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My Experience During The Covid-19 Pandemic

• Categories: Covid 19

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Words: 440 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 440 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, physical impact, mental and emotional impact, social impact.

• World Health Organization. (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/
• American Psychiatric Association. (2020). Mental health and COVID-19. https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2020/03/mental-health-and-covid-19
• The New York Times. (2020). Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/well/family/coronavirus-anxiety-mental-health.html

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Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many areas of individuals’ daily living. The vulnerability to any epidemic depends on a person’s social and economic status. Some people with underlying medical conditions have succumbed to the disease, while others with stronger immunity have survived (Cohut para.6). Governments have restricted movements and introduced stern measures against violating such health precautions as physical distancing and wearing masks. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to adopt various responses to its effects, such as homeschooling, working from home, and ordering foods and other commodities from online stores.

I have restricted my movements and opted to order foodstuffs and other essential goods online with doorstep delivery services. I like adventure, and before the pandemic, I would go to parks and other recreational centers to have fun. But this time, I am mostly confined to my room studying, doing school assignments, or reading storybooks, when I do not have an in-person session at college. I have also had to use social media more than before to connect with my family and friends. I miss participating in outdoor activities and meeting with my friends. However, it is worth it because the virus is deadly, and I have had to adapt to this new normal in my life.

With the pandemic requiring stern measures and precautions due to its transmission mode, the federal government has done well in handling the matter. One of the positives is that it has sent financial and material aid to individual state and local governments to help people cope up with the economic challenges the pandemic has posed (Solomon para. 8). Another plus for the federal government is funding the COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and distributing the vaccine. Lastly, the government has extended unemployment benefits as a rescue plan to help households with an income of less than $150,000 (Solomon para. 9). Therefore, the federal government is trying its best to handle this pandemic.

The New Jersey government has done all it can to handle this pandemic well, but there are still some areas of improvement. As of March 7, 2021, New Jersey was having the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, but Governor Phil Murphy’s initial handling of the pandemic attracted praises from many quarters (Stanmyre para. 10). In his early days in office, Gov. Murphy portrayed a sense of competency and calm, but it seems other states adopted much of his policies better than he did, explaining the reduction in the approval ratings. In November 2020, Governor Murphy signed an Executive Order cushioning and protecting workers from contracting COVID-19 at the workplace (Stanmyre para. 12). Therefore, although there are mixed feelings, the NJ government is handling this pandemic well.

Some states have reopened immediately after the vaccination, but this poses a massive risk of spreading the virus. Soon, citizens will begin to neglect the laid down health protocols, which would increase the possibility of the increase of the COVID-19 cases. There is a need for health departments to ensure that the health precautions are followed and campaign on the need to adhere to the guidelines. Some individuals are protesting their states’ economy to be reopened, but that is a rash, ill-informed decision. The threat of the pandemic is still high, and it is not the right time to demand the reopening of the economy yet.

In conclusion, the pandemic has affected individuals, businesses, and governments in many ways. Due to how the virus spreads, physical distancing has become a new normal, with people forced to homeschool or work from home to prevent themselves from contracting the disease. The federal government has done its best to cushion its people from the pandemic’s economic effects through various financial rescue schemes and plans. New Jersey’s government has also done well, although its cases continue to soar as it is the leading state in COVID-19 prevalence. Some states have reopened, while in others, people continue to demand their state governments to open the economy, which would be a risky move.

Works Cited

Cohut, Maria. “COVID-19 at the 1-year Mark: How the Pandemic Has Affected the World.” Medical and Health Information . Web.

Solomon, Rachel. “What is the Federal Government Doing to Help People Impacted by Coronavirus?” Cancer Support Community . Web.

Stanmyre, Matthew. “N.J.’s Pandemic Response Started Strong. Why Has So Much Gone Wrong Since?” 2021. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2022, September 29). Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/

"Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." IvyPanda , 29 Sept. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic'. 29 September.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

1. IvyPanda . "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Personal Experience With the COVID-19 Pandemic." September 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/personal-experience-with-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

• The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We  are  still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

• A syllabus for the end of the world

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus.  Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote  Walk/Adventure!  on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

• What day is it today?

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel  Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of  Retreat  is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s  The Waves  is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

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In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. 

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we  don’t do  is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly.  Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

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Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay

by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020

Print article

For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.

The CommonApp COVID-19 question

First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:

• The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
• The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
• The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
• Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.

Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:

• Are my experiences different from others’?
• Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
• Am I aware of my privilege?
• Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
• Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?

If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.

Counselor recommendations and school profiles

Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:

• Grading scales and policies
• Graduation requirements
• Instructional methods
• Schedules and course offerings
• Testing requirements
• Your academic calendar
• Other extenuating circumstances

Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.

Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay

Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:

• One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
• One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
• Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.

Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.

Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .

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How to Write About Coronavirus in a College Essay

Students can share how they navigated life during the coronavirus pandemic in a full-length essay or an optional supplement.

Writing About COVID-19 in College Essays

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Experts say students should be honest and not limit themselves to merely their experiences with the pandemic.

The global impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, means colleges and prospective students alike are in for an admissions cycle like no other. Both face unprecedented challenges and questions as they grapple with their respective futures amid the ongoing fallout of the pandemic.

Colleges must examine applicants without the aid of standardized test scores for many – a factor that prompted many schools to go test-optional for now . Even grades, a significant component of a college application, may be hard to interpret with some high schools adopting pass-fail classes last spring due to the pandemic. Major college admissions factors are suddenly skewed.

"I can't help but think other (admissions) factors are going to matter more," says Ethan Sawyer, founder of the College Essay Guy, a website that offers free and paid essay-writing resources.

College essays and letters of recommendation , Sawyer says, are likely to carry more weight than ever in this admissions cycle. And many essays will likely focus on how the pandemic shaped students' lives throughout an often tumultuous 2020.

But before writing a college essay focused on the coronavirus, students should explore whether it's the best topic for them.

Writing About COVID-19 for a College Application

Much of daily life has been colored by the coronavirus. Virtual learning is the norm at many colleges and high schools, many extracurriculars have vanished and social lives have stalled for students complying with measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"For some young people, the pandemic took away what they envisioned as their senior year," says Robert Alexander, dean of admissions, financial aid and enrollment management at the University of Rochester in New York. "Maybe that's a spot on a varsity athletic team or the lead role in the fall play. And it's OK for them to mourn what should have been and what they feel like they lost, but more important is how are they making the most of the opportunities they do have?"

That question, Alexander says, is what colleges want answered if students choose to address COVID-19 in their college essay.

But the question of whether a student should write about the coronavirus is tricky. The answer depends largely on the student.

"In general, I don't think students should write about COVID-19 in their main personal statement for their application," Robin Miller, master college admissions counselor at IvyWise, a college counseling company, wrote in an email.

"Certainly, there may be exceptions to this based on a student's individual experience, but since the personal essay is the main place in the application where the student can really allow their voice to be heard and share insight into who they are as an individual, there are likely many other topics they can choose to write about that are more distinctive and unique than COVID-19," Miller says.

Opinions among admissions experts vary on whether to write about the likely popular topic of the pandemic.

"If your essay communicates something positive, unique, and compelling about you in an interesting and eloquent way, go for it," Carolyn Pippen, principal college admissions counselor at IvyWise, wrote in an email. She adds that students shouldn't be dissuaded from writing about a topic merely because it's common, noting that "topics are bound to repeat, no matter how hard we try to avoid it."

Above all, she urges honesty.

"If your experience within the context of the pandemic has been truly unique, then write about that experience, and the standing out will take care of itself," Pippen says. "If your experience has been generally the same as most other students in your context, then trying to find a unique angle can easily cross the line into exploiting a tragedy, or at least appearing as though you have."

But focusing entirely on the pandemic can limit a student to a single story and narrow who they are in an application, Sawyer says. "There are so many wonderful possibilities for what you can say about yourself outside of your experience within the pandemic."

He notes that passions, strengths, career interests and personal identity are among the multitude of essay topic options available to applicants and encourages them to probe their values to help determine the topic that matters most to them – and write about it.

That doesn't mean the pandemic experience has to be ignored if applicants feel the need to write about it.

Writing About Coronavirus in Main and Supplemental Essays

Students can choose to write a full-length college essay on the coronavirus or summarize their experience in a shorter form.

To help students explain how the pandemic affected them, The Common App has added an optional section to address this topic. Applicants have 250 words to describe their pandemic experience and the personal and academic impact of COVID-19.

"That's not a trick question, and there's no right or wrong answer," Alexander says. Colleges want to know, he adds, how students navigated the pandemic, how they prioritized their time, what responsibilities they took on and what they learned along the way.

If students can distill all of the above information into 250 words, there's likely no need to write about it in a full-length college essay, experts say. And applicants whose lives were not heavily altered by the pandemic may even choose to skip the optional COVID-19 question.

"This space is best used to discuss hardship and/or significant challenges that the student and/or the student's family experienced as a result of COVID-19 and how they have responded to those difficulties," Miller notes. Using the section to acknowledge a lack of impact, she adds, "could be perceived as trite and lacking insight, despite the good intentions of the applicant."

To guard against this lack of awareness, Sawyer encourages students to tap someone they trust to review their writing , whether it's the 250-word Common App response or the full-length essay.

Experts tend to agree that the short-form approach to this as an essay topic works better, but there are exceptions. And if a student does have a coronavirus story that he or she feels must be told, Alexander encourages the writer to be authentic in the essay.

"My advice for an essay about COVID-19 is the same as my advice about an essay for any topic – and that is, don't write what you think we want to read or hear," Alexander says. "Write what really changed you and that story that now is yours and yours alone to tell."

Sawyer urges students to ask themselves, "What's the sentence that only I can write?" He also encourages students to remember that the pandemic is only a chapter of their lives and not the whole book.

Miller, who cautions against writing a full-length essay on the coronavirus, says that if students choose to do so they should have a conversation with their high school counselor about whether that's the right move. And if students choose to proceed with COVID-19 as a topic, she says they need to be clear, detailed and insightful about what they learned and how they adapted along the way.

"Approaching the essay in this manner will provide important balance while demonstrating personal growth and vulnerability," Miller says.

Pippen encourages students to remember that they are in an unprecedented time for college admissions.

"It is important to keep in mind with all of these (admission) factors that no colleges have ever had to consider them this way in the selection process, if at all," Pippen says. "They have had very little time to calibrate their evaluations of different application components within their offices, let alone across institutions. This means that colleges will all be handling the admissions process a little bit differently, and their approaches may even evolve over the course of the admissions cycle."

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I Thought We’d Learned Nothing From the Pandemic. I Wasn’t Seeing the Full Picture

M y first home had a back door that opened to a concrete patio with a giant crack down the middle. When my sister and I played, I made sure to stay on the same side of the divide as her, just in case. The 1988 film The Land Before Time was one of the first movies I ever saw, and the image of the earth splintering into pieces planted its roots in my brain. I believed that, even in my own backyard, I could easily become the tiny Triceratops separated from her family, on the other side of the chasm, as everything crumbled into chaos.

Some 30 years later, I marvel at the eerie, unexpected ways that cartoonish nightmare came to life – not just for me and my family, but for all of us. The landscape was already covered in fissures well before COVID-19 made its way across the planet, but the pandemic applied pressure, and the cracks broke wide open, separating us from each other physically and ideologically. Under the weight of the crisis, we scattered and landed on such different patches of earth we could barely see each other’s faces, even when we squinted. We disagreed viciously with each other, about how to respond, but also about what was true.

Recently, someone asked me if we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, and my first thought was a flat no. Nothing. There was a time when I thought it would be the very thing to draw us together and catapult us – as a capital “S” Society – into a kinder future. It’s surreal to remember those early days when people rallied together, sewing masks for health care workers during critical shortages and gathering on balconies in cities from Dallas to New York City to clap and sing songs like “Yellow Submarine.” It felt like a giant lightning bolt shot across the sky, and for one breath, we all saw something that had been hidden in the dark – the inherent vulnerability in being human or maybe our inescapable connectedness .

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Read More: The Family Time the Pandemic Stole

But it turns out, it was just a flash. The goodwill vanished as quickly as it appeared. A couple of years later, people feel lied to, abandoned, and all on their own. I’ve felt my own curiosity shrinking, my willingness to reach out waning , my ability to keep my hands open dwindling. I look out across the landscape and see selfishness and rage, burnt earth and so many dead bodies. Game over. We lost. And if we’ve already lost, why try?

Still, the question kept nagging me. I wondered, am I seeing the full picture? What happens when we focus not on the collective society but at one face, one story at a time? I’m not asking for a bow to minimize the suffering – a pretty flourish to put on top and make the whole thing “worth it.” Yuck. That’s not what we need. But I wondered about deep, quiet growth. The kind we feel in our bodies, relationships, homes, places of work, neighborhoods.

Like a walkie-talkie message sent to my allies on the ground, I posted a call on my Instagram. What do you see? What do you hear? What feels possible? Is there life out here? Sprouting up among the rubble? I heard human voices calling back – reports of life, personal and specific. I heard one story at a time – stories of grief and distrust, fury and disappointment. Also gratitude. Discovery. Determination.

Among the most prevalent were the stories of self-revelation. Almost as if machines were given the chance to live as humans, people described blossoming into fuller selves. They listened to their bodies’ cues, recognized their desires and comforts, tuned into their gut instincts, and honored the intuition they hadn’t realized belonged to them. Alex, a writer and fellow disabled parent, found the freedom to explore a fuller version of herself in the privacy the pandemic provided. “The way I dress, the way I love, and the way I carry myself have both shrunk and expanded,” she shared. “I don’t love myself very well with an audience.” Without the daily ritual of trying to pass as “normal” in public, Tamar, a queer mom in the Netherlands, realized she’s autistic. “I think the pandemic helped me to recognize the mask,” she wrote. “Not that unmasking is easy now. But at least I know it’s there.” In a time of widespread suffering that none of us could solve on our own, many tended to our internal wounds and misalignments, large and small, and found clarity.

Read More: A Tool for Staying Grounded in This Era of Constant Uncertainty

I wonder if this flourishing of self-awareness is at least partially responsible for the life alterations people pursued. The pandemic broke open our personal notions of work and pushed us to reevaluate things like time and money. Lucy, a disabled writer in the U.K., made the hard decision to leave her job as a journalist covering Westminster to write freelance about her beloved disability community. “This work feels important in a way nothing else has ever felt,” she wrote. “I don’t think I’d have realized this was what I should be doing without the pandemic.” And she wasn’t alone – many people changed jobs , moved, learned new skills and hobbies, became politically engaged.

Perhaps more than any other shifts, people described a significant reassessment of their relationships. They set boundaries, said no, had challenging conversations. They also reconnected, fell in love, and learned to trust. Jeanne, a quilter in Indiana, got to know relatives she wouldn’t have connected with if lockdowns hadn’t prompted weekly family Zooms. “We are all over the map as regards to our belief systems,” she emphasized, “but it is possible to love people you don’t see eye to eye with on every issue.” Anna, an anti-violence advocate in Maine, learned she could trust her new marriage: “Life was not a honeymoon. But we still chose to turn to each other with kindness and curiosity.” So many bonds forged and broken, strengthened and strained.

Instead of relying on default relationships or institutional structures, widespread recalibrations allowed for going off script and fortifying smaller communities. Mara from Idyllwild, Calif., described the tangible plan for care enacted in her town. “We started a mutual-aid group at the beginning of the pandemic,” she wrote, “and it grew so quickly before we knew it we were feeding 400 of the 4000 residents.” She didn’t pretend the conditions were ideal. In fact, she expressed immense frustration with our collective response to the pandemic. Even so, the local group rallied and continues to offer assistance to their community with help from donations and volunteers (many of whom were originally on the receiving end of support). “I’ve learned that people thrive when they feel their connection to others,” she wrote. Clare, a teacher from the U.K., voiced similar conviction as she described a giant scarf she’s woven out of ribbons, each representing a single person. The scarf is “a collection of stories, moments and wisdom we are sharing with each other,” she wrote. It now stretches well over 1,000 feet.

A few hours into reading the comments, I lay back on my bed, phone held against my chest. The room was quiet, but my internal world was lighting up with firefly flickers. What felt different? Surely part of it was receiving personal accounts of deep-rooted growth. And also, there was something to the mere act of asking and listening. Maybe it connected me to humans before battle cries. Maybe it was the chance to be in conversation with others who were also trying to understand – what is happening to us? Underneath it all, an undeniable thread remained; I saw people peering into the mess and narrating their findings onto the shared frequency. Every comment was like a flare into the sky. I’m here! And if the sky is full of flares, we aren’t alone.

I recognized my own pandemic discoveries – some minor, others massive. Like washing off thick eyeliner and mascara every night is more effort than it’s worth; I can transform the mundane into the magical with a bedsheet, a movie projector, and twinkle lights; my paralyzed body can mother an infant in ways I’d never seen modeled for me. I remembered disappointing, bewildering conversations within my own family of origin and our imperfect attempts to remain close while also seeing things so differently. I realized that every time I get the weekly invite to my virtual “Find the Mumsies” call, with a tiny group of moms living hundreds of miles apart, I’m being welcomed into a pocket of unexpected community. Even though we’ve never been in one room all together, I’ve felt an uncommon kind of solace in their now-familiar faces.

Hope is a slippery thing. I desperately want to hold onto it, but everywhere I look there are real, weighty reasons to despair. The pandemic marks a stretch on the timeline that tangles with a teetering democracy, a deteriorating planet , the loss of human rights that once felt unshakable . When the world is falling apart Land Before Time style, it can feel trite, sniffing out the beauty – useless, firing off flares to anyone looking for signs of life. But, while I’m under no delusions that if we just keep trudging forward we’ll find our own oasis of waterfalls and grassy meadows glistening in the sunshine beneath a heavenly chorus, I wonder if trivializing small acts of beauty, connection, and hope actually cuts us off from resources essential to our survival. The group of abandoned dinosaurs were keeping each other alive and making each other laugh well before they made it to their fantasy ending.

Read More: How Ice Cream Became My Own Personal Act of Resistance

After the monarch butterfly went on the endangered-species list, my friend and fellow writer Hannah Soyer sent me wildflower seeds to plant in my yard. A simple act of big hope – that I will actually plant them, that they will grow, that a monarch butterfly will receive nourishment from whatever blossoms are able to push their way through the dirt. There are so many ways that could fail. But maybe the outcome wasn’t exactly the point. Maybe hope is the dogged insistence – the stubborn defiance – to continue cultivating moments of beauty regardless. There is value in the planting apart from the harvest.

I can’t point out a single collective lesson from the pandemic. It’s hard to see any great “we.” Still, I see the faces in my moms’ group, making pancakes for their kids and popping on between strings of meetings while we try to figure out how to raise these small people in this chaotic world. I think of my friends on Instagram tending to the selves they discovered when no one was watching and the scarf of ribbons stretching the length of more than three football fields. I remember my family of three, holding hands on the way up the ramp to the library. These bits of growth and rings of support might not be loud or right on the surface, but that’s not the same thing as nothing. If we only cared about the bottom-line defeats or sweeping successes of the big picture, we’d never plant flowers at all.

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Coronavirus: My Experience During the Pandemic

Anastasiya Kandratsenka George Washington High School, Class of 2021

At this point in time there shouldn't be a single person who doesn't know about the coronavirus, or as they call it, COVID-19. The coronavirus is a virus that originated in China, reached the U.S. and eventually spread all over the world by January of 2020. The common symptoms of the virus include shortness of breath, chills, sore throat, headache, loss of taste and smell, runny nose, vomiting and nausea. As it has been established, it might take up to 14 days for the symptoms to show. On top of that, the virus is also highly contagious putting all age groups at risk. The elderly and individuals with chronic diseases such as pneumonia or heart disease are in the top risk as the virus attacks the immune system. 

The virus first appeared on the news and media platforms in the month of January of this year. The United States and many other countries all over the globe saw no reason to panic as it seemed that the virus presented no possible threat. Throughout the next upcoming months, the virus began to spread very quickly, alerting health officials not only in the U.S., but all over the world. As people started digging into the origin of the virus, it became clear that it originated in China. Based on everything scientists have looked at, the virus came from a bat that later infected other animals, making it way to humans. As it goes for the United States, the numbers started rising quickly, resulting in the cancellation of sports events, concerts, large gatherings and then later on schools. 

As it goes personally for me, my school was shut down on March 13th. The original plan was to put us on a two weeks leave, returning on March 30th but, as the virus spread rapidly and things began escalating out of control very quickly, President Trump announced a state of emergency and the whole country was put on quarantine until April 30th. At that point, schools were officially shut down for the rest of the school year. Distanced learning was introduced, online classes were established, a new norm was put in place. As for the School District of Philadelphia distanced learning and online classes began on May 4th. From that point on I would have classes four times a week, from 8AM till 3PM. Virtual learning was something that I never had to experience and encounter before. It was all new and different for me, just as it was for millions of students all over the United States. We were forced to transfer from physically attending school, interacting with our peers and teachers, participating in fun school events and just being in a classroom setting, to just looking at each other through a computer screen in a number of days. That is something that we all could have never seen coming, it was all so sudden and new. 

My experience with distanced learning was not very great. I get distracted very easily and   find it hard to concentrate, especially when it comes to school. In a classroom I was able to give my full attention to what was being taught, I was all there. However, when we had the online classes, I could not focus and listen to what my teachers were trying to get across. I got distracted very easily, missing out on important information that was being presented. My entire family which consists of five members, were all home during the quarantine. I have two little siblings who are very loud and demanding, so I’m sure it can be imagined how hard it was for me to concentrate on school and do what was asked of me when I had these two running around the house. On top of school, I also had to find a job and work 35 hours a week to support my family during the pandemic. My mother lost her job for the time being and my father was only able to work from home. As we have a big family, the income of my father was not enough. I made it my duty to help out and support our family as much as I could: I got a job at a local supermarket and worked there as a cashier for over two months. 

While I worked at the supermarket, I was exposed to dozens of people every day and with all the protection that was implemented to protect the customers and the workers, I was lucky enough to not get the virus. As I say that, my grandparents who do not even live in the U.S. were not so lucky. They got the virus and spent over a month isolated, in a hospital bed, with no one by their side. Our only way of communicating was through the phone and if lucky, we got to talk once a week. Speaking for my family, that was the worst and scariest part of the whole situation. Luckily for us, they were both able to recover completely. 

As the pandemic is somewhat under control, the spread of the virus has slowed down. We’re now living in the new norm. We no longer view things the same, the way we did before. Large gatherings and activities that require large groups to come together are now unimaginable! Distanced learning is what we know, not to mention the importance of social distancing and having to wear masks anywhere and everywhere we go. This is the new norm now and who knows when and if ever we’ll be able go back to what we knew before. This whole experience has made me realize that we, as humans, tend to take things for granted and don’t value what we have until it is taken away from us. 

Articles in this Volume

[tid]: dedication, [tid]: new tools for a new house: transformations for justice and peace in and beyond covid-19, [tid]: black lives matter, intersectionality, and lgbtq rights now, [tid]: the voice of asian american youth: what goes untold, [tid]: beyond words: reimagining education through art and activism, [tid]: voice(s) of a black man, [tid]: embodied learning and community resilience, [tid]: re-imagining professional learning in a time of social isolation: storytelling as a tool for healing and professional growth, [tid]: reckoning: what does it mean to look forward and back together as critical educators, [tid]: leader to leaders: an indigenous school leader’s advice through storytelling about grief and covid-19, [tid]: finding hope, healing and liberation beyond covid-19 within a context of captivity and carcerality, [tid]: flux leadership: leading for justice and peace in & beyond covid-19, [tid]: flux leadership: insights from the (virtual) field, [tid]: hard pivot: compulsory crisis leadership emerges from a space of doubt, [tid]: and how are the children, [tid]: real talk: teaching and leading while bipoc, [tid]: systems of emotional support for educators in crisis, [tid]: listening leadership: the student voices project, [tid]: global engagement, perspective-sharing, & future-seeing in & beyond a global crisis, [tid]: teaching and leadership during covid-19: lessons from lived experiences, [tid]: crisis leadership in independent schools - styles & literacies, [tid]: rituals, routines and relationships: high school athletes and coaches in flux, [tid]: superintendent back-to-school welcome 2020, [tid]: mitigating summer learning loss in philadelphia during covid-19: humble attempts from the field, [tid]: untitled, [tid]: the revolution will not be on linkedin: student activism and neoliberalism, [tid]: why radical self-care cannot wait: strategies for black women leaders now, [tid]: from emergency response to critical transformation: online learning in a time of flux, [tid]: illness methodology for and beyond the covid era, [tid]: surviving black girl magic, the work, and the dissertation, [tid]: cancelled: the old student experience, [tid]: lessons from liberia: integrating theatre for development and youth development in uncertain times, [tid]: designing a more accessible future: learning from covid-19, [tid]: the construct of standards-based education, [tid]: teachers leading teachers to prepare for back to school during covid, [tid]: using empathy to cross the sea of humanity, [tid]: (un)doing college, community, and relationships in the time of coronavirus, [tid]: have we learned nothing, [tid]: choosing growth amidst chaos, [tid]: living freire in pandemic….participatory action research and democratizing knowledge at knowledgedemocracy.org, [tid]: philly students speak: voices of learning in pandemics, [tid]: the power of will: a letter to my descendant, [tid]: photo essays with students, [tid]: unity during a global pandemic: how the fight for racial justice made us unite against two diseases, [tid]: educational changes caused by the pandemic and other related social issues, [tid]: online learning during difficult times, [tid]: fighting crisis: a student perspective, [tid]: the destruction of soil rooted with culture, [tid]: a demand for change, [tid]: education through experience in and beyond the pandemics, [tid]: the pandemic diaries, [tid]: all for one and 4 for $4, [tid]: tiktok activism, [tid]: why digital learning may be the best option for next year, [tid]: my 2020 teen experience, [tid]: living between two pandemics, [tid]: journaling during isolation: the gold standard of coronavirus, [tid]: sailing through uncertainty, [tid]: what i wish my teachers knew, [tid]: youthing in pandemic while black, [tid]: the pain inflicted by indifference, [tid]: education during the pandemic, [tid]: the good, the bad, and the year 2020, [tid]: racism fueled pandemic, [tid]: coronavirus: my experience during the pandemic, [tid]: the desensitization of a doomed generation, [tid]: a philadelphia war-zone, [tid]: the attack of the covid monster, [tid]: back-to-school: covid-19 edition, [tid]: the unexpected war, [tid]: learning outside of the classroom, [tid]: why we should learn about college financial aid in school: a student perspective, [tid]: flying the plane as we go: building the future through a haze, [tid]: my covid experience in the age of technology, [tid]: we, i, and they, [tid]: learning your a, b, cs during a pandemic, [tid]: quarantine: a musical, [tid]: what it’s like being a high school student in 2020, [tid]: everything happens for a reason, [tid]: blacks live matter – a sobering and empowering reality among my peers, [tid]: the mental health of a junior during covid-19 outbreaks, [tid]: a year of change, [tid]: covid-19 and school, [tid]: the virtues and vices of virtual learning, [tid]: college decisions and the year 2020: a virtual rollercoaster, [tid]: quarantine thoughts, [tid]: quarantine through generation z, [tid]: attending online school during a pandemic.

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Copyright 2024 The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education's Online Urban Education Journal

Seven short essays about life during the pandemic

The boston book festival's at home community writing project invites area residents to describe their experiences during this unprecedented time..

My alarm sounds at 8:15 a.m. I open my eyes and take a deep breath. I wiggle my toes and move my legs. I do this religiously every morning. Today, marks day 74 of staying at home.

My mornings are filled with reading biblical scripture, meditation, breathing in the scents of a hanging eucalyptus branch in the shower, and making tea before I log into my computer to work. After an hour-and-a-half Zoom meeting, I decided to take a long walk to the post office and grab a fresh bouquet of burnt orange ranunculus flowers. I embrace the warm sun beaming on my face. I feel joy. I feel at peace.

I enter my apartment and excessively wash my hands and face. I pour a glass of iced kombucha. I sit at my table and look at the text message on my phone. My coworker writes that she is thinking of me during this difficult time. She must be referring to the Amy Cooper incident. I learn shortly that she is not.

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I Google Minneapolis and see his name: George Floyd. And just like that a simple and beautiful day transitions into a day of sorrow.

Nakia Hill, Boston

It was a wobbly, yet solemn little procession: three masked mourners and a canine. Beginning in Kenmore Square, at David and Sue Horner’s condo, it proceeded up Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

S. Sue Horner died on Good Friday, April 10, in the Year of the Virus. Sue did not die of the virus but her parting was hemmed by it: no gatherings to mark the passing of this splendid human being.

David devised a send-off nevertheless. On April 23rd, accompanied by his daughter and son-in-law, he set out for Old South Church. David led, bearing the urn. His daughter came next, holding her phone aloft, speaker on, through which her brother in Illinois played the bagpipes for the length of the procession, its soaring thrum infusing the Mall. Her husband came last with Melon, their golden retriever.

I unlocked the empty church and led the procession into the columbarium. David drew the urn from its velvet cover, revealing a golden vessel inset with incandescent tiles. We lifted the urn into the niche, prayed, recited Psalm 23, and shared some words.

It was far too small for the luminous “Dr. Sue”, but what we could manage in the Year of the Virus.

Nancy S. Taylor, Boston

On April 26, 2020, our household was a bustling home for four people. Our two sons, ages 18 and 22, have a lot of energy. We are among the lucky ones. I can work remotely. Our food and shelter are not at risk.

As I write this a week later, it is much quieter here.

On April 27, our older son, an EMT, transported a COVID-19 patient to the ER. He left home to protect my delicate health and became ill with the virus a week later.

On April 29, my husband’s 95-year-old father had a stroke. My husband left immediately to be with his 90-year-old mother near New York City and is now preparing for his father’s discharge from the hospital. Rehab people will come to the house; going to a facility would be too dangerous.

My husband just called me to describe today’s hospital visit. The doctors had warned that although his father had regained the ability to speak, he could only repeat what was said to him.

“It’s me,” said my husband.

“It’s me,” said my father-in-law.

“I love you,” said my husband.

“I love you,” said my father-in-law.

“Sooooooooo much,” said my father-in-law.

Lucia Thompson, Wayland

Would racism exist if we were blind?

I felt his eyes bore into me as I walked through the grocery store. At first, I thought nothing of it. With the angst in the air attributable to COVID, I understood the anxiety-provoking nature of feeling as though your 6-foot bubble had burst. So, I ignored him and maintained my distance. But he persisted, glaring at my face, squinting to see who I was underneath the mask. This time I looked back, when he yelled, in my mother tongue, for me to go back to my country.

In shock, I just laughed. How could he tell what I was under my mask? Or see anything through the sunglasses he was wearing inside? It baffled me. I laughed at the irony that he would use my own language against me, that he knew enough to guess where I was from in some version of culturally competent racism. I laughed because dealing with the truth behind that comment generated a sadness in me that was too much to handle. If not now, then when will we be together?

So I ask again, would racism exist if we were blind?

Faizah Shareef, Boston

My Family is “Out” There

But I am “in” here. Life is different now “in” Assisted Living since the deadly COVID-19 arrived. Now the staff, employees, and all 100 residents have our temperatures taken daily. Everyone else, including my family, is “out” there. People like the hairdresser are really missed — with long straight hair and masks, we don’t even recognize ourselves.

Since mid-March we are in quarantine “in” our rooms with meals served. Activities are practically non-existent. We can sit on the back patio 6 feet apart, wearing masks, do exercises there, chat, and walk nearby. Nothing inside. Hopefully June will improve.

My family is “out” there — somewhere! Most are working from home (or Montana). Hopefully an August wedding will happen, but unfortunately, I may still be “in” here.

From my window I wave to my son “out” there. Recently, when my daughter visited, I opened the window “in” my second-floor room and could see and hear her perfectly “out” there. Next time she will bring a chair so we can have an “in” and “out” conversation all day, or until we run out of words.

Barbara Anderson, Raynham

My boyfriend Marcial lives in Boston, and I live in New York City. We had been doing the long-distance thing pretty successfully until coronavirus hit. In mid-March, I was furloughed from my temp job, Marcial began working remotely, and New York started shutting down. I went to Boston to stay with Marcial.

We are opposites in many ways, but we share a love of food. The kitchen has been the center of quarantine life —and also quarantine problems.

Marcial and I have gone from eating out and cooking/grocery shopping for each other during our periodic visits to cooking/grocery shopping with each other all the time. We’ve argued over things like the proper way to make rice and what greens to buy for salad. Our habits are deeply rooted in our upbringing and individual cultures (Filipino immigrant and American-born Chinese, hence the strong rice opinions).

On top of the mundane issues, we’ve also dealt with a flooded kitchen (resulting in cockroaches) and a mandoline accident leading to an ER visit. Marcial and I have spent quarantine navigating how to handle the unexpected and how to integrate our lifestyles. We’ve been eating well along the way.

Melissa Lee, Waltham

It’s 3 a.m. and my dog Rikki just gave me a worried look. Up again?

“I can’t sleep,” I say. I flick the light, pick up “Non-Zero Probabilities.” But the words lay pinned to the page like swatted flies. I watch new “Killing Eve” episodes, play old Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats songs. Still night.

We are — what? — 12 agitated weeks into lockdown, and now this. The thing that got me was Chauvin’s sunglasses. Perched nonchalantly on his head, undisturbed, as if he were at a backyard BBQ. Or anywhere other than kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, on his life. And Floyd was a father, as we all now know, having seen his daughter Gianna on Stephen Jackson’s shoulders saying “Daddy changed the world.”

Precious child. I pray, safeguard her.

Rikki has her own bed. But she won’t leave me. A Goddess of Protection. She does that thing dogs do, hovers increasingly closely the more agitated I get. “I’m losing it,” I say. I know. And like those weighted gravity blankets meant to encourage sleep, she drapes her 70 pounds over me, covering my restless heart with safety.

As if daybreak, or a prayer, could bring peace today.

Kirstan Barnett, Watertown

Until June 30, send your essay (200 words or less) about life during COVID-19 via bostonbookfest.org . Some essays will be published on the festival’s blog and some will appear in The Boston Globe.

COVID-19 Lockdown: My Experience

When the lockdown started, I was ecstatic. My final year of school had finished early, exams were cancelled, the sun was shining. I was happy, and confident I would be OK. After all, how hard could staying at home possibly be? After a while, the reality of the situation started to sink in.

The novelty of being at home wore off and I started to struggle. I suffered from regular panic attacks, frozen on the floor in my room, unable to move or speak. I had nightmares most nights, and struggled to sleep. It was as if I was stuck, trapped in my house and in my own head. I didn't know how to cope.

However, over time, I found ways to deal with the pressure. I realised that lockdown gave me more time to the things I loved, hobbies that had been previously swamped by schoolwork. I started baking, drawing and writing again, and felt free for the first time in months. I had forgotten how good it felt to be creative. I started spending more time with my family. I hadn't realised how much I had missed them.

Almost a month later, I feel so much better. I understand how difficult this must be, but it's important to remember that none of us is alone. No matter how scared, or trapped, or alone you feel, things can only get better.  Take time to revisit the things you love, and remember that all of this will eventually pass. All we can do right now is stay at home, look after ourselves and our loved ones, and look forward to a better future.

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C 2019 Voices of Youth. All Rights Reserved. 

MY COVID-19 Story: how young people overcome the covid-19 crisis

As part of UNESCO’s initiative “MY COVID-19 Story”,  young people have been invited to tell their stories and experiences: how they feel, how they act, what makes them feel worried and what future they envision, how the crisis has affected their lives, the challenges they face, new opportunities being explored, and their hopes for the future. This campaign was launched in April as part of UNESCO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to give the floor to young people worldwide, share their views and amplify their voices. While the world grapples with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many young people are taking on new roles, demonstrating leadership in their countries and communities, and sharing creative ideas and solutions. To this day, UNESCO has already received more than 150 written testimonials.

Self-isolation can be a difficult time… However, many young people worldwide decided to tackle this with productivity and positivity. Monty (17), a secondary school student from the United Kingdom, is developing new digital skills and has created his own mini radio station. Lockdown helped Öykü (25), a young filmmaker from Turkey, to concentrate on her creative projects. And for Joseph (30), a teacher from Nigeria, this time is a way to open up to lots of learning opportunities through webinars.

The crisis has changed not only the daily routine, but also perceptions of everyday life. For some young people rethinking the value of time and common moral principles appears to be key. 

“The biggest lesson for me is understanding … [the value of] time. During these last months I made more use of my time than in a past year.” - shares young tech entrepreneur Barbara (21), from Russia. Ravikumar (24), a civil engineer from India, believes  “This crisis makes us socialize more than ever. We are eating together, sharing our thoughts and playing together which happened rarely within my family before.”

Beyond the crisis

After massive upheavals in the lives of many people, the future for young people seems to be both a promising perspective to seize some new emerging opportunities, and a time filled with uncertainty about the crisis consequences and the future world order.

“It is giving us an opportunity to look into how we need to better support our vulnerable populations, in terms of food and educational resources”, says Anusha (19), from the United States of America. For Mahmoud (22), from Egypt, the COVID-19 crisis is a call to action: “After the pandemic, I will put a lot of efforts into helping people who have been affected by COVID-19. I am planning to improve their health by providing sports sessions, highlighting the importance of a healthy lifestyle.”

The COVID-19 pandemic brings uncertainty and instability to young people across the world, making them feel worried about this new reality they’re living in and presenting several new challenges every day, as they find themselves at the front line of the crisis. That is why, more than ever, we need to put the spotlight on young women and men and let their voice be heard! 

Be part of the campaign!

Join the  “MY COVID-19 Story” campaign! Tell us your story!

We will share it on  UNESCO’s social media channels  (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram), our  website,  and through our  networks  across the world. 

You can also share your testimonials by recording your own creative video! How? Sign up and create your video here:  https://zg8t9.app.goo.gl/Zw2i . 

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• SDG: SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• SDG: SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
• SDG: SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries
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This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .

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8 Lessons We Can Learn From the COVID-19 Pandemic

BY KATHY KATELLA May 14, 2021

Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we know it—and it may have changed us individually as well, from our morning routines to our life goals and priorities. Many say the world has changed forever. But this coming year, if the vaccines drive down infections and variants are kept at bay, life could return to some form of normal. At that point, what will we glean from the past year? Are there silver linings or lessons learned?

“Humanity's memory is short, and what is not ever-present fades quickly,” says Manisha Juthani, MD , a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist. The bubonic plague, for example, ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages—resurfacing again and again—but once it was under control, people started to forget about it, she says. “So, I would say one major lesson from a public health or infectious disease perspective is that it’s important to remember and recognize our history. This is a period we must remember.”

We asked our Yale Medicine experts to weigh in on what they think are lessons worth remembering, including those that might help us survive a future virus or nurture a resilience that could help with life in general.

Lesson 1: Masks are useful tools

What happened: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed its masking guidance for those who have been fully vaccinated. But when the pandemic began, it necessitated a global effort to ensure that everyone practiced behaviors to keep themselves healthy and safe—and keep others healthy as well. This included the widespread wearing of masks indoors and outside.

What we’ve learned: Not everyone practiced preventive measures such as mask wearing, maintaining a 6-foot distance, and washing hands frequently. But, Dr. Juthani says, “I do think many people have learned a whole lot about respiratory pathogens and viruses, and how they spread from one person to another, and that sort of old-school common sense—you know, if you don’t feel well—whether it’s COVID-19 or not—you don’t go to the party. You stay home.”

Masks are a case in point. They are a key COVID-19 prevention strategy because they provide a barrier that can keep respiratory droplets from spreading. Mask-wearing became more common across East Asia after the 2003 SARS outbreak in that part of the world. “There are many East Asian cultures where the practice is still that if you have a cold or a runny nose, you put on a mask,” Dr. Juthani says.

She hopes attitudes in the U.S. will shift in that direction after COVID-19. “I have heard from a number of people who are amazed that we've had no flu this year—and they know masks are one of the reasons,” she says. “They’ve told me, ‘When the winter comes around, if I'm going out to the grocery store, I may just put on a mask.’”

Lesson 2: Telehealth might become the new normal

What happened: Doctors and patients who have used telehealth (technology that allows them to conduct medical care remotely), found it can work well for certain appointments, ranging from cardiology check-ups to therapy for a mental health condition. Many patients who needed a medical test have also discovered it may be possible to substitute a home version.

What we’ve learned: While there are still problems for which you need to see a doctor in person, the pandemic introduced a new urgency to what had been a gradual switchover to platforms like Zoom for remote patient visits. 

More doctors also encouraged patients to track their blood pressure at home , and to use at-home equipment for such purposes as diagnosing sleep apnea and even testing for colon cancer . Doctors also can fine-tune cochlear implants remotely .

“It happened very quickly,” says Sharon Stoll, DO, a neurologist. One group that has benefitted is patients who live far away, sometimes in other parts of the country—or even the world, she says. “I always like to see my patients at least twice a year. Now, we can see each other in person once a year, and if issues come up, we can schedule a telehealth visit in-between,” Dr. Stoll says. “This way I may hear about an issue before it becomes a problem, because my patients have easier access to me, and I have easier access to them.”

Meanwhile, insurers are becoming more likely to cover telehealth, Dr. Stoll adds. “That is a silver lining that will hopefully continue.”

Lesson 3: Vaccines are powerful tools

What happened: Given the recent positive results from vaccine trials, once again vaccines are proving to be powerful for preventing disease.

What we’ve learned: Vaccines really are worth getting, says Dr. Stoll, who had COVID-19 and experienced lingering symptoms, including chronic headaches . “I have lots of conversations—and sometimes arguments—with people about vaccines,” she says. Some don’t like the idea of side effects. “I had vaccine side effects and I’ve had COVID-19 side effects, and I say nothing compares to the actual illness. Unfortunately, I speak from experience.”

Dr. Juthani hopes the COVID-19 vaccine spotlight will motivate people to keep up with all of their vaccines, including childhood and adult vaccines for such diseases as measles , chicken pox, shingles , and other viruses. She says people have told her they got the flu vaccine this year after skipping it in previous years. (The CDC has reported distributing an exceptionally high number of doses this past season.)  

But, she cautions that a vaccine is not a magic bullet—and points out that scientists can’t always produce one that works. “As advanced as science is, there have been multiple failed efforts to develop a vaccine against the HIV virus,” she says. “This time, we were lucky that we were able build on the strengths that we've learned from many other vaccine development strategies to develop multiple vaccines for COVID-19 .” 

Lesson 4: Everyone is not treated equally, especially in a pandemic

What happened: COVID-19 magnified disparities that have long been an issue for a variety of people.

What we’ve learned: Racial and ethnic minority groups especially have had disproportionately higher rates of hospitalization for COVID-19 than non-Hispanic white people in every age group, and many other groups faced higher levels of risk or stress. These groups ranged from working mothers who also have primary responsibility for children, to people who have essential jobs, to those who live in rural areas where there is less access to health care.

“One thing that has been recognized is that when people were told to work from home, you needed to have a job that you could do in your house on a computer,” says Dr. Juthani. “Many people who were well off were able do that, but they still needed to have food, which requires grocery store workers and truck drivers. Nursing home residents still needed certified nursing assistants coming to work every day to care for them and to bathe them.”  

As far as racial inequities, Dr. Juthani cites President Biden’s appointment of Yale Medicine’s Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS , as inaugural chair of a federal COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. “Hopefully the new focus is a first step,” Dr. Juthani says.

Lesson 5: We need to take mental health seriously

What happened: There was a rise in reported mental health problems that have been described as “a second pandemic,” highlighting mental health as an issue that needs to be addressed.

What we’ve learned: Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, MD, PhD , a behavioral neurologist and neuropsychiatrist, believes the number of mental health disorders that were on the rise before the pandemic is surging as people grapple with such matters as juggling work and childcare, job loss, isolation, and losing a loved one to COVID-19.

The CDC reports that the percentage of adults who reported symptoms of anxiety of depression in the past 7 days increased from 36.4 to 41.5 % from August 2020 to February 2021. Other reports show that having COVID-19 may contribute, too, with its lingering or long COVID symptoms, which can include “foggy mind,” anxiety , depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder .

 “We’re seeing these problems in our clinical setting very, very often,” Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “By virtue of necessity, we can no longer ignore this. We're seeing these folks, and we have to take them seriously.”

Lesson 6: We have the capacity for resilience

What happened: While everyone’s situation is different­­ (and some people have experienced tremendous difficulties), many have seen that it’s possible to be resilient in a crisis.

What we’ve learned: People have practiced self-care in a multitude of ways during the pandemic as they were forced to adjust to new work schedules, change their gym routines, and cut back on socializing. Many started seeking out new strategies to counter the stress.

“I absolutely believe in the concept of resilience, because we have this effective reservoir inherent in all of us—be it the product of evolution, or our ancestors going through catastrophes, including wars, famines, and plagues,” Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “I think inherently, we have the means to deal with crisis. The fact that you and I are speaking right now is the result of our ancestors surviving hardship. I think resilience is part of our psyche. It's part of our DNA, essentially.”

Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh believes that even small changes are highly effective tools for creating resilience. The changes he suggests may sound like the same old advice: exercise more, eat healthy food, cut back on alcohol, start a meditation practice, keep up with friends and family. “But this is evidence-based advice—there has been research behind every one of these measures,” he says.

But we have to also be practical, he notes. “If you feel overwhelmed by doing too many things, you can set a modest goal with one new habit—it could be getting organized around your sleep. Once you’ve succeeded, move on to another one. Then you’re building momentum.”

Lesson 7: Community is essential—and technology is too

What happened: People who were part of a community during the pandemic realized the importance of human connection, and those who didn’t have that kind of support realized they need it.

What we’ve learned: Many of us have become aware of how much we need other people—many have managed to maintain their social connections, even if they had to use technology to keep in touch, Dr. Juthani says. “There's no doubt that it's not enough, but even that type of community has helped people.”

Even people who aren’t necessarily friends or family are important. Dr. Juthani recalled how she encouraged her mail carrier to sign up for the vaccine, soon learning that the woman’s mother and husband hadn’t gotten it either. “They are all vaccinated now,” Dr. Juthani says. “So, even by word of mouth, community is a way to make things happen.”

It’s important to note that some people are naturally introverted and may have enjoyed having more solitude when they were forced to stay at home—and they should feel comfortable with that, Dr. Fesharaki-Zadeh says. “I think one has to keep temperamental tendencies like this in mind.”

But loneliness has been found to suppress the immune system and be a precursor to some diseases, he adds. “Even for introverted folks, the smallest circle is preferable to no circle at all,” he says.

Lesson 8: Sometimes you need a dose of humility

What happened: Scientists and nonscientists alike learned that a virus can be more powerful than they are. This was evident in the way knowledge about the virus changed over time in the past year as scientific investigation of it evolved.

What we’ve learned: “As infectious disease doctors, we were resident experts at the beginning of the pandemic because we understand pathogens in general, and based on what we’ve seen in the past, we might say there are certain things that are likely to be true,” Dr. Juthani says. “But we’ve seen that we have to take these pathogens seriously. We know that COVID-19 is not the flu. All these strokes and clots, and the loss of smell and taste that have gone on for months are things that we could have never known or predicted. So, you have to have respect for the unknown and respect science, but also try to give scientists the benefit of the doubt,” she says.

“We have been doing the best we can with the knowledge we have, in the time that we have it,” Dr. Juthani says. “I think most of us have had to have the humility to sometimes say, ‘I don't know. We're learning as we go.’"

Information provided in Yale Medicine articles is for general informational purposes only. No content in the articles should ever be used as a substitute for medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Always seek the individual advice of your health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition.

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What Life Was Like for Students in the Pandemic Year

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In this video, Navajo student Miles Johnson shares how he experienced the stress and anxiety of schools shutting down last year. Miles’ teacher shared his experience and those of her other students in a recent piece for Education Week. In these short essays below, teacher Claire Marie Grogan’s 11th grade students at Oceanside High School on Long Island, N.Y., describe their pandemic experiences. Their writings have been slightly edited for clarity. Read Grogan’s essay .

“Hours Staring at Tiny Boxes on the Screen”

By Kimberly Polacco, 16

I stare at my blank computer screen, trying to find the motivation to turn it on, but my finger flinches every time it hovers near the button. I instead open my curtains. It is raining outside, but it does not matter, I will not be going out there for the rest of the day. The sound of pounding raindrops contributes to my headache enough to make me turn on my computer in hopes that it will give me something to drown out the noise. But as soon as I open it up, I feel the weight of the world crash upon my shoulders.

Each 42-minute period drags on by. I spend hours upon hours staring at tiny boxes on a screen, one of which my exhausted face occupies, and attempt to retain concepts that have been presented to me through this device. By the time I have the freedom of pressing the “leave” button on my last Google Meet of the day, my eyes are heavy and my legs feel like mush from having not left my bed since I woke up.

Tomorrow arrives, except this time here I am inside of a school building, interacting with my first period teacher face to face. We talk about our favorite movies and TV shows to stream as other kids pile into the classroom. With each passing period I accumulate more and more of these tiny meaningless conversations everywhere I go with both teachers and students. They may not seem like much, but to me they are everything because I know that the next time I am expected to report to school, I will be trapped in the bubble of my room counting down the hours until I can sit down in my freshly sanitized wooden desk again.

“My Only Parent Essentially on Her Death Bed”

By Nick Ingargiola, 16

My mom had COVID-19 for ten weeks. She got sick during the first month school buildings were shut. The difficulty of navigating an online classroom was already overwhelming, and when mixed with my only parent essentially on her death bed, it made it unbearable. Focusing on schoolwork was impossible, and watching my mother struggle to lift up her arm broke my heart.

My mom has been through her fair share of diseases from pancreatic cancer to seizures and even as far as a stroke that paralyzed her entire left side. It is safe to say she has been through a lot. The craziest part is you would never know it. She is the strongest and most positive person I’ve ever met. COVID hit her hard. Although I have watched her go through life and death multiple times, I have never seen her so physically and mentally drained.

I initially was overjoyed to complete my school year in the comfort of my own home, but once my mom got sick, I couldn’t handle it. No one knows what it’s like to pretend like everything is OK until they are forced to. I would wake up at 8 after staying up until 5 in the morning pondering the possibility of losing my mother. She was all I had. I was forced to turn my camera on and float in the fake reality of being fine although I wasn’t. The teachers tried to keep the class engaged by obligating the students to participate. This was dreadful. I didn’t want to talk. I had to hide the distress in my voice. If only the teachers understood what I was going through. I was hesitant because I didn’t want everyone to know that the virus that was infecting and killing millions was knocking on my front door.

After my online classes, I was required to finish an immense amount of homework while simultaneously hiding my sadness so that my mom wouldn’t worry about me. She was already going through a lot. There was no reason to add me to her list of worries. I wasn’t even able to give her a hug. All I could do was watch.

“The Way of Staying Sane”

By Lynda Feustel, 16

Entering year two of the pandemic is strange. It barely seems a day since last March, but it also seems like a lifetime. As an only child and introvert, shutting down my world was initially simple and relatively easy. My friends and I had been super busy with the school play, and while I was sad about it being canceled, I was struggling a lot during that show and desperately needed some time off.

As March turned to April, virtual school began, and being alone really set in. I missed my friends and us being together. The isolation felt real with just my parents and me, even as we spent time together. My friends and I began meeting on Facetime every night to watch TV and just be together in some way. We laughed at insane jokes we made and had homework and therapy sessions over Facetime and grew closer through digital and literal walls.

The summer passed with in-person events together, and the virus faded into the background for a little while. We went to the track and the beach and hung out in people’s backyards.

Then school came for us in a more nasty way than usual. In hybrid school we were separated. People had jobs, sports, activities, and quarantines. Teachers piled on work, and the virus grew more present again. The group text put out hundreds of messages a day while the Facetimes came to a grinding halt, and meeting in person as a group became more of a rarity. Being together on video and in person was the way of staying sane.

In a way I am in a similar place to last year, working and looking for some change as we enter the second year of this mess.

“In History Class, Reports of Heightening Cases”

By Vivian Rose, 16

I remember the moment my freshman year English teacher told me about the young writers’ conference at Bread Loaf during my sophomore year. At first, I didn’t want to apply, the deadline had passed, but for some strange reason, the directors of the program extended it another week. It felt like it was meant to be. It was in Vermont in the last week of May when the flowers have awakened and the sun is warm.

I submitted my work, and two weeks later I got an email of my acceptance. I screamed at the top of my lungs in the empty house; everyone was out, so I was left alone to celebrate my small victory. It was rare for them to admit sophomores. Usually they accept submissions only from juniors and seniors.

That was the first week of February 2020. All of a sudden, there was some talk about this strange virus coming from China. We thought nothing of it. Every night, I would fall asleep smiling, knowing that I would be able to go to the exact conference that Robert Frost attended for 42 years.

Then, as if overnight, it seemed the virus had swung its hand and had gripped parts of the country. Every newscast was about the disease. Every day in history, we would look at the reports of heightening cases and joke around that this could never become a threat as big as Dr. Fauci was proposing. Then, March 13th came around--it was the last day before the world seemed to shut down. Just like that, Bread Loaf would vanish from my grasp.

“One Day Every Day Won’t Be As Terrible”

By Nick Wollweber, 17

COVID created personal problems for everyone, some more serious than others, but everyone had a struggle.

As the COVID lock-down took hold, the main thing weighing on my mind was my oldest brother, Joe, who passed away in January 2019 unexpectedly in his sleep. Losing my brother was a complete gut punch and reality check for me at 14 and 15 years old. 2019 was a year of struggle, darkness, sadness, frustration. I didn’t want to learn after my brother had passed, but I had to in order to move forward and find my new normal.

Routine and always having things to do and places to go is what let me cope in the year after Joe died. Then COVID came and gave me the option to let up and let down my guard. I struggled with not wanting to take care of personal hygiene. That was the beginning of an underlying mental problem where I wouldn’t do things that were necessary for everyday life.

My “coping routine” that got me through every day and week the year before was gone. COVID wasn’t beneficial to me, but it did bring out the true nature of my mental struggles and put a name to it. Since COVID, I have been diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. I began taking antidepressants and going to therapy a lot more.

COVID made me realize that I’m not happy with who I am and that I needed to change. I’m still not happy with who I am. I struggle every day, but I am working towards a goal that one day every day won’t be as terrible.

Coverage of social and emotional learning is supported in part by a grant from the NoVo Foundation, at www.novofoundation.org . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the March 31, 2021 edition of Education Week as What Life Was Like for Students in the Pandemic Year

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Essays reveal experiences during pandemic, unrest.

Field study students share their thoughts 

Members of Advanced Field Study, a select group of Social Ecology students who are chosen from a pool of applicants to participate in a year-long field study experience and course, had their internships and traditional college experience cut short this year. During our final quarter of the year together, during which we met weekly for two hours via Zoom, we discussed their reactions as the world fell apart around them. First came the pandemic and social distancing, then came the death of George Floyd and the response of the Black Lives Matter movement, both of which were imprinted on the lives of these students. This year was anything but dull, instead full of raw emotion and painful realizations of the fragility of the human condition and the extent to which we need one another. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for our students to chronicle their experiences — the good and the bad, the lessons learned, and ways in which they were forever changed by the events of the past four months. I invited all of my students to write an essay describing the ways in which these times had impacted their learning and their lives during or after their time at UCI. These are their voices. — Jessica Borelli , associate professor of psychological science

Becoming Socially Distant Through Technology: The Tech Contagion

The current state of affairs put the world on pause, but this pause gave me time to reflect on troubling matters. Time that so many others like me probably also desperately needed to heal without even knowing it. Sometimes it takes one’s world falling apart for the most beautiful mosaic to be built up from the broken pieces of wreckage. 

As the school year was coming to a close and summer was edging around the corner, I began reflecting on how people will spend their summer breaks if the country remains in its current state throughout the sunny season. Aside from living in the sunny beach state of California where people love their vitamin D and social festivities, I think some of the most damaging effects Covid-19 will have on us all has more to do with social distancing policies than with any inconveniences we now face due to the added precautions, despite how devastating it may feel that Disneyland is closed to all the local annual passholders or that the beaches may not be filled with sun-kissed California girls this summer. During this unprecedented time, I don’t think we should allow the rare opportunity we now have to be able to watch in real time how the effects of social distancing can impact our mental health. Before the pandemic, many of us were already engaging in a form of social distancing. Perhaps not the exact same way we are now practicing, but the technology that we have developed over recent years has led to a dramatic decline in our social contact and skills in general. 

The debate over whether we should remain quarantined during this time is not an argument I am trying to pursue. Instead, I am trying to encourage us to view this event as a unique time to study how social distancing can affect people’s mental health over a long period of time and with dramatic results due to the magnitude of the current issue. Although Covid-19 is new and unfamiliar to everyone, the isolation and separation we now face is not. For many, this type of behavior has already been a lifestyle choice for a long time. However, the current situation we all now face has allowed us to gain a more personal insight on how that experience feels due to the current circumstances. Mental illness continues to remain a prevalent problem throughout the world and for that reason could be considered a pandemic of a sort in and of itself long before the Covid-19 outbreak. 

One parallel that can be made between our current restrictions and mental illness reminds me in particular of hikikomori culture. Hikikomori is a phenomenon that originated in Japan but that has since spread internationally, now prevalent in many parts of the world, including the United States. Hikikomori is not a mental disorder but rather can appear as a symptom of a disorder. People engaging in hikikomori remain confined in their houses and often their rooms for an extended period of time, often over the course of many years. This action of voluntary confinement is an extreme form of withdrawal from society and self-isolation. Hikikomori affects a large percent of people in Japan yearly and the problem continues to become more widespread with increasing occurrences being reported around the world each year. While we know this problem has continued to increase, the exact number of people practicing hikikomori is unknown because there is a large amount of stigma surrounding the phenomenon that inhibits people from seeking help. This phenomenon cannot be written off as culturally defined because it is spreading to many parts of the world. With the technology we now have, and mental health issues on the rise and expected to increase even more so after feeling the effects of the current pandemic, I think we will definitely see a rise in the number of people engaging in this social isolation, especially with the increase in legitimate fears we now face that appear to justify the previously considered irrational fears many have associated with social gatherings. We now have the perfect sample of people to provide answers about how this form of isolation can affect people over time. 

Likewise, with the advancements we have made to technology not only is it now possible to survive without ever leaving the confines of your own home, but it also makes it possible for us to “fulfill” many of our social interaction needs. It’s very unfortunate, but in addition to the success we have gained through our advancements we have also experienced a great loss. With new technology, I am afraid that we no longer engage with others the way we once did. Although some may say the advancements are for the best, I wonder, at what cost? It is now commonplace to see a phone on the table during a business meeting or first date. Even worse is how many will feel inclined to check their phone during important or meaningful interactions they are having with people face to face. While our technology has become smarter, we have become dumber when it comes to social etiquette. As we all now constantly carry a mini computer with us everywhere we go, we have in essence replaced our best friends. We push others away subconsciously as we reach for our phones during conversations. We no longer remember phone numbers because we have them all saved in our phones. We find comfort in looking down at our phones during those moments of free time we have in public places before our meetings begin. These same moments were once the perfect time to make friends, filled with interactive banter. We now prefer to stare at other people on our phones for hours on end, and often live a sedentary lifestyle instead of going out and interacting with others ourselves. 

These are just a few among many issues the advances to technology led to long ago. We have forgotten how to practice proper tech-etiquette and we have been inadvertently practicing social distancing long before it was ever required. Now is a perfect time for us to look at the society we have become and how we incurred a different kind of pandemic long before the one we currently face. With time, as the social distancing regulations begin to lift, people may possibly begin to appreciate life and connecting with others more than they did before as a result of the unique experience we have shared in together while apart.

Maybe the world needed a time-out to remember how to appreciate what it had but forgot to experience. Life is to be lived through experience, not to be used as a pastime to observe and compare oneself with others. I’ll leave you with a simple reminder: never forget to take care and love more because in a world where life is often unpredictable and ever changing, one cannot risk taking time or loved ones for granted. With that, I bid you farewell, fellow comrades, like all else, this too shall pass, now go live your best life!

Privilege in a Pandemic 

Covid-19 has impacted millions of Americans who have been out of work for weeks, thus creating a financial burden. Without a job and the certainty of knowing when one will return to work, paying rent and utilities has been a problem for many. With unemployment on the rise, relying on unemployment benefits has become a necessity for millions of people. According to the Washington Post , unemployment rose to 14.7% in April which is considered to be the worst since the Great Depression. 

Those who are not worried about the financial aspect or the thought never crossed their minds have privilege. Merriam Webster defines privilege as “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor.” Privilege can have a negative connotation. What you choose to do with your privilege is what matters. Talking about privilege can bring discomfort, but the discomfort it brings can also carry the benefit of drawing awareness to one’s privilege, which can lead the person to take steps to help others. 

I am a first-generation college student who recently transferred to a four-year university. When schools began to close, and students had to leave their on-campus housing, many lost their jobs.I was able to stay on campus because I live in an apartment. I am fortunate to still have a job, although the hours are minimal. My parents help pay for school expenses, including housing, tuition, and food. I do not have to worry about paying rent or how to pay for food because my parents are financially stable to help me. However, there are millions of college students who are not financially stable or do not have the support system I have. Here, I have the privilege and, thus, I am the one who can offer help to others. I may not have millions in funding, but volunteering for centers who need help is where I am able to help. Those who live in California can volunteer through Californians For All  or at food banks, shelter facilities, making calls to seniors, etc. 

I was not aware of my privilege during these times until I started reading more articles about how millions of people cannot afford to pay their rent, and landlords are starting to send notices of violations. Rather than feel guilty and be passive about it, I chose to put my privilege into a sense of purpose: Donating to nonprofits helping those affected by COVID-19, continuing to support local businesses, and supporting businesses who are donating profits to those affected by COVID-19.

My World is Burning 

As I write this, my friends are double checking our medical supplies and making plans to buy water and snacks to pass out at the next protest we are attending. We write down the number for the local bailout fund on our arms and pray that we’re lucky enough not to have to use it should things get ugly. We are part of a pivotal event, the kind of movement that will forever have a place in history. Yet, during this revolution, I have papers to write and grades to worry about, as I’m in the midst of finals. 

My professors have offered empty platitudes. They condemn the violence and acknowledge the stress and pain that so many of us are feeling, especially the additional weight that this carries for students of color. I appreciate their show of solidarity, but it feels meaningless when it is accompanied by requests to complete research reports and finalize presentations. Our world is on fire. Literally. On my social media feeds, I scroll through image after image of burning buildings and police cars in flames. How can I be asked to focus on school when my community is under siege? When police are continuing to murder black people, adding additional names to the ever growing list of their victims. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. David Mcatee. And, now, Rayshard Brooks. 

It already felt like the world was being asked of us when the pandemic started and classes continued. High academic expectations were maintained even when students now faced the challenges of being locked down, often trapped in small spaces with family or roommates. Now we are faced with another public health crisis in the form of police violence and once again it seems like educational faculty are turning a blind eye to the impact that this has on the students. I cannot study for exams when I am busy brushing up on my basic first-aid training, taking notes on the best techniques to stop heavy bleeding and treat chemical burns because at the end of the day, if these protests turn south, I will be entering a warzone. Even when things remain peaceful, there is an ugliness that bubbles just below the surface. When beginning the trek home, I have had armed members of the National Guard follow me and my friends. While kneeling in silence, I have watched police officers cock their weapons and laugh, pointing out targets in the crowd. I have been emailing my professors asking for extensions, trying to explain that if something is turned in late, it could be the result of me being detained or injured. I don’t want to be penalized for trying to do what I wholeheartedly believe is right. 

I have spent my life studying and will continue to study these institutions that have been so instrumental in the oppression and marginalization of black and indigenous communities. Yet, now that I have the opportunity to be on the frontlines actively fighting for the change our country so desperately needs, I feel that this study is more of a hindrance than a help to the cause. Writing papers and reading books can only take me so far and I implore that professors everywhere recognize that requesting their students split their time and energy between finals and justice is an impossible ask.

Opportunity to Serve

Since the start of the most drastic change of our lives, I have had the privilege of helping feed more than 200 different families in the Santa Ana area and even some neighboring cities. It has been an immense pleasure seeing the sheer joy and happiness of families as they come to pick up their box of food from our site, as well as a $50 gift card to Northgate, a grocery store in Santa Ana. Along with donating food and helping feed families, the team at the office, including myself, have dedicated this time to offering psychosocial and mental health check-ups for the families we serve. 

Every day I go into the office I start my day by gathering files of our families we served between the months of January, February, and March and calling them to check on how they are doing financially, mentally, and how they have been affected by COVID-19. As a side project, I have been putting together Excel spreadsheets of all these families’ struggles and finding a way to turn their situation into a success story to share with our board at PY-OCBF and to the community partners who make all of our efforts possible. One of the things that has really touched me while working with these families is how much of an impact this nonprofit organization truly has on family’s lives. I have spoken with many families who I just call to check up on and it turns into an hour call sharing about how much of a change they have seen in their child who went through our program. Further, they go on to discuss that because of our program, their children have a different perspective on the drugs they were using before and the group of friends they were hanging out with. Of course, the situation is different right now as everyone is being told to stay at home; however, there are those handful of kids who still go out without asking for permission, increasing the likelihood they might contract this disease and pass it to the rest of the family. We are working diligently to provide support for these parents and offering advice to talk to their kids in order to have a serious conversation with their kids so that they feel heard and validated. 

Although the novel Coronavirus has impacted the lives of millions of people not just on a national level, but on a global level, I feel that in my current position, it has opened doors for me that would have otherwise not presented themselves. Fortunately, I have been offered a full-time position at the Project Youth Orange County Bar Foundation post-graduation that I have committed to already. This invitation came to me because the organization received a huge grant for COVID-19 relief to offer to their staff and since I was already part-time, they thought I would be a good fit to join the team once mid-June comes around. I was very excited and pleased to be recognized for the work I have done at the office in front of all staff. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity. I will work even harder to provide for the community and to continue changing the lives of adolescents, who have steered off the path of success. I will use my time as a full-time employee to polish my resume, not forgetting that the main purpose of my moving to Irvine was to become a scholar and continue the education that my parents couldn’t attain. I will still be looking for ways to get internships with other fields within criminology. One specific interest that I have had since being an intern and a part-time employee in this organization is the work of the Orange County Coroner’s Office. I don’t exactly know what enticed me to find it appealing as many would say that it is an awful job in nature since it relates to death and seeing people in their worst state possible. However, I feel that the only way for me to truly know if I want to pursue such a career in forensic science will be to just dive into it and see where it takes me. 

I can, without a doubt, say that the Coronavirus has impacted me in a way unlike many others, and for that I am extremely grateful. As I continue working, I can also state that many people are becoming more and more hopeful as time progresses. With people now beginning to say Stage Two of this stay-at-home order is about to allow retailers and other companies to begin doing curbside delivery, many families can now see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Let’s Do Better

This time of the year is meant to be a time of celebration; however, it has been difficult to feel proud or excited for many of us when it has become a time of collective mourning and sorrow, especially for the Black community. There has been an endless amount of pain, rage, and helplessness that has been felt throughout our nation because of the growing list of Black lives we have lost to violence and brutality.

To honor the lives that we have lost, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, Trayon Martin, and all of the other Black lives that have been taken away, may they Rest in Power.

Throughout my college experience, I have become more exposed to the various identities and the upbringings of others, which led to my own self-reflection on my own privileged and marginalized identities. I identify as Colombian, German, and Mexican; however navigating life as a mixed race, I have never been able to identify or have one culture more salient than the other. I am visibly white-passing and do not hold any strong ties with any of my ethnic identities, which used to bring me feelings of guilt and frustration, for I would question whether or not I could be an advocate for certain communities, and whether or not I could claim the identity of a woman of color. In the process of understanding my positionality, I began to wonder what space I belonged in, where I could speak up, and where I should take a step back for others to speak. I found myself in a constant theme of questioning what is my narrative and slowly began to realize that I could not base it off lone identities and that I have had the privilege to move through life without my identities defining who I am. Those initial feelings of guilt and confusion transformed into growth, acceptance, and empowerment.

This journey has driven me to educate myself more about the social inequalities and injustices that people face and to focus on what I can do for those around me. It has motivated me to be more culturally responsive and competent, so that I am able to best advocate for those around me. Through the various roles I have worked in, I have been able to listen to a variety of communities’ narratives and experiences, which has allowed me to extend my empathy to these communities while also pushing me to continue educating myself on how I can best serve and empower them. By immersing myself amongst different communities, I have been given the honor of hearing others’ stories and experiences, which has inspired me to commit myself to support and empower others.

I share my story of navigating through my privileged and marginalized identities in hopes that it encourages others to explore their own identities. This journey is not an easy one, and it is an ongoing learning process that will come with various mistakes. I have learned that with facing our privileges comes feelings of guilt, discomfort, and at times, complacency. It is very easy to become ignorant when we are not affected by different issues, but I challenge those who read this to embrace the discomfort. With these emotions, I have found it important to reflect on the source of discomfort and guilt, for although they are a part of the process, in taking the steps to become more aware of the systemic inequalities around us, understanding the source of discomfort can better inform us on how we perpetuate these systemic inequalities. If we choose to embrace ignorance, we refuse to acknowledge the systems that impact marginalized communities and refuse to honestly and openly hear cries for help. If we choose our own comfort over the lives of those being affected every day, we can never truly honor, serve, or support these communities.

I challenge any non-Black person, including myself, to stop remaining complacent when injustices are committed. We need to consistently recognize and acknowledge how the Black community is disproportionately affected in every injustice experienced and call out anti-Blackness in every role, community, and space we share. We need to keep ourselves and others accountable when we make mistakes or fall back into patterns of complacency or ignorance. We need to continue educating ourselves instead of relying on the emotional labor of the Black community to continuously educate us on the history of their oppressions. We need to collectively uplift and empower one another to heal and rise against injustice. We need to remember that allyship ends when action ends.

To the Black community, you are strong. You deserve to be here. The recent events are emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting, and the need for rest to take care of your mental, physical, and emotional well-being are at an all time high. If you are able, take the time to regain your energy, feel every emotion, and remind yourself of the power you have inside of you. You are not alone.

The Virus That Makes You Forget

Following Jan. 1 of 2020 many of my classmates and I continued to like, share, and forward the same meme. The meme included any image but held the same phrase: I can see 2020. For many of us, 2020 was a beacon of hope. For the Class of 2020, this meant walking on stage in front of our families. Graduation meant becoming an adult, finding a job, or going to graduate school. No matter what we were doing in our post-grad life, we were the new rising stars ready to take on the world with a positive outlook no matter what the future held. We felt that we had a deal with the universe that we were about to be noticed for our hard work, our hardships, and our perseverance.

Then March 17 of 2020 came to pass with California Gov. Newman ordering us to stay at home, which we all did. However, little did we all know that the world we once had open to us would only be forgotten when we closed our front doors.

Life became immediately uncertain and for many of us, that meant graduation and our post-graduation plans including housing, careers, education, food, and basic standards of living were revoked! We became the forgotten — a place from which many of us had attempted to rise by attending university. The goals that we were told we could set and the plans that we were allowed to make — these were crushed before our eyes.

Eighty days before graduation, in the first several weeks of quarantine, I fell extremely ill; both unfortunately and luckily, I was isolated. All of my roommates had moved out of the student apartments leaving me with limited resources, unable to go to the stores to pick up medicine or food, and with insufficient health coverage to afford a doctor until my throat was too swollen to drink water. For nearly three weeks, I was stuck in bed, I was unable to apply to job deadlines, reach out to family, and have contact with the outside world. I was forgotten.

Forty-five days before graduation, I had clawed my way out of illness and was catching up on an honors thesis about media depictions of sexual exploitation within the American political system, when I was relayed the news that democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault. However, when reporting this news to close friends who had been devastated and upset by similar claims against past politicians, they all were too tired and numb from the quarantine to care. Just as I had written hours before reading the initial story, history was repeating, and it was not only I who COVID-19 had forgotten, but now survivors of violence.

After this revelation, I realize the silencing factor that COVID-19 has. Not only does it have the power to terminate the voices of our older generations, but it has the power to silence and make us forget the voices of every generation. Maybe this is why social media usage has gone up, why we see people creating new social media accounts, posting more, attempting to reach out to long lost friends. We do not want to be silenced, moreover, we cannot be silenced. Silence means that we have been forgotten and being forgotten is where injustice and uncertainty occurs. By using social media, pressing like on a post, or even sending a hate message, means that someone cares and is watching what you are doing. If there is no interaction, I am stuck in the land of indifference.

This is a place that I, and many others, now reside, captured and uncertain. In 2020, my plan was to graduate Cum Laude, dean's honor list, with three honors programs, three majors, and with research and job experience that stretched over six years. I would then go into my first year of graduate school, attempting a dual Juris Doctorate. I would be spending my time experimenting with new concepts, new experiences, and new relationships. My life would then be spent giving a microphone to survivors of domestic violence and sex crimes. However, now the plan is wiped clean, instead I sit still bound to graduate in 30 days with no home to stay, no place to work, and no future education to come back to. I would say I am overly qualified, but pandemic makes me lost in a series of names and masked faces.

Welcome to My Cage: The Pandemic and PTSD

When I read the campuswide email notifying students of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, I was sitting on my couch practicing a research presentation I was going to give a few hours later. For a few minutes, I sat there motionless, trying to digest the meaning of the words as though they were from a language other than my own, familiar sounds strung together in way that was wholly unintelligible to me. I tried but failed to make sense of how this could affect my life. After the initial shock had worn off, I mobilized quickly, snapping into an autopilot mode of being I knew all too well. I began making mental checklists, sharing the email with my friends and family, half of my brain wondering if I should make a trip to the grocery store to stockpile supplies and the other half wondering how I was supposed take final exams in the midst of so much uncertainty. The most chilling realization was knowing I had to wait powerlessly as the fate of the world unfolded, frozen with anxiety as I figured out my place in it all.

These feelings of powerlessness and isolation are familiar bedfellows for me. Early October of 2015, shortly after beginning my first year at UCI, I was diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Despite having had years of psychological treatment for my condition, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Retraining, the flashbacks, paranoia, and nightmares still emerge unwarranted. People have referred to the pandemic as a collective trauma. For me, the pandemic has not only been a collective trauma, it has also been the reemergence of a personal trauma. The news of the pandemic and the implications it has for daily life triggered a reemergence of symptoms that were ultimately ignited by the overwhelming sense of helplessness that lies in waiting, as I suddenly find myself navigating yet another situation beyond my control. Food security, safety, and my sense of self have all been shaken by COVID-19.

The first few weeks after UCI transitioned into remote learning and the governor issued the stay-at-home order, I hardly got any sleep. My body was cycling through hypervigilance and derealization, and my sleep was interrupted by intrusive nightmares oscillating between flashbacks and frightening snippets from current events. Any coping methods I had developed through hard-won efforts over the past few years — leaving my apartment for a change of scenery, hanging out with friends, going to the gym — were suddenly made inaccessible to me due to the stay-at-home orders, closures of non-essential businesses, and many of my friends breaking their campus leases to move back to their family homes. So for me, learning to cope during COVID-19 quarantine means learning to function with my re-emerging PTSD symptoms and without my go-to tools. I must navigate my illness in a rapidly evolving world, one where some of my internalized fears, such as running out of food and living in an unsafe world, are made progressively more external by the minute and broadcasted on every news platform; fears that I could no longer escape, being confined in the tight constraints of my studio apartment’s walls. I cannot shake the devastating effects of sacrifice that I experience as all sense of control has been stripped away from me.

However, amidst my mental anguish, I have realized something important—experiencing these same PTSD symptoms during a global pandemic feels markedly different than it did years ago. Part of it might be the passage of time and the growth in my mindset, but there is something else that feels very different. Currently, there is widespread solidarity and support for all of us facing the chaos of COVID-19, whether they are on the frontlines of the fight against the illness or they are self-isolating due to new rules, restrictions, and risks. This was in stark contrast to what it was like to have a mental disorder. The unity we all experience as a result of COVID-19 is one I could not have predicted. I am not the only student heartbroken over a cancelled graduation, I am not the only student who is struggling to adapt to remote learning, and I am not the only person in this world who has to make sacrifices.

Between observations I’ve made on social media and conversations with my friends and classmates, this time we are all enduring great pain and stress as we attempt to adapt to life’s challenges. As a Peer Assistant for an Education class, I have heard from many students of their heartache over the remote learning model, how difficult it is to study in a non-academic environment, and how unmotivated they have become this quarter. This is definitely something I can relate to; as of late, it has been exceptionally difficult to find motivation and put forth the effort for even simple activities as a lack of energy compounds the issue and hinders basic needs. However, the willingness of people to open up about their distress during the pandemic is unlike the self-imposed social isolation of many people who experience mental illness regularly. Something this pandemic has taught me is that I want to live in a world where mental illness receives more support and isn’t so taboo and controversial. Why is it that we are able to talk about our pain, stress, and mental illness now, but aren’t able to talk about it outside of a global pandemic? People should be able to talk about these hardships and ask for help, much like during these circumstances.

It has been nearly three months since the coronavirus crisis was declared a pandemic. I still have many bad days that I endure where my symptoms can be overwhelming. But somehow, during my good days — and some days, merely good moments — I can appreciate the resilience I have acquired over the years and the common ground I share with others who live through similar circumstances. For veterans of trauma and mental illness, this isn’t the first time we are experiencing pain in an extreme and disastrous way. This is, however, the first time we are experiencing it with the rest of the world. This strange new feeling of solidarity as I read and hear about the experiences of other people provides some small comfort as I fight my way out of bed each day. As we fight to survive this pandemic, I hope to hold onto this feeling of togetherness and acceptance of pain, so that it will always be okay for people to share their struggles. We don’t know what the world will look like days, months, or years from now, but I hope that we can cultivate such a culture to make life much easier for people coping with mental illness.

A Somatic Pandemonium in Quarantine

I remember hearing that our brains create the color magenta all on their own. 

When I was younger I used to run out of my third-grade class because my teacher was allergic to the mold and sometimes would vomit in the trash can. My dad used to tell me that I used to always have to have something in my hands, later translating itself into the form of a hair tie around my wrist.

Sometimes, I think about the girl who used to walk on her tippy toes. medial and lateral nerves never planted, never grounded. We were the same in this way. My ability to be firmly planted anywhere was also withered. 

Was it from all the times I panicked? Or from the time I ran away and I blistered the soles of my feet 'til they were black from the summer pavement? Emetophobia. 

I felt it in the shower, dressing itself from the crown of my head down to the soles of my feet, noting the feeling onto my white board in an attempt to solidify it’s permanence.

As I breathed in the chemical blue transpiring from the Expo marker, everything was more defined. I laid down and when I looked up at the starlet lamp I had finally felt centered. Still. No longer fleeting. The grooves in the lamps glass forming a spiral of what felt to me like an artificial landscape of transcendental sparks. 

She’s back now, magenta, though I never knew she left or even ever was. Somehow still subconsciously always known. I had been searching for her in the tremors.

I can see her now in the daphnes, the golden rays from the sun reflecting off of the bark on the trees and the red light that glowed brighter, suddenly the town around me was warmer. A melting of hues and sharpened saturation that was apparent and reminded of the smell of oranges.

I threw up all of the carrots I ate just before. The trauma that my body kept as a memory of things that may or may not go wrong and the times that I couldn't keep my legs from running. Revelations bring memories bringing anxieties from fear and panic released from my body as if to say “NO LONGER!” 

I close my eyes now and my mind's eye is, too, more vivid than ever before. My inner eyelids lit up with orange undertones no longer a solid black, neurons firing, fire. Not the kind that burns you but the kind that can light up a dull space. Like the wick of a tea-lit candle. Magenta doesn’t exist. It is perception. A construct made of light waves, blue and red.

Demolition. Reconstruction. I walk down the street into this new world wearing my new mask, somatic senses tingling and I think to myself “Houston, I think we’ve just hit equilibrium.”

How COVID-19 Changed My Senior Year

During the last two weeks of Winter quarter, I watched the emails pour in. Spring quarter would be online, facilities were closing, and everyone was recommended to return home to their families, if possible. I resolved to myself that I would not move back home; I wanted to stay in my apartment, near my boyfriend, near my friends, and in the one place I had my own space. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, things continued to change quickly. Soon I learned my roommate/best friend would be cancelling her lease and moving back up to Northern California. We had made plans for my final quarter at UCI, as I would be graduating in June while she had another year, but all of the sudden, that dream was gone. In one whirlwind of a day, we tried to cram in as much of our plans as we could before she left the next day for good. There are still so many things – like hiking, going to museums, and showing her around my hometown – we never got to cross off our list.

Then, my boyfriend decided he would also be moving home, three hours away. Most of my sorority sisters were moving home, too. I realized if I stayed at school, I would be completely alone. My mom had been encouraging me to move home anyway, but I was reluctant to return to a house I wasn’t completely comfortable in. As the pandemic became more serious, gentle encouragement quickly turned into demands. I had to cancel my lease and move home.

I moved back in with my parents at the end of Spring Break; I never got to say goodbye to most of my friends, many of whom I’ll likely never see again – as long as the virus doesn’t change things, I’m supposed to move to New York over the summer to begin a PhD program in Criminal Justice. Just like that, my time at UCI had come to a close. No lasts to savor; instead I had piles of things to regret. In place of a final quarter filled with memorable lasts, such as the senior banquet or my sorority’s senior preference night, I’m left with a laundry list of things I missed out on. I didn’t get to look around the campus one last time like I had planned; I never got to take my graduation pictures in front of the UC Irvine sign. Commencement had already been cancelled. The lights had turned off in the theatre before the movie was over. I never got to find out how the movie ended.

Transitioning to a remote learning system wasn’t too bad, but I found that some professors weren’t adjusting their courses to the difficulties many students were facing. It turned out to be difficult to stay motivated, especially for classes that are pre-recorded and don’t have any face-to-face interaction. It’s hard to make myself care; I’m in my last few weeks ever at UCI, but it feels like I’m already in summer. School isn’t real, my classes aren’t real. I still put in the effort, but I feel like I’m not getting much out of my classes.

The things I had been looking forward to this quarter are gone; there will be no Undergraduate Research Symposium, where I was supposed to present two projects. My amazing internship with the US Postal Inspection Service is over prematurely and I never got to properly say goodbye to anyone I met there. I won’t receive recognition for the various awards and honors I worked so hard to achieve.

And I’m one of the lucky ones! I feel guilty for feeling bad about my situation, when I know there are others who have it much, much worse. I am like that quintessential spoiled child, complaining while there are essential workers working tirelessly, people with health concerns constantly fearing for their safety, and people dying every day. Yet knowing that doesn't help me from feeling I was robbed of my senior experience, something I worked very hard to achieve. I know it’s not nearly as important as what many others are going through. But nevertheless, this is my situation. I was supposed to be enjoying this final quarter with my friends and preparing to move on, not be stuck at home, grappling with my mental health and hiding out in my room to get some alone time from a family I don’t always get along with. And while I know it’s more difficult out there for many others, it’s still difficult for me.

The thing that stresses me out most is the uncertainty. Uncertainty for the future – how long will this pandemic last? How many more people have to suffer before things go back to “normal” – whatever that is? How long until I can see my friends and family again? And what does this mean for my academic future? Who knows what will happen between now and then? All that’s left to do is wait and hope that everything will work out for the best.

Looking back over my last few months at UCI, I wish I knew at the time that I was experiencing my lasts; it feels like I took so much for granted. If there is one thing this has all made me realize, it’s that nothing is certain. Everything we expect, everything we take for granted – none of it is a given. Hold on to what you have while you have it, and take the time to appreciate the wonderful things in life, because you never know when it will be gone.

Physical Distancing

Thirty days have never felt so long. April has been the longest month of the year. I have been through more in these past three months than in the past three years. The COVID-19 outbreak has had a huge impact on both physical and social well-being of a lot of Americans, including me. Stress has been governing the lives of so many civilians, in particular students and workers. In addition to causing a lack of motivation in my life, quarantine has also brought a wave of anxiety.

My life changed the moment the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the government announced social distancing. My busy daily schedule, running from class to class and meeting to meeting, morphed into identical days, consisting of hour after hour behind a cold computer monitor. Human interaction and touch improve trust, reduce fear and increases physical well-being. Imagine the effects of removing the human touch and interaction from midst of society. Humans are profoundly social creatures. I cannot function without interacting and connecting with other people. Even daily acquaintances have an impact on me that is only noticeable once removed. As a result, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an extreme impact on me beyond direct symptoms and consequences of contracting the virus itself.

It was not until later that month, when out of sheer boredom I was scrolling through my call logs and I realized that I had called my grandmother more than ever. This made me realize that quarantine had created some positive impacts on my social interactions as well. This period of time has created an opportunity to check up on and connect with family and peers more often than we were able to. Even though we might be connecting solely through a screen, we are not missing out on being socially connected. Quarantine has taught me to value and prioritize social connection, and to recognize that we can find this type of connection not only through in-person gatherings, but also through deep heart to heart connections. Right now, my weekly Zoom meetings with my long-time friends are the most important events in my week. In fact, I have taken advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with many of my old friends and have actually had more meaningful conversations with them than before the isolation.

This situation is far from ideal. From my perspective, touch and in-person interaction is essential; however, we must overcome all difficulties that life throws at us with the best we are provided with. Therefore, perhaps we should take this time to re-align our motives by engaging in things that are of importance to us. I learned how to dig deep and find appreciation for all the small talks, gatherings, and face-to-face interactions. I have also realized that friendships are not only built on the foundation of physical presence but rather on meaningful conversations you get to have, even if they are through a cold computer monitor. My realization came from having more time on my hands and noticing the shift in conversations I was having with those around me. After all, maybe this isolation isn’t “social distancing”, but rather “physical distancing” until we meet again.

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How COVID-19 pandemic changed my life

Table of Contents

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest challenges that our world has ever faced. People around the globe were affected in some way by this terrible disease, whether personally or not. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many people felt isolated and in a state of panic. They often found themselves lacking a sense of community, confidence, and trust. The health systems in many countries were able to successfully prevent and treat people with COVID-19-related diseases while providing early intervention services to those who may not be fully aware that they are infected (Rume & Islam, 2020). Personally, this pandemic has brought numerous changes and challenges to my life. The COVID-19 pandemic affected my social, academic, and economic lifestyle positively and negatively.

Social and Academic Changes

One of the changes brought by the pandemic was economic changes that occurred very drastically (Haleem, Javaid, & Vaishya, 2020). During the pandemic, food prices started to rise, affecting the amount of money my parents could spend on goods and services. We had to reduce the food we bought as our budgets were stretched. My family also had to eliminate unhealthy food bought in bulk, such as crisps and chocolate bars. Furthermore, the pandemic made us more aware of the importance of keeping our homes clean, especially regarding cooking food. Lastly, it also made us more aware of how we talked to other people when they were ill and stayed home with them rather than being out and getting on with other things.

Furthermore, COVID-19 had a significant effect on my academic life. Immediately, measures to curb the pandemic were announced, such as closing all learning institutions in the country; my school life changed. The change began when our school implemented the online education system to ensure that we continued with our education during the lockdown period. At first, this affected me negatively because when learning was not happening in a formal environment, I struggled academically since I was not getting the face-to-face interaction with the teachers I needed. Furthermore, forcing us to attend online caused my classmates and me to feel disconnected from the knowledge being taught because we were unable to have peer participation in class. However, as the pandemic subsided, we grew accustomed to this learning mode. We realized the effects on our performance and learning satisfaction were positive, as it seemed to promote emotional and behavioral changes necessary to function in a virtual world. Students who participated in e-learning during the pandemic developed more ownership of the course requirement, increased their emotional intelligence and self-awareness, improved their communication skills, and learned to work together as a community.

If there is an area that the pandemic affected was the mental health of my family and myself. The COVID-19 pandemic caused increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns that were difficult for my family and me to manage alone. Our ability to learn social resilience skills, such as self-management, was tested numerous times. One of the most visible challenges we faced was social isolation and loneliness. The multiple lockdowns made it difficult to interact with my friends and family, leading to loneliness. The changes in communication exacerbated the problem as interactions moved from face-to-face to online communication using social media and text messages. Furthermore, having family members and loved ones separated from us due to distance, unavailability of phones, and the internet created a situation of fear among us, as we did not know whether they were all right. Moreover, some people within my circle found it more challenging to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers due to poor communication skills. This was mainly attributed to anxiety or a higher risk of spreading the disease. It was also related to a poor understanding of creating and maintaining relationships during this period.

Positive Changes

In addition, this pandemic has brought some positive changes with it. First, it had been a significant catalyst for strengthening relationships and neighborhood ties. It has encouraged a sense of community because family members, neighbors, friends, and community members within my area were all working together to help each other out. Before the pandemic, everybody focused on their business, the children going to school while the older people went to work. There was not enough time to bond with each other. Well, the pandemic changed that, something that has continued until now that everything is returning to normal. In our home, it strengthened the relationship between myself and my siblings and parents. This is because we started spending more time together as a family, which enhanced our sense of understanding of ourselves.

The pandemic has been a challenging time for many people. I can confidently state that it was a significant and potentially unprecedented change in our daily life. By changing how we do things and relate with our family and friends, the pandemic has shaped our future life experiences and shown that during crises, we can come together and make a difference in each other’s lives. Therefore, I embrace wholesomely the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in my life.

• Haleem, A., Javaid, M., & Vaishya, R. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 pandemic in daily life.  Current medicine research and practice ,  10 (2), 78.
• Rume, T., & Islam, S. D. U. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability.  Heliyon ,  6 (9), e04965.
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How do you feel during the COVID-19 pandemic? A survey using psychological and linguistic self-report measures, and machine learning to investigate mental health, subjective experience, personality, and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students

• Cornelia Herbert   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9652-5586 1 ,
• Alia El Bolock 1 , 2 &
• Slim Abdennadher 2  

BMC Psychology volume  9 , Article number:  90 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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The WHO has raised concerns about the psychological consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic, negatively affecting health across societies, cultures and age-groups.

This online survey study investigated mental health, subjective experience, and behaviour (health, learning/teaching) among university students studying in Egypt or Germany shortly after the first pandemic lockdown in May 2020. Psychological assessment included stable personality traits, self-concept and state-like psychological variables related to (a) mental health (depression, anxiety), (b) pandemic threat perception (feelings during the pandemic, perceived difficulties in describing, identifying, expressing emotions), (c) health (e.g., worries about health, bodily symptoms) and behaviour including perceived difficulties in learning. Assessment methods comprised self-report questions, standardized psychological scales, psychological questionnaires, and linguistic self-report measures. Data analysis comprised descriptive analysis of mental health, linguistic analysis of self-concept, personality and feelings, as well as correlational analysis and machine learning. N = 220 (107 women, 112 men, 1 = other) studying in Egypt or Germany provided answers to all psychological questionnaires and survey items.

Mean state and trait anxiety scores were significantly above the cut off scores that distinguish between high versus low anxious subjects. Depressive symptoms were reported by 51.82% of the student sample, the mean score was significantly above the screening cut off score for risk of depression. Worries about health (mental and physical health) and perceived difficulties in identifying feelings, and difficulties in learning behaviour relative to before the pandemic were also significant. No negative self-concept was found in the linguistic descriptions of the participants, whereas linguistic descriptions of feelings during the pandemic revealed a negativity bias in emotion perception. Machine learning (exploratory) predicted personality from the self-report data suggesting relations between personality and subjective experience that were not captured by descriptive or correlative data analytics alone.

Despite small sample sizes, this multimethod survey provides important insight into mental health of university students studying in Egypt or Germany and how they perceived the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in May 2020. The results should be continued with larger samples to help develop psychological interventions that support university students across countries and cultures to stay psychologically resilient during the pandemic.

Peer Review reports

Only in a few month, the COVID-19 epidemic developed into a serious pandemic affecting all countries around the globe. Physical and social distancing and global lockdown of public, social, and work life was and still is a necessity in many countries to fight the pandemic without vaccine. Scientific progress in understanding the behaviour of the virus has grown rapidly since the outbreak of the pandemic, while scientific understanding of the psychological consequences of the pandemic is still at a developing stage. Empirical studies investigating mental health, well-being, subjective experience and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic are currently underway and several survey studies from several countries have meanwhile been published. First published surveys investigated the mental health of Covid-19 survivors or of health care professionals enrolled in the treatment of COVID-19 patients [ 1 , 2 ]. Moreover, first observations from surveys investigating psychological reactions of the general population in the hot spot countries immediately after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 have meanwhile been published e.g., [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The results suggest a significant increase in mental ill health among populations during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting earlier observations from previous epi- and pandemics [ 6 ]. The World Health Organization (WHO) expects mental health burdens in the general population to be particularly pronounced in people who have already been at risk of or suffering from affective disorders before the pandemic (see for an overview [ 7 , 8 ]). Similarly, patients in general as well as patients with a chronic mental disorder in particular, are expected to suffer from impairments in mental health and well-being due to their medical and psychotherapeutic treatment being reduced or cancelled as a consequence of the pandemic lockdown [ 8 ]. In addition, health care professionals involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients as well as workers with system-relevant jobs are supposed to be at special risk of developing stress-related symptoms and diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue, anxiety, and depressive disorder [ 1 , 2 , 8 ].

However, the current COVID-19 pandemic is not just threatening specific parts of the population. On the contrary. The spread of the virus around the world, its exponential increase in infection probability, and its high lethality bear constant threats for whole societies and for each individual as the pandemic is still evident now, one year after the pandemic outbreak.

Therefore, according to the WHO, primary mental health prevention targeting either the general public or specific population groups should be an indispensable goal of crisis management of the current COVID-19 pandemic [ 8 ] comprising all age-groups from youth, adolescence to adulthood.

Notably, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic currently still requires behaviour change in everybody including daily behaviour (work, business, family, and leisure) as well as changes in health behaviour and social behaviour. In each country so far, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns affected daily behaviour routines including work, business, family, and leisure time activities. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns started in China in January 2020 and only a few months later, lockdowns followed in many countries around the globe including Germany and Egypt in March 2020. Crucially, in all countries, the first lockdowns came by far and large unexpected to the population. The restrictions in daily life and behaviour may therefore not be tolerated equally well by everybody. Accordingly, health care professionals and the WHO have suggested that counseling programs supporting and assisting people in behaviour change need to become part of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention initiatives [ 8 , 9 ] to avoid unnecessary mental health burdens in the general public.

However, in order to successfully support mental health, well-being, and behaviour in those social domains of life most seriously affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic, a better scientific understanding is required of how individual people experience and psychologically react to the current COVID-19 pandemic, how they think, feel, suffer and cope with the situation, and how they are handling threat perception, how they perceive and regulate emotions and behaviour [ 10 ].

Academia and education are two social and public domains that have been seriously affected by the pandemic lockdown in every country. Concerning Germany, in March 2020 the different states of Germany decided to postpone all academic teaching at higher education institutions to an indefinite period. The universities’ infrastructure including libraries were closed and students were not allowed to come to the university. Similarly, concerning Egypt, public and private universities responded in a similar manner as mandated by the government by closing the campus for students and switching all teaching activities to e-learning. Teaching courses including classes, laboratory courses, seminars, preparatory and induction courses were suspended for the summer term 2020. Teaching during the summer term was announced to be offered as online e-learning format. The lockdown situation in the two countries was thus almost identical for university students concerning the aspects of their social and academic life.

Working at home without any possibility of coming to the university campus and not being able of attending to lectures and courses face-to-face together with peers, tutors, and teachers require from students to learn and adapt to new behaviour rules. Psychologically, pandemics increase uncertainty [ 11 ]. Uncertainty causes stress and increases the risk for mental ill health if it conflicts with behaviour routines and habits [ 11 ]. Despite most of the students being digital natives, the abrupt switch from face-to-face communication to digital, computer-assisted forms of teaching and sole reliance on digital interaction as the only means of social interaction might not be tolerated mentally and physically equally well by all students. Whether the current pandemic situation and its consequences are experienced as a threat may depend on the students’ individual character, i.e., the student’s personality and self-concept as well as his/her current cognitive, affective, and motivational state.

Recent observations from published survey studies among Chinese students after the lockdown reported an increase in general anxiety within about 25% of the student participants. Anxiety symptoms ranged from mild to moderate to severe anxiety [ 3 ]. Moreover, pandemic self-isolation was found to be associated with complex patterns of psychopathology amongst students including an increase in symptoms of obsessive–compulsive disorder, hypochondria, depression, and neurasthenia [ 4 ]. Meanwhile published survey studies from several countries in Europe and across the world support negative changes in mental health among university students immediately after the first lockdowns in 2020, specifically in relation with quarantine and self-isolation [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].

Nationwide surveys conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic already reported elevated mental health problems and stress-related symptoms including anxiety and depression among university students [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], and this, although university students across countries might belong to the young educated low-risk population. In a recent online study including N = 185 university students studying in Germany, 36.6% of the students (women and men) reported to experience depressive symptoms, 41.83% (women and men) reported high levels of state anxiety, and mental stress due to excessive demands and uncertainty in finances, job, or social relationships [ 21 ]. This prevalence of academic stress and mental health burdens have been found among university students all over the globe [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], including Egypt [ 22 , 23 ].

Thus, as a population group, university students may be particularly vulnerable to stress-related lifestyle changes affecting mental health that are associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Individual differences in mental health may also exist and influence how the students perceive and how well they adapt and cope with the current COVID-19 pandemic situation and to what degree they are motivated to change their behaviour in response to the pandemic consequences in social and academic life and teaching. Psychological theories and models of behaviour change, e.g., Health Belief Model, Transtheoretical Model, or Social Cognitive Theory [ 24 , 25 , 26 ], all agree in that individual factors, specifically those related to emotion- and self-regulation can explain how people perceive themselves, whether and why they change their behaviour and why others do not. Threat perception has been suggested to play an outstanding role [ 27 ], because pandemics threaten the whole person, i.e. our self and the self-concept. Personality traits although considered stable may play a critical role in threat perception, in mental health and behaviour because they influence and modulate the person’s feelings, beliefs, and the person’s trust in one’s own self-regulatory abilities required to change one’s own behaviour [ 27 ]. Moreover, stable personality traits and a positive self-concept are considered general important stress buffers and protectors of mental health, whereas neuroticisms, trait anxiety, difficulties in describing and identifying feelings as well as an overall negative self-concept are considered significant risk factors of mental ill-health, specifically of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder [ 28 , 29 , 30 ].

These examples underscore the complexity and dynamics of how individual traits and state-like individual psychological factors as well as characteristics of the situation interact and influence subjective experience and behaviour. Methodologically, this raises questions of how interactions between situation, person and behaviour can best be assessed, investigated, modeled and predicted in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in which little empirical evidence is available so far and different aggregated data measures of qualitative and quantitative origin might be used to best capture the internal personal variables of interest (e.g., feelings, worries, self-concept, or personality traits) that provide insight into the subjective experience and the perceived changes in health and behaviour of individual persons behaving in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Computational modeling and machine learning have been already successfully applied in the field of pandemic research to predict transmission rates of the virus based on global behavioural changes of the general population [ 31 ]. These approaches require huge data sets (big data). In health behaviour research, first attempts have been made to apply computational models to data sets comprising smaller sample sizes to model behaviour of individuals, for instance, in response to behavioural interventions supporting health prevention [ 32 ]. These computational models build on psychological theories of human behaviour. Character Computing is one of these psychologically-driven approaches, whose computational models include stable character traits (e.g., personality, self-concept) and cognitive, affective, and motivational state variables and behavioural indicators as input to take into consideration the dynamic interactions between situation (S), person (P) and behaviour (B) (for an overview, see [ 33 , 34 , 35 ] and Fig.  1 ). The computational models are not fixed but can be improved and extended, e.g., by ontologies [ 36 ] or automated data processing, the more empirical evidence and data is available [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].

Illustration of the dynamic relationships between situation, a person’s character (traits and states), and behaviour change

Aim of this online survey study

Based on the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic outlined above, this online survey study is aimed at contributing to the scientific understanding of the psychological consequences of the pandemic by investigating mental health, subjective experience, and behaviour among university students studying in Egypt or Germany after the first pandemic lockdown in May 2020. As outlined above, university students may be particularly sensitive to lifestyle changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively affecting the students’ mental health, their subjective experience and behaviour. Moreover, as also explained above, the students’ personality traits and self-concept might constitute important stable psychological variables that could influence mental health as well as subjective experience and behaviour related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, to fully capture these psychological aspects, psychological assessment included a number of psychological variables ranging from stable personality traits and self-concept to state-like psychological variables sensitive to situational change and related to (a) mental health (current depressive symptoms and state anxiety), (b) pandemic threat and emotion perception including current feelings, (c) worries about health including perceived changes in paying attention to bodily symptoms, and (d) self-reported perceived changes in health behaviour (weight, eating, sleeping, physical activity), social and learning behaviour (difficulties in self-regulated learning). To capture all aspects summarized under (a)–(d), the assessment methods comprised a mix of self-report tools (survey items, standardized psychometric scales, psychological questionnaires, and linguistic self-report measures).

Data analysis included (a) descriptive analysis for prevalence estimation of mental health variables, (b) linguistic analysis of self-concept, personality and feelings during the pandemic and (c) correlational analysis and machine learning tools. Machine learning tools were used for exploratory purpose only to further explore the idea of whether machine learning algorithms could despite small sample sizes be trained to predict stable personality traits from the self-report data of the students. Knowing whether stable personality traits (that due to their stability cannot easily be changed by health care interventions) can be predicted from the students’ self-report data could help develop individualized health care interventions that take the students’ personality development into account. The online survey was distributed among university students studying at universities in Egypt and also in Germany. Both countries were equally affected by the lockdowns in May 2020. With respect to the already published survey studies (see above), all attesting an increase in mental ill health among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic the following main research questions were addressed:

RQ1 Mental health: Can the present online survey study confirm high state anxiety and depressive symptoms reported in previous studies in the current sample of university students during the time period of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in May 2020? Crucially, are the self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression when assessed on standardized psychological screening and assessments tools beyond the cut off scores of clinical samples, and comparable or even higher than the prevalence rates reported in pre-pandemic surveys?

RQ2 Threat perception and worries about health: Do university students report to experience threat, negative feelings and worries about health during the COVID-19 pandemic?

RQ3 Emotion perception: Do university students report to perceive difficulties in emotion perception in the time period of the first pandemic lockdown relative to before the pandemic?

RQ4 Health behaviour, social behaviour and learning: Do university students report to perceive changes in health behaviour (e.g., weight, eating, sleeping, physical activity, paying attention to bodily symptoms), and do they report to experience difficulties in self-regulation during learning (teaching), and in social behaviour in the time period of the first pandemic lockdown?

RQ5 Self-concept and personality: Do university students report a positive or a negative self-concept? Are mental health variables correlated with the students’ personality?

RQ6 Exploratory analysis: Can machine learning despite small data sample sizes predict stable personality traits from the self-report data of the students?

Participants

The survey study was designed and conducted by the Department of Applied Emotion and Motivation Psychology of Ulm University and administered via Ulm University and LimeSurvey software ( https://www.limesurvey.org/de/ ). The survey was advertised among others via the university’s international office to reach specifically students studying in Egypt. The survey was provided in English language (i.e., the academic language), and proficiency in English language was a prerequisite for taking part in the study. Participants were fully debriefed about the purpose of the survey, participation was voluntary and anonymous (see ethics statement). After registration, participants answered questions about their language proficiency, age, gender, their university, study year, and their living situation (alone, with friends or family). Only university students who were aged 18 years and older, and who provided informed consent were able to participate in the study. The survey items were structured in blocks of items and questionnaires: sociodemographic (1), personality (Big-Five) and anxiety (state and trait) (2), survey items about teaching, survey items about health including the linguistic task (self-concept) (3–4), and finally, emotion perception and depression screening (5). The blocking of the serial order of these topics lead to partial drop-outs across the survey, particularly across blocks (see below).

An overview of the complete study-design is provided in the flow-diagram in Fig.  2 . An overview of the online survey items and questionnaires can be found in the Additional file 1 .

Design of the survey including data collection and recruitment of participants and data analytics. Please see sections ““ Aim of this online survey study ” and “ Methods ” for detailed explanation

Study sample, survey drop-out and missing data

In total, N = 453 university students registered for the study and answered the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of these, n = 3 were pilots and n = 11 participants did not give informed consent or did not explicitly state that they want to get their data published in scientific research, and were therefore excluded from the study sample. N = 439 volunteers (n = 215 men, n = 219 women, n = 5 did prefer not to name their gender; mean age : 20.69 years, SD  = 2.87 years) completed the sociodemographic questions. Of these, n = 19 (4.3%) did not report to study in Germany or Egypt and were excluded. Of the 420 university students who reported to study in Egypt or Germany, n = 325 participants (n = 167 men, n = 156 women, n = 2 did prefer not to name their gender; mean age : 20.38 years, SD  = 1.76 years, range: 18–33 years) filled in the personality and anxiety questionnaires only, while n = 220 participants (n = 112 men, n = 107 women, n = 1 did prefer not to name the gender; mean age : 20.45 years, SD  = 1.88 years, range: 18–33 years) completed the entire survey. This corresponds to a survey completion rate of 0.49 (division of the number of participants who complete the entire survey (n = 220) by the total number of participants who register for the survey (n = 453)). This rate falls within the rate expected for online surveys (20–50%).

Analysis of the drop-outs (including e.g., univariate measures of variance (ANOVA)), showed no difference in age between the groups (i.e., the sample who filled in the sociodemographic items only (n = 95) versus the sample who filled in the personality and anxiety questionnaires only (n = 105) versus the final sample (n = 220), F (417,2) = 1.72, p  = .18. In addition, the student samples did not differ with respect to gender, i.e., the % of the number of women and men. Analysis of anxiety and personality scores likewise suggests that the final sample and the sample who dropped-out after filling in the personality or anxiety questionnaires (n = 220 versus n = 105) did not differ in state anxiety or in the scores on any of the Big-Five personality dimension. (state anxiety: F (323,1) = 1.77, p  > .18; Openness: F (323,1) = 0.16, p  > .69; Conscientiousness: F (323,1) = 2.82, p  > .13; Extraversion: F (332,1) = 0.94, p  > .33; Agreeableness: F (323,1) = .062, p  > .43; Neuroticism: F (323,1) = 1.22, p  > .27). Mean scores of trait anxiety differed between the final sample and the sample who dropped out (n = 220: mean : 46.02, SD  = 11.2, range : 26–79 vs. n = 105: mean : 49.02, SD  = 10.98, range : 26–77, F (323,1) = 5.78, p  = .017). However, using median tests (which are less susceptible to outliers) showed no significant difference in the distribution of trait anxiety scores between the samples (median-test = 1.59, p  = .21), see Fig.  3 for an overview.

State and Trait Anxiety distributions across the final sample and drop outs (left upper column). Mean state and trait anxiety scores in women and man in the final sample (left lower column), significant results ( p  < .05) are illustrated by lines and cross. Percentage of students reporting depressive symptoms (middle column). Right column: Percentage of students reporting changes in emotion perception on the TAS-20 questionnaire and subscales after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak

The survey was programmed such that it produced as little missing data as possible. Therefore, missing data of single items in a questionnaire or in a block of open items could be excluded and missing scores were therefore not imputed. Regarding the self-generated prompts, participants were free to answer the prompts (self-concept and feeling descriptions). Inspection of the data shows that in the full sample, 5 participants did not fill in all of self-descriptive prompts, leaving open 1, 2 or 3 of the descriptions, respectively.

Measures: survey items and questionnaires

The online survey included several self-report measures comprising a mix of single items with open and closed questions, standardized psychometric scales, and standardized psychological questionnaires. The section below and Table  1 provide an overview of the survey items, questionnaire measures and hypotheses grouped according to the psychological domains and research questions of interest (for an overview, see also RQ1–RQ6 in the section “ Aim of this online survey study ”).

Mental health: anxiety (trait/state), current depressive symptoms (last 2 weeks)

As illustrated in Table  1 , the participants anxiety proneness including trait and state anxiety as well as their current self-reported depressive symptoms (last 2 weeks) were assessed with psychological questionnaires including the Spielberger Trait and State Inventory (STAI, [ 37 ]), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2, [ 38 ]). The STAI is available in many different languages and has shown similar values of internal consistencies among university students from European and Arabic countries [ 39 ]. Whereas the trait scale of the STAI asks for how one generally feels, the instruction of the state scale of the STAI asks for how one feels right now. The PHQ-2 has proven to be a robust screening for depressive symptoms across different cultures including European and Arabic countries [ 40 ]. It asks for the presence of depressive symptoms over a time period of the last two weeks.

Threat perception, feelings, and perceived difficulties in emotion perception during the COVID-19 pandemic

Threat perception as well as discrete emotions and feelings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic situation were assessed by single survey items. Specifically, these items asked the participants about how the current COVID-19 pandemic situation makes them feel in terms of valence (positive/pleasant-negative/unpleasant), arousal (low/calm-high/aroused), and dominance (feeling in or out of control of the situation). The 9-point Self-Assessment Manikin scales (SAM, [ 41 ]) were used for valence, arousal and dominance assessment. The SAM scales are one of the most robust and frequently used scales for the unbiased, non-verbal assessment of emotions and feelings on the three dimensions of emotions including valence, arousal and dominance [ 41 ]. In accordance with the literature [ 41 ], the SAM scales ranged from 1 (negative/unpleasant, low arousal/calm, out of control) to 9 (positive/pleasant, high arousal/aroused, in control). In addition, we asked the participants to indicate which kind of discrete emotions they experienced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants could choose among six discrete emotions (sad, anxious, angry, disgusted, happy, surprised, or neutral). In addition, participants were given five prompts to describe their current feelings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic situation (“I feel ….”). In order to assess potential difficulties in emotion perception, participants filled in the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; [ 42 ]), which comprises the three subscales “Difficulty Describing Feelings”, “Difficulty Identifying Feelings”, and “Externally-Oriented Thinking”. Since we were interested in perceived changes since the pandemic outbreak, participants were instructed to answer each item of the TAS-20 questionnaire relative to before the pandemic.

Worries about health and perceived changes in behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Worries about health, perceived changes in paying attention to bodily symptoms (e.g., taste, smell, cardiovascular, respiration/breathing, appetite/eating/drinking), as well as perceived changes in health behaviour (weight, eating behaviour, sleep and physical activity behaviour) as well as perceived difficulties in social behaviour (social distancing) and self-regulatory learning (i.e., difficulties in paying attention to the content provided by e-learning, difficulties in studying with the same effort as before the pandemic situation) were assessed via single survey items. The single item questions that asked for worries and perceived changes in behaviour could be answered with “yes” or “no”; “yes” meaning an increase and “no” meaning no change in relation to before the pandemic. The items on health behaviour included items asking in both directions, e.g., whether one eats more or less, sleeps more or less, exercises more or less than before the pandemic. The single item questions of paying attention to bodily symptoms could be answered on 10-point Likert scales such that change scores could be calculated based on the participants’ answers allowing evaluation of the degree of change as increase, decrease or no change during the pandemic situation in relation to before the pandemic (see Table  1 for an overview).

Personality and self-concept

As illustrated in Table  1 , the participants’ personality traits were assessed with the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-40, [ 43 ]). The BFI-40 is a standardized self-report measure that has been validated in different cultural populations and age groups [ 44 ]. The self-concept was assessed using a modified short version of the twenty statements tests (TST, [ 45 ]). The TST is a cross-cultural tool for the assessment of different facets of the self-concept including actual, ideal, and ought selves. In the present study, participants had to generate self-descriptions for the actual self only. In line with the instruction of the TST [ 45 ], participants were asked to provide five words to the prompts “I am ….” in order to describe themselves.

Mental health: anxiety (trait and state) and current depressive symptoms

In line with previous pre-pandemic surveys among university students (see Background for an overview), we expected a high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the present sample of university students irrespective of their culture or country in which they study. Prevalence rates for self-reported current depressive symptoms assessed with the screening tool of the PHQ-2 asking for depressive symptoms in the last 2 weeks (PHQ-2 items: item1: “little interest or pleasure in doing things”; item 2: “feeling down, depressed or hopeless”) and state anxiety (asking for how one feels right now) might be expected to be even higher than prevalence rates reported in previous surveys before the pandemic situation.

Threat perception, feelings, and difficulties in emotion perception

We expected threat perception to the COVID-19 pandemic to be associated with self-reported unpleasantness, feelings of moderate to high levels of arousal, self-reported perceived lack of dominance (feeling less in control of the situation) on the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scales. In addition, we expected self-reports of feelings of anger, sadness, and anxiety towards the pandemic as assessed by the survey items assessing discrete emotions. We also explored whether students report to perceive changes in emotion perception since the pandemic outbreak relative to before the pandemic outbreak. Specifically, we explored whether participants report difficulties in describing and identifying feelings and report externally oriented thinking on the TAS-20 as potential maladaptive adaptions in coping with the pandemic lockdown. As mentioned above, the instruction of the TAS-20 items asked the participants to answer the items in relation to before the pandemic.

Worries about health, perceived changes in behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

We expected that the majority of students will report to be more worried about their mental and physical health than before the pandemic. Moreover, we expected a higher awareness of bodily symptoms (i.e., paying more attention to perceived changes in smell, taste, cardiovascular functions, breathing/respiration, and appetite/eating/drinking) relative to before the pandemic. Given that the lockdown in every country had effects on the students’ work and leisure time activities, we also expected that participants will report changes in health behaviour including a decrease in regular physical activity compared to before the pandemic lockdown including self-reported changes in eating- and sleeping behaviour and weight. We also expected difficulties in learning and social behaviour (see Table  1 ).

Moreover, we examined how university students see themselves (self-concept). In particular, we explored whether the students would report a positive or negative self-concept and compared their linguistic descriptions of the self to their descriptions of their current feelings pandemic-related feelings (“I feel …) and their personality. Regarding personality, we explored whether stable psychological personality traits (Big Five and trait anxiety) would be correlated with state anxiety and depressive symptoms and the students’ perceived changes in emotion perception. Finally, we examined for exploratory purpose, whether machine learning could predict the students’ personality traits from their reports (for details see “Data Analysis” section).

Descriptive analyses and statistics

To answer the hypotheses outlined above, the participants’ answers (questionnaires, single items) were analysed descriptively to provide insight into how many students on average reported anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as how many students reported to perceive changes in subjective experience (threat perception, difficulties in emotion perception, worries about health, bodily symptoms) and behaviour (health, social, learning). Analysis of the questionnaires (PHQ-2, STAI, TAS-20, BFI-40) followed the guidelines and manuals and were calculated as sum scores or mean scores (non-normalized). For the PHQ-2, STAI and TAS-20, cut off scores are available from the literature (see “ Results ” section). These cut off scores were also used in the present study to discriminate between high versus low trait anxiety, high versus low state anxiety, depressive symptoms, and difficulties in emotion perception. Means and standard deviations were calculated for all questionnaire data and for the closed survey items using Likert scales or the SAM scales. The questionnaire data and answers to the survey items were tested statistically for significance by means of non-parametric or parametric statistical tests as appropriate. The respective test statistics are presented in brackets in the “ Results ” sections. Given the drop-out across blocks of the survey (see section about Sample size, survey drop-out and missing data), the results for each scale, item or questionnaire were calculated for the available sample who filled in the questions and the final sample (n = 220) who filled in the complete survey and who reported to study in Egypt or Germany. P values are reported uncorrected and two tailed if not otherwise specified. The SPSS software (IBM SPSS Statistics Software, Version 27) was used for all statistical testing including correlation analysis (see below).

Correlational analysis

Correlation analyses (Pearson) were used to assess the relationships between the Big Five personality traits (BFI-40), mental health variables (STAI: trait and state anxiety, PHQ2: screening for depressive symptoms), and difficulties in emotion perception (TAS-20). P values are reported uncorrected and two tailed if not otherwise specified.

Linguistic analysis of self-concept and feelings

The open-ended linguistic answers assessing the self-concept (“I am …”) and feelings in response to the pandemic (“I feel …”) were analysed with computer-assisted text analysis tools including Linguistic Inquiry of Word Count (LIWC; [ 46 ]). The dictionary of the LIWC software contains words and word stems, grouped into semantic categories related to psychological constructs. The categories provided by the LIWC allow the assessment of the polarity of words (positive or negative). The LIWC analysis produces reliably results with about 500 words and more. Therefore, in the present study, words generated by each participant were accumulated across participants and entered as a whole text corpus for words generated for the prompts “I am …” (self-concept) or for the prompt “I feel …” (feelings in response to the pandemic), respectively. This allows the evaluation of the self-concept and current pandemic feelings of the university sample as a whole. For the linguistic analysis no statistic testing was performed.

Machine learning (exploratory analysis)

Machine learning (ML) was used for exploratory purpose only and the ML algorithms were chosen to combine the different psychological variables that were descriptively analysed in order to explore whether individual personality traits including the Big Five and trait anxiety can be predicted and classified by automated machine learning tools. To this end, the questionnaire scores and answers to the different survey items were preprocessed according to the following procedure: the participants’ Big Five personality traits from the BFI-40, the state and trait anxiety scores (from the STAI including for each individual, a difference score for self-reported trait and state anxiety), depression (PHQ-2), perceived changes regarding difficulties in emotion perception (TAS-20) as well as the participants’ answers on the SAM scales for threat perception (e.g., valence, arousal, dominance) were normalized (z-scores). The participants’ answers to the discrete emotions elicited during the pandemic, difference scores assessing increase in current anxiety (difference score comparing STAI state vs. STAI trait) as well as the participants’ answers to the survey items asking for worries and perceived changes in health and behaviour were labeled as positive or negative or set to zero if the students reported no change. The answers to the survey items asking for perceived changes in paying attention to bodily sensations/symptoms were combined to a total score denoting the total perceived changes in attention towards bodily sensations/symptoms and the total change was labeled as positive or negative depending on whether attention increased or decreased relative to before the pandemic or set to zero if there was no change. Sociodemographic variables such as country or university were no contribution factors in prediction and classification. After data preprocessing and data labeling, the dataset for machine learning comprised continuous features and discrete categorical features. The whole dataset was denoted “X” and the continuous or discrete features were denoted “y” in the feature matrix. The machine learning libraries of the Python software package ( https://www.python.org/ ) were used for automated data analysis. Data analysis was based on regression models. Gradient Boosting Regression (GBR) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) were chosen for the regression models. The principle of Gradient Boosting Regression is to build multiple regression models based on decision trees. Decision tree models are supervised machine learning algorithms that have tree structures that recursively break down the dataset into smaller datasets through branching operations while comparing the final node results with the target values. Decision tree models provide the best fit for small sample sizes to avoid overfitting the data. The same holds true for support vector machine algorithms. Support Vector Regressions (SVR) aim at finding the best fitting line in continuous data within a predefined threshold error. The evaluation of the accuracy of the prediction is evaluated based on the root mean squared error (RMSE). Depending on the type of data to be predicted, RMSE within 10–20% of the range is considered a good result. Especially with human self-report, data accuracies are usually much lower than in other more deterministic domains of machine learning e.g., natural language processing or bioinformatics. One reason for the lower accuracies in human behaviour data is the higher variance in the data itself [ 47 ]. To account for this, we accepted a RMSE of up to 16.6% as sufficient for the decision that the data can be predicted by the model accurately.

We used the classical train/test split approach with a ratio of 8:2. Train/test split is a common validation approach frequently used in ML studies including those with smaller sample sizes [for a critical review see [ 48 ]). No k-fold cross validation (CV) approach was chosen as it has been shown that k-fold CV can lead to overestimation especially with small sample sizes, whereas train/test split and nested CV approaches have been shown to be equally reliable even with small sample sizes [ 48 ]. We also performed hyperparameter tuning, an algorithm frequently used and recommended in machine learning to choose and select during training the best model while avoiding biasing the data, and the number of features and the feature-to-sample ratio) was kept in an optimal range (less features than samples) for avoiding overfitting [ 48 ].

Descriptive data analytics

Mental health: anxiety (trait and state) and depressive symptoms.

The mean state and trait anxiety scores of the university students who completed the entire survey and who studied in Egypt or in Germany (n = 220) were above the cut off scores that according to the literature distinguishes between high versus low anxious subjects [ 49 ]. The mean state anxiety score as measured with the STAI inventory was significantly above the cut of score of 40 (n = 220, mean : 50.04, SD  = 3.77; T  = 39.47, df  = 219, cut off: 40, p  < 0.001). A cut off score below or above a score of 44 in the trait STAI scale differentiates between low trait anxious and high anxiety prone individuals [ 49 ]. The mean score for trait anxiety was significantly higher than this cut off score (n = 220, mean: 46.02, SD  = 11.56; T  = 2.60, df  = 219, cut off: 44, p  < 0.01). Given the drop-out of n = 105 students, the analysis of the mean state and trait anxiety scores were recalculated for the final sample including those students who dropped out. The analysis showed that also in this larger sample of n = 325 students the cut off scores were significantly above the cut off scores (state anxiety: n = 325; mean : 50.23, SD  = 3.75; T  = 49.13, df  = 324, cut off: 40, p  < 0.001; trait anxiety: n = 325; mean : 47.08, SD  = 11.52; T  = 4.72, df  = 324, cut off: 44, p  < 0.001) and in addition, trait anxiety scores (trait) did not differ significantly between women and men in this sample (trait anxiety: n = 325; mean-woman : 47.94, SD  = 11.82; men: 45.96, SD  = 10.91; F (321,1) = 2.45, p  > 0.12). However, women reported higher state anxiety scores than men. This difference in state anxiety scores between women and men was significant (state anxiety: n = 325; mean-woman : 50.81, SD  = 3.62; men: 49.63, SD  = 3.79; F (321,1) = 8.08, p  < 0.005) and was also significant in the n = 220 sample. There was no significant difference in state anxiety scores between students studying in Egypt or Germany, neither in the n = 220 sample nor in the sample comprising n = 325 students (n = 220, state anxiety: Egypt- mean : 50.16, SD  = 3.75, Germany- mean : 49.08, SD  = 3.86, Mann – Whitney-U  = -1.39, p  = 0.16; n = 325, state anxiety: Egypt- mean  = 50.32, SD  = 3.70, Germany- mean : 49.45, SD  = 4.22, Mann – Whitney-U  = -1.24, p  = 0.22). However, students studying in Egypt reported higher trait anxiety compared to the students studying in Germany (n = 325, trait anxiety: Egypt- mean : 47.62, SD  = 11.60, Germany- mean : 42.24, SD  = 9.75, n = 220, trait anxiety: Egypt- mean : 46.49, SD  = 11.57, Germany- mean : 42.40, SD  = 10.93), but this difference was not significant in the final sample (n = 220, Mann – Whitney-U  = − 1.39, p  = 0.16). The results are illustrated and summarized in Fig.  3 .

For the PHQ-2 screening for depressive symptoms a sum score greater than 3 on both items is associated with depression proneness [ 38 ]. In the sample of university students who completed the entire survey and therefore had filled in the PHQ-2 depression screening, the mean sum score was mean: 3.48, SD  = 1.58, and significantly above the cut off score ( T  = 4.51, df  = 219, cut off = 3, p  < 0.0001). 51.82% (n = 114) of the students had sum scores greater than the cut off (> 3), and 19.09% (n = 42) had a sum score of 3 (cut off). Only 26.82% (n = 59) of the sample scored below the PHQ-2 cut off score (< 3), and only 2.27% (n = 5) did report to not suffer from loss of interest or pleasure in doing things (PHQ-2 item 1) or from feeling down, depressed or hopeless during the last two weeks (PHQ-2 item 1) (see Fig.  3 for an overview on state anxiety and depressive symptoms). The PHQ-2 scores did not differ between students studying in Egypt or Germany (n = 220, Egypt- mean : 3.51, SD  = 1.56, Germany- mean : 3.24, SD  = 1.79, Mann – Whitney-U  = − 0.643, p  = 0.52) nor did they differ between women and men (n = 220, woman- mean : 3.48, SD  = 1.54, men- mean : 3.47, SD  = 1.63, F (217,1) = 0.00, p  = 0.98).

Descriptive analysis of the items assessing threat perception (SAM; Self-Assessment Manikin scales ranging from 1 (unpleasant, not aroused, or no control) to 9 (pleasant, very highly aroused, in control)) showed that, the students (n = 220) felt slightly unpleasant ( mean : 4.19, SD  = 1.97). In addition, 55% (n = 120) of the final study sample (n = 220) reported a score from 1 to 4, i.e., from high unpleasantness to moderate unpleasantness on the 9-point SAM valence scale. On average, the students did not feel much in or out of control of the situation ( mean : 5.07, SD  = 2.41) on the 9-point SAM scale for dominance. Nevertheless, 37.55% of the study sample reported a score from 1 (no control) to 4 (loss of control) on the SAM scale for dominance. Mean physiological arousal was rated as moderate ( mean : 5.40, SD  = 2.22). However, 50% of the university students (n = 110) reported an arousal score of 6 (aroused) to 9 (very high arousal) on the SAM arousal scale. Given the drop-out of students, comparisons of the ratings (valence, arousal, or control) were performed between samples (n = 220 and n = 59 who completed the ratings but did not fill in the entire survey). This showed that the ratings did not differ between the samples ( Mann – Whitney-U -tests, all p  > 0.70). From the set of discrete emotions (including sadness, anger, fear, disgust, happiness, surprise, or neutral emotions), 66.8% reported to feel not neutral, 93.2% reported to feel not happy, 56.4% reported to feel sad, 75.9% reported to feel angry, 92.3% reported to feel surprised, 87.7% reported to feel disgusted, and 52.7% reported to feel afraid by the current pandemic situation. The distribution of “yes” versus “no” answers differed significantly for the categories feel neutral, happy, surprised, disgusted, or angry, respectively, (non-parametric test for binomial distribution: all p  < 0.001). From all students who completed these items (n = 277) the same significant results were obtained for the answers concerning discrete emotions.

16.88% of the students of the final sample (n = 220) had a total TAS-20 score greater than the critical TAS-20 cut off score (TAS-20 cut off > 60, [ 30 ]). From the three subscales of the TAS-20 questionnaire, changes in self-reported difficulties in emotion perception in relation to the pandemic as compared to before the pandemic were reported by 62.27% (n = 137) for items belonging to the subscale “Difficulty describing feelings”, and by 71.82% (n = 158) for the items belonging to the subscale “Difficulty identifying feelings” and by 50.91% (n = 112) for the items belonging to the subscale “Externally Orienting Thinking”. The distributions of the TAS-20 scores of the three subscales did not differ between students studying in Egypt or Germany ( Mann – Whitney-U , all p  > 0.50). However, woman (n = 107) reported higher scores on the subscales “Difficulties identifying feeling” compared to men (n = 112), F (217,1) = 217.1, p  = 0.035.

Worries about health

In the final sample who completed the survey (n = 220), 65.5% (n = 144 students) of the study sample reported to worry about their mental health more due to the COVID-19 pandemic than before the pandemic, whereas 34.5% (n = 76) answered to worry not more than before the pandemic. 71.4% (n = 157) of the students reported to worry more about their physical health than before the pandemic, whereas 28.6% (n = 63) answered to worry not more about their physical health than before the pandemic. The distributions of “yes” versus “no” differed significantly for both, worries about mental and physical health, respectively (non-parametric test for binomial distribution: all p  < 0.001) and this also held true when considering all students who filled in these items (n = 227). Self-reported worries about mental health and physical health were significantly related (χ2 = 100.43, df  = 2, p < 0.001). 65% (n = 143 of n = 220) reported to worry in both domains (mental health and physical health) more than before the pandemic and this also held true when considering all students who filled in these items (n = 227), see Fig.  4 a.

a Worries about mental health or physical health or both (mental and physical health). The cross represents significant results, p  < .05. b Perceived changes in health behaviour including weight, eating, sleeping, and physical activity. The cross represents significant results, p  < .05

Behaviour: health

Across health behaviour domains (weight, eating, sleep, physical activity), 52.3%, 58.2%, 31.8%, and 76.4% of the study sample (n = 220) reported to have gained weight, to eat more than before the pandemic and to not sleep more or exercise more than before the pandemic situation. The distributions of “yes” versus “no” answers were significantly different for the domains of eating, sleep and exercise/physical activity (non-parametric test for binomial distribution: eat, sleep, exercise/physical activity all p  < 0.001) and this again held true when considering all students who filled in the items (n = 227). Paying attention to bodily sensations and symptoms (i.e., changes in taste, smell, appetite/eating/drinking, cardiovascular functions, breathing/respiration) did however not change significantly relative to before the pandemic outbreak. On average, on Likert scales ranging from 1 (“decrease”) to 5 (“no change”) to 10 (“increase”), participants reported not to pay more attention to or to be more aware of bodily sensations and symptoms than before the pandemic (smell: mean : 5.18, SD  = 1.21, taste: mean : 5.15, SD  = 1.27, bodily symptoms: mean : 5.84, SD  = 1.74, cardiac symptoms: mean : 5.78, SD  = 1.66, breathing: mean : 5.77, SD  = 1.64, eating and drinking/appetite: mean : 5.52, SD  = 2.09). The answers on these rating scales did not differ between students studying in Egypt or Germany (all p  > 0.16), but comparisons between women and men showed that women scored significantly higher on the scale asking for attention to bodily symptoms than men (woman- mean : 6.18, SD  = 1.90, men- mean : 5.50, SD  = 1.53, F (217,1) = 8.50, p  > 0.002). This again held true when considering all students who filled in the items (n = 227).

Behaviour: social distancing and learning

Being asked about their social situation of self-isolation, teaching and learning behaviour, 54% of the student sample (n = 220) replied to have difficulties in not going out during the pandemic. 76.4% replied to have difficulties in self-regulated learning, being unable of focusing their attention on the teaching content. Of these students, 60.9% replied to have difficulties in studying with the same self-regulatory effort because of being anxiously preoccupied with the current pandemic situation (see Fig.  4 b). The distributions of “yes” versus “no” answers were significantly different for the domains of learning (non-parametric test for binomial distribution: eat, sleep, exercise/physical activity all p  < 0.002) and this again held true when considering all students who filled in these items (n = 305, all p  < 0.001).

Linguistic self-concept and self-descriptions of current feelings

Linguistic self-descriptions (“I am …”) showed a positivity bias. Overall, more positive words than negative words were used by the students to describe themselves (see Fig.  5 ). As mentioned above, linguistic analysis of the university students’ self-descriptions about how the current COVID-19 pandemic situation makes them feel (“I feel …”) showed the reverse pattern with more negative words than positive words being used by the study sample to complete the prompt “I feel ….” (see Fig.  5 ). In addition, Fig.  6 shows the most prominent examples, i.e., the words most often used by the students to describe their feelings during the pandemic.in the prompt “I feel …”.

Percentage of negative and positive words. Left column: Self-concept: “I am …”. Right column: Current feelings during the pandemic “I feel …”

Summary of the words most often used by the university students to describe their feelings in response to the pandemic

Personality: Big Five

The final student sample (n = 220) scored low on the BFI-40 subscales for extraversion ( mean : 24.5, SD  = 5.65), neuroticism ( mean : 25.37, SD  = 6.51), and reported moderate scores on the conscientiousness scale ( mean : 30.69, SD  = 6.07), the openness scale ( mean : 36.85, SD  = 5.07), and the agreeableness scale ( mean : 33.42, SD  = 4.50) and as described earlier (see section “ Study sample, survey drop-out and missing data ”), the BFI-40 scores of the samples (n = 220 vs. n = 105 who dropped-out) did not differ in the five personality dimensions. The Big Five personality traits were significantly correlated with self-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as with the self-reported difficulties in emotion perception. Table  2 shows a summary of the correlations between measures of personality traits (BFI-40), trait anxiety (STAI-trait scale), state anxiety (STAI-state scale), self-reported depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), and perceived difficulties in emotion perception (TAS-20) as obtained from the final sample (n = 220).

Automated data analytics, machine learning (exploratory)

The university students’ personality traits (Big Five) and trait anxiety could be predicted from the psychological variables (trait and state) summarized in Table  3 through feature importance extraction by Support Vector Regression. The table and the numbers in percent show the major contributing factors to the prediction of the respective trait listed in the left column (under “Measure”). Table  4 shows the prediction accuracy suggesting that prediction of all trait attributes have similar error rates.

The COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll. Concerns have been raised by the WHO (2020) [ 8 ], that the COVID-19 pandemic will cause “a considerable degree of fear, worry and concern in the population” (cited from WHO, 2020 [ 8 ]) and that stress and anxiety as well as depression will increase considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering affective disorders a public mental health concern of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 8 ]. In the present survey, mental health (depressive symptoms, state and trait anxiety), subjective experience (threat perception, current feelings, perceived difficulties in emotion perception, worries about health during the pandemic) as well as perceived changes in behaviour (related to health, social behaviour and learning/teaching) was assessed among university students studying in Egypt or Germany, respectively. The survey was administered in May 2020, shortly after the lockdown in these countries. Going beyond previous surveys, the students’ self-concept and the Big Five of human personality were additionally assessed to explore psychological patterns between personality traits, mental health, and perceived changes in subjective experience by means of correlation analysis and machine learning.

Mental health among university students

Regarding pandemic risk groups, previous cross-cultural pre-pandemic surveys have shown high prevalence rates of anxiety and depression among university students across countries [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Therefore, the WHO’s concerns about the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being might affect university students as a population group as well. The results obtained from this sample of university students who study in Egypt or Germany during the first lockdown period confirm these concerns. In particular, the results confirm previous pre-pandemic results about mental health of university students and they seem to confirm the concerns of the WHO regarding mental health and threat perception during the current pandemic. The mean state anxiety score (assessed with standardized questionnaires including the Spielberger Trait-State Anxiety Inventory, STAI) was significantly above the cut off score that, according to the literature [ 34 ], discriminate high from low anxious subjects. In addition, state anxiety scores were significantly higher in woman than man. Moreover, 51.82% (n = 114) of the students had sum scores greater than the cut off (> 3), and 19.09% (n = 42) had a sum score of 3 (cut off). Only 26.82% (n = 59) of the sample scored below the PHQ-2 cut off score (< 3), and only 2.27% (n = 5) did report to not suffer from loss of interest or pleasure in doing things (PHQ-2 item 1) or from feeling down, depressed or hopeless during the last two weeks (PHQ-2 item 1), and self-reported depressive symptom did not differ among students studying in Egypt or Germany or in woman or men (see Fig.  3 for an overview on state anxiety and depressive symptoms). Thus, in total, 51.82% and 19.09% of the final student sample (n = 220) reported depressive symptoms at and above the cut off score for depressive symptoms [ 38 ], thus feeling depressed or hopeless and reporting a loss of interest and pleasure in the items of the PHQ-2 questionnaire during most of the days of the last 2 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prevalence rates from previous surveys among university students reported a prevalence of anxiety symptoms or depressive symptoms above 35% among university students before the pandemic (e.g., for depression or anxiety [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]). A recent online study [ 21 ], including N = 185 university students studying in Germany found that 36.6% of the university students (women and men) report experiencing depressive symptoms, 41.83% (women and men) reported experiencing high levels of state anxiety, and all students reported experiencing stress due to excessive demands and uncertainty in finances, job, or social relationships. These prevalence rates have actually been found in cohort studies including university students all over the globe, irrespective of culture before the outbreak of the pandemic [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. In relation to these pre-pandemic prevalence rates, the prevalence of state anxiety and of depressive symptoms in the current sample seem to have more than doubled during the pandemic time period.

The scores for state anxiety need to be seen in relation to the results obtained for trait anxiety. As mentioned above, trait anxiety scores were even higher in those students who dropped-out, however state anxiety scores did not differ across students who completed the survey and those who did not. Students with high state anxiety during the pandemic may be at special risk of suffering from anxiety proneness in the long run. Therefore, surveys among university students should be continued to further explore the development of anxiety and particularly also of depressive symptoms during the current pandemic as well as the comorbidity of anxiety with depressive symptoms as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Very recent surveys among university students from Greece (Europe) and the United States conducted in a similar time period (during the first lockdowns in these countries) report similar high percentage numbers of anxiety, depression and mental health burdens [ 12 , 13 ]). Given that the STAI asks for feelings of stress, worry, discomfort, experienced on a day to day basis one could expect changes in other psychological domains as well (see below).

Threat perception and perceived difficulties in emotion perception

Being asked about their feelings during the pandemic, 55% of the students reported unpleasantness and 37.55% of the students rated to be in loss of control of the situation, and about 50% reported moderate to high physiological arousal. Moreover, university students reported a mix of discrete emotions in response to the pandemic. In particular, there was a significant loss of happiness, and a change in feelings of surprise, disgust and anger. In line with this, as illustrated in Fig.  5 , linguistic analysis of the participants’ answers to the questions “I feel …” also suggest a negativity bias in the linguistic descriptions of the students’ feelings: In summary, there was more intense use of negative than positive words to describe one’s feelings in response to the pandemic. Thus, feelings of threat and negative emotions were also reflected in the self-generated linguistic answers of the students, supporting a general increase in anxiety during the first period of the COVID-19 pandemic among university students. Similarly, and in line with the scores obtained from the depression screening instrument (PHQ-2), linguistic analysis of the questions “I feel …” revealed a high percentage of words such as feeling depressed, down or hopeless (see Fig.  6 ). Thus, anxiety and depression related words were amongst the most frequently used words when participants were asked to describe in their own words, how the current COVID-19 pandemic situation makes them feel. The study sample also reported to have perceived difficulties in emotion perception during the pandemic. Using the three subscales of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the participants were instructed to rate whether they experience difficulties in emotion perception relative to before the pandemic situation. Especially difficulties in identifying and describing feelings were reported. Moreover, the sum scores of the TAS-20 were significantly correlated with the students’ anxiety scores and the intensity of self-reported depressive symptoms (see Table  2 ). Taken together, these results are of particular interest in light of discussions which mental health interventions might help university students to cope with the threat provoked by the pandemic situation. Given that previous research has shown that high scores on the TAS-20 promote psychopathology [ 28 , 29 ], the reports of the students about them perceiving difficulties in identifying one’s feelings in response to the pandemic situation relative to before the pandemic outbreak should be taken seriously and investigated in further studies in larger student cohorts.

Worries about health and health behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

Moreover, the university students’ worries about health should be taken seriously. Chronic worrying is a sign of chronic distress and constitutes a risk factor of later development of general anxiety disorder [ 54 ]. In the current study, 65.5% of the final student sample (n = 220) reported being worried about their mental health and 71.4% reported to worry about their physical health more often than before the pandemic. The majority of the student sample did, however, not report to pay more attention to bodily sensations or symptoms (taste, smell, cardiovascular, respiration/breathing) than before the pandemic. However, worries about mental and physical health were accompanied by perceived changes in health behaviour. The percentage of “yes” and “no”-answers differed significantly for changes in health behaviour related to eating and physical activity behaviour since the outbreak of the pandemic. We did not ask the students for their eating behaviour or their physical activity level before the pandemic. Thus, the questions asking for perceived changes during relative to before the pandemic might have the potential of a memory bias. Nevertheless, pre-pandemic surveys report that up to 30% of university students do not exercise at a regular basis and do not meet the WHO’s weekly or daily physical activity recommendations (for an overview see [ 55 ]). The present results suggest a reduction in physical activity during the pandemic and physical inactivity and sedentarism are among the major risk factors promoting negative lifestyle-related diseases in the long run [ 55 ].

Learning behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic might have negative effects on student’s teaching and learning behaviour. In the present sample of university students, difficulties in teaching and learning were reported by the majority of students. One interpretation of these results is, that pandemic situations such as the current COVID-19 pandemic are characterized by uncertainty, fear, and threat, i.e., factors that are known to impact self-regulation. Previous research has shown that self-regulation is negatively related with threat perception [ 27 ] because responding to fear, anxiety and to threatening events depletes top-down control and self-regulatory resources [ 56 , 57 ] that are also required for academic performance. In line with this, students reported having difficulties in focusing and concentrating on the teaching content during the current COVID-19 pandemic situation (see Fig.  4 b). Self-learning formats such as e-learning may accentuate these effects.

Self-concept and personality of university students, and machine learning

When asked to describe themselves with a modified version of the TST asking for descriptions of the students’ “actual self”, positive word use outweighed negative word use. When the student sample was considered as a whole, linguistic analysis of word use (see Fig.  5 ) supported a clear bias towards positivity that also accords with previous results that seeing yourself in a positive light correlates with positive self-descriptions and preferential processing of positive words [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 ]. Although this result must be seen in relation to a general positivity bias in written and spoken language (most languages having more positive than negative words [ 62 ], the analysis of word use suggests that the pandemic situation at the time of the survey did not provoke a threat to the self-concept of this university student sample and this, although linguistic analysis of the answers to the prompt that asked for feelings during the pandemic (see also Fig.  5 ) revealed a negativity bias as immediate negative responses to the pandemic situation in line with the results observed for the survey items asking for threat perception. Symptoms of state anxiety and current depressive symptoms may therefore reflect temporary changes of the university students to the pandemic situation that however occur immediately in response to the pandemic lockdown.

Psychological theories agree that individual factors such as one’s personality are correlated with subjective experience, well-being, mental health, and behaviour, e.g., [ 63 , 64 ]. In line with this, analyses showed correlations between the Big Five (BFI-40) personality traits and the university students’ self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression and their perceived difficulties in emotion perception. Statistically, correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, multivariate structural equation models, mediator analysis, or moderator analysis may all be feasible statistical methods to describe the relationship between psychological variables. However, in the present study we attempted to apply supervised machine learning algorithms that are built on regression models to further explore whether personality traits were not only correlated with mental health variables but could be predicted from the self-reported subjective experience of the participants obtained from this survey’s multimethod assessment. The observed results are promising despite the relatively small datasets used for training and prediction. The algorithms provided relatively accurate models for the prediction of personality traits from self-report data. As illustrated in Table  3 , neuroticism as one of the big five personality traits (shown to be related to mental ill health [ 63 , 64 ]) and in the present study sample significantly correlated with both, self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms (see Table  2 ) could best be predicted by changes in current anxiety (threat perception, difference scores state vs trait anxiety), by the students’ self-reported trait and state anxiety, by their self-reported perceived difficulties in emotion perception (describing one’s feelings reported on the TAS-20), by self-reported changes in physical health behaviour (eating) and by self-reported difficulties in social distancing. Very recent results from surveys investigating the role of personality factors during the current COVID-19 pandemic also found that people’s self-reported psychological perceptions of and reactions towards the pandemic also depend on stable personality traits including the Big Five (for an overview [ 65 ]). Interestingly, there is also evidence that expression on personality traits such as the Big Five can change in conjunction with mental ill health [ 66 ]. Our results and these recent results suggest that future studies exploring the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic should include the assessment of personality traits in their anamnestic exploration of mental health and self-reported experience.

Limitations

The present study adds to the evidence reported in the literature about the negative consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being of university students. By using a mix of self-report measures it allows detailed insight into the subjective experiences associated with the pandemic in this population group in the psychological domains of mental health, health behaviour change and learning. However, some limitations already discussed in the sections above should be stressed. First, there was a high drop-out whose percentage was within the upper range of the expected drop-out rates for online surveys (20–50%). Although drop-outs were statistically assessed and compared to the final sample as far as appropriate, suggesting no bias by age or gender or the student’s personality, the drop-out reduced the final sample size reducing the power of the study. Thus, further data is required to demonstrate the generalizability of the present observations and to further explore possible cultural differences. In the present study sample, the reported significant differences between gender and students studying in Egypt or Germany might be tentative due to the small study samples. Power calculations suggest an ideal sample size of about N = 271 (90% confidence) or N = 385 (95% confidence) participants (margin of error of 5%). Although this sample size was reached in the beginning, it was reduced by the successive drop-out across the blocks of survey items. Second, statistics revealed significant results for the quantitative measures, however, the results of the linguistic tasks (self-concept and feeling prompts) could be reported only descriptively. The LIWC software was used for linguistic analysis. This allowed word categorization with high accuracy and validity [ 46 ] providing interesting insight that otherwise might have gone unnoticed and confirmed the results obtained from quantitative measures. Third, due to the small sample size the machine learning approach is exploratory and challenged by limitations. While machine learning tools have already been applied in many domains of psychology (e.g., in the domain of Affective Computing and Health Psychology), their use is still relatively under investigated in studies using psychology data obtained from multimethod approaches as the current one [ 67 ]. Existing studies using machine learning for analyzing personality- and behaviour-related data, mainly target personality prediction from larger datasets (e.g., [ 68 ]). In the present study, we followed guidelines and recommendations from existing machine learning studies discussing possible solutions for application of machine learning tools with small sample sizes (see for an overview [ 69 , 70 , 71 ]), using sample size of about 200 and support vector machines (SVM similar to SVR used in our study) for estimation of depressive symptoms, for personality trait and perceived stress prediction based on sample sizes ranging from 150 to 250 participants [ 69 , 70 , 71 ], as in the present study. In line with these previous studies applying machine learning tools to smaller sample sizes, we applied machine learning to a mix of measures that captured subjective experience in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in line with the recommendations from psychologically-driven computational approaches that suggest to include trait and state measures for prediction [ 25 , 26 ]. Nevertheless, the present approach is exploratory and application of machine learning to small sample sizes need to be critically discussed, e.g., for a detailed discussion see [ 48 ], as it can lead to overfitting or overestimation. One recommendation to avoid such problems with small sample sizes is to use nested cross validation and control feature-to-sample ratio [ 48 ]. It will be interesting to follow-up the present ML results in future COVID-19 survey studies and use additional data collected during the course of the pandemic for validation and training in order to confirm the results from ML in hopefully larger samples, supporting the combination of machine learning and classical data analytics in the domain of psychology.

This survey investigated the subjective experience of university students studying in Egypt or Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, i.e., in the time period after the first pandemic lockdown in the countries. Perceived changes in all psychological domains including state anxiety, depressive symptoms, threat perception, emotion perception, worries about health and behaviour (health, social distancing, and learning) were reported in the majority of students taking part in the survey. Recent COVID-10 surveys report similar high prevalence rates among university students across the globe [ 3 , 4 , 12 , 13 ]. Although the results of this survey are tentative, the multimethod approach of this survey, using multiple scales, descriptive, correlational, and linguistic analysis, provides a valuable contribution to previously published COVID-19 studies. Moreover, the approach of combining descriptive analysis with machine learning should and could be followed-up in larger samples during the second period of the current pandemic. Crucially, despite the small sample size, the present results of self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms among university students, that also seem to be supported by recent surveys including university students from other countries [ 3 , 4 , 12 , 13 ] should be taken serious as they suggest that there is an urgent need to develop interventions that help prevent mental health among university students in order to avoid negative consequences in health and learning behaviour in response to the pandemic and provide health care to those students who might be at special risk of mental ill health.

Questionnaire/survey

The questionnaires and self-assessment scales used in this study are standardized questionnaires and standardized scales whose references are cited in the manuscript in brackets. The single survey questions e.g., health and teaching have been developed for the purpose of this survey and are summarized in Table  1 in the manuscript. An overview of the online survey can be found in the supplement of this manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Due to the informed consent form in which the possibility of raw data being published online was not explicitly stated, the raw data cannot be made accessible in online repositories.

Abbreviations

BFI five inventory [ 43 ]

Decision tree regression

Gradient Boosting Regression

Linguistic inquiry of word count [ 46 ]

Personal Health Questionnaire 2 [ 38 ]

Root mean squared error

Self-Assessment Manikin scales [ 41 ]

Spielberger Trait State Anxiety Inventory [ 37 ]

Support Vector Regression

Toronto Alexithymia Scale [ 42 ]

World Health Organization

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Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This study was funded by the DAAD/BMBF (principal investigators: CH, SA) and by the budgetary resources of the Department of Applied Emotion and Motivation Psychology, and the open access publication fund of Ulm University. The funding bodies played no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

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CH conceptualized and designed the study and the survey. CH was involved in data recruitment, in data preprocessing and CH performed data analytics for descriptive and correlational data and results (descriptive data analytics, statistical analysis), and CH interpreted the result, CH supervised the machine learning part, created figures and tables and drafted and wrote the manuscript and revised it for scientific content. AB helped in the survey, performed the machine learning part, the machine learning part was also supervised by SA. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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The present survey follows ethical guidelines: all students took part voluntarily in the survey. They gave written informed consent prior to filling out the survey. The participants were fully debriefed about the purpose of the study. They were informed that they will be questioned about their health, teaching and learning behaviour, and their subjective experience with the current COVID-19 pandemic situation. They were informed that they can withdraw from the study at any time during the survey without giving reasons or without negative consequences on confidentiality. They were debriefed in detail about data privacy. No individual ethics approval was submitted before the start of the survey. The survey contains questionnaires that are part of online studies that had received approval in previous studies of the corresponding author by the local ethics committee of Ulm University.

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Additional file 1.

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Herbert, C., El Bolock, A. & Abdennadher, S. How do you feel during the COVID-19 pandemic? A survey using psychological and linguistic self-report measures, and machine learning to investigate mental health, subjective experience, personality, and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students. BMC Psychol 9 , 90 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00574-x

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You can keep your own journal, recording your thoughts, questions, concerns and experiences of living through the coronavirus pandemic.

Not sure what to write about? Read the rest of Ms. Nierenberg’s article to find out what others around the world are recording. If you need more inspiration, here are a few writing prompts to get you started:

How has the virus disrupted your daily life? What are you missing? School, sports, competitions, extracurricular activities, social plans, vacations or anything else?

What effect has this crisis had on your own mental and emotional health?

What changes, big or small, are you noticing in the world around you?

For more ideas, see our writing prompts . We post a new one every school day, many of them now related to life during the coronavirus.

You can write in your journal every day or as often as you like. And if writing isn’t working for you right now, try a visual, audio or video diary instead.

2. Personal Narrative

As you write in your journal, you’ll probably find that your life during the pandemic is full of stories, whether serious or funny, angry or sad. If you’re so inspired, try writing about one of your experiences in a personal narrative essay.

Here’s how Mary Laura Philpott begins her essay, “ This Togetherness Is Temporary, ” about being quarantined with her teenage children:

Get this: A couple of months ago, I quit my job in order to be home more. Go ahead and laugh at the timing. I know. At the time, it was hitting me that my daughter starts high school in the fall, and my son will be a senior. Increasingly they were spending their time away from me at school, with friends, and in the many time-intensive activities that make up teenage lives. I could feel the clock ticking, and I wanted to spend the minutes I could — the minutes they were willing to give me, anyway — with them, instead of sitting in front of a computer at night and on weekends in order to juggle a job as a bookseller, a part-time gig as a television host, and a book deadline. I wanted more of them while they were still living in my house. Now here we are, all together, every day. You’re supposed to be careful what you wish for, but come on. None of us saw this coming.

Personal narratives are short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences, big or small. Read the rest of Ms. Philpott’s essay to see how she balances telling the story of a specific moment in time and reflecting on what it all means in the larger context of her life.

To help you identify the moments that have been particularly meaningful, difficult, comical or strange during this pandemic, try responding to one of our writing prompts related to the coronavirus:

Holidays and Birthdays Are Moments to Come Together. How Are You Adapting During the Pandemic?

Has Your School Switched to Remote Learning? How Is It Going So Far?

Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Bringing Your Extended Family Closer Together?

How Is the Coronavirus Outbreak Affecting Your Life?

Another option? Use any of the images in our Picture Prompt series to inspire you to write about a memory from your life.

Related Resource: Writing Curriculum | Unit 1: Teach Narrative Writing With The New York Times

People have long turned to creative expression in times of crisis. During the coronavirus pandemic, artists are continuing to illustrate , play music , dance , perform — and write poetry .

That’s what Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell, an emergency room doctor in Boston, did after a long shift treating coronavirus patients. Called “ The Apocalypse ,” her poem begins like this:

This is the apocalypse A daffodil has poked its head up from the dirt and opened sunny arms to bluer skies yet I am filled with dark and anxious dread as theaters close as travel ends and grocery stores display their empty rows where toilet paper liquid bleach and bags of flour stood in upright ranks.

Read the rest of Dr. Mitchell’s poem and note the lines, images and metaphors that speak to you. Then, tap into your creative side by writing a poem inspired by your own experience of the pandemic.

Need inspiration? Try writing a poem in response to one of our Picture Prompts . Or, you can create a found poem using an article from The Times’s coronavirus outbreak coverage . If you have access to the print paper, try making a blackout poem instead.

Related Resources: 24 Ways to Teach and Learn About Poetry With The New York Times Reader Idea | How the Found Poem Can Inspire Teachers and Students Alike

4. Letter to the Editor

Have you been keeping up with the news about the coronavirus? What is your reaction to it?

Make your voice heard by writing a letter to the editor about a recent Times article, editorial, column or Opinion essay related to the pandemic. You can find articles in The Times’s free coronavirus coverage or The Learning Network’s coronavirus resources for students . And, if you’re a high school student, your school can get you free digital access to The New York Times from now until July 6.

To see examples, read the letters written by young people in response to recent headlines in “ How the Young Deal With the Coronavirus .” Here’s what Addie Muller from San Jose, Calif., had to say about the Opinion essay “ I’m 26. Coronavirus Sent Me to the Hospital ”:

As a high school student and a part of Generation Z, I’ve been less concerned about getting Covid-19 and more concerned about spreading it to more vulnerable populations. While I’ve been staying at home and sheltering in place (as was ordered for the state of California), many of my friends haven’t been doing the same. I know people who continue going to restaurants and have been treating the change in education as an extended spring break and excuse to spend more time with friends. I fear for my grandparents and parents, but this article showed me that we should also fear for ourselves. I appreciated seeing this article because many younger people seem to feel invincible. The fact that a healthy 26-year-old can be hospitalized means that we are all capable of getting the virus ourselves and spreading it to others. I hope that Ms. Lowenstein continues spreading her story and that she makes a full recovery soon.

As you read, note some of the defining features of a letter to the editor and what made these good enough to publish. For more advice, see these tips from Thomas Feyer, the letters editor at The Times, about how to write a compelling letter. They include:

Write briefly and to the point.

Be prepared to back up your facts with evidence.

Write about something off the beaten path.

Publishing Opportunity: When you’re ready, submit your letter to The New York Times.

5. Editorial

Maybe you have more to say than you can fit in a 150-word letter to the editor. If that’s the case, try writing an editorial about something you have a strong opinion about related to the coronavirus. What have you seen that has made you upset? Proud? Appreciative? Scared?

In “ Surviving Coronavirus as a Broke College Student ,” Sydney Goins, a senior English major at the University of Georgia, writes about the limited options for students whose colleges are now closed. Her essay begins:

College was supposed to be my ticket to financial security. My parents were the first ones to go to college in their family. My grandpa said to my mom, “You need to go to college, so you don’t have to depend on a man for money.” This same mentality was passed on to me as well. I had enough money to last until May— $1,625 to be exact — until the coronavirus ruined my finances. My mom works in human resources. My dad is a project manager for a mattress company. I worked part time at the university’s most popular dining hall and lived in a cramped house with three other students. I don’t have a car. I either walked or biked a mile to attend class. I have student debt and started paying the accrued interest last month. I was making it work until the coronavirus shut down my college town. At first, spring break was extended by two weeks with the assumption that campus would open again in late March, but a few hours after that email, all 26 colleges in the University System of Georgia canceled in-person classes and closed integral parts of campus.

Read the rest of Ms. Goins’s essay. What is her argument? How does she support it? How is it relevant to her life and the world?

Then, choose a topic related to the pandemic that you care about and write an editorial that asserts an opinion and backs it up with solid reasoning and evidence.

Not sure where to start? Try responding to some of our recent argumentative writing prompts and see what comes up for you. Here are a few we’ve asked students so far:

Should Schools Change How They Grade Students During the Pandemic?

What Role Should Celebrities Have During the Coronavirus Crisis?

Is It Immoral to Increase the Price of Goods During a Crisis?

Or, consider essential questions about the pandemic and what they tell us about our world today: What weaknesses is the coronavirus exposing in our society? How can we best help our communities right now? What lessons can we learn from this crisis? See more here.

As an alternative to a written essay, you might try creating a video Op-Ed instead, like Katherine Oung’s “ Coronavirus Racism Infected My High School. ”

Publishing Opportunity: Submit your final essay to our Student Editorial Contest , open to middle school and high school students ages 10-19, until April 21. Please be sure to read all the rules and guidelines before submitting.

Related Resource: An Argumentative-Writing Unit for Students Doing Remote Learning

Are games, television, music, books, art or movies providing you with a much-needed distraction during the pandemic? What has been working for you that you would recommend to others? Or, what would you caution others to stay away from right now?

Share your opinions by writing a review of a piece of art or culture for other teenagers who are stuck at home. You might suggest TV shows, novels, podcasts, video games, recipes or anything else. Or, try something made especially for the coronavirus era, like a virtual architecture tour , concert or safari .

As a mentor text, read Laura Cappelle’s review of French theater companies that have rushed to put content online during the coronavirus outbreak, noting how she tailors her commentary to our current reality:

The 17th-century philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote: “The sole cause of people’s unhappiness is that they do not know how to stay quietly in their rooms.” Yet at a time when much of the world has been forced to hunker down, French theater-makers are fighting to fill the void by making noise online.

She continues:

Under the circumstances, it would be churlish to complain about artists’ desire to connect with audiences in some fashion. Theater, which depends on crowds gathering to watch performers at close quarters, is experiencing significant loss and upheaval, with many stagings either delayed indefinitely or canceled outright. But a sampling of stopgap offerings often left me underwhelmed.

To get inspired you might start by responding to our related Student Opinion prompt with your recommendations. Then turn one of them into a formal review.

Related Resource: Writing Curriculum | Unit 2: Analyzing Arts, Criticizing Culture: Writing Reviews With The New York Times

7. How-to Guide

Being stuck at home with nowhere to go is the perfect time to learn a new skill. What are you an expert at that you can you teach someone?

The Times has created several guides that walk readers through how to do something step-by-step, for example, this eight-step tutorial on how to make a face mask . Read through the guide, noting how the author breaks down each step into an easily digestible action, as well as how the illustrations support comprehension.

Then, create your own how-to guide for something you could teach someone to do during the pandemic. Maybe it’s a recipe you’ve perfected, a solo sport you’ve been practicing, or a FaceTime tutorial for someone who’s never video chatted before.

Whatever you choose, make sure to write clearly so anyone anywhere could try out this new skill. As an added challenge, include an illustration, photo, or audio or video clip with each step to support the reader’s understanding.

Related Resource: Writing Curriculum | Unit 4: Informational Writing

8. 36 Hours Column

For nearly two decades, The Times has published a weekly 36 Hours column , giving readers suggestions for how to spend a weekend in cities all over the globe.

While traveling for fun is not an option now, the Travel section decided to create a special reader-generated column of how to spend a weekend in the midst of a global pandemic. The result? “ 36 Hours in … Wherever You Are .” Here’s how readers suggest spending a Sunday morning:

8 a.m. Changing routines Make small discoveries. To stretch my legs during the lockdown, I’ve been walking around the block every day, and I’ve started to notice details that I’d never seen before. Like the fake, painted window on the building across the road, or the old candle holders that were once used as part of the street lighting. When the quarantine ends, I hope we don’t forget to appreciate what’s been on a doorstep all along. — Camilla Capasso, Modena, Italy 10:30 a.m. Use your hands Undertake the easiest and most fulfilling origami project of your life by folding 12 pieces of paper and building this lovely star . Modular origami has been my absolute favorite occupational therapy since I was a restless child: the process is enthralling and soothing. — Laila Dib, Berlin, Germany 12 p.m. Be isolated, together Check on neighbors on your block or floor with an email, text or phone call, or leave a card with your name and contact information. Are they OK? Do they need something from the store? Help with an errand? Food? Can you bring them a hot dish or home-baked bread? This simple act — done carefully and from a safe distance — palpably reduces our sense of fear and isolation. I’ve seen the faces of some neighbors for the first time. Now they wave. — Jim Carrier, Burlington, Vt.

Read the entire article. As you read, consider: How would this be different if it were written by teenagers for teenagers?

Then, create your own 36 Hours itinerary for teenagers stuck at home during the pandemic with ideas for how to spend the weekend wherever they are.

The 36 Hours editors suggest thinking “within the spirit of travel, even if many of us are housebound.” For example: an album or a song playlist; a book or movie that transports you; a particular recipe you love; or a clever way to virtually connect with family and friends. See more suggestions here .

Related Resources: Reader Idea | 36 Hours in Your Hometown 36 Hours in Learning: Creating Travel Itineraries Across the Curriculum

9. Photo Essay

Daily life looks very different now. Unusual scenes are playing out in homes, parks, grocery stores and streets across the country.

In “ New York Was Not Designed for Emptiness ,” New York Times photographers document what life in New York City looks like amid the pandemic. It begins:

The lights are still on in Times Square. Billboards blink and storefronts shine in neon. If only there were an audience for this spectacle. But the thoroughfares have been abandoned. The energy that once crackled along the concrete has eased. The throngs of tourists, the briskly striding commuters, the honking drivers have mostly skittered away. In their place is a wistful awareness that plays across all five boroughs: Look how eerie our brilliant landscape has become. Look how it no longer bustles. This is not the New York City anyone signed up for.

Read the rest of the essay and view the photos. As you read, note the photos or lines in the text that grab your attention most. Why do they stand out to you?

What does the pandemic look like where you live? Create your own photo essay, accompanied by a written piece, that illustrates your life now. In your essay, consider how you can communicate a particular theme or message about life during the pandemic through both your photos and words, like in the article you read.

Publishing Opportunity: The International Center of Photography is collecting a virtual archive of images related to the coronavirus pandemic. Learn how to submit yours here.

10. Comic Strip

Sometimes, words alone just won’t do. Visual mediums, like comics, have the advantage of being able to express emotion, reveal inner monologues, and explain complex subjects in ways that words on their own seldom can.

If anything proves this point, it is the Opinion section’s ongoing visual diary, “ Art in Isolation .” Scroll through this collection to see clever and poignant illustrations about life in these uncertain times. Read the comic “ Finding Connection When Home Alone ” by Gracey Zhang from this collection. As you read, note what stands out to you about the writing and illustrations. What lessons could they have for your own piece?

Then, create your own comic strip, modeled after the one you read, that explores some aspect of life during the pandemic. You can sketch and color your comic with paper and pen, or use an online tool like MakeBeliefsComix.com .

Need inspiration? If you’re keeping a quarantine journal, as we suggested above, you might create a graphic story based on a week of your life, or just a small part of it — like the meals you ate, the video games you played, or the conversations you had with friends over text. For more ideas, check out our writing prompts related to the coronavirus.

Related Resource: From Superheroes to Syrian Refugees: Teaching Comics and Graphic Novels With Resources From The New York Times

11. Podcast

Modern love podcast: in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, people share their love stories.

Are you listening to any podcasts to help you get through the pandemic? Are they keeping you up-to-date on the news? Offering advice? Or just helping you escape from it all?

Create your own five-minute podcast segment that responds to the coronavirus in some way.

To get an idea of the different genres and formats your podcast could take, listen to one or more of these five-minute clips from three New York Times podcast episodes related to the coronavirus:

“ The Daily | Voices of the Pandemic ” (1:15-6:50)

“ Still Processing | A Pod From Both Our Houses ” (0:00-4:50)

“ Modern Love | In the Midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, People Share Their Love Stories ” (1:30-6:30)

Use these as models for your own podcast. Consider the different narrative techniques they use to relate an experience of the pandemic — interviews, nonfiction storytelling and conversation — as well as how they create an engaging listening experience.

Need ideas for what to talk about? You might try translating any of the writing projects above into podcast form. Or turn to our coronavirus-related writing prompts for inspiration.

Publishing Opportunity: Submit your finished five-minute podcast to our Student Podcast Contest , which is open through May 19. Please read all the rules and guidelines before submitting.

Related Resource: Project Audio: Teaching Students How to Produce Their Own Podcasts

12. Revise and Edit

“It doesn’t matter how good you think you are as a writer — the first words you put on the page are a first draft,” Harry Guinness writes in “ How to Edit Your Own Writing .”

Editing your work may seem like something you do quickly — checking for spelling mistakes just before you turn in your essay — but Mr. Guinness argues it’s a project in its own right:

The time you put into editing, reworking and refining turns your first draft into a second — and then into a third and, if you keep at it, eventually something great. The biggest mistake you can make as a writer is to assume that what you wrote the first time through was good enough.

Read the rest of the article for a step-by-step guide to editing your own work. Then, revise one of the pieces you have written, following Mr. Guinness’s advice.

Publishing Opportunity: When you feel like your piece is “something great,” consider submitting it to one of the publishing opportunities we’ve suggested above. Or, see our list of 70-plus places that publish teenage writing and art to find more.

Natalie Proulx joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2017 after working as an English language arts teacher and curriculum writer. More about Natalie Proulx

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My experience with covid-19, fighting infection, coping with quarantine and why vaccines matter.

• Available in:

I believe that getting vaccinated will improve my chances of not getting infected again and will help protect my beloved family Maher Ghafari

Aleppo, Syria, 22 August 2021 - Today I got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine because we are all responsible for fighting this pandemic. I believe that getting vaccinated will improve my chances of not getting infected again and will help protect my beloved family, colleagues at the office and friends.

Last year, both my wife and I got infected with COVID-19. Although we did not panic, we felt rather alert and had consciously been prepared for such a scenario. On the first few days, symptoms included the loss of taste and smell as well as muscle pain, which we used pain relief medications to reduce. Thankfully we did not have any respiratory symptoms.

We were taken aback when we first got the test results. Being unable to predict potential deterioration to our health was also worrisome. There was an incessant flow of information about the virus, and the more we saw what came on the media outlets and digital platforms, the more confused we became. Thus, we decided only to go to reliable sources for information. We did not feel alone during the whole time because of the support we received from our family and colleagues daily via video calls, chat applications and mobile phone messages.

We feared developing respiratory symptoms that could complicate our medical situation and that we might not be able to protect Laura, our four-year-old daughter. As the pain and fatigue started to subside after the first few days, we were reassured that it was unlikely that we develop respiratory symptoms. The challenge now became how to cope with self-isolation and quarantine for at least 15 days while we focus on getting better.

It was important to explain to our little Laura that there will be no more hugging or kissing. She cried at first and wondered whether that meant we had stopped loving her. Laura, 4

It was important to explain to our little Laura that there will be no more hugging or kissing. She cried at first and wondered whether that meant we had stopped loving her. But as we explained that it was something temporary, which we had to do because we loved her so much, she was okay.

Being quarantined at home for about 20 days affected our daily routine and forced us to find new ways of doing things. When I felt ready to work, I had to attend all my meetings remotely, via the internet or phone. It was difficult to explain to Laura that I was working and that being home did not mean I can spend all my time with her. For her, it felt like we were on a constant weekend but none of us could go out. I let her join during some of my video meetings to help her grasp the idea of working from home.

We learnt how to take advantage of our time in quarantine to strengthen the relationship among our small family, away from the internet and mobile phones. We came up with new games for Laura. Her favourite was dressing up as a doctor to treat us. She would even excitedly deliver awareness messages about COVID-19 and its preventive measures to us. A while after, we learned that she explains to her friends at the nursery what she had memorized about the pandemic, its prevention and our time in quarantine.

As a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) officer with UNICEF in Aleppo field office, I work on ensuring that people in need are provided with life-saving assistance as well as longer-term durable WASH support. The COVID-19 pandemic came posing a major risk to the health and hygiene of whole communities in such a short time. In Aleppo, since June last year, we had to focus on supporting the most vulnerable people, especially those displaced in camps, by increasing the daily water delivery and thus enabling the promotion of handwashing and hygiene practices. In addition, UNICEF provided remote awareness sessions about the pandemic and its preventive measures, using speakerphones on mobile vehicles to avoid the crowding of people in the camps.

Also, preparing for the reopening of schools, last year, following a period of interruption caused by the first wave of COVID-19 spread and restrictions, was a real challenge. We needed to launch a huge campaign among WASH sector partners to rehabilitate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools, ensuring the functionality of handwashing facilities. We also provided infection prevention control and sanitization supplies to students alongside a hygiene awareness campaign.

*Maher Ghafari is a water, sanitation and hygiene officer working with UNICEF in Aleppo, Syria.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Positive and negative experiences of living in covid-19 pandemic: analysis of italian adolescents’ narratives.

• Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy

Introduction: Despite a growing interest in the field, scarce narrative studies have delved into adolescents’ psychological experiences related to global emergencies caused by infective diseases. The present study aims to investigate adolescents’ narratives on positive and negative experiences related to COVID-19.

Methods: Italian adolescents, 2,758 (females = 74.8%, mean age = 16.64, SD = 1.43), completed two narrative tasks on their most negative and positive experiences during the COVID-19 emergency. Data were analyzed by modeling an analysis of emergent themes.

Results: “Staying home as a limitation of autonomy,” “School as an educational, not relational environment,” the impact of a “new life routine,” and experiencing “anguish and loss” are the four emergent themes for negative experiences. As for positive experiences, the four themes were “Being part of an extraordinary experience,” “Discovering oneself,” “Re-discovering family,” and “Sharing life at a distance.”

Conclusion: Authors discuss the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents’ developmental tasks, such as identity processes and autonomy acquisition.

Introduction

After the first case of COVID-19 in Italy was discovered on the 21st of February, schools and universities were shut down on March 5. On the March 9, the government declared lockdown status in order to hinder the spread of the virus. In order to reduce contagion, citizens were required to stay home except for emergencies and primary needs. Over 8 million children and adolescents stopped their social and educational activities, which were reorganized online. On April 5, the last day of data collection for the present study, out of a global number of 1,133,758 ( Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, 2020 ), 128,948 people had been infected by COVID-19 in Italy, of which 15,887 (about the 12.3%) had died ( Italian Ministry of Health, 2020 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency that poses questions and dilemmas regarding the psychological well-being of people at varying levels.

Currently, several studies have been conducted on how the general population experiences emergencies related to pandemic infectious diseases. Some authors ( Yeung and Fung, 2007 ; Dodgson et al., 2010 ; Peng et al., 2010 ; Main et al., 2011 ; Van Bortel et al., 2016 ), in analyzing the impact of infectious diseases such as SARS or Ebola, report experiences such as fear and anxiety for themselves and their families, separation anxieties, impotence, depression, as well as anger and frustration. In the case of COVID-19, scholars have highlighted several psychological effects of the pandemic on adult samples in China ( Qiu et al., 2020 ; Wang et al., 2020a , b ) and in Italy ( Rossi et al., 2020 ), and found psychological symptoms related to posttraumatic stress disorder. In a recent review, anxiety, depression, psychological stress, and poor sleep have been reported to be the main psychological outcomes of living with the COVID-19 emergency ( Rajkumar, 2020 ).

Considering children and adolescents, several studies have specifically explored psychological experiences related to the global emergency and lockdown experience of COVID-19 ( Lee, 2020 ), but evidence from autobiographical narratives are lacking. Qiu et al. (2020) compared different Chinese aged populations and found lower levels of psychological distress in people under 18. Similarly, Xie et al. (2020) found symptoms of anxiety (18.9%) and depression (22.6%) in primary school children in China.

As for US adolescents, evidence suggests that social trust and greater attitudes toward the severity of COVID-19 are related with more adolescents’ monitoring risk behaviors, performing social distancing, and disinfecting properly. Motivation to perform social distancing is also associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression ( Oosterhoff et al., 2020 ).

A study on Canadian adolescents’ well-being and psychiatric symptoms highlighted that depression and feelings of loneliness are related with great time spent on social media, while family time, physical activity, and schoolwork play a protective role for depression ( Ellis et al., 2020 ). Similarly, in a recent review of adolescents’ experience of lockdown for COVID-19, Guessoum et al. (2020) discuss the relation between the current pandemic and adolescents’ posttraumatic stress, depressive, and anxiety disorders, as well as grief-related symptoms. Furthermore, they found that data on adolescent mental health are still scarce and need to be empowered.

Adolescence is connected to certain developmental tasks ( Havighurst, 1948 ) related, among others, to defining one’s own personal identity ( Kroger and Marcia, 2011 ) and developing one’s autonomy by redefining family ties and building bonds with peers ( Alonso-Stuyck et al., 2018 ).

Considering identity changes, adolescence is characterized by a developmental crisis between the definition of a personal identity and a status of confusion of roles ( Erikson, 1968 ). Adolescents’ ego growth is linked to the separation from childhood identifications in order to allow an individual identity status to emerge. This gradual process is connected with four different styles of identity definition concerning vocational, ideological, and sexual issues ( Kroger et al., 2010 ): identity achievements, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. Overall, the identity process may develop from a period of diffusion, not connected to significant identifications, or with foreclosure, in which identifications are still related to significant childhood figures. The opportunity to explore new relationships with peers and other developmental environments often stresses a time of identity moratorium where individuals investigate themselves by making identity-defining commitments, which usually end by achieving a balance between personal interests and the vocational and ideological opportunities provided by surrounding context.

A turning point in identity development is the acquisition of personal autonomy. Scholars define autonomy as a multidimensional variable related to a set of phenomena involved in psychosocial development: the separation-individuation task as reported by Erikson (1968) , management of detachment, and independence from family in order to look for new developmental environments, psychosocial maturity, self-regulation, self-control, self-efficacy, self-determination, and decision making ( Noom et al., 2001 ).

The main theories on autonomy acquisition during adolescence stress the relation between the desire for autonomy and the development of beliefs about personal capabilities, the need to explore one’s own life goals and reflect on personal desires and preferences. As teenagers gain self-confidence and focus on personal goals and attitudes related to their individual interests and talents, the demand for autonomy in the household increases ( Van Petegem et al., 2013 ). At the same time, intimate relationships with peers in adolescence acquire a vital importance for the definition of autonomous and personal identity. Adolescent friendships represent the possibility of strengthening the completion of the process of identification through establishing relationships with significant others ( Jones et al., 2014 ).

As a privileged context of peer interaction and acquisition of knowledge and personal maturity, school greatly contributes to the development of adolescent identity and interpersonal relationships ( Lannegrand-Willems and Bosma, 2006 ). Both curricular and extracurricular activities at school promote interpersonal interactions, and adolescents’ participation in school activities may have a protective role for academic achievement, substance use, sexual activity, psychological adjustment, delinquency, and young adult outcomes ( Feldman and Matjasko, 2005 ).

During the COVID-19 emergency and the consequent lockdown in Italy, adolescents experienced a strong change in their personal and social environment, which could have affected the trajectory of their developmental tasks. Nevertheless, currently, there is a lack of knowledge of adolescents’ experience of living with COVID-19 and the main psychological issues related to it. Lockdown and the consequent closing of schools ushered in a new life routine for adolescents, centered on sharing time with family and temporarily interrupting face-to-face peer relationships. In this sense, similar to others, very impacting autobiographical events such as diseases or natural disasters, lockdown, and pandemic might have caused a biographical disruption ( Bury, 1982 ; Tuohy and Stephens, 2012 ) interrupting developmental tasks typical of adolescence or forcing a reorganization. To understand the subjective experience of Italian adolescents and the potential impact of the biographical disruption on developmental tasks, we asked them the most impacting experiences related to COVID-19 and the national lockdown. We therefore collected narratives of positive and negative autobiographical events. Our main hypothesis was that the imposed lockdown may have constituted a turning point of pivotal developmental processes of autonomy acquisition and identity development, forcing adolescents to re-organize their personal resources. Therefore, we aimed to explore how Italian adolescents dealt with this peculiar life experience in terms of managing their developmental tasks.

Considering the lack of knowledge in literature and the need to investigate an unexplored topic, we performed a qualitative study to explore adolescents’ feelings and thoughts by means of their narratives. Qualitative research design helps “to generate useful knowledge about health and illness, from individual perceptions to how global systems work” ( Green and Thorogood, 2018 , p. 6) allowing for deep knowledge. Furthermore, narrative is a recognized tool to explore autobiographical experiences in terms of thoughts, emotions, and feelings as well as an intervention to promote emotional elaboration and meaning making ( Pennebaker, 1997 ; Pennebaker et al., 2003 ). As a natural act to elaborate life episodes and generate meanings ( Bruner, 1990 ), narrative enriches the search for evidence on autobiographical experience especially in both normative and not normative life transitions, when the need for meaning making about the self is strong. For this reason, the research design was exploratory, and it was caused by the need to generate insights on adolescence and COVID-19 starting from the direct adolescents’ narrated experience.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

Participants of the present study were part of a broader study involving 5,295 Italian adolescents (mean age = 16.67, SD = 1.43; females = 75.2%; Min = 14, Max = 20) exploring emotional and cognitive patterns involved in COVID-19 experience. Since 14 is the Italian minimum age to give individual consent to having one’s online data processed, inclusion criteria for the present study were to be high school students and to be aged between 14 and 20. From the whole sample, we did not include data about adolescents with any missing data on either narrative task.

The final sample of 2,758 adolescents (females = 74.8%; mean age = 16.64, SD = 1.43; min = 14, max = 20; 14 years old = 7%, 15 years old = 17%, 16 years old = 22.4%, 17 years old = 22.2%, 18 years old = 23.2%, 19 years old = 6.3%, 20 years old = 1.9%) was composed by students attending lyceums (76.9%), technical high schools (16.9%), and vocational high schools (5.5%). Participants came from all regions of Italy: considering the impact of COVID-19 spread in Italy during data collection, the 16.8% of participants came from Lombardy (the most impacted region), the 20.7% came from medium impacted regions (Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Marche, Piedmont, Trentino Alto-Adige, Valle d’Aosta, Veneto), and the 62.5% came from other Italian region less impacted. Overall, 2,464 of them reported and narrated their most negative experiences and 2,110 reported their most positive experiences.

We also collected data about personal experiences involving COVID-19. Of the sample, 7.8% experienced a COVID-19 infection within the family circle (e.g., parents, brothers/sisters, grandparents, etc.). Of the sample, 38.6% experienced COVID-19 infections within friendship, scholastic, or broader social circles (e.g., neighbors, acquaintances). Ten participants (0.4%) reported to be infected themselves.

Procedures and Data Analyses

After the approval of the ethical committee of the University of Florence, data collection took place from April 1 to April 5, 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, through a popular student website for sharing notes and receiving help with homework 1 , via a pop-up window asking the users to take part in the study. All respondents provided explicit informed consent at the beginning of the survey. It was possible to leave the survey at any point by simply closing the pop-up window. All data collected were anonymous. The contacts of a national helpline (i.e., telephone number and website chat) were provided at the end of the survey, inviting participants to get in touch if they need psychological support.

We invited participants to fill in two narrative tasks: the first on their most negative experience (“ Please, think about your memories surrounding COVID-19 and the “quarantine”. Would you please tell us your most negative experience during the last two weeks? Take your time and narrate what happened and how you experienced it. There are no limits of time and space for your narrative” ) and a second about their most positive experience of life during COVID-19 pandemic (“ Referring again to your memories surrounding COVID-19 and the “quarantine”, would you please tell us your most positive experience of the last two weeks? Please, narrate what happened and how you experienced that episode. There are no limits of time and space for your narrative” ).

The time frame of 2 weeks was referred to time approximately spent between the beginning of lockdown (March 9) and data collection.

All narratives were joined in two different full texts, one for the positive experience narratives and one for the negative ones. Then, a modeling emergent themes analysis was run by the T-Lab Software ( Lancia, 2004 ). Modeling of Emergent Themes discovers, examines, and extrapolates the main themes (or topics) emerging from the text by means of co-occurrence patterns of key-term analysis by a probabilistic model, which uses the Latent Dirichlet Allocation ( Blei et al., 2003 ). The results of the data analysis are several themes describing the main contents of a textual corpus. Researchers discussed in groups emergent themes and selected from elementary contexts derived from analysis those better explaining each theme.

This kind of textual analysis is therefore suggested in studies aiming to deepen unexplored topics in order to identify variables related to a specific kind of experience to be further investigated upon ( Cortini and Tria, 2014 ).

First, the total word count of both narratives by the participants were analyzed. Adolescents’ negative experience narratives were composed of 76,007 words, with a mean number of 30.84 words per narrative, while 38,452 was the number of words used to narrate the most positive experiences (with a mean of 18.22 words per narrative collected). Table 1 shows the words mostly reported in the two texts.

Table 1. The occurrence of the most reported 20 words both for positive and negative experience narratives.

Looking at word occurrence in the two texts (positive and negative experience), many communalities emerged. Among the 20 most cited words in both texts there are: “Home,” “To See,” “Experience,” “Friend,” “To feel,” “Moment,” “Person,” “School,” “Day,” “Boyfriend,” and “Family.” Overall, 11 words out of 20 are shared between the vocabulary of the two collected narratives.

Looking at the modeling emergent themes analysis, The T-Lab software revealed four themes for each text. Tables 2 , 3 summarize the emergent themes and the main words associated with each of them.

Table 2. Themes of negative experience narratives and main words for each of them.

Table 3. Themes of positive experience narratives and specific words for each of them.

Negative Experiences Narratives

For negative experiences narratives, the first and most representative theme concerned feelings of “Anguish and Loss” and was explained by 34% of lemmas. Adolescents shared their anguish for having lost physical and emotional contact with relatives due to quarantine: “I went to my grandmother’s house because she lives next door. I went to hug her and she pushed me away as if I stank, it was so ugly, I felt like a stranger” (Participant n. 1070, male 17 years old) . In this narrative, social distancing acquired the meaning of loss of intimacy in close relationships; other adolescents narrated their anguish for their parents’ and relatives’ health due to the spread of COVID-19. One participant wrote: “When I heard that both my parents were going to have to go back to work, I got very scared, and I’m still scared for their health. We have a lot of friends who are sick, some are dead and we couldn’t even say goodbye to them” (Participant n. 1234, male 16 years old).

The inability to say goodbye to relatives and friends and to experience contact with their deaths is a frequent issue in collected narratives. As shared by a female participant, grief is a process hindered by the inability to experience loss directly: “The most negative experience I had was the death of my grandfather, who died after contracting COVID-19. You will think that I’m only talking about the loss itself, but actually difficulties came later. Not because there were people crying at the funeral and I had to show myself strong in front of my parents; not because when I went to his house I couldn’t find him; not because I won’t get to be spoiled by him just like every other granddaughter is by her grandfather; but because I had to undergo this process with just my mind. I had to imagine a funeral, I had to imagine him, pale and cold, in the coffin and try to feel the dampness of the tears on my cheeks at the moment of burial. There was nothing to help me metabolize the death, to make it happen in my mind. I’m usually a crybaby, but when they told me that my grandfather died I cried only once. When I think about it I feel guilty for how insensitive I’ve been, but he’s still there for me, when I think of him I see him alive. I tried to kill him with my thoughts because that’s the reality, but how hard is it to understand someone’s death when you don’t face it? When you don’t live it?” (Participant n. 23, female 16 years old) .

The second theme explained 24% of lemmas and it was labeled “Home as a limitation to autonomy.” Participants narrated their experience of feeling a limitation to their personal autonomy in daily life activities.

A female participant narrated: “Staying at home brings me moments of nervousness and I’m easily irritable. I often have panic attacks, precisely because staying at home for so long is not good for me. One feels alone, like in a cage and suffocated feelings give rise to nervousness that causes tension” (Participant n. 645, female 16 years old). Similarly, the following narrative introduces the difficulty of finding a personal space to give voice to individual needs at home: “It’s very hard for me to concentrate and I can’t stand spending 24 hours a day with my parents arguing. I don’t even have my own bedroom, because the door is missing so I have to be with them all the time. Personally, I’m not afraid of the virus, there have always been cases in history and of course we have always come out of it unscathed; the point is that I just want to go back to having the chance to be away from home, for example at school and possibly soon at university” (Participant n. 2185, female 18 years old) . The two negative experiences suggested adolescents’ perception of living with COVID-19 as a time to forcibly lose their personal autonomy.

Another male adolescent shared the sensation of being in prison as the result of having lost an individual identity related to a state of suspension of personal desires and identity: “It’s bad to wake up in the morning knowing you can’t accomplish anything with your life, you can’t do anything. I look out the window and it’s all deserted, no more sounds of cars, buses or people talking. It’s like a changed world, it’s like being in prison for something that’s not your fault. All I can do is wait and stay at home.” (Participant n. 1460, 16 years old).

The third theme, saturating by 24% of lemmas, concerned the impact of “A new life routine.” Adolescents narrated their contact with life in quarantine as well as social distancing. Participant n. 488, a 17-year-old male, narrated his most negative experience of not recognizing his best friend because of the mask: “The worst experience I had was when I went out for the first time to go shopping, wearing a mask and gloves. It was horrible to see used masks and gloves in the street that someone threw on the ground. Across the street someone said goodbye to me. He was my best friend with his dog, but I didn’t recognize him because he was covered by the mask. My best friend!” Narratives reported the adolescents’ difficult impact with a new daily routine in which their closest relationships (best friend) and daily activities (shopping) acquire the meaning of something unusual and perturbing. Similarly, the following extract focused on the feeling of being aware of taking part in a new life routine, which is completely different from one’s wishes about adolescent life: “There is not one episode in particular, but perhaps there is the most negative ‘feeling’ of this period, and it is certainly awareness. It’s being aware that you can’t live your senior year in high school as you would have liked. It’s the awareness of not being able to kiss your mom who just came back from the supermarket with your favorite dessert. It’s the awareness that you can’t go dancing or simply talk with friends about something that isn’t the ‘war bulletin’ or the press conference that resounds in the homes of Italians every night at 6 p.m.” (Participant n. 359, female 16 years old).

The fourth emergent theme was saturated by 18% of lemmas and was labeled “School as educational but not relational environment.” Participants reported the difficulty of being engaged in educational activities, which are perceived as lacking in social opportunities. A male adolescent (n. 60, 17 years old) reported: “since there have been positive cases I’ve stayed at home, but with the online lessons and lots of homework I am getting sad and especially stressed. I wanted to talk about Bergamo with the teachers and my classmates, but there is no time and in the online lessons we only talk about school and homework.”

A participant expressed his feeling of being unwelcome and misunderstood by teachers due to the relational distance: “In my opinion this is the saddest thing that this virus has brought: we young people no longer believe in dreams, but above all in hope for a better future. The professors, instead of understanding this situation, blame us, saying that we are ‘slackers’ and that we think we are on holiday, punishing us with millions of tasks, depriving us of everything. […] So, these are the reasons why we young people are exhausted and full of repressed hatred, because we see our peers die before our eyes and teachers often don’t understand us” (Participant n. 2545, female 17 years old).

Moreover, homework and online classes work as stressors and increase the lack of relations: “I felt agitated because homework and video tutorials have stressed me so much. It’s not the same online. I understand the gravity of the situation, the images we see are terrible, all those coffins. I miss my class, the teacher coming in, everything” (Participant n. 260, male 17 years old).

Positive Experiences Narratives

Concerning positive experiences, four themes emerged from the modeling analysis.

The first theme, the most representative for positive experiences collected, covered 33% of the lemmas and dealt with “Discovering oneself.” Adolescents reported to have discovered the pleasure of spending time with themselves and dedicating time to reading, listening to music, painting, and working out on their own. In this sense, lockdown became an opportunity for self-disclosure and personal growth: “I read, studied, I’ve cooked various stuff, experimented, relaxed taking time for myself, watched TV series, movies, played chess. Everything that made me feel good. I felt accepted by myself, because I had time to think about myself much more and to reflect, making me feel like a better and acceptable person” (Participant n. 2069, male 15 years old).

Similarly, a girl narrated: “Like never before, I have time to look inside and talk to myself in my bedroom, having more doubts, being able to resolve them, or simply leaving them unresolved, discovering what confuses me and understanding who I am” (Participant n. 1369, female 18 years old) .

The second emergent theme was labeled “Sharing life at a distance” (31% of lemmas) and dealt with the opportunity to be in a close relationship even at a distance. A participant narrated his relief in feeling his best friend’s support via video-call: “I Hear my friend tell me on the video-call that everything’s going to be okay and we’re going to come out of this even stronger. She said, ‘We’ll come back and watch the sunset on the beach, we’ll come back and eat ice cream together, we’ll come back and hug everybody, have faith’. I felt safe and full of hope” (Participant n. 2721, male 14 years old).

Friendship as an anchor is a frequent issue in adolescents’ narratives: “I felt a big panic inside and I had a video-call with all my friends at 1 am in a tense moment, it helped me a lot!” (Participant n. 1970, female 17 years old).

The third emerged theme, named “Re-discovering family,” was saturated by 22% of the lemmas and focused on the positive impact of spending time with family members and discovering the joy of doing things together: “I’m realizing how precious time is, every moment must be enjoyed because we could be deprived of it at any moment. I spend more time with my parents, before they were always at work and I used to see them for a few hours” (Participant n. 881, female, 16 years old). Similarly, a boy narrated the positive value of spending time with his grandparents: “I’m spending a lot of time with my grandparents and I’m growing up because they teach me so many things I didn’t know! We’ve rediscovered board games and we often play them all together” (Participant n. 2648, 17 years old).

The last theme, “To be part of an extraordinary experience”, was saturated by 14% of the lemmas and concerned participants’ feeling of being part of an unusual experience, which will have an impact on the culture they are living in. A participant narrated: “When I’m in class and I see my classmates, even if we do a test or an inquiry, it’s still a unique experience that I will tell my kids about!” (Participant n. 2044, male 18 years old). Most of the participants reported their satisfaction in their perception of having an active role in society by following the rules of social distancing and protecting others from contagion: “For once I really felt like a fundamental part of society” (Participant 1841, female 15 years old) .

The present study aimed to explore adolescents’ experience of living during the COVID-19 emergency and national lockdown in terms of narratives on positive and negative experiences. In light of a lack of scientific evidence on adolescents’ experience of living with infectious diseases and under national lockdown, the present study brings knowledge on negative and positive issues of such an impactful experience in this peculiar developmental age of adolescence.

At first, results show that adolescents were more forthcoming about their negative experiences than about positive ones. This datum is not a surprise: scientific literature defines one’s need to “create coherence out of chaos” ( Fivush et al., 2003 , p. 1). Scientific literature highlights that negative narratives are usually longer and more coherent than positive ones, and this is due to the narrator’s need to elaborate autobiographical past by means of language ( Fioretti and Smorti, 2015 , 2017 ).

Looking at word occurrence in both texts, results show similarities between terms used to describe the most negative and positive experiences. Nevertheless, emergent themes put in light different issues related to the same words. Overall, results highlight indeed a complex experience of adolescents characterized by a developmental challenge that may entail risk factors, as in the case of loss and anguish related to illness and contagion, or protective factors, such as the possibility of transforming the COVID-19 experience into an opportunity for personal growth.

In the case of impacting experiences such as diseases or traumatic events, scholars introduced the construct of biographical disruption ( Bury, 1982 ; Fioretti and Smorti, 2014 ), which determines a strong breakdown in one’s life trajectory forcing the individual to restore it finding a continuity between past, present, and future. Concerning COVID-19, our results point out that such a biographical disruption may be associated with the interruption of important developmental tasks such as personal autonomy ( Alonso-Stuyck et al., 2018 ). Of the adolescents’ lemmas, 24% narrated lockdown as a stressor in their process of constructing an individual physical and mental environment separate from the family one.

As shown by narratives on positive experiences of living with COVID-19, home acquires a duplex meaning in adolescents’ lives: loss of autonomy, but also the place where re-discovering family as a protective factor thanks to the opportunity to share activities and to spend time together. As argued by Guessoum et al. (2020) , family time is related with less depression symptoms in adolescents. Moreover, our results suggest that family can play an active role in the co-construction of what it means to live during a pandemic and can provide support during experiences of loss, which, as results show, appear to be the most represented issue in adolescents’ narratives.

As reported by participants, the impossibility of experiencing a direct contact with loss and death may play a traumatic role in adolescents’ lives. In their narratives, grief is forcibly an intimate and individual process in which, as in the case of traumatic events, the disruption is sudden and unexpected. Starting from these results, further investigation on potential posttraumatic disorders and long-term symptoms in adolescents related to COVID-19 is needed.

If family plays a protective role in collected narratives, adolescents denounce the absence of school as a place for relationships and emotional sharing. Participants narrate how they feel like receptors of educational contents without being able to play an active role within the educational process. Passivity and the inability to find a space to share concerns and emotions about the impact of the COVID-19 disease on their lives are the base of a feeling of disconnection from the educational environment. In this sense, the current “absence” of school may constitute a risk factor in adolescents’ development, as described in scientific literature ( Feldman and Matjasko, 2005 ).

School closing is part of a broader spectrum of the breakdown of the daily routine that participants described as a negative experience. In developmental psychology, routines acquire a pivotal role in fostering the security necessary for the process of autonomy and self-definition, in childhood and adolescence ( Crocetti, 2018 ). In this sense, the new life routine of wearing masks and gloves, and performing social distancing strongly impacts the process of creating one’s own identity.

On the other hand, narratives on positive experiences also see COVID-19 as an opportunity to make contact and define certain aspects of one’s identity that have not yet been considered. As shown, the discovery of oneself plays a pivotal role in positive experiences narratives saturating 33% of lemmas in analysis.

Identity, as described by Marcia et al. (2012) , undergoes a strong process of moratorium which, as results suggest, during the quarantine also becomes a path of deeper research into one’s sense of self, without the pressure of external agents. The discovery of the self-emergent theme suggests the hypothesis of a posttraumatic growth (PTG) related to life during the COVID-19 emergency. Participants narrated their individual research of themselves and the discovery of the importance of intimate reflexivity. In literature, over time, several terms have been used to describe the positive changes experienced by a person as a result of stress: “perceived benefits” ( Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1991 ), “raising existential awareness” ( Yalom and Lieberman, 1991 ), “stress-related growth” ( Park et al., 1996 ), and “growth through adversity” ( Joseph and Linley, 2006 ). Posttraumatic growth has been defined as an individual transformation entailing both positive intrapersonal and interpersonal changes caused by the impact of facing life challenges ( Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1995 ). Our results suggest that, together with the importance of sharing experiences with peers as reported in 31% of lemmas about positive experiences, an intimate developmental process of self-moratorium was facilitated by living in lockdown due to the COVID-19 emergency. Adolescents narrate their discovery of alone-time as a personal process of growth. Studies on PTG during adolescence are still poor ( Milam et al., 2004 ) and suggest the importance of investigating potential specificities of growth in this peculiar developmental age and its correlations. Future studies could explore the construct of PTG in adolescents exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to further assess a positive impact of living with the current emergency in their lives.

Limitations and Conclusion

Although it provides evidence on a topic which is unknown, the present study has some limitations. First, we did not control for narrative task administration order. All participants completed first the narrative on negative memories and, second, the one on positive experiences. For this reason, the present study did not aim to compare negative and positive experience, rather it considers them as separate narratives on autobiographical experience of living with COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, the sample is composed of a large percentage of females and of high school students and does not consider the portions of adolescents of the Italian population who are not currently involved in education. Further studies should consider adolescents’ varying economic and cultural backgrounds. A second limitation is related to the varying impact of the COVID-19 emergency in the different regions of Italy. Adolescents’ experiences might be related to having or not having personal contacts with the disease in their family or social environment. Future studies should focus on specific developmental challenges due to direct or indirect contact with COVID-19.

A third limitation is related to the lack of consideration of the interindividual differences. The study describes a process related to the COVID-19 in the global population without considering possible differential impacts related to personal characteristics and vulnerabilities.

To conclude, the results suggest the need to take into account the impact of lockdown in the developmental tasks of adolescence. As for the negative experiences, loss of autonomy and anguish related to death and loss are the most representative topics. Further studies could better investigate the autonomy issue related to COVID-19 emergency considering the role family and different parenting models can play. For instance, very few studies have investigated the role of pre-pandemic maltreatment experience ( Guo et al., 2020 ) or other experience related to family environment. Our results suggest the duplex role of family and invite scholars and professionals to design specific intervention programs for adolescents with family vulnerability.

Conversely, school, a pivotal developmental environment according to scientific literature, represented a smaller percentage of words in the narratives we collected for our sample, suggesting the need to debate on the lack of relation adolescents perceive in online didactic activities. Home and family may play a double role, both limiting adolescents’ acquisition of autonomy and providing an enriching setting for their personal growth. The latter, discovering oneself, is the most representative in positive experience narratives. In this sense, the starting hypothesis of the present study was left partially unconfirmed. Lockdown and life during the COVID-19 emergency may activate both a disruption and an empowering process in adolescents’ developmental tasks. Further studies are needed on psychological and social variables promoting or contrasting both processes.

In the light of scarce studies exploring narratives on COVID-19 experience, the present research supports the importance of giving language to the autobiographical past by means of methods exploring qualitatively participants’ experience. Results show that a narrative is a tool to collect information on personal experience and to generate insight starting from it. Additionally, a narrative allows narrators emotional disclosure and to give meaning to their life story ( Bruner, 1990 ; McAdams et al., 2006 ). This meaning-making process is even more important in developmental ages, as adolescence is, characterized by self and identity definition and growth of autobiographical process skills ( Habermas and Bluck, 2000 ). We support the need to further investigate adolescents’ narratives in this pandemic transition both as a tool to collect data and as an intervention to promote well-being through emotional and intrapsychic disclosure.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Commissione per l’Etica della Ricerca, Università degli Studi di Firenze. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

CF, BP, AN, and EM conceived and performed the study design, data collection, and mastered the data. CF ran the data analysis. BP, AN, and EM discussed the results. CF wrote the manuscript with the support of BP and AN. EM and AN supervised the project and manuscript preparation. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Skuola.net and especially its CEO, Daniele Grassucci and Carla Ardizzone and Marcello Gelardini, for the support with data collection. This research would have not been possible without their help during the hard time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• ^ www.skuola.net

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Keywords : adolescence, COVID-19, narratives, identity, qualitative research

Citation: Fioretti C, Palladino BE, Nocentini A and Menesini E (2020) Positive and Negative Experiences of Living in COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Italian Adolescents’ Narratives. Front. Psychol. 11:599531. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.599531

Received: 27 August 2020; Accepted: 12 October 2020; Published: 19 November 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Fioretti, Palladino, Nocentini and Menesini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Chiara Fioretti, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Patient Care & Health Information
• Diseases & Conditions
• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

COVID-19, also called coronavirus disease 2019, is an illness caused by a virus. The virus is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or more commonly, SARS-CoV-2. It started spreading at the end of 2019 and became a pandemic disease in 2020.

• Coronavirus

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses. These viruses cause illnesses such as the common cold, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads most commonly through the air in tiny droplets of fluid between people in close contact. Many people with COVID-19 have no symptoms or mild illness. But for older adults and people with certain medical conditions, COVID-19 can lead to the need for care in the hospital or death.

Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccine helps prevent serious illness, the need for hospital care due to COVID-19 and death from COVID-19 . Other ways that may help prevent the spread of this coronavirus includes good indoor air flow, physical distancing, wearing a mask in the right setting and good hygiene.

Medicine can limit the seriousness of the viral infection. Most people recover without long-term effects, but some people have symptoms that continue for months.

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Typical COVID-19 symptoms often show up 2 to 14 days after contact with the virus.

Symptoms can include:

• Shortness of breath.
• Loss of taste or smell.
• Extreme tiredness, called fatigue.
• Digestive symptoms such as upset stomach, vomiting or loose stools, called diarrhea.
• Pain, such as headaches and body or muscle aches.
• Fever or chills.
• Cold-like symptoms such as congestion, runny nose or sore throat.

People may only have a few symptoms or none. People who have no symptoms but test positive for COVID-19 are called asymptomatic. For example, many children who test positive don't have symptoms of COVID-19 illness. People who go on to have symptoms are considered presymptomatic. Both groups can still spread COVID-19 to others.

Some people may have symptoms that get worse about 7 to 14 days after symptoms start.

Most people with COVID-19 have mild to moderate symptoms. But COVID-19 can cause serious medical complications and lead to death. Older adults or people who already have medical conditions are at greater risk of serious illness.

COVID-19 may be a mild, moderate, severe or critical illness.

• In broad terms, mild COVID-19 doesn't affect the ability of the lungs to get oxygen to the body.
• In moderate COVID-19 illness, the lungs also work properly but there are signs that the infection is deep in the lungs.
• Severe COVID-19 means that the lungs don't work correctly, and the person needs oxygen and other medical help in the hospital.
• Critical COVID-19 illness means the lung and breathing system, called the respiratory system, has failed and there is damage throughout the body.

Rarely, people who catch the coronavirus can develop a group of symptoms linked to inflamed organs or tissues. The illness is called multisystem inflammatory syndrome. When children have this illness, it is called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, shortened to MIS -C. In adults, the name is MIS -A.

When to see a doctor

Contact a healthcare professional if you test positive for COVID-19 . If you have symptoms and need to test for COVID-19 , or you've been exposed to someone with COVID-19 , a healthcare professional can help.

People who are at high risk of serious illness may get medicine to block the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the body. Or your healthcare team may plan regular checks to monitor your health.

Get emergency help right away for any of these symptoms:

• Can't catch your breath or have problems breathing.
• Skin, lips or nail beds that are pale, gray or blue.
• New confusion.
• Trouble staying awake or waking up.
• Chest pain or pressure that is constant.

This list doesn't include every emergency symptom. If you or a person you're taking care of has symptoms that worry you, get help. Let the healthcare team know about a positive test for COVID-19 or symptoms of the illness.

More Information

• COVID-19 vs. flu: Similarities and differences
• COVID-19, cold, allergies and the flu
• Unusual symptoms of coronavirus

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COVID-19 is caused by infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, also called SARS-CoV-2.

The coronavirus spreads mainly from person to person, even from someone who is infected but has no symptoms. When people with COVID-19 cough, sneeze, breathe, sing or talk, their breath may be infected with the COVID-19 virus.

The coronavirus carried by a person's breath can land directly on the face of a nearby person, after a sneeze or cough, for example. The droplets or particles the infected person breathes out could possibly be breathed in by other people if they are close together or in areas with low air flow. And a person may touch a surface that has respiratory droplets and then touch their face with hands that have the coronavirus on them.

It's possible to get COVID-19 more than once.

• Over time, the body's defense against the COVID-19 virus can fade.
• A person may be exposed to so much of the virus that it breaks through their immune defense.
• As a virus infects a group of people, the virus copies itself. During this process, the genetic code can randomly change in each copy. The changes are called mutations. If the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 changes in ways that make previous infections or vaccination less effective at preventing infection, people can get sick again.

The virus that causes COVID-19 can infect some pets. Cats, dogs, hamsters and ferrets have caught this coronavirus and had symptoms. It's rare for a person to get COVID-19 from a pet.

Risk factors

The main risk factors for COVID-19 are:

• If someone you live with has COVID-19 .
• If you spend time in places with poor air flow and a higher number of people when the virus is spreading.
• If you spend more than 30 minutes in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 .

Many factors affect your risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 . How long you are in contact, if the space has good air flow and your activities all affect the risk. Also, if you or others wear masks, if someone has COVID-19 symptoms and how close you are affects your risk. Close contact includes sitting and talking next to one another, for example, or sharing a car or bedroom.

It seems to be rare for people to catch the virus that causes COVID-19 from an infected surface. While the virus is shed in waste, called stool, COVID-19 infection from places such as a public bathroom is not common.

Serious COVID-19 illness risk factors

Some people are at a higher risk of serious COVID-19 illness than others. This includes people age 65 and older as well as babies younger than 6 months. Those age groups have the highest risk of needing hospital care for COVID-19 .

Not every risk factor for serious COVID-19 illness is known. People of all ages who have no other medical issues have needed hospital care for COVID-19 .

Known risk factors for serious illness include people who have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine. Serious illness also is a higher risk for people who have:

• Sickle cell disease or thalassemia.
• Serious heart diseases and possibly high blood pressure.
• Chronic kidney, liver or lung diseases.

People with dementia or Alzheimer's also are at higher risk, as are people with brain and nervous system conditions such as stroke. Smoking increases the risk of serious COVID-19 illness. And people with a body mass index in the overweight category or obese category may have a higher risk as well.

Other medical conditions that may raise the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 include:

• Cancer or a history of cancer.
• Type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
• Weakened immune system from solid organ transplants or bone marrow transplants, some medicines, or HIV .

This list is not complete. Factors linked to a health issue may raise the risk of serious COVID-19 illness too. Examples are a medical condition where people live in a group home, or lack of access to medical care. Also, people with more than one health issue, or people of older age who also have health issues have a higher chance of severe illness.

Related information

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Complications

Complications of COVID-19 include long-term loss of taste and smell, skin rashes, and sores. The illness can cause trouble breathing or pneumonia. Medical issues a person already manages may get worse.

Complications of severe COVID-19 illness can include:

• Acute respiratory distress syndrome, when the body's organs do not get enough oxygen.
• Shock caused by the infection or heart problems.
• Overreaction of the immune system, called the inflammatory response.
• Blood clots.
• Kidney injury.

Post-COVID-19 syndrome

After a COVID-19 infection, some people report that symptoms continue for months, or they develop new symptoms. This syndrome has often been called long COVID, or post- COVID-19 . You might hear it called long haul COVID-19 , post-COVID conditions or PASC. That's short for post-acute sequelae of SARS -CoV-2.

Other infections, such as the flu and polio, can lead to long-term illness. But the virus that causes COVID-19 has only been studied since it began to spread in 2019. So, research into the specific effects of long-term COVID-19 symptoms continues.

Researchers do think that post- COVID-19 syndrome can happen after an illness of any severity.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine may help prevent post- COVID-19 syndrome.

• Long-term effects of COVID-19

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone age 6 months and older. The COVID-19 vaccine can lower the risk of death or serious illness caused by COVID-19.

The COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are:

2023-2024 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. This vaccine is available for people age 6 months and older.

Among people with a typical immune system:

• Children age 6 months up to age 4 years are up to date after three doses of a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
• People age 5 and older are up to date after one Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
• For people who have not had a 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccination, the CDC recommends getting an additional shot of that updated vaccine.

2023-2024 Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. This vaccine is available for people age 6 months and older.

• Children ages 6 months up to age 4 are up to date if they've had two doses of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
• People age 5 and older are up to date with one Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

2023-2024 Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. This vaccine is available for people age 12 years and older.

• People age 12 years and older are up to date if they've had two doses of a Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

In general, people age 5 and older with typical immune systems can get any vaccine approved or authorized for their age. They usually don't need to get the same vaccine each time.

Some people should get all their vaccine doses from the same vaccine maker, including:

• Children ages 6 months to 4 years.
• People age 5 years and older with weakened immune systems.
• People age 12 and older who have had one shot of the Novavax vaccine should get the second Novavax shot in the two-dose series.

Talk to your healthcare professional if you have any questions about the vaccines for you or your child. Your healthcare team can help you if:

• The vaccine you or your child got earlier isn't available.
• You don't know which vaccine you or your child received.
• You or your child started a vaccine series but couldn't finish it due to side effects.

People with weakened immune systems

Your healthcare team may suggest added doses of COVID-19 vaccine if you have a moderately or seriously weakened immune system. The FDA has also authorized the monoclonal antibody pemivibart (Pemgarda) to prevent COVID-19 in some people with weakened immune systems.

Control the spread of infection

In addition to vaccination, there are other ways to stop the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 .

If you are at a higher risk of serious illness, talk to your healthcare professional about how best to protect yourself. Know what to do if you get sick so you can quickly start treatment.

If you feel ill or have COVID-19 , stay home and away from others, including pets, if possible. Avoid sharing household items such as dishes or towels if you're sick.

In general, make it a habit to:

• Test for COVID-19 . If you have symptoms of COVID-19 test for the infection. Or test five days after you came in contact with the virus.
• Help from afar. Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick or has symptoms, if possible.
• Wash your hands. Wash your hands well and often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Cover your coughs and sneezes. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow. Then wash your hands.
• Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces. For example, clean doorknobs, light switches, electronics and counters regularly.

Try to spread out in crowded public areas, especially in places with poor airflow. This is important if you have a higher risk of serious illness.

The CDC recommends that people wear a mask in indoor public spaces if you're in an area with a high number of people with COVID-19 in the hospital. They suggest wearing the most protective mask possible that you'll wear regularly, that fits well and is comfortable.

• COVID-19 vaccines: Get the facts - Related information COVID-19 vaccines: Get the facts
• Comparing the differences between COVID-19 vaccines - Related information Comparing the differences between COVID-19 vaccines
• Different types of COVID-19 vaccines: How they work - Related information Different types of COVID-19 vaccines: How they work
• Debunking COVID-19 myths - Related information Debunking COVID-19 myths

Travel and COVID-19

Travel brings people together from areas where illnesses may be at higher levels. Masks can help slow the spread of respiratory diseases in general, including COVID-19 . Masks help the most in places with low air flow and where you are in close contact with other people. Also, masks can help if the places you travel to or through have a high level of illness.

Masking is especially important if you or a companion have a high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 .

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• Goldman L, et al., eds. COVID-19: Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, community prevention, and prognosis. In: Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Elsevier; 2024. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Dec. 17, 2023.
• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment guidelines. National Institutes of Health. https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/. Accessed Dec. 18, 2023.
• AskMayoExpert. COVID-19: Testing, symptoms. Mayo Clinic; Nov. 2, 2023.
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• AskMayoExpert. COVID-19: Outpatient management. Mayo Clinic; Oct. 10, 2023.
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• Long COVID or post-COVID conditions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
• Stay up to date with your vaccines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
• Interim clinical considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccines currently approved or authorized in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html#CoV-19-vaccination. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
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• Masking during travel. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/masks. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
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• Bivalent COVID-19 booster approved for children 6 months and older Dec. 09, 2022, 09:33 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Minute: How to self-care at home when you have COVID-19 Dec. 06, 2022, 05:00 p.m. CDT
• Halloween safety tips from a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases expert Oct. 27, 2022, 02:00 p.m. CDT
• COVID-19, RSV and flu--season of respiratory infections Oct. 26, 2022, 04:30 p.m. CDT
• COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccines for kids 5-11 approved, Mayo Clinic awaits supply Oct. 13, 2022, 04:54 p.m. CDT
• Questions answered about the COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccines Oct. 12, 2022, 03:30 p.m. CDT
• Will the COVID-19 booster be like an annual flu shot? Sept. 12, 2022, 04:30 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Who needs back-to-school COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters? Sept. 04, 2022, 11:00 a.m. CDT
• Q&A podcast: Updated COVID-19 boosters target omicron variants Sept. 02, 2022, 12:30 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Back-to-school COVID-19 vaccinations for kids Aug. 15, 2022, 03:15 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic research shows bebtelovimab to be a reliable option for treating COVID-19 in era of BA.2, other subvariants Aug. 15, 2022, 02:09 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: New variants of COVID-19 Aug. 04, 2022, 12:30 p.m. CDT
• COVID-19 variant BA.5 is dominant strain; BA.2.75 is being monitored July 28, 2022, 02:30 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic researchers pinpoint genetic variations that might sway course of COVID-19 July 25, 2022, 02:00 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: BA.5 omicron variant fueling latest COVID-19 surge July 15, 2022, 12:00 p.m. CDT
• What you need to know about the BA.5 omicron variant July 14, 2022, 06:41 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: The importance of COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 July 06, 2022, 01:00 p.m. CDT
• COVID-19 vaccination for kids age 5 and younger starting the week of July 4 at most Mayo sites July 01, 2022, 04:00 p.m. CDT
• Patients treated with monoclonal antibodies during COVID-19 delta surge had low rates of severe disease, Mayo Clinic study finds June 27, 2022, 03:00 p.m. CDT
• Long COVID and the digestive system: Mayo Clinic expert describes common symptoms June 21, 2022, 02:43 p.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: COVID-19 update June 17, 2022, 01:08 p.m. CDT
• Study finds few COVID-19 patients get rebound symptoms after Paxlovid treatment June 14, 2022, 10:06 a.m. CDT
• Mayo Clinic Minute: What to expect with COVID-19 vaccinations for youngest kids June 08, 2022, 04:35 p.m. CDT
• Symptoms & causes
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• COVID-19 vaccines: Get the facts
• How well do face masks protect against coronavirus?
• Post-COVID Recovery

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