First Days of the Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic. For some of us, our lives changed radically in that moment. For others, our lived experiences shifted more gradually in the coming days and weeks. For a few, life as we knew it had been turned on its head weeks, even months, earlier. This exhibit features individual stories of how a group of Rutgers-Newark students, their professor, and various peoples in their lives that they interviewed reacted in the initial moments -- most often the beginning few days -- of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among our stories you'll find humor, despair, disbelief, hope, and -- writing our memories of the pandemic's initial days six to seven months later in fall 2020 -- regret at early nonchalance. Our First Days reflect some common experiences, such as panic buying toilet paper, saying farewell to family and friends for a while, and donning our first masks. Our First Days also feature some less common experiences, such as jetting off to Vegas for a good time, settling bets, and watching friends attend a NOVID party at a frat. We invite you to learn about our First Days.

Credits

Audrey Truschke, Kenneth Morrissey, Akshay Warrier, Paul Orlowicz, Kyle Amadeo, Stephanie Czeslowski, A. Paprika, Nicole Arena, Varoon P, David Martinez, Donald Koger, Alexander Tedesco, Can Eker, Christopher Perez