Although my parents, siblings, and I were all quarantined under the same roof, the pandemic affected each one of us in a different way. First, I'll start with my dad. Almost four years ago, my dad was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. Because of this, he had to undergo several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments; both of which compromised his immune system. Even though this happened a few years ago, his immune system still faces reprocussions every now and then. For instance, something so common as the flu could be potentially fatal for him. Due to his inability to fight off infections, my dad has had to be extremely cautious about living in a world with a virus so dangerous as COVID. He had to wear extra thick masks and use hand sanitizer after touching almost anything. During this time, my dad was forced to run his business from home, which was extremely challenging. This and being stuck in his room due to his high risks definitely took a tole on his mental health. Since quarantine has ended, he has been able to return to work and get back to some normalcy despite the immense fear of the coronavirus.
We just recently moved back to Kentucky a few months before COVID struck our country and my mom was in the process of looking for a new job. My mom is a special education middle school teacher and loves her students more than anything. Sometimes, my siblings and I would joke that she loved them more than us, but she always corrected us. Since the virus shut down most schools in our area, this made it even more difficult for my mom's job search. Many school districts were so caught up with the pandemic, they did not even bother thinking about the next school year because they did not know if classes would resume online or in-person. Therefore, my mom was not able to find a new job with more loving students for the 2020 school year.
Being nursing school, college, and high school students, my sibling and I were forced to switch to online classes for most 2020. My sister and I had to move back home from our apartment and dorm and quarantine with the rest of our family. My brother was already struggling with all the classes and transitioning that comes with being a freshman in high school, and when COVID made his classes online he struggled even more. All three of us had to quickly adjust to learning online, which was very hard for all of us. It was also hard not being able to see our friends everyday in the hallway or classroom, due to the pandemic. Even though the five of us were united again in the same house, the coronavirus still manage to affect us all differently. We were all able to support one another through their different struggles and were brought closer together in the end.
