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The lingering pandemic

Emily Monaco

A phantom mask hanging from a door handle.
Emily Monaco / THE GATEPOST

By Emily Monaco Editorial Staff So far it seems that COVID-19 has been going around early this semester. According to Anne Lyons, the director of the Health and Wellness Center, a similar increase in cases from midsummer through early fall happened last year. Somehow this year feels much different - the spread of it seems much faster, and experiences with symptoms vary from person to person. The CDC recently updated its COVID-19 guidelines, and now is treating it like other respiratory illnesses. It may be a respiratory illness, however, there are still many things we do not know about the long-term effects post-infection. According to The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, there have been neurological symptoms reported such as brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. This also includes basic motor functions, such as decreased coordination and even loss of movement. Unfortunately, I was one of many people who have contracted COVID-19. It completely threw me off, as I had taken proper precautions in and out of class. Though the mask mandate on campus was lifted in the fall of 2022, it is still a very good idea to wear one to keep yourself and others safe from stopping the spread of illness. But to my understanding, many people don't seem to care about COVID-19 or about being sick anymore because they are more worried about paying for their education, and cannot afford to miss class time. I contracted COVID-19 last week and was completely unaware of it - I wrote it off as a simple cold. I had been masking in class as I was concerned about growing numbers of people coming in with coughs, sneezes, or sore throats. I didn't want to fall behind in my classes and I'm sure that my peers don't want to either. But those choices have repercussions on other people. This was my second time contracting COVID and it hurt so much more than the first. My family is at high risk for severe complications if they were to contract COVID, so I couldn’t go home. I was stuck on campus forced to endure alone. It is a very ableist perspective for people who assume COVID is just another common cold when many people could still face hospitalization or even death because of the virus. Should the CDC re-evaluate its COVID guidelines? Seeing as how a common cold can be very different from COVID, it can be a bit lenient to categorize these two different illnesses together. Have we moved on too quickly from the pandemic? How long will it take for us - or have we already forgotten what happened? It seems that there's a common lack of compassion and a trend in this hardened skeptical view of being kind toward others and thinking about how we affect others with our physical health. To me, it seems like people want to forget that it happened and they brush it under the rug. The pandemic was traumatizing. I remember coming to Framingham State in the fall of 2020 and my college experience was completely warped because of pandemic restrictions. Now it seems like everything is back to normal, but what happens to people who still get COVID? The newer variants are just as harmful as the older ones, and we still don’t know the long-term effects of the RNA virus. A common concern amongst the student body based on my interactions with my peers is missing class and being penalized for it. I've been told a lot that some professors aren't as forgiving when it comes to contracting illness and not being able to come into class to complete work. There is a set absence policy in all classes. However, when it comes to ailment and extreme circumstances there should be no reason to punish students for something that is completely out of their control. Not only is it dangerous for a student to go to class sick, but it is also dangerous for everyone in the class. The Health Center encourages students to stay home when they are sick to avoid infecting others and keep up-to-date on vaccinations. They hold vaccine clinics every year, and this week they held them in Dwight Hall’s small gymnasium on both Wednesday and Thursday. We're lacking in compassion and community especially right now. Have we lost our sense of self because of the way that our society has been structured over the last five years? Instead of focusing on moving forward and getting things done fast, maybe we need to take a step back, analyze ourselves, and take care of each other. This lack of compassion and humanity is disheartening and now it is more important than ever to have a sense of community. Something that we all learned during the lockdown was to get back in touch with our humanity, but it seems people are so quick to forget. We shouldn't ignore that the pandemic happened and we shouldn't be moving on from it so soon. Because regardless of who you are, it affects you and everyone you know.

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