Light at the End of the COVID-19 Tunnel
March 13 is a warm sunny day; one of the first after the long winter months. For Caeleigh Smyth, it’s another first. The first day she can take a deep breath since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
A year, after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus a pandemic, Smyth got her first dose of a vaccine in a completely changed world. From mental health, to school, concerts, night life, and everything in between, the things unaffected by COVID-19 are few and far between. As the vaccine is being rolled out all over the world, the light at the end of the tunnel that is COVID-19 can finally be seen. While this is a positive, some are feeling anxious about returning to life as we know it.
For many, like sophomore Kassidy Warren, the fear comes from jumping back into a normal world faster than we should.
“As things start to open up, I genuinely am nervous about being around so many other people while the virus could still be around,” Warren said.
With that in mind, Warren said her excitement outweighs her anxiety by a landslide.
Maggie Miller, a senior, is looking forward to gaining back what was lost in the last year.
Last March, Maggie was living her dream life abroad in Florence, Italy, when COVID-19 hit, the dream quickly came to an end.
“Although I know my life in State College won’t be the same as it was in Italy, I’m so excited for there to be normalcy again,” she sighed. “I got back from being abroad to the world flipped upside down. No hanging out with friends, no eating out, and things like that. The small things about my life that I love were just gone.”
Miller is not alone in this feeling. In a study done on Medical News Today, in people ages 18–35, 80% said they felt “significant depressive symptoms” in times of COVID-19. Although it’s been a dark time for some, others are feeling a big and positive change.
Connor Buerk, a senior currently living in Brooklyn, New York, said the city is only getting better by day.
“When I moved here when the pandemic started, it was dead. The streets were empty and it was really creepy. Fast forward to now and things are improving so fast.”
The world a year ago was a stark contrast to what is normal, but today it seems a little easier for some. Hope can be a powerful thing, with vaccines being given by thousands a day, and coronavirus positive tests dropping, people are turning to hope. In the United States specifically, President Biden hopes to have all citizens scheduled for vaccination by May 1.
Bella D’Adderio, a sophomore, said hope is a new feeling for her during the pandemic.
After being sent home from on-campus housing last March, to her semester abroad being cancelled months later, D’Adderio remembers feeling like it would never end.
“I honestly got to the point where I was just getting pissed off. Some of the biggest things I was looking forward to were taken away,” D’Adderio said.
Although D’adderio recognizes that everyone was having things, including loved ones, taken away from them, it didn’t make what she was going through any easier. While this hopeless feeling was temporary for D’Adderio, others faced things that weren’t so temporary.
Kyra Menninger, a senior, realized pretty fast the long-term effects of the virus.
After her grandpa tested positive for coronavirus in April of 2020, his health deteriorated quickly, and devastatingly passed on May 3 2020.
“I feel like no matter when the world gets back to normal, a part of me will always feel empty because of my grandpa dying. He will never get his life back, and I’ll never be able to forget about what took him,” Menninger said.
While a year later, things are beginning to head back to normal, it is evident that the effects of COVID-19 will last a lifetime.
Junior Kaitlin Christ is among those feeling hopeful right now.
“I know we have a long way to go until we’re back to normal, but there’s actually good changes happening now. Before it was all negative,” Christ said
