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HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Emilee Gebhart, Class of 2023
The Longest Year in History
The day we evacuated Springfield College over a year ago already feels like a lifetime
ago. I consider the early days in 2020 where we took family walks every night, met up with
friends in parking lots, and bought gas for $1.00 a gallon to be a different life than the days of
late 2020 into early 2021 where I attended college during a pandemic. I had never lived through
so much panic and unknown that I did from March through the summer of 2020—nobody knew
anything. And then when we did figure some stuff out, not everyone agreed nor listened. There
was a lot of doubt casted on science and on the government. Unfortunately, information about
coronaviruses had already been previously known. I say “unfortunately” instead of “fortunately”
because we’ve had outbreaks of coronaviruses (SARS, MERS), yet a pandemic was still able to
break loose. From reading the book in this class, Covid-19, The Pandemic That Never Should
Have Happened and How to Stop the Next One, and various textbooks for my other classes, they
all mention the concern with coronaviruses. All the information and precautions were there about
the exact crisis that has happened. It has been a frustrating year, needless to say. The biggest
lesson to take from this is to be serious from the start. Even 100 years ago during the Spanish
Flu, the handling of viruses was by hand washing and isolation, which has been the core of
handling Covid-19. The information had been there all along. This class constantly tackled the
question of “will we learn from this pandemic?”, and the only answer I can give is hopefully,
because there is more to come whether we are ready or not.
As a future healthcare provider, I have been eager now more than ever to start making a
difference and helping people. As much as I will have a duty to protect from harm, the people
�also have a duty to protect because we are all in this together, so it is important to listen to the
science and take the proper precautions. The pandemic has personally tested my limits in social
and academic reasons. I am fortunate that my family, friends, and I have made it out strong, and
it is all more reason to keep our heads held high and to take care of one another.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The Longest Year
Description
An account of the resource
This document reflects on the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic. This past year has been a difficult time to live through for people of all ages, and while there are many different stories I can share, the most important part is to remember this as a learning experience for future situations. This archive is important to keep the legacy of Covid-19 alive so I hope the personal experiences from my classmates and I can help to paint the picture of the various lenses.
Creator
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Emilee Gebhart
Date
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May 15, 2021
Publisher
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Springfield College
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Emilee Gebhart
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Text/PDF
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English
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Text
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hrns192-class-007
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The year 2020 will be remembered differently by every person, but the one similarity will
be the Covid-19 pandemic. The biggest impact Covid-19 has had on my life was my decision of
where to go to college. I was originally planning on going away to school; however, that all
changed when I realized I might not be able to come home from school to see my family due to
Covid-19 restrictions. Covid-19 was the reason I decided to stay close to home and commute to
Springfield College instead of going away to school. My life was completely redirected from the
pandemic.
I never could have imagined starting college the way I did. Instead of having large
student gatherings, we had quarantines and were separated from our friends. Instead of
supporting our student athletes in person, we had to watch over zoom. Instead of getting to know
all your professors, we had masks where we did not even know what our professors and other
students really looked like. Instead of just having normal academic tests each week in our
classes, we also had weekly Covid-19 tests. This pandemic completely turned peoples lives
upside down.
Even though my first year of college may have been quite different than I imagined with
all the Covid-19 restrictions, I also gained a large sense of gratitude from this pandemic. I am
fortunate enough to say that I have not lost a loved one from Covid-19; however, I know for
most of the population that is not the case. I was still fortunate enough to be with my family and
to quarantine with them so even when we were socially distancing, we were still together. So
many people did not have this luxury of being with their family and have been separated from
them for over a year. This pandemic has really taught me to never take anything for granted
because you never know how fast everything can change.
Covid-19 also influenced the courses I took at Springfield College. Before this pandemic
I did not know much about world diseases; however, after living through Covid-19, I became
really interested in taking an honors colloquium course all about world diseases including Covid19. Learning about past infectious diseases as well as the one I was currently living through,
completely changed my perspective of virus outbreaks. I have realized that we may never get
back to “normal” or the way it was before Covid-19, but that is okay. Even though this pandemic
has been filled with hardships I think there is a lot of opportunity that has come out of it as well
and that is learning from Covid-19 to better prepare for the future.
The biggest takeaway I have from the honors colloquium on world diseases is that we
need to be ready and prepared for a future pandemic. We were warned by scientists that Covid19 was going to happen years before it did, but we did not plan well for this virus and that is why
we have experienced such a severe pandemic with long-lasting effects. If I could only take one
thing away from this course it would be that we are going to have future pandemics that may not
be in our control, but what we can control is how we learn from each pandemic and grow as a
country to be more prepared for each future virus outbreak. Covid-19 has been devastating and
so much has been lost from this pandemic, but we can also gain a lot from this pandemic such as
the lessons about how to stop future outbreaks, so we do not have to experience this loss again.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
My Covid-19 Experience
Description
An account of the resource
This is a personal account about how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted my life. This is meant to give a brief glimpse into some of the experiences I had with the Covid-19 pandemic as well as show future generations the large effect Covid-19 has had on the entire world.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Amber Miracle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 12, 2021
Format
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Text/PDF
Coverage
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I chose to contribute this item because by sharing our unique and personal experiences, we can learn from each other and have a better perspective of what people's lives were actually like during the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope my contribution can give future students an insight to what is was like to live through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Publisher
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Springfield College
Contributor
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Amber Miracle
Language
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English
Type
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Text
Identifier
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hrns192-class-006
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Text
“Stay Home, Stay Safe”
Molly Coates
HNRS 192
May 2021
“Save a life, wear a seatbelt”, “A text can wait”, “Lane Closed →”, “Testing, Testing”.
Often in our lives, we drive past electric road signs. Driving down the highway can often be
seemingly mindless, yet a shining bright sign has the ability to entertain us, even if it is for a
fleeting moment. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself driving down I-91 South
to my dad’s house. The sign that I passed that day said: “Stay Home, Stay Safe”.
March of 2020 found me blissfully ignorant halfway around the world. Fresh off my
landing at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand it was only a matter of time before
everything flipped upside down yet again. As emails warning of a spreading infectious disease
filled my Springfield College email, the Kiwi lifestyle remained “normal”. Numbers abroad
�grew, and it was not long after that we heard of the evacuation of Springfield College students
being evacuated from European nations such as Italy and Spain. Next came the seizure of various
study-abroad programs and friends and flatmates would vanish within a day's time. Eventually,
the national 48-hour Emergency Effect solidified the need for action. The seemingly simple road
sign of “Stay Home, Stay Safe” tore my conscious in two directions over nine thousand miles of
distance.
I would end up leaving New Zealand to return home. I would be accompanied by my
brother who had been evacuated from his position in the Peace Corps to return home to Norwich,
Vermont. Gradually, we both settled into the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Days of
nothingness would fly by. The same activities, wake up, walk the dog, breakfast, and clean your
room for the fourth time that week. Occasionally, I may have picked up a book or completed a
puzzle. Yet it was not the abrupt stop of daily life and the consequential monotony that
characterized the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the moment of shock and absurdity could occur
at the simplest of moments. While enjoying your brainless TV or movie programming you may
ask yourself, for just an instant: “Why aren’t they wearing masks?”
In the Fall of 2020, I decided not to stay home. Going against the advice of the shining
road sign I packed up my belongings and traveled back to Springfield College. As the year
progressed I signed up for the course HNRS 192-26 World Diseases. Gradually the brain fog of
the past year began to lift. Time allowed a logical sequence of events to explain what happened
to the world. Yet, as a human race, we cannot simply wait for the recap of events if we hope to
survive. While I enjoy the study of the past, I must acknowledge that there will be no future
unless we look forward. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted innumerable divisions and
disparities in our national and global society. If further collaboration and communication are not
demanded, this will not be the only pandemic in my lifetime. Let us all hope that we never
“return to normalcy” because if we do, we are merely doomed to fail yet again. Now is the time
to act. We may not know what tomorrow will bring, but repeating history is no longer an option.
*The photo was taken by Chris Evans at the Springfield College Testing Center, May 2021.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
"Stay Home, Stay Safe"
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Molly Coates
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 11, 2021
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
I submitted this story for numerous reasons. Firstly, it was my final for my World Disease course. Secondly, as a History major, I believe in the importance of records. For any future scholars looking to understand the world as it was in 2020, I hope this was somewhat beneficial! Lastly, I submitted this story because through understanding others' experiences, we as a society can grow.
Contributor
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Molly Coates
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Image/PDF
Text/PDF
Language
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English
Type
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Image
Text
Identifier
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Text
Ethan Barker
Covid 19, A Lesson Learned
The Covid-19 pandemic has progressed much further than it ever should have been allowed to.
As we approach six hundred-thousand deaths in the United States this fact becomes increasingly
important as small decisions such as making testing available, shutting down transportation, and
simply mandating masks could have made an immense difference. A common argument made in
favor of several world leaders is that a pandemic is not something we were expecting or have had
to deal with in the past. This argument is false, the fact is scientists have been warning us about
SARS, Coronaviruses, Bird flu and other pandemic level pathogens for several years now. We
also have had several outbreaks of epidemic and pandemic level pathogens in the last century
that have been managed and stopped early on. While Covid-19 was in many ways a perfect
storm for a pandemic due to its high transmission rate, it could have been less disastrous had we
listened to science.
If I could share one lesson I have learned from this pandemic, it would be to listen to
science. I often reflect on the ways in which I followed the rules of the CDC, the ways I could
have been safer, and the things that were out of my control. Over quarantine I worked at a
grocery store where some customers reacted to the disease with ignorance and nonchalance,
while others were terrified, and visibly so. Both sides of the spectrum came with a unique set of
issues that were up to myself and my coworkers to solve. Had we as a nation listened to science
instead of concerning the profits of million dollar corporations then places like supermarkets and
other essential businesses could have been made safer and as a result lessened the global panic
that resulted in shortages of resources.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Archiving our Experience - Ethan Barker
Description
An account of the resource
This assignment was done with the intention of providing a personal account of a moment in history that has impacted us all. The account is meant to teach future students about the things we did right, the mistakes we made, and as a reminder that we are not alone in this journey.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Ethan Barker
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
May 4, 2021
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text/PDF
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
This resource is a personal account supplemented by information I have learned throughout the course and from the book, COVID-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened and How to Stop the Next One by Deborah Mackenzie.
Publisher
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Springfield College
Contributor
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Ethan Barker
Language
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English
Type
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Text
Identifier
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Text
Arianna Vessicchio
My Experience in Quarantine
On October 18, 2020, at 7:30am after going to bed only a few hours earlier, I awoke to
the sound of my roommate’s voice, “Arianna, Arianna”. I looked over to her bed less than six
feet away from mine and see her on the phone trembling. After several minutes of me half-asleep
wondering what is going on, she murmurs, “I tested positive”. I quickly searched through my
phone and saw I tested negative. Although I was negative, I had been with my roommate all
night, sharing drinks, and sitting close to one another. I was convinced I would come out positive
too in the next couple days, so I put on my mask, gave her a hug and she was out the door to go
home within just a few minutes. I knew I was going to have to quarantine for 14 days and I
thought contact tracing would be calling me shortly. I packed my bags and woke up my other
friends who had been with my roommate the night before and was all ready to go before 8am. I
was nervous, but believed I would be in a suite with two of my best friends for the next 14 days,
so it would all be okay. This moment stays engraved in my mind.
Little did I know at the time, quarantining at school was not going to be as seamless as I
thought. Contact tracing did not call me until 10:30am. They sent me to wait a half-hour in line
to get a COVID test just to be turned away because of miscommunication in the health center. I
did not get a call from Residence Life until 3pm and they sent us to the basement of a freshman
dorm with random roommates. We had to grab all our belongings in 2 trips which meant I could
not bring the things that made me feel most comfortable, such as my mattress pad and extra
blankets. From the arrival in our quarantine dorm, it was phone call after phone call, to every
school administrator and our parents. My 2 friends and I gathered in 1 room crying because of
the situation we were in. We wanted answers and we were not getting them. It was extremely
�hard to focus on schoolwork, and some of my teachers were not as relaxed as others, causing me
more stress to get in work that night.
I never realized how stressful getting necessities were until I had to have someone do
everything for me. For the first 24 hours, we had one small water bottle per person and no place
to get more water. Our food arrived at random hours and had to be eaten cold because we had no
refrigerator or microwave for the first couple days. Being someone that lives off the endorphins I
get from going for a daily run, I was limited to running back and forth on the .02-mile backyard
with a mask on. On top of that, we did not know if we had COVID because we were getting
mixed information on when we would be able to get a test. We were the trial group to what
quarantine would look like to many others in the coming weeks as the college still was working
out the kinks.
As the days went on, the conditions got worse. It was nerve-wracking to have new girls
moving into the floor, filling up the floor to almost 20 girls sharing 2 showers, 2 toilets and the
hardest part, 1 refrigerator. I did not know how close of contact the new girls had come in with
people who had COVID and how scared I should be that I was living in such close quarters with
them. They could be the ones causing my quarantine time to reset. Additionally, the more meals
they had to prepare for the floor caused more trouble for me because it was hard to keep track of
my many allergy and dieting restrictions, so meals were sometimes messed up or not delivered to
me when other the girls got theirs. I never expected that quarantine would take such a toll on my
mental health. I did yoga every day and stair workouts to try to relieve the stress, but I was
sleeping restlessly at night.
Towards the end of the week, it came down to the decision of when I was going to
choose to take a test. If I got an extra test and it came back negative, I would have to go home.
�Luckily, I was well informed on incubation periods and my risk of coming up positive in the
second week because of the Honors disease colloquium I took this semester. Through reading a
book on COVID-19 and doing research on the incubation period during class, I learned that it
was unlikely I would test positive during the second week because the average incubation period
was 5-7 days. It becomes highly unlikely for me to test positive if I were to receive a negative
test after day 10. We also learned that the COVID tests are not advanced enough to provide a
definite answer, so it is still important that I quarantine the full 14 days. After talking to my
parents about the even greater risk I was put at for catching COVID from the new girls moving
in, we decided I would come home if I tested negative at the end of the week.
Luckily, I tested negative and after 7 days in the basement of Lakeside, I was able to go
home. Although I was stuck in my room and did not have my friends with me, being home
boosted my mental health. I was able to go on walks and runs around my neighborhood (with a
mask on of course!) and my friends from home came to deliver me snacks and candy. I got
another test around day 10 and I was still negative. Not only myself, but all my roommate’s
contacts tested negative and never got COVID. This was crazy to me as I had been convinced at
least one of us caught it. This made me realize COVID does not spread as easily as the media
perceives it, and there are so many other factors that create a positive test.
Using my knowledge from the disease colloquium and being able to discuss this matter in
class due to the small class size and openness of my teacher to talk about topics that interested
us, I was able to come up with some theories as to why none of my roommate’s contacts ended
up with COVID. First, my roommate could have very recently caught the virus that she was not
yet shedding it. Since she did not get symptoms until a few days after her positive test, she was
considered asymptomatic at the beginning. It is much less likely for an asymptomatic person to
�spread the virus. This is true for many diseases such as the different types of flu and other
coronaviruses. Given this info, it is important to remember COVID still does have a higher
transmission rate than most other viruses and combined with it being not as deadly as something
like Ebola, this is why it has been able to sustain in the human population for so long now. My
second theory relates to the many factors it takes to come together which make someone catch a
virus. A simple exposure is not enough. These factors can include the environment
(indoor/outdoor ventilation, weather), host factors (age, infectiousness, severity of illnesses),
socio-economic factors (crowding during meals, shared spaces), and contact pattern (proximity
to index case, time of contact, contact frequency, activity, duration of exposure). During class we
looked at a Venn-diagram illustrating how all 4 of these factors must come together for someone
to catch the virus after being exposed. It is quite possible that none of these factors ever came
together quick enough during the time my roommate’s contacts were exposed to her. My last
theory relates directly to me and my situation before coming back to school. I worked at a golf
course all summer where there were little to no COVID regulations in place. I did not wear a
mask, shook people’s hands and touched their belongings. I believe with the amount of people I
came into close contact with this summer, I could have possibly gotten COVID and had
antibodies in my system still when I was exposed to my roommate. During class, we researched
antibodies and the ability to get COVID twice. As a class, we found current research showing
that antibodies stay in the system for at least 3 months after getting COVID. Since I was not
tested all summer, there was no way to know if I had COVID 2 months prior to my roommate’s
positive test.
Prior to taking this class, I did not think COVID or the diseases we learned about would
ever affect my life, until it did. It was very helpful during my quarantine process to have weekly
�meetings to discuss the updated information relating to COVID. I believe the knowledge I have
gained will help me as I continue my studies in the medical field to someday become a physical
therapist.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
My Experience in Quarantine
Description
An account of the resource
My personal account of being quarantined at Springfield College after being a close-contact of someone with COVID
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Arianna Vessicchio
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text/pdf
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Springfield College
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Arianna Vessicchio
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
hrns192-class-003
Campus Life
Health and Safety
Springfield Campus
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51391/archive/files/44261d4cab66093dccb65f4d902a9ed0.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=tVf6MCA2PZowMyKGwo0yhCzKOyauA%7E5j3pW83bRSofQVdAM4LGi2zbi2p5bp%7E3rrYFw4tYLV60i-0yE7xlgu7AIgR4BNFC8h67u1PkxMUsqlpWLQuxK2Iv5edOOtIoZAMrEuTgpVhRE0cGAqhIBUgqVxUsimIGAOGX-%7Eho8-59od0jFxy0SD2w6vizp-jt8zpAN-yA%7EraPcoxj3OvhXgLn6hrWqIVTwrdjcYHcqZzTlSFcMT9mzxV%7EdCF8gcBMmhAT5aW%7Ejn-pe4xLENCscLe9xK8bZ6ROsWBvvENZM44SOGjYioa4Yc1RYroS95QUtWj6T4UPU3WGGIpWVJDxFJRw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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PDF Text
Text
Alana Gartenberg
As we approach 10 months of living in a pandemic, some part of me still can’t
comprehend that all of this is real. I remember starting my first spring semester at Springfield
College in January 2020, and people began to discuss the virus. However, at this point, everyone
more or less believed it would stay in China, and no one really took it seriously or thought much
of it. We all just went about our daily lives. When living on a college campus, it’s difficult to
keep up with the news unless you make an active effort to. Almost all of my news about the
virus was coming from Instagram, and most of the posts were memes. The majority of us didn’t
take this seriously until March approached. There were cases in the United States, and rumors of
a lockdown. With campuses shutting down across the country, it seemed that Springfield
College was next. That became official during a large meeting in the Dodge Room on the
second floor of the Union. It felt like the entire student body attended this meeting, with all of us
anxious to find out the fate of our semester. It was ironic to hear President Cooper talk about
how the virus spreads easily when we were all cramped in this room. Students were sharing
seats and many were in the back of the room standing. I was ignorantly happy when I found out
that we would be getting an extra week of spring break. I thought I’d get an extra week at home
with my family, and then I would be able to come back to finish my semester. No one could
have predicted what was to come.
Explaining this pandemic is challenging. I believe it means something different for
everyone. For some, it meant finally having some extra time to workout, spend time with their
family, start a new hobby such as baking, watch Tiger King, or practice self-care. However, for
others, it meant loneliness and sadness being isolated from loved ones. Many lost members of
their families, some not even having the opportunity to say goodbye. People lost their jobs and
�businesses. For me, the pandemic meant many things. I was lucky enough to be one of the
people who started working out and took up baking. Although my sadness wasn’t as severe as
those who had monumental losses, there were still challenging times. It was hard not seeing my
friends and my boyfriend. Long distance relationships are hard enough without a global
pandemic going on.
For everyone, the pandemic meant adjusting and adapting to a new normal. Students all across
the country had to start using Zoom and other similar platforms to get their education. Everyone
had to get used to seeing loved ones living outside of their household on a phone or computer
screen. While the pandemic may not have tragically affected everyone, I guarantee that
everyone was affected in some way and had to adapt to a new lifestyle. There is so much gravity
to this pandemic: no matter how much you try to ignore it, as many do, it’s real, and it takes a
toll on everyone sometimes.
When I signed up for a Human Disease colloquium in spring 2020, I had no idea how
relevant it would be to today’s world. The first book we read for this class was COVID-19: The
Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened, and How to Stop the Next One. There were times
when living on campus was stressful and confusing, so it was nice to come to class every week
and not only discuss the book, but also what was happening on campus and around the country.
One of the most valuable things I learned is the importance of listening to scientists and
epidemiologists. The world was extremely underprepared for a coronavirus pandemic despite
epidemiologists saying since the SARS outbreak of 2002 that evidence pointed to a coronavirus
surfacing. Scientists have been warning for decades that this was going to happen, and if
government officials around the world would have listened, COVID-19 likely would have been
much less severe. Reading this book helped me realize that more needs to be done in terms of
�preparing for all different kinds of viruses. Experts warned about lack of preparation, and the
few countries that did have pandemic plans focused solely on the flu when there are so many
other viruses, such as coronaviruses, that can and will emerge and put individuals in danger.
Even with these plans in place, many countries failed to stockpile or acquire even the most basic
essentials required to make the plans work. If a worldwide pandemic does not inspire future
preparedness, I don’t know what will. Something needs to be done because the effects could be
catastrophic if we do exactly what has been done in the past. I gained so much knowledge taking
this class, and all I can do is take what I have learned and try to educate those around me and
hope that countries will start taking pandemic precautions sooner rather than later.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Through Multiple Lenses
Description
An account of the resource
I talked about what it was like living on campus during the Spring 2020 semester and finding out that Springfield College would be closing. I also went into detail about what this pandemic can mean to different people. Finally, I explained my most important takeaway from my HNRS 192 class about infectious diseases.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Alana Gartenberg
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 12, 2020
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text/PDF
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
I chose this document because I felt it would be a good resource for current or future students to have when trying to understand what it was like living in a pandemic and what needs to be done to stop the next one.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Springfield College
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Alana Gartenberg
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
hrns192-class-002
Campus Life
Health and Safety
Quarantine Activities
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/51391/archive/files/12382a2c244e661e3c37e52ef02f5e78.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=vk38fu-v56VcTXWLE%7E-cRflzfBsbI5U6whx5qM2WLIYyywjdgipJE4gNEFUWtzbv0DPioNccjp2t2cE%7Edcb6uJVdbeR8xdgbR6cmJ4WyNq-9URoFzNtfedFS-yYv2YVjQZq2dtpTfXuURCRGTHF%7EHW2miNF0DJhxJiG%7E9JAEeBeIMLv93JRsYnJDusQ-DafICKJNJsLgKdywXecm9MLceqNivwfhPCaR1pbQ7nmrN54wpyyEXGrXWGocoVmGyND84CC0a1SrwLmhsHvUPLgULoxfy46Uq-LTsaYSvdH0U18DbQF9g4eocozeNJq5fqhHZi7-czvR-K0l4MzlzHeGEg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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PDF Text
Text
A Voice From 2020
How can I begin to characterize an event in our lives that is so far from being
over? Being in the middle of a pandemic is unlike any experience I have ever had. The
virus has no sympathy. It does not pick and choose who it affects but instead invades
any person that it can reach. This has resulted in numerous months of isolation and
loneliness for a lot of people. Yes, thanks to technology we can still communicate with
friends and family through a screen, but this is no substitute for face-to-face interaction;
something that we previously took for granted. Schools began to close in the middle of
March and since then there have been multiple waves of the virus. Now it is December
and another major wave has hit the country, but despite this, the administration of a
vaccine has started, and the storm cloud that has cast a gloom over the entire world for
the past year seems to slowly be lifting.
Covid-19 has caused so many aspects of my life to be uprooted. The end of my
senior year in high school was basically canceled: no prom, no spring track season, and
a graduation ceremony with only 20 out of the 400 students in my graduating class. I
already felt like I was living in a dystopian society, but little did I know that this was the
tip of the iceberg in terms of normal aspects in my life that would be taken from me.
Every kid dreams of going to college, to finally live on their own with no parental
guidance. All of my ideas of what I imagined my college experience to be like were
immediately thrown out the window. Masks had to be worn everywhere besides my own
dorm room. Walking around campus I could not make out the faces behind the masks.
In my double dorm room, besides me and my roommate, only two others could be in
there at a time. My soccer season was modified to the extent that we played zero
�games and practiced only three days a week. School did not feel like school. I rolled out
of bed for my 8 am class at 7:59 am only to go sit at my desk, flip my laptop open, and
click on a link to a Zoom meeting, still in my pajamas and wrapped in a warm blanket.
Even that was more than I had to do. I could have just logged into Zoom from my bed,
but knowing myself I would not have been able to focus on school and might have even
drifted off to sleep during a class if I did that.
Despite all of these changes that no one expects to have to endure when going
to college for the first time, I was still able to make new friends, socialize safely on the
weekends, learn a lot, and play the sport I love. This all ended abruptly though when at
the end of October, all members of Gulick Hall, where I lived, were quarantined and two
days later all classes went remote. Students were given the option to stay on campus or
to go home until the start of the spring semester. Most everyone chose to go home, as
did I. This sudden change caused my final days of living at school for the fall semester
to be filled with stress. On top of the normal anxiousness that I was already feeling, my
roommate found out that she was in close contact with someone that had tested
positive. This made me wonder if I should go home or not. My mind was swirling with
questions. Should I go home and risk bringing the virus to my family? Should I stay and
be quarantined for two weeks in Gulick without my friends as they were moving back
home? My parents made the decision for me: I was coming home. I got a Covid test on
the morning of the day I moved out. I had to move every last thing out of my dorm room
by myself as my parents were not allowed to enter the building. On my ride home I wore
a mask as I had spent the last 48 hours in my ten-foot by ten-foot dorm room with a
potentially infected person.
�At home, I immediately quarantined myself in my room, not knowing if my
exposure to the virus had caused me to become infected. I received my test results the
next day and I was negative, but my roommate also found out that she was positive that
same day. The tricky thing about Covid is that even though I tested negative, the health
center told me that a positive test result could still be produced up to fourteen days after
I was last exposed. For the next two weeks, I lived in my bedroom, leaving only to walk
the five steps out my door and into the bathroom, or to go for runs around my
neighborhood. My parents brought food up to me on a tray and I would even eat with
my door open so I would feel like I was at least partly eating with my family. I tried to
keep myself occupied so I would not think about the high possibility that I was infected,
but it was difficult not to let my mind wander. After one week of quarantine, I tested
negative again. I loosened my restrictions a little to allow myself to go into the kitchen to
make my own food but was still wearing a mask in my own home. On the last day of my
two-week quarantine, I went to get tested for the third and final time. This was the
moment of truth. The next morning I woke up to a negative test result. I was lucky. I feel
like I escaped not only Covid but the long-term effects from it that no one knows about
yet.
I feel grateful that I was able to learn about Covid-19 while I was living through it.
This class has taught me so much about infectious diseases. I was able to gain a better
understanding of the microscopic world around me. What I have learned is something
that I will be thinking about years from now, even in the absence of Covid. A major
takeaway from this class for me is how nations across the globe can be better prepared
and equipped to take on a virus, like the coronavirus, before it manifests itself in the
�human population. In six years I will be graduated from the physician assistant program
here at Springfield College. Who knows, maybe I will travel to underdeveloped nations
and teach fellow medical professionals how to prepare for pandemics before they
emerge, and it will all be thanks to this class.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HNRS 192: Infectious Disease in the 21st Century
Subject
The topic of the resource
Infectious disease and Health
Description
An account of the resource
An honors colloquium class that focused on infectious disease in general and COVID-19 specifically. Sections of the class were held in both the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021.
Lesson Plan
A resource that gives a detailed description of a course of instruction.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
A Voice From 2020
Description
An account of the resource
This document includes my own characterization of the pandemic, my personal experiences of living through Covid-19, and my takeaways from this class.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Taylor Gibson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 2020
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Text/pdf
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Years down the road, when Covid-19 is not a prevalent virus anymore, future students at Springfield College will be able to read this piece and learn about what it was like to live during a pandemic.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Springfield College
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Taylor Gibson
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Alternative Title
An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific.
hnrs192-class-001
Campus Life
First Year Experiences
Health and Safety
Home Life
Student Athletes