by Michael Colotti
COVID-19 (also known as the Coronavirus) swept the nation and affected many individuals and their families, including me. My hometown of Rye Brook was once filled with people playing outside of their homes and walking down the streets, only to now be stuck inside their houses with nothing but their families and essential supplies.
I have never encountered something as serious as this virus.
I will not be returning to RIT this semester. I never thought that would happen given the circumstances. Hopefully that will change but for now, I am stuck at home and doing the rest of my school online, with the use of my laptop. It is a major adjustment, but I am learning to manage it, even with all the distractions that linger in my house.
So far, I have been trying to maintain social distancing as recommended by our government. I haven’t spoken to my friends in person since the pandemic was declared as such so, we all chose to keep our distance until its safe enough to physically be around each other. I’ve been living with my parents and two brothers. It’s been alright to be stuck with them in the house, but I can tell, especially with my parents, they would like to be able to go out more and not just on occasion. My twin brother is planning on going back to an off-campus apartment from his school, but he is concerned that it may not be safe to go back due to the pandemic. He is still weighing his options.
Our house has a few stockpiles of supplies that are considered essential such as food, medicine, and other cleaning supplies. One essential supply that we have struggled a little bit with is toilet paper. For some reason, this pandemic cause everyone to go over buy huge amounts of toilet paper as if that is going to protect them from the virus. Its been hard to find any in stores that are closest to home. We ordered some toilet paper online, but they aren’t going to arrive until late April or early May. In the meantime, we do have some, but I’m not sure how much that supply is going to last until that online delivery arrives.
While I am home, classes are continuing as mentioned before. Since the pandemic started and I am unable to return to my campus. In order to communicate with professors and classmates, we have started to use an online service called Zoom. Through Zoom, everyone to be able to do a voice or video calls in small to large groups. I am more accustomed to attending in-person classes, so using my laptop for lectures has been an adjustment.
This pandemic has not been easy. For now, I just have to make the best of it during these difficult times. The best thing to do now is to be safe while we all face this crisis together.
