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Work and Hobbies During COVID

This was not really a recent experience, but this all happened about two months ago during the summer before college. The summer after my senior year was pretty tough in terms of my jobs. I lost two jobs during that time because I worked in the restaurant industry. At the time, I was working at a restaurant called 151 Kitchen and Bar. Before the pandemic hit, I worked there for almost two years at that point. Yet, in Illinois, all the restaurants were forced to close down and many people lost their jobs including me. For me, it was not too much of a problem because to me this as not a career. I was working this job to save up some money for college, but for the people I was working with, this was their only source of income. 

151 Kitchen and Bar in Elmhurst, IL

So when the pandemic hit, it was pretty sad witnessing those who I had worked with have to worry about how they will pay rent. It was especially saddening to see the owner of the restaurant worry because her three restaurants all closed down simultaneously, losing all revenue and having to throw out all the product in the kitchen. 

Pazzi Di Pizza in Elmhurst, IL

After I was furloughed, I looked for other sources of money during the time so that I could continue saving up for college. At point, I applied for a job delivering pizzas at a place called Pazzi Di Pizza. After getting the job and only working there for about 3 weeks, a person in the kitchen got the coronavirus and the whole restaurant shut down for weeks. I was pretty saddened about this one because I truly enjoyed delivering pizzas. Being able to listen to music all day and getting a lot of tips from the frequent orders during lockdown made the job a pretty good gig. Eventually the job opened back up after a couple weeks, but for a while I really had nothing to do. Working was something that kept me busy during the isolation of being home. 

To cope with the lack of things to keep me busy, I have noticed stark change in activities I do daily to keep me busy, including a change in more normal hobbies. There is no doubt that the coronavirus has eliminated the possibly of many forms of social gatherings. When I arrived to the University of Kentucky, I was immediately dismayed by the sight of the basketball courts being taken down. Before COVID, I had taken up basketball as a hobby for a while and was really starting to enjoy it. Once the pandemic hit, though, the rims were taken down almost everywhere. Playing basketball would have been a pretty easy way to meet people and make friends, which really disappointed me when I found out that opportunity would be taken away. 

Pictured: The basketball court near me before COVID-19

As for now, if I even wanted to go play basketball, I would have to walk 30 minutes at least to a park a couple miles away. I went with my friend recently, but got rained on while walking back. Overall, the experience was pretty unpleasant, so we have refrained from going back. 

To find something else to take up time, I have taken up longboarding. This is an activity that is pretty individual unless going out with others which even at that point is pretty socially distant. I invested in a pretty nice longboard a little while back and have been exploring the campus recently at night because it is pretty relaxing. I am just hoping soon that the hoops will be put back up so that I can resume my hobby of playing basketball and possibly meet some people. Although I have gotten pretty good at skating, I miss hooping.  

Basketball hoops at Syracuse University, reminiscent of the outdoor court at University of Kentucky

 

An American Vaccine's Influence

Throughout history, the United States has had many rivalries win other countries in terms of becoming the most advanced country in the world. Whether it be the Space Race with Russia or the various tensions between Washington and Beijing, the United States has always fought to be on top. The creation of the COVID-19 vaccine proves to be another issue of similar notions. The United States created a vaccine first could be revolutionary in advancing our geopolitical status amongst other countries in the world. 

Trump and Xi shaking hands.

This has evidently become a race to be the first nation to find a vaccine due to all of the economic benefit one could have from distribution of a more effective vaccine. If the United States wins the so called "COVID Race", we would gain nation influence because countries would have to come to us for a solution to this worldwide pandemic that is effecting nearly every single country. Assuming we do not assist any other country without the return of monetary gain, we have the potential to make an immense profit distributing a vaccine. Along with this, it may even encourage more manufacturing within the United States rather than in other countries as Americans feel more patriotic for having found the vaccine to a problem that has plagued society for months now. At this point in time, many Americans have a negative view on those from China due to the notion that their wet markets are unsanitary and "disease-ridden". This has created somewhat of a political and national divide and creates even more incentive for us to thrive in this COVID race. 

Overall, if the United States was the first nation to create a vaccine, we would ultimately see ourselves having great economic growth and much more influence globally within trade. As John Haltiwanger writes in his Business Insider article, "The first country to the finish line will be first to restore its economy and global influence".

Flu Shots at University of Kentucky

  

Getting a Flu Shot at Kentucky

Documentation of my first flu shot. 

I was very surprised to know that I have never received one before, but today I received my first flu shot. As a school requirement, all students are required to get a flu shot before starting the upcoming semester. This is to ensure safety during the flu season which could be very dangerous as we are in the midst of a pandemic. If one has the coronavirus and the flu at the same time, the resulting impact could be even more severe than having either infection alone. This is why it is imperative to get a flu vaccination to reduce the risk of getting the flu and COVID-19 at the same time. 

An informative sheet that discusses the flu shot.

The process overall was very simple. After registering online, all I needed was to provide my insurance card, and I was able to sit down and get a flu shot at the food court location. It took less than five minutes total and was super easy.

In my opinion, it is good to see that the university is taking precaution against the threat of a "twindemic". A bad influenza season can have a major impact on our hospitals and hospital bed capacity on top of an already frightening pandemic. This could lead to a huge problem across the United States overall, and it is good to see that the University of Kentucky is taking action to prevent students from facing the effects of a twindemic. Though, I am not sure how the university factors in people not wanting the vaccine for religious and personal reasons. Can the institution truly require students to receive a vaccine if the student wants to return to campus? I am unsure how can the university address any objections to getting a vaccine, yet I support their methods during this time. It is best to be safe about the whole situation rather than risk the lives of students that attend their school. 

COVID Vaccines and Global Cooperation

 

COVID-19 Vaccines and Global Cooperation

Globalization is so apparent in modern day society that issues that occur in one society end up effecting everyone else around the world. COVID-19 is facilitated through the means of globalization, as most other viruses and illnesses are. Through international travel by air and water, COVID-19 has effected nearly every country on the planet. As the virus itself is a global issue, the distribution and facilitation of the vaccine is an global issue as well. 

Vaccines require a lot of global integration and communication. When a virus or flu is discovered, almost every country searches for a vaccine to better the overall health of the country and limit deaths. Countries work together to send resources and financial aid to enhance the speed of finding a vaccine suitable for the virus. In the United States, we currented are undergoing Operation Warp Speed under the Trump administration which seeks the fastest possible vaccine. This is often worrying because we now worry about the possibility of wasting materials on a vaccine that may be ineffective since we are rushing. 

Along with the materials required, we also face the problem of cooperation from countries. According to a New York Times article written by Knvul Sheikh, "At least 69 countries have also banned or restricted the export of medical devices, medicines and protective equipment, according to the Global Trade Alert project at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, because of their own needs during the pandemic". This is quite worrying due to the sheer amount of cooperation needed to find a vaccine and transport it. Yet, countries find themselves in their own struggles and are not ready to extend help to others. 

A final issue that is quite interesting is the cooperation needed to store these vaccines. Most vaccines require a certain temperature maintain effectiveness. In some cases, this is as low as minus 80 Celsius. A lot of room is needed to store thousands of vials as well as proper glass that can withstand such low temperatures. This glass can become quite costly, as David Gelles noted in his New York Times article. He wrote that, "In June, the government awarded the company a $204 million contract to increase its production of the special vials". This is an incredible amount of money to spend on the specific glass required to avoid cracking and ultimately losing vaccines. When transporting these vaccines, there must also be temperature cooling in the planes, which is where the usage of dry ice comes in. Yet, dry ice is made of carbon dioxide and releases the gas which can be very dangerous to the pilots. Dry ice itself also requires ethanol which is a resource that can become easily depleted if used in overabundance. Overall, the issue of creating and transporting vaccines is one that requires a lot of global help and communication. 

COVID-19 Shaping Education

 COVID-19 Shaping Education

It is no surprise that the pandemic has shaped online education. Remote learning is the new norm for now, but it is a change that has not been welcomed by many. From experience, teachers and students alike have struggled to adapt to a new form of learning: e-learning. 

An email regarding cancellation of class due to technical difficulties. 

Above is a e-mail I received from my astronomy professor last Friday leading to the cancellation of class for the day. This is the second time this has happened so far, and is making me contemplate the effectiveness of online learning. This is not the only teacher I have had that has experienced some sort of electronic mishap leading to a cancellation of class. Many of my teachers, especially in high school e-learning right when the pandemic started, have faced the issue of adapting to fully online coursework. Missing one class is not really a problem for me, but it really does make me wonder if e-learning is even worth doing.

 Now I know this may seem extreme, but there are so many more benefits to in person instruction. Many students I have spoken to have talked about how they are having a hard time in their math classes especially with prerecorded lectures and not being able to ask questions real-time. Along with this, in my own experience, online learning has taken away almost all interaction to be had with professors. You may experience the occasional question at the end of the stream or maybe even answering a question during a zoom call, but other than that, I have not had any real connection to the professors. I work pretty well with teachers knowing their personality and vice versa. Remote learning takes away this opportunity and in turn does not provide an equal opportunity for everyone to learn. Many people need this hands on learning that I am speaking about to truly learn and understand concepts. Without it, people are failing to get the hands on instruction that they find necessary to thrive especially in their first year of college. 

In high school e-learning, there was a policy that doing poorly on assignments could not negatively impact your overall grade. While I enjoyed that policy because I was a senior in high school with "senioritis", I found it to be counterintuitive and almost detrimental to learning. Yet, I do feel like such a policy, on a lower scale, should be implemented to assist students taking online classes. Online school is hard, both academically and mentally. It is sometimes a struggle having to wake up and lack having that social interaction with peers and to wake up just to go to a zoom call. A hardship clause for students impacted by the coronavirus could help students with this abrupt change in learning. Our whole lives we have been taught in person. This change is a tough one on all of us, especially in terms of our motivation. 

Along with this, seeing as though students in Asia and Europe are already having face-to-face classes, and I worry for my nations competitiveness with foreign nations. Other nations seem to be recovering easier from the pandemic while the Unites States seems to be lagging behind. For the field I would like to go into, meteorology, I do not really have this fear of competing with those from foreign nations, but for those majoring in business, it can be a scary thought when looking at international policy and how the United States may fall behind.  

Hobbies During COVID-19

 Hobbies During COVID-19

There is no doubt that the coronavirus has eliminated the possibly of many forms of social gatherings. When I arrived to the University of Kentucky, I was immediately dismayed by the sight of the basketball courts being taken down. Before COVID, I had taken up basketball as a hobby for a while and was really starting to enjoy it. Once the pandemic hit, though, the rims were taken down almost everywhere. Playing basketball would have been a pretty easy way to meet people and make friends, which really disappointed me when I found out that opportunity would be taken away. 

Pictured: The basketball court near me before COVID-19

As for now, if I even wanted to go play basketball, I would have to walk 30 minutes at least to a park a couple miles away. I went with my friend recently, but got rained on while walking back. Overall, the experience was pretty unpleasant, so we have refrained from going back. 

To find something else to take up time, I have taken up longboarding. This is an activity that is pretty individual unless going out with others which even at that point is pretty socially distant. I invested in a pretty nice longboard a little while back and have been exploring the campus recently at night because it is pretty relaxing. I am just hoping soon that the hoops will be put back up so that I can resume my hobby of playing basketball and possibly meet some people. Although I have gotten pretty good at skating, I miss hooping.  

Basketball hoops at Syracuse University, reminiscent of the outdoor court at University of Kentucky

Working During COVID-19

 

Losing My Jobs During COVID-19

This was not really a recent experience, but this all happened about two months ago during the summer before college. The summer after my senior year was pretty tough in terms of my jobs. I lost two jobs during that time because I worked in the restaurant industry. At the time, I was working at a restaurant called 151 Kitchen and Bar. Before the pandemic hit, I worked there for almost two years at that point. Yet, in Illinois, all the restaurants were forced to close down and many people lost their jobs including me. For me, it was not too much of a problem because to me this as not a career. I was working this job to save up some money for college, but for the people I was working with, this was their only source of income. 

151 Kitchen and Bar in Elmhurst, IL

So when the pandemic hit, it was pretty sad witnessing those who I had worked with have to worry about how they will pay rent. It was especially saddening to see the owner of the restaurant worry because her three restaurants all closed down simultaneously, losing all revenue and having to throw out all the product in the kitchen. 

Pazzi Di Pizza in Elmhurst, IL

After I was furloughed, I looked for other sources of money during the time so that I could continue saving up for college. At point, I applied for a job delivering pizzas at a place called Pazzi Di Pizza. After getting the job and only working there for about 3 weeks, a person in the kitchen got the coronavirus and the whole restaurant shut down for weeks. I was pretty saddened about this one because I truly enjoyed delivering pizzas. Being able to listen to music all day and getting a lot of tips from the frequent orders during lockdown made the job a pretty good gig. Eventually the job opened back up after a couple weeks, but for a while I really had nothing to do. Working was something that kept me busy during the isolation of being home. 

President Trump Gets COVID-19

 Donald Trump Gets COVID-19

Tweet from Donald Trump on October 2nd, 2020.

Yesterday the President of the United States has announced that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 on twitter. This is a pretty huge event, especially during the election. Being the leader of our nation, the President must set a precedent for his citizens. On the first presidential debate, he even criticized Joe Biden for his usage of a mask. Overall, the situation is pretty ironic seeing as though Donald Trump has gotten the virus and was poking fun at former Vice President Biden for doing something that everyone in the nation should be doing: wearing a mask. 

Considering both are much older in age, this could potentially be a very dangerous situation for America as a whole. As we know, the virus is deadly for those who are older due to the weakened immune system. We will have to see how this all plays out, but this is a pretty bad look for the president during this election season. Will voters take him seriously after he himself gets the virus after toting his "good genes"? As someone that is planning on voting, this makes me wonder the validity of Donald Trump's campaign and ideology. Can we trust someone who does not even follow the guidelines put in place for his constituents? 

UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines?

 

How Do We Distribute COVID Vaccines?

The issue of distributing a vaccine when there are limited resources is challenging; there are multiple factors that must be considered. Assuming there are only enough vaccine for a third of the county population, firstly we must consider population density.

In this map provided by social explorer, we can see the population density of Fayette County. Overall, we can see most of the density belongs to the University of Kentucky. Population density is an important factor in distribution of vaccination because vaccines must be administered to those that can provide herd immunity to the rest of the inhabitants of an area. In simpler terms, to be most effective, one must administer vaccines to people who come in contact with the most amount of people in order to attempt to contain the virus and protect those who may not be able to obtain the vaccine as well. Looking at the current population of Fayette as of 2019, there are around 323,152 people living in the county. This means we have roughly 100,000 vaccines to be administered. The University of Kentucky states that "UK's campus now covers more than 716 acres and is home to more than 30,000 students and 14,000 employees". If a vaccine were to be administered to all staff and all students, this would account for around 45,000 of the 100,000 vaccines, which in my opinion could be done. Students account for a large amount of disease spread due to living in close proximity in dorms, going to classes and sitting in large lecture halls, participating in Greek life and going to parties, etc. It would be important to firstly deliver the vaccine to those living in resident halls because of their extreme close proximity to one another and the high density of people in one building. After this, it would be important to administer the vaccine to any other students living on campus, whether that be Greek housing or those living in houses and apartments near campus for similar reasons. I would then distribute the vaccination to all staff members at the University of Kentucky because the students come in contact with them often. As for athletes, I would put focus on them next because competing with different teams around the county could easily lead to a breakout infection back at Kentucky. Finally, I would then give vaccines to everyone else that did not fit into any of those brackets last. 

Now that the vaccine has been distributed to everyone that participates on campus, we need to worry about those who live in Fayette that do not go to University of Kentucky. We need to look at some contextual factors about the county of Fayette. What jobs have the highest number of people coming in contact with one another? How with the poor receive the vaccine if it is not affordable? Those that have less income can effectively contribute to the spread of a disease due to less frequent medical related appointments, less health care, and more time spent working (more contact with others due to less free time). So, I looked up the most frequent/common jobs in Fayette county and found that "The most common employment sectors for those who live in Fayette County, KY, are Educational Services (26,024 people), Health Care & Social Assistance (24,068 people), and Retail Trade (21,649 people)". I would distribute vaccines to medical professionals so that they do not easily spread the virus (roughly 25,000 people). Our vaccine distrubtion number is now at 70% of our total allotted vaccinations. I would now vaccinate those working in retail trade because they come in contact with a huge amount of people every day. We are now around 91,000 vaccines distributed. I would then distribute the rest to students at the high school level or lower, which would account for almost the rest of the allotted vaccines. 

COVID-19 and Media

 

COVID-19 and Pop Culture

    COVID-19 has lead to a lot of change in our everyday lives. One aspect of this change that is many times overlooked is the influence on popular culture. Social media has had a lot to say about the virus and has seen a large shift in importance in our lives as we are stuck in isolation, using it as an escape from the world around us.

Instagram Clip of YouTube Celebrity Danny Duncan

Social media shapes the way in which we see the world around us. In this example, we see an internet celebrity Danny Duncan, a comedic YouTuber, poke fun at the virus. When the lady in the video asks where his mask is, he lightheartedly pretends to not know that there is a pandemic among us and asks her to put hers back on as a joke. Although as funny as it is, this can be dangerous for society. Danny Duncan has a pretty young, impressionable audience. With this audience, he could easily lead them into believing that the virus is somewhat of a joke and does not have to be taken seriously. Yet, at the same time, there is a place for comedy in a time where we are constantly surrounded by bad news. 

Though, the social media and pop culture change due to COVID-19 has not just been in the United States, it is global just like the pandemic. In the article "How Coronavirus Is Affecting Pop Culture Around the World" by James Gereby, he talks about the impact the coronavirus has had on the wildly popular K-pop band BTS. He writes, "BTS has canceled four South Korean tour dates starting in April that were initially supposed to kick-off the group’s Map of the Soul tour. There are more reported cases of coronavirus in South Korea than there are anywhere except China, with more than 4,300 confirmed". At the time of March 2 when this was written, their whole tour had been postponed, leading to a lot of concern from fans who were eagerly awaiting a performance. 

A Change in Diet

How COVID-19 Has Altered My Eating Habits

By Zachary Reboletti

Student at University of Kentucky

September 11, 2020

    It is not surprise that COVID-19 has made a serious impact on our nation. Economically, businesses have struggles to adapt to such an immense change. Socially, there has been a huge change in how people interact. With these changes, one change gets overlooked quite often: diet. In the United States, our diets a heavily influenced by the fast food industry and eating meals at home has definitely become less prevalent. COVID-19 has had a direct impact on restaurants, especially in the beginning phases of the virus, and lead many of them to close for a long time. 

Many stores have converted to online order and delivering to limit the spread of coronavirus.

    Because of this, my diet and my family's has changed a lot. We definitely ate at home much more often. In terms of healthiness, I feel as though we have been eating healthier. Usually we would eat out often which normally would not be the healthiest option, but since more meals had to be prepared and eaten at home, we have gotten healthier products like fresh vegetable and meats. Although, we also have started to eat more frozen meals due to their easy convenience, which is not a very healthy option. 

   I'd say overall, we have started eating healthier, but I definitely started eating less in general. I usually make my own lunch, and since I am a pretty lazy person, I would often go out and buy fast food because of the convenience. Since COVID-19 started and fast food places closed momentarily, I would simply skip meals because I didn't want to make food at home. As a result, I feel like I lost a bit of weight which is unfortunate because I have been trying to gain weight. Along with this, I would resort to eating a lot more snacks because of this laziness. Now that I am in college though, I have been eating much more because of how easy it is to go to the dining hall and get a bunch of food. Since I don't have a lot going on as well, I have started working out more and eating more in general in hopes of gaining more weight. 

Dorm Visitation Policy at University of Kentucky

 

Dorm Visitation Still Restricted

Disappointing News from Kentucky

By Zachary Reboletti

Student at University of Kentucky

September 7, 2020

    Today I just received an email about the visitation policy change at University of Kentucky. It reads as follows:

A snippet of the email sent out to University of Kentucky students on September 11, 2020

    This is obviously quite disappointing to see. Today was supposed to be the first day that we were allowed to go to other people's dorms and be able to meet more people and even have people over ourselves. For a while, I have been wanting to have a couple friends over to watch the NBA Playoffs in my dorm because it has the most space. I have not been able to do this yet, though, due to the restrictions on the visitation policy. This is pretty tough for me personally because I have not met too many people so far, and this would have been an opportunity to meet more people. Although this is not the best news, it is an action that must be taken to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. With many schools going to fully online, Kentucky has been taken action to ensure that spread of the virus is limited. If the situation looks to continue, maybe they will open up visitation more, but we will have to see. It is honestly too soon to make a judgement because the school year did just start a couple weeks ago. Hopefully everyone continues to be safe and wear facial coverings, washing their hands, and to keep maintaining 6 feet of distance over the next couple weeks while the university decides on further action. 

Who Can We Trust?

A Reflection on Current News

By Zachary Reboletti

Student at University of Kentucky

September 5, 2020

    Every day, we are flooded with information whether it is from out laptops, cellphones, or televisions. Especially now more than ever, the current political climate is enhanced by a increasingly polarized media. It can be very tough to find a reliable, unbiased, and trustworthy news source with talks of "fake news" and politically-charged narratives filling up much of the information we obtain. 

    This can be a huge problem during a pandemic when reliable information is what we need the most. As citizens, it is our responsibility to stay informed on what is going on around us and act accordingly in order to be the best citizen we can. It seems that information can be easily skewed and distorted to make an audience believe that certain demographics are at fault for outbreaks and that one party is the reason for this pandemic, when in reality there are layers. This whole idea of the pandemic being politicized it truly dangerous because of this exact reason: people need unbiased and reliable information during a time of need. 

    I tend to be skeptical of any news that I watch, and this why I carefully examine all the evidence presented to me when watching any news channel. I often ask myself, "what motives does this news station have" or "what bias may they be trying to convey". Normally, I stay away from CNN because historically I have found them to be very left-leaning in their ideology which leads them to often times push a narrative. This same mentality goes for Fox News as well, even though I grew up watching this with my family being in a Republican household. Even though I agree with their ideology, I can understand that they also are pushing a narrative. In times like these, I find it inappropriate to use this pandemic as an outlet to push any narrative that is not health related. Recently, I got a subscription to New York Times for my GEO261 class, and I have been reading some of the articles, yet I can also see some left-leaning bias in their news as well. It definitely is more moderate, though, so  have been using them for a lot of information. Plus I should be using what I pay for of course. 

    A couple months ago when I lived in Illinois, though, I watched the CBS Chicago to gather information from Governor Pritzker. For months, he had daily COVID-19 updates where he would speak and answer questions live to inform the public. He brought with him health officials that would talk about the current numbers and speak on their personal advisories. I didn't necessarily agree with everything Pritzker had to say, but I tuned in for the daily COVID-19 cases and wanted to understand what new policies would be in place. Above, I attached a snippet from a recent hearing on his expansion of mask rules for restaurants and bars. Sometimes I feel like Illinois was a lot more laid back in their coronavirus policies, and I saw this first hand when working in the restaurant industry. Here in Kentucky, I see everyone wearing a mask, even outside, and this was completely different from Elmhurst where almost no one wore masks outside. Maybe this could be a reason why Illinois seems to have a higher number of cases overall, but as I said before, there are so many different factors that go into this that make it hard to put blame on one particular aspect of policy. 

    

 

 

The Future of COVID-19 at Kentucky

My Thoughts

By Zachary Reboletti

Student at University of Kentucky

August 28, 2020

Stickers displaying messages of "Stay 6 feet apart" can be found scattered around the ground around campus, encouraging students to maintain social distance to limit spread of the coronavirus. 

    Many other large schools in the United States have started taking necessary action against the coronavirus by moving all classes to online. The most recent instance of this happening was a few days ago when University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill moved all of their classes online due to an outbreak just one week into the school year. I have friends that are apart of the Greek community at Indiana University in Bloomington and they have many concerns with facing the same consequences. Apparently, around 50% of all Greek life has been infected with the virus. Soon, they may even need to move out of their house and find other living arrangements. This could pose many problems for students participating in Greek life, especially my friend Gracie. She is very worried that she will have to move home, which is not a possibility for her because her mother has cancer and will have increased susceptibility to the virus is she brought it back. 

    Hearing all of these stories and knowing how important the social aspect of campus is for students (whether that be going to football and basketball games or participating in greek life and clubs), this definitely worries me. At this point, all of my classes have been moved to online. I have the opportunity to attend one class in person every Friday, and although I should be grateful that I have that opportunity, it just does not feel the same. At this point, I do not believe that we will go all online, but I do have my concerns that restrictions will become increasingly stringent on what we are allowed to do in person. Currently, we have stickers all over the floor around campus indicating how much distance we should be from each other (this is especially apparent in the food court because of limited ventilation indoors and increased virus spreading capabilities), yet I do not think that these are that effective. It seems like many students disregard them entirely, especially when busy or in a hurry. Along with this, I have heard of many dorms having parties during this time and getting busted by the Resident Advisors around campus. This is definitely not a good looking seeing as though we only have a week left before we are allowed to start visiting each other in different dorms. I just hope that the deadline (September 7) will not be rescheduled for a further date. 

    Either way, I am very lucky to even be able to be in a dorm right now typing this. Several of my friends are extremely distressed because they may not even be allowed to move on campus. My friend Eli is currently applying for a special housing at Michigan State University so that he may be allowed to stay on campus instead of doing his work online at home. He has already made friends and was very excited to go back to school, so we will see how that plays out in the coming days.