DeWitt High School Students Interview Family Members on COVID-19

We are all tired of dealing with COVID-19 and all the regulations that come along with it. Our lives are no where near what we called normal back in March and sadly, life may never be the same. We will change over to a new “normal” and amend our normal schedules.

Seniors have missed out on graduation ceremonies; families have cancelled reunions; and babies have been born into a world of the unknown. However, one thing is for certain. COVID-19 will go down in history and generations upon generations will learn how the pandemic changed our lives.

Schools have been closed since Spring Break, but students were still required to do certain homework assignments. One of those assignments was assigned by DeWitt High School History teacher, Melissa Patterson. Students were given the task of interviewing people and asking fifteen questions that related to COVID-19.

Jessalyn Ahrens asked Hallie Horton the following question. “What are some of the activities you are missing out on because of this virus, and which of them are you the most sad about?” Horton replied, “I am missing out on my senior prom and banquet, but I am most upset about not having a graduation.” Although graduation has been postponed, it was still extremely hard on the Seniors who weren’t able to walk across the football field to receive their diplomas on the original date. Imagine being a senior, graduating, after working so hard to graduate with high academics, only to be told “Graduation will have to wait.” The entire community was saddened when the news came out, but they will definitely be there to cheer for their Seniors when the time is right!

Another student, Bailey Cole, asked her grandfather, “Do you believe that life will go back to normal as before or will there by standards?” and the grandfather replied, “I think there will be a new normal. I don’t know what that will be, but I don’t think anyone knows what that will be.” Cole also asked, “Do you think this is as bad as the Spanish Flu in 1918?” and her grandfather replied, “So far, no because the death totals.”

The 1918 influenza pandemic, Spanish Flu, was the most severe pandemic in history that was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. First noticed by military personnel in the Spring of 1918, it isn’t a shock as to why the COVID-19 virus is being related to the Spanish Flu. Quarantine, isolation, good personal hygiene, limitations on gatherings and the use of disinfectants quickly became the new normal, and closely resembled the times of the Spanish Flu.

Colten Grammer reported in his interview that when he asked his interviewee “Do you think social distancing will help?” they responded with “Honestly, I do because a virus can’t spread if there is no one to spread to.” Grammer also asked “How often do you leave your house a week?” and the response he received was “I’m essential so I have to go to work every day. Other than that, I only go to the grocery store about once a week. I haven’t really changed my lifestyle any, other than not eating in at restaurants or going to sports games.”

As we all know, having the luxury of going into a restaurant, ordering food, and enjoying our meals with friends and family came to a halt when COVID-19 hit the States. Restaurants closed their doors to dine in services and began plans of offering delivery and pickup services in order to stay open. Not only were restaurants closing, but other local businesses were unable to continue normal business hours and had to begin limiting how many people were allowed inside at one time. Not all businesses were able to stay open and due to the regulations set forth by the government, they were forced to close their doors to the public until further notice.

Tylan Dillion asked, “What do you think COVID-19 has done to our economy?” in which his interviewee replied, “It has created hardships for our economy and country overall that will take an extended amount of time to recover.” The many businesses that were forced to shut down, the others that shut down voluntarily, will have a long road ahead of them, recovering from the revenue lost during their closures.

In regards to those who have continued to work throughout this pandemic, Geraldine Trujillo asked how her interviewee felt about the people that were still working during this time, and they replied, “I feel sorry for them because they are at a higher risk of getting the virus since they have to be outside of the house every day. They are still doing it because they need money to be able to get food and other things that they need.”

Of course, my daughter, Ashlynne was one of Mrs. Patterson’s students and it was quite odd to be on the opposite side of an interview. I’m normally the one asking questions when covering local events, but this time the table was turned. Ashlynne Jenkins asked me, “How has your quarantine been so far?” to which I replied, “I haven’t been under quarantine. It’s been null and void as I’ve worked every day, even the week the electricity was out.”

All of Mrs. Patterson’s students asked very important questions, and the answers were different, but all resulted in the basically the same answers. Everyone knows that it has been a strain on our communities, state and nation, and the term social distancing is one that needs to be practiced by all. By practicing social distancing, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer, we may not be able to completely rid the world of this virus, but we can do our part to help prevent it from spreading any further.

Twenty, fifty or eighty years from now, those students, as well as all of us, can look back on this time and see how it changed our lives, if even for a short time.