Beth
Covid-History Item Type Metadata
Age
59
Date
5/25/2020
Location
Waterford, New York
When did the impact of COVID-19 first occur to you? How did your reaction to COVID-19 change between then and the first case in your town?
Sometime in late January early February I started hearing about it. I was a bit in dennial about the whole thing hitting upstate New York
How is your life different now than it was before the pandemic?
I don't get to see any of my friends. I don't see my cousins. Do less shopping which is a good thing! Don't go out at night much.
How are you feeling? What are you doing to relieve stress?
I am feeling pretty much normal. Get a little lonely at night. My husband is an early to bed early to rise person and my son spends his evening with friends on line. I keep extremely busy during the day taking care of my home - outside yard work, helping to take care of my one son's new home outside and inside work as he works two jobs and working at my family's camp and cabin getting them ready for the summer and taking care of the yards up there. I have sanded down and restained and polyurethanes two picnic tables and a park bench. I have been making a cedar closet. I have stained a porch floor. I recovered some dining room chairs. I have painted three bedrooms. I have made three sets of valances. I walk with my neighbor on her lunch break. I check in with my older girlfriend who lives accross the street - by phone - daily.
What have you noticed has changed in your community since the outbreak? What has surprised you?
A lot less interaction between friends and neighbors. Easy to drive around until last week. The roads were very quiet and parking lots in most stores were empty. The stores that were and are open have been very very busy. What surprises me is how much disinformation has been fed to the people of this country on a daily basis. What surprises me is how we, in a lot of instances, have not pulled together and have treated each other very poorly. I am disappointed how ugly people are to each other even during this world wide crisis. I would have thought we would become better, kinder, more considerate and thoughtful people as a whole rather than "good" stories about people being few and far between.
Are you a business owner who has had to close? If you are still open, how have you had to adjust how your business operates?
n/a
Are you an essential employee? What do you do? What precautions are being taken at your workplace? What precautions are implementing at home?
No. I work for the public library and we are closed.
Are you an employee who has been laid off or furloughed? Were you able to get unemployment? Were you able to retain your health insurance?
I am retired so have health insurance through my former employer. I have not been furloughed or laid off and I have not needed unemployment. I have been very lucky and Blessed and so has my whole immediate family. We are so grateful for that.
Are you working from home? What adjustments or challenges are you experiencing?
I keep up on emails from work and we have weekly meetings and weekly training that we do on line. There have been webinars and seminars and other items available to be involved with even though the library is not open. As far as working the only adjustment has been not being able to physically go to work and work along side my fellow library personnel. I miss them. They are fantastic people.
Do you have children at home? How’s it going?
I have one adult son living with us. He is working remotely from home. My husband has been going out to work. One bedroom is set up as my son's office. So, truly no hardships there. I have been able to eat lunch with my son most every day. That has been a wonderful benefit for me. Our two cats are thrilled to have people around so much more. They will not be happy when we all go back to work!!
If you’re a student, was school canceled? Were you able to complete your studies online? Do you think you’ll be back on campus in the fall?
n/a
Did you have to postpone any major life events? (e.g. Graduation, wedding, major birthday) What did you do instead?
No, but my daughter-in-law will be giving birth in July. That may be a little different.
Do you have animals? Did you adopt a pet? How have they impacted your day?
I have two cats. They are loving people being home. Although it is a strange set up to get my pet's medications from the Vet. Order from home, call them when I am in the parking lot, give them my credit card over the phone and then someone brings the medication and invoice to me in my vehicle.
What positive things did you contribute to or notice take place?
Keeping tabs on some of my older neighbors and lending them a hand. Helping out at my son's house, my family's summer place and being available to help my family members with whatever they need done. I got involved in the rainbows on your homes. My neighbors put a wind sock in my tree for me. That was nice. Spent a lot of time connecting and keeping tabs on my children and siblings.
Did you or someone you know contract COVID-19? What was it like?
n/a
If you lost someone during the pandemic, how did you celebrate their lives?
We have not been able to have any type of service for my cousin who passed away in March from Cancer. She lived in Texas. We had to cancel our plane tickets and they were not able to have a church service or memorial service to date. That makes her passing seem very surreal.
What would you want future generations to know about the 2020 pandemic? How would you recommend they prepare for it?
The truth - the real truth not all this fake propaganda and political machinations at the expense of the people in this country. To realize how important it is to be prepared - not stock pile, but have some money, food items, and other things set aside for a time of need. To be careful not fearful. Be kind and considerate and help where you can - don't sit back and do nothing, but unless you are a first responder - stay out of their way, but lend them a hand.
How do you think this pandemic will change how we behave going forward? What will the “new normal” look like?
I think education is in crisis. I believe there will be more homeschooling. I believe there will be a lot more remote working. I think there will be a lot less physical buildings/businesses. I believe a lot of small businesses will go under, bigger ones too. There will be many, many out of work, unemployed people not being able to make ends meet, pay for housing, pay their bills. I think our economy is in big trouble. People's stocks and savings for retirement are not going to be what they were and what people may need to get by with. The new norm is going to have a lot more distancing between many people. I think there will be more fear of strangers. I think the new normal is not going to be so great going forward and I feel really badly for my children's lives going forward. I have no idea when things will truly turn around for them or if they will.
Is there anything else you would like to add that hasn't already been asked above?
I think I said a whole lot more than I actually planned to or thought I would. I think there is also a whole lot more I could say, but I think I am done. Thank you for the opportunity to share some of my pandemic life. Hopefully it will give others some insight as to how life was during this strange time in our history.
Dublin Core
Title
Beth
Subject
COVID-19 (Disease)
Publisher
Southern Adirondack Library System
Contributor
Southern Adirondack Library System
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Language
English
Type
Covid History
Identifier
11839218602
Collection
Citation
“Beth,” Leaving Our Fingerprints on History, accessed April 25, 2024, https://fingerprints.sals.edu/omeka/items/show/181.