Covid-19: The Invisible Threat

My name is Matt Querdasi and I attend(ed) Wesleyan University located in Connecticut. At the time Wesleyan went on spring break recess on March 7th, nobody expected we would not be returning at the end of spring break. However, as is it got closer and closer to March 21st (the scheduled return to campus), it became apparent that the semester would be moved to remote learning.

Currently, as of May 1st 2020, Covid-19 is an extremely dangerous threat that has limited practically every aspect of life. Many people do not leave their homes, see their friends or family, or engage in many practices that used to be commonplace. However, a mere 7 weeks ago, this threat was practically nonexistent.

While I go to school in Connecticut, I am originally from Seattle Washington. Seattle played an interesting role in the virus' entrance into the states, as it was home to the first major outbreak in the US. As can be seen in the web map below, Seattle, like most cities, has been hit hard by the virus. When the virus first hit the US, Seattle was constantly making headlines about the viruses spread in a senior living facility in Snohomish county, just north of the city of Seattle. This made my decision to go home very difficult.

After considering options of staying with friends or relatives on the east coast, my family and I decided it would be best for me to be at home in the long term. I hastily purchased a flight, and after a long stressful journey, made it back to my family in Seattle.

Currently, I am staying at home and completing my online learning. The most difficult part of being at home all day is definitely not seeing my friends. Because of the nature of the shutdown, I wasn't able to say goodbye to many friends, especially seniors that will be graduating this year.

Seattle is actually not as bad as many think. New cases have gone down drastically, and Seattle was actually one of the first places in the country to offer drive-up clinics where people can get free testing. I don't see much of the city because of the stay at home order, but from the news and social media it seems people are optimistic. Hopefully, the transition back from this quarantine will go smoothly, and we can all resume some aspects of our previous lives, at least until there's a vaccine.