Dublin Core
Title
From Ignorant Bliss to Informed Fear
Subject
Account of Liana's days before and after the announcement of COVID-19 as a pandemic. March 8-16, 2020 - Based on an Interview with Liana
Description
Account of Liana's days before and after the announcement of COVID-19 as a pandemic. March 8-16, 2020 - Based on an Interview with Liana
Creator
Varoon P
Source
Liana
Date
March 8-16 2020
Rights
Liana's permission for interview granted over email
Format
Google Document
Language
English
Type
Account of Oral History Interview
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
From Ignorant Bliss to Informed Fear
On October 4th 2020, I interviewed Liana about her first days experiences of when COVID-19 was announced a pandemic on March 10th 2020. Liana is a 20 year old college Junior who attends Rutgers University-Newark for their nursing program. During the interview, Liana seemed to remember the early days of when COVID-19 was first announced as a pandemic very well. This may have been because the announcement of the pandemic, Rutgers starting spring break early, and Liana visiting the University of Delaware all happened within the same week. It is worthwhile to take note that although she was aware of the virus’s presence in the U.S., she still was not worried about it because of her lack of information about this disease. As a nursing student who was learning about health related information like pandemics in her Microbiology class, Liana was not necessarily aware of the state of the world outside Rutgers and how the virus may have been affecting the country. However, when she returned home, it was compelling to understand her shift in cognition where she was more aware of the dangers of the virus after reading through studies and reports.
Before leaving Rutgers-Newark to go home, Liana’s used the first days since the announcement of the pandemic to travel down to the University of Delaware. It was interesting to learn from Liana about the reactions of those students who were also told to leave campus within a few days. What was surprising was that the students were not necessarily worried about the disease itself but rather concerned about figuring out how to get back home. While booking a flight within a short time period is troublesome, it was interesting to see that they were not too anxious about catching COVID-19 since Liana stated that they all still went out to eat. This scenario shows how pervasive the unawareness of the severity of COVID-19 was for some college students. Liana’s description of how she felt as though she was in a bubble at Rutgers-Newark seemed to fit the same atmosphere at the University of Delaware, where people also had a lack of information.
When she first arrived home, Liana described that she had a more mellow attitude of COVID-19 because she wanted to offset her grandparents’ worry. However, after a few days at home reading through some reports of COVID-19, Liana was able to understand how harrowing this disease had become. The information she gained was the catalyst needed to burst her bubble of ignorance and help her understand how harrowing this disease had become. Her whole family began to take more precautions to help protect the grandparents and Liana’s father, who was recovering from cancer. Apart from just actions, Liana's feelings changed as well. She went from being indifferent about the virus to afraid of leaving the house. The thought she may pass the virus along to more vulnerable family members made her fearful to go out and do things as she normally would. Overall, Liana’s first few days of COVID-19 being announced as a pandemic was a transition from nonchalant unawareness to a fearful realization of the potential devastation of COVID-19.
On October 4th 2020, I interviewed Liana about her first days experiences of when COVID-19 was announced a pandemic on March 10th 2020. Liana is a 20 year old college Junior who attends Rutgers University-Newark for their nursing program. During the interview, Liana seemed to remember the early days of when COVID-19 was first announced as a pandemic very well. This may have been because the announcement of the pandemic, Rutgers starting spring break early, and Liana visiting the University of Delaware all happened within the same week. It is worthwhile to take note that although she was aware of the virus’s presence in the U.S., she still was not worried about it because of her lack of information about this disease. As a nursing student who was learning about health related information like pandemics in her Microbiology class, Liana was not necessarily aware of the state of the world outside Rutgers and how the virus may have been affecting the country. However, when she returned home, it was compelling to understand her shift in cognition where she was more aware of the dangers of the virus after reading through studies and reports.
Before leaving Rutgers-Newark to go home, Liana’s used the first days since the announcement of the pandemic to travel down to the University of Delaware. It was interesting to learn from Liana about the reactions of those students who were also told to leave campus within a few days. What was surprising was that the students were not necessarily worried about the disease itself but rather concerned about figuring out how to get back home. While booking a flight within a short time period is troublesome, it was interesting to see that they were not too anxious about catching COVID-19 since Liana stated that they all still went out to eat. This scenario shows how pervasive the unawareness of the severity of COVID-19 was for some college students. Liana’s description of how she felt as though she was in a bubble at Rutgers-Newark seemed to fit the same atmosphere at the University of Delaware, where people also had a lack of information.
When she first arrived home, Liana described that she had a more mellow attitude of COVID-19 because she wanted to offset her grandparents’ worry. However, after a few days at home reading through some reports of COVID-19, Liana was able to understand how harrowing this disease had become. The information she gained was the catalyst needed to burst her bubble of ignorance and help her understand how harrowing this disease had become. Her whole family began to take more precautions to help protect the grandparents and Liana’s father, who was recovering from cancer. Apart from just actions, Liana's feelings changed as well. She went from being indifferent about the virus to afraid of leaving the house. The thought she may pass the virus along to more vulnerable family members made her fearful to go out and do things as she normally would. Overall, Liana’s first few days of COVID-19 being announced as a pandemic was a transition from nonchalant unawareness to a fearful realization of the potential devastation of COVID-19.
Original Format
Google Document