COVID transforms lifestyles

2020 was the year COVID-19 took over the world. Life as we knew it drastically began to change. Businesses shut down. Many restaurants became outdoor dining venues. “Six feet” acquired a new meaning. Faces appeared covered. And cities were locked down. The pandemic brought change, and lots of it.

“Personally, I feel it’s a bit blown out of proportion,” said Scott Rice. Rice is a husband, a father, and among many other things he’s one who does not see the pandemic as a serious matter. COVID-19 has impacted thousands of people, brought change to numerous lifestyles, and introduced extra precaution into many daily tasks. As for Rice, does he partake in these new cautionary habits? “If left to my own devices, no.” In fact, Rice even claims that “at work I almost forget what’s going on.” For others, this pandemic is something they are never going to forget.

Nationally, nearly 30 million people have contracted the virus, while almost 600,000 of those people have lost their lives. 30 million lives changed. Over 1 million of those lives live in the state of Illinois. Champaign County makes up about 19,000 of those who have had COVID-19. Thousands, no, millions of people have been impacted by this virus.

The entire world seems to be blanketed by COVID-19. It is dangerous, it is deadly, and it has taken many people by surprise. Change, at this point, seems inevitable. For Traci Hefner, and her daughter Allison, change has taken many different forms in their life. One major difference the pandemic introduced into Allison’s life was the additional worry and fear. COVID-19 has been a burden for a lot of people, and Allison has really felt that.

Allison explains how she was “more worried about giving it to other people.” As the impact of COVID-19 grew, Traci and Allison began delivering groceries to Allison’s grandparents to prevent the risk of them being potentially exposed. Passing the virus onto someone who is more susceptible is where Allison’s fear and worry greatly came into play. Before, the concept of spreading a virus was not really a concern. Now, it’s constantly on her mind.

Aside from the newfound fear, Allison’s social life has also taken a hit. Being that Allison is a college student, going out was previously part of her typical lifestyle.

Due to COVID-19 and Allison’s hesitation to spread the virus, she missed out on what is usually a big thing for people her age. “I just turned twenty-one,” Allison said. Though, her birthday celebration did not look like that of the typical 21^st birthday. Instead, Allison and a few friends got together because she “didn’t feel comfortable” going into a bar and “being around large groups of people.”

Since COVID-19 hit, Allison finds “keeping groups small” to be a priority. This concept has greatly modified her lifestyle.

“It’s a weird thing,” she explains, “especially for my family.” “Like the Super Bowl we just had, we normally have a huge party” but this year, Allison didn’t have that. “It’s definitely change.”

Allison and her family are not the only ones to experience some lifestyle revisions. Gage Higdon, a student at the University of Louisville tells how his life has been altered in multiple ways. “I have hand sanitizer in my backpack, in my car, I have like three bottles throughout my apartment.” Higdon continued, “there’s hand sanitizer everywhere.” Aside from all the hand sanitizer, Higdon attests to adding more hygiene into his life due to COVID-19.

“I clean a lot more often now.” From his apartment to his car, Higdon finds that this virus has drawn his attention towards the importance of sanitation. According to Higdon, “sanitation and being more cleanly” are the “number one things that” have “come out of this.” He feels that he is “much more aware of the germs that can be around everywhere.”

“I used to go out more frequently than I do now. . . I did go out a lot more before COVID.” Higdon tells about how when COVID-19 first blew up in early 2020 he refrained from going out for months. Thus, when he finally left the house “it was so surreal.”

Higdon is also a color guard teacher, and according to him, COVID-19 has greatly impacted that area of his life as well. When COVID-19 came into the picture, Higdon had to find ways to keep his students safe “COVID has impacted that quite a bit.” Color guard is a “very physical” activity and Higdon’s students are “always in close contact with each other.” As Higdon put it, “it’s been interesting to try to get them not as close, and to keep them a little bit separate.”

Just like many people, masks and face-coverings have been introduced into Higdon’s lifestyle amidst the pandemic. Higdon himself does not have an issue with wearing a mask, though he does come across some difficulty when trying to enforce his students to wear them.

“It is difficult for the younger kids to keep their masks on because they don’t understand entirely why they have to wear them.” Higdon continues, “with the older kids, they understand why they have to wear them, the only thing is they don’t want to.”

Before COVID-19, this was never something Higdon would have worried about. Though now, he has accepted it as a new part of his life. The words “go put your mask on” have become what seems like a perfunctory speech during every one of Higdon’s color guard practices. “It’s a new environment and a new little subculture for all of us to have a mask on.”

“Oh. my gosh, I can see your face." Higdon recalls the words of one of his students after seeing him mask-less for the first time in a long while. Before COVID-19, seeing someone without a mask on was typical. Now, some consider it a crime.

Like Higdon, his father Thomas’ life has also been changed since the pandemic began. Thomas is a police officer in Clark County Indiana. Due to COVID-19, Thomas’ job looks a lot different than before.

“When we get dispatched to a call our dispatchers have been advised to ask certain questions.” Thomas explains how if you call needing a police officer, dispatch will ask if you or anyone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19.

If so, dispatch relays it back to the police officers. “We still go,” Thomas says, but if it’s a “minor issue that we can take care of over the phone, that’s how we handle it.”

According to Thomas, this is how a lot of police stations have been operating through the pandemic, “just to protect their officers.”

Though, despite the efforts, Thomas does believe he was exposed to the virus while on the job.

In the sense of COVID-19 affecting people’s work lives, Terry Miller can relate. Miller owns and operates Tri State Battery Honda in Lawrenceburg, IN. As a business owner he has experienced many changes amidst the pandemic.

For Miller, COVID-19 has impacted his business in a positive way. “Since all the other businesses have closed, my sales have increased.”

Though, Miller did lose several employees. Running a “retail business” it is important to have in-person sales, and not all of employees felt comfortable being “exposed to the public.”

“It’s hurt from an employee standpoint, getting people to show up. But it’s helped in terms of my products. Now if I was a restauranter there’s no upside to any of that.”

Luckily for Miller, his product is a necessity, and he has not had to close his business down. Yet, he does in some way feel at risk keeping Tri State Battery Honda open.

“I have to sell for a living. . .and I can’t do that with a mask on.” Miller explains how he can social distance when giving his sales pitch, but in order to really sell he feels he needs to have his mask off. And that makes him “much more vulnerable” because he’s “dealing with the public every day.”

Aside from the business aspect, Miller’s life had changed in other ways as well. Miller discussed how he increased his “vitamin intake substantially” in hopes to enhance his immune system. He believes “at some point in time” he is “going to be exposed.”

Miller also feels that COVID-19 “increases the stress level” in his lifestyle. “Life is stressful enough as it is,” Miller goes on, “and then you throw the COVID in and it makes it just that much more difficult.”

COVID-19 has presented itself differently to everybody. Some have battled with it while others don’t seem to recognize its potential threat. But there is one thing for certain, and that is that COVID-19 has changed many different aspects of people’s lives.

For some, they have yet to be exposed to the coronavirus, and their lives were still look differently than before.

Whether it be delivering groceries, teaching students, showing up on scene, or selling batteries, people have been greatly impacted. Lifestyles have evolved to protect individuals and others, and humans have adapted to new cautionary guidelines.

As Miller said, “anytime you have a national emergency like this, it takes a toll.” And COVID-19 has without a doubt, taken, and continues to take a toll on people and their lives.