a few examples. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sayh8ZASxk8

Over the quarantine, we saw many artists come together to try to lift their fans’ spirits. They went as far as to doing virtual concerts and creating new songs and albums to keep us entertained. One particular song released caught my eye: “Six Feet Apart.” This song was written by Luke Combs, and honestly summarizes all of what we are missing out on due to the virus. This caught my eye because I felt like he did something totally different than what other artists were trying to do. The song itself is kind of depressing, but overall reminds us of what we will get to do once we no longer have to be six feet apart. 

https://www.tiktok.com/@im.quangdang/video/6800738844938603777?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2F&referer_video_id=6800738844938603777

During the pandemic, people were always trying to find new ways to get the younger generation to participate in slowing the spread. Above is a famous tik tok dance challenge that went viral. The dance is to a Vietnamese pop song called “Ghen,” and encourages people to wash their hands and avoid touching their faces.

COVID Cuisine

 

    COVID-19 obviously has a huge impact on heath habits of all kinds. It affects physical, mental, as well as emotional health. As our normal lives shut down, so do our typical eating habits. Personally, I was very active before the lockdown. I grew up as a cheerleader, so my diet and exercise routine was very strict. That all was altered as gyms shut down, and grocery stores went empty. At first, I thought the shut down was a good thing. Maybe I could live a normal life, eat what I wanted, and worked out when it was convenient for me. Unfortunately, that mindset did not do me well. After literally a week, I became a couch potato, not wanting to be in any routine at all. I was bored, sad, and had given up hope that life would go back to normal. This is the mindset of several people who had been basically house bound for three months. 

    Back to the healthy habits, the diet aspect of my life had for sure been abolished. My family began to eat out all the time just to take a fifteen minute trip out of the house. This became a regular event, and what I looked forward to most days. Unfortunately, this lead me to consume what I knew was not appropriate for my body. I didn’t think much of it at first because all I could think was how awesome it was that I could eat whatever I wanted without getting sick before or after a workout. Again, this became a routine mindset leading me to never getting back on track with what my eating habits were. 

    When everything started to reopen, I had lost all motivation to get back to where I was. I never wanted to leave the house or even get up off my couch. I kept telling myself that I would do better tomorrow. Tomorrow lead up to my time at the University of Kentucky. Here, we have everything we could want at the tips of our fingers. With meal swipes, it is impossible to say no. When I first got here, I started myself back on a routine. Working out in the morning, eating a healthy lunch and dinner, buying appropriate food from the grocery, but that all changed when classes started. With everything being online for me, I never leave my dorm unless it is to go get food. 

    Overall, my diet has definitely worsened since COVID-19 took over. In reality, I can blame my changed eating habits on the virus, but it is actually up to me to take action and make a change to get back to where I used to be. 

Who to Trust

     Today, we hear stories all over about these uncertain times. Who can we trust? What can we trust? What’s fact and what’s fiction? All of these questions race through my mind when it comes to getting information about what is going on in the world. 

    Honestly when it comes to fact or fiction, I turn to my aunt for information. My aunt is Medical Director for Hospital Medicine at the University of Louisville’s hospital. In other words, she oversees the non-ICU COVID-19 isolation unit at Jewish Hospital. With her personal experience, when I need to distinguish between fact and fiction, she’s my go to. 

    The news today is very political, making this more dangerous than the pandemic itself. They turn what is actually destroying people into something that is destroying society’s civility. This takes affect on many people, including my own family. Due to political beliefs, it makes it difficult to discuss current events, as a dispute is present every time. This pandemic appears to be tearing families apart in more ways than one. Personally, I am not super involved in politics, but attached is an article that I feel does a fantastic job describing the political divide.

https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/politics-may-kill-us-not-coronavirus

Debating our Future

     Only a little over two weeks into the semester, and schools are already shutting down everywhere. Whether they have not even started yet, or just getting started, schools across the country are putting a hold on in-person instruction. In our case, the University of Kentucky has yet to say anything in regards to whether or not we will be here for the remainder of the semester. Personally, I think and remain hopeful that we will get to finish out our first semester on campus. The university has so many guidelines in place such as remaining six feet apart, wearing a mask at all times, taking your daily 4.0, etc. As a student, I understand first hand how exhausting it may be to keep these in mind 24 hours, 7 days a week. However, these are the rules that will allow us to stay right where we are until Thanksgiving. There are signs everywhere reminding us to keep our distance, makes up, and keeping our residence halls to a minimum. 

    I myself have had a few personal encounters to where I felt like I did not have to follow these rules. For example, last week my roommate and I walked over to the student center to grab a quick lunch. As we walked into Champions Kitchen, a worker looked at us and reminded us to stay six feet apart. In the moment, I was shocked that she had made a comment about how close we were standing. I mean, she is my roommate, and we are together all the time. Then, it occurred to me why she was the first one to say something to us about our distance? We had never been asked to stand apart before, but this shows just how much the staff at the university wants to stay in Lexington just as much as we do.

    Another example includes the second day I was on campus. K-week had started, and one of the first events was watching Jaws on the lawn. We walked over to the main lawn, scanned our event passes, and continued to find four open blankets. All the blankets were placed six feet apart, and we were required to wear masks even in an open outdoor space. Long story short, my friends and I decided to not stay for the full movie , but we were allowed to take the blankets as we left. After leaving, we ended up sitting outside in the courtyard between Donovan and Johnson halls. We met up with two other girls who we had just met in our K-team, and as we were sitting there an RA came outside. He told us we needed to pull up our masks, as most of them were wearing them on our chins. This is yet another example of how much everyone wants to stay on campus. 

    In short, I think the University of Kentucky is going above and beyond to ensure their students will remain on campus until November. However, we all play a role in this goal, and must follow all guidelines to ensure we have a safe and full semester. 

Introduction to Blog

     Hello! My name is Kaitlyn Briones, and this blog will take you through the crazy world we are currently living in. Right now, we are living amongst a global pandemic, a time that no one ever thought we would experience. These times are filled with uncertainty and fear as we all attempt to cope what is forced to our new normal. Before I get into much detail, here is a little bit about me. I recently graduated high school, and I too shared all the disappointments and heartbreaks with my fellow class of 2020. I am 18 years old, and just started at the University of Kentucky to study biology in the hopes to eventually be able to go into the medical field. I have two younger brothers, and my mom works at a Catholic grade school. My dad passed away almost three years ago, so Covid-19 has struck fear into my entire family, as we do not want to lose someone else. Since this passing, my entire family has remained very close. They all work in the medical field with my grandparents being physicians, and my aunt being one of the head doctors at the University of Louisville Hospital's Covid-19 unit. 

    Overall, Covid has not affected me personally other than exposures, and cancelling anticipated events. I have had to go into quarantine a few times after finding out people I had been in contact with tested positive. I often wonder if our world will ever return to normal, or if this will be our new normal. It is crazy to think that just a few months ago we could leave our rooms without a mask or get closer than six feet to each other. Stay tuned to see how the University of Kentucky handles these special circumstances, and how this will be a college experience like no other.