By Sebastian Grignano
Being a year into a global pandemic is something that I thought I would never have to deal with in a lifetime. I saw the people in China or Japan wearing masks even before this whole event started, and I thought that would never happen in my world or affect the way that I went about my days.
Unfortunately, adapting to change and COVID-19 protocols has become a part of everyday life, especially for one who goes to a university that is lucky enough to still have classes on campus, but is currently struggling to fight off this tragic virus that has impacted so many lives.
I remember when the virus first started to make a stir in the world like it was yesterday. It was early March, and my baseball team here at the university was just starting our season when we started to get word from our coach and the news that a virus was starting to make a case for a real problem in the United States. Of course, it started off rather mild with a minimal amount of cases found, but it was quickly ramping up. At that time, there was no knowledge of what was truly going on or what the future for this virus was going to be.
Things started to get worse when other conferences were canceling their seasons, and schools were sending their students home to finish out the rest of the semester online. This is right around the time when we were about to go to South Carolina for our annual spring break trip as a team.
The outlook of the season and the rest of the semester from a scholastic standpoint was going downhill faster than anyone could control, and I had to prepare for what was coming next. Sure enough, our spring break trip was cancelled, our season was cancelled, and the university decided to have the community finish the semester from an online learning environment. It was all so overwhelming and discouraging to my friends and I.
From that point on life has not been the easiest thing coping with new restrictions and constant updates on the virus. Getting tested often and even testing positive with no symptoms back in early January, it has been a very frustrating and trying time for those all around me.
The way I see it is that we are going to live with this virus forever just as we do with influenza. Hopefully the vaccine is proven to help, and normal life resumes soon; until then, all I can do is make the best of everyday and my senior year here at the university.
