What Was Coming

Personal account of the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Donald Koger, a 36 year old Army Veteran reflects on his memory of the days surrounding the March 11, 2020 declaration by the World Health Organization of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Donald Koger

October 3, 2020

Donald Koger

https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/items/show/11

https://archivingcovid19.libraries.rutgers.edu/items/show/65

English

3 October 2020

What Was Coming.

When the World Health Organization declared the 2020 COVID-19 Epidemic, I was not expecting it to reach me in any personal, direct way.  I was prepared to make some concessions in order to “normalize” efforts to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19, but I never expected that as many people would be infected or lose their lives as has happened.  Thinking back on the early days, I was far more naïve than I should have been.

As things began to be canceled, I remember wondering if people were overreacting.  When we saw Italy go into lockdown, it did not seem real.  When classes were canceled, it felt like I was watching a movie.  I feel like we, as Americans, were watching COVID-19 spread like watching a movie and then suddenly our lives changed.

March 8^th was the last time that I ate in a restaurant.  I remember that my parents and I were walking around the Woodbridge Mall and we saw some folks with dust masks dangling around their necks.  At this point, CDC guidance, as far as I remember was that only people who knew they were sick should wear masks.  This seemed reasonable, since I remembered that back when I was in the Army, going to sick call for a sore throat and being told to wear a mask to avoid getting anyone else sick.  The people who did wear masks as a prophylactic seemed, to me, to be overreacting.  We walked by a store where an art class had just finished and a few children were scuttering out, carrying their projects.  Maybe they were painting mugs, but I cannot remember what they were holding.  I remember that whenever we came near anyone else, we sought to keep some distance between strangers and ourselves.  I remember there was this “weight” in the air of the mall.  We felt as though people were beginning to be afraid of being close to strangers, and I remember discussing that the malls would be in trouble, with my parents.

March 9^th, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency.  I remember my bosses telling me to prepare to work from home for a few weeks and the next day, my university make the decision to temporarily suspend in-person instruction.  I remember not paying much attention in class the evening of March 9^th, as we all had the COVID-19 tracker up on our screens.

March 10^th, Rutgers decided to cancel all classes for the rest of the week, which started spring-break a few days early.  Students in dorms and university housing had to vacate, and we were told that after spring break, classes would resume in a virtual format for a few weeks.  I remember being very confused by this decision.  I remember thinking that if the idea were to have people quarantine, why would they send students away from campus back to their families?    It seemed like an odd decision to give them a couple days to vacate, instead of either kicking them out immediately or asking them to shelter-in-place.  March 7^th I was watching COVID-19 on the news, and March 10^th I was living in a changed world; a world of uncertainty, conflicting agendas regarding how to deal with the crisis, and confusion.  March 11^th, 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 an epidemic, and nearly seven months later, I feel like it is still March 11.