Q: Has this pandemic changed your feelings about current events and politics?

Njoki: Before this pandemic, I didn’t pay attention to the news, other than things I heard in school or saw on Instagram/Twitter. Now, I watch the news with my parents almost every day and keep up with the latest updates from doctors and government officials. Every time I go on Instagram or Youtube, there is always something related to COVID-19. Watching all this news has shown me all the crazy stuff that is put out on the internet and the lack of knowledge that is present almost everywhere, even in our government. I also realized how quickly things can fall apart without an organized government.

Kaitlyn: When reading about the Coronavirus in other countries before it came here, I remember thinking that it would never actually come here, because the US healthcare system was supposed to be so good. Even when Massachusetts got its first case, I believed that it was completely isolated and that health officials would be able to stop the spread. The only emergencies that I’ve ever heard of in the US have to do with stuff like weather disasters, so I kind of just assumed that we would be able to stop the spread of Coronavirus, because we have programs like the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the best hospitals. This whole experience has made me realize that the US really isn’t  invincible and we can be affected by disasters that we’ve read about just like the rest of the world.