PLANS AFTER THE FIRST ROUND OF TESTING

When we all came back to campus there was a required testing of all students and staff on campus. There was no news or order about second round of testing or free testing for students whenever they wanted until like two weeks later. This was the question that was most asked of because even if someone had the compulsory test but went out after and came in contact with a covid-positive person that person will still get infected. In most cases, that person will most likely be asymptomatic and end up spreading the virus to a large number of people in classrooms, cafeteria and other public gatherings. After the first round of testing, the university's first action was to get all sorority and fraternity members re-tested because there was a higher positivity rate among them. Then after, testing was made free at the 90s to students especially if they had come in contact with people that recently tested positive for the virus. The testing canopy at the 90s is opened from 8am - 4pm.

There was also a daily screening sent to students' school email address every morning as a way to self-check for symptoms. The picture of this screening is given below

The questions asked are "are you ill or caring for someone who is ill ?" and "have you been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks?" . 

Recently, another plan was added by the university was the plan of a wastewater treatment. The wastewater treatment is basically the university plans to test the waste water each dorm produces for the coronavirus. Whichever dorm comes out with positive cases, all the residents of those dorm will be required to take another coronavirus test.

Lastly another plan added was the random testing plan. This is where students will be chosen randomly to get tested. When they are chosen randomly, an email will be sent to them informing them of this

HOW DO WE DISTRIBUTE COVID VACCINES ?

 Firstly I think the vaccine should be given to people that directly take care of the people infected with the coronavirus. That entails healthcare workers and janitorial cleaners in the hospital. I believe they should  be given the vaccine first because they are the ones that come the closest to getting infected. They are the most susceptible to the disease and most of them have families, partners and flatmates that they can take the virus back to. By doing this I believe the number of people at risk will be decreased especially because healthcare workers come in contact with many people in Fayette county

Secondly I believe the vaccine should be made available to elementary, middle school, high school and college students that are currently on campus and also attend in-person classes or leave in dorms. Not everyone will want to take the vaccine because not everyone will have the ability to afford it and also some people do not believe in vaccine; but if majority take the vaccine then I believe herd immunity will be formed. Herd immunity is the concept that I learnt in a public health course I took last semester. It means that once enough people are immunized it protects other people that aren't vaccinated, that are old or are immunocompromised from getting infected. As a result there is a decreased likeliness of an outbreak occurring in the nearest future. Since there is already a covid-19 outbreak, herd immunity will decrease the incidence rate. To explain this further, if someone that is not vaccinated against covid-19 comes in contact with the virus and eventually gets it but the person is asymptomatic and ends up coming in contact with many people. Out of population of people the infected person came in contact with, if 2/3 are vaccinated then most likely only 1/3 will get infected. 

The way there are testing canopies, the vaccination should also be distributed to students in separate canopies at a reduced cost especially considering how much college students complain that they are "broke." Also there should be effective communication within schools and their students concerning the vaccine and how it is going to be shared. 

POPULAR CULTURE INFLUENCED BY THE PANDEMIC?

 We all had different ways to cope with the pandemic. At first, mine was doing daily Youtube workouts by this influencer called Chloe Ting. After a while, I lost the motivation to workout so the next thing I did was to watch a lot of Netflix. I started a lot of shows, completed some and watched some halfway through. Due to how long the pandemic was, I got tired of doing all these new things. I decided to give this popular app a try especially after all the good things my friends said about the app. I remember the moment when I downloaded the app and setup an account; it was on the 24th of June around 2am. The first time I used the app I spent 2 hours on the app. It was so addictive. I found myself checking that app first thing in the morning and last thing before I slept at night. Although people might say it is addictive I believe it is a very good app. This app influences a lot of people mostly 21st generation or gen-Z members. I strongly believe Tik Tok videos and trends were influenced by the pandemic and coronavirus. Due to pandemic, most trends were about how to cope during the pandemic, or about cleaning up and how to wash hands. Some of these were creative trends to keep busy like how to make masks or arty things. People also used tik tok to share information about the pandemic, and also to share their quarantine experiences especially people who were all alone either on campus or plane fights away from home. There are also negative effects. One major problem is that some Tik tok famous stars did not follow the CDC guidelines for the virus. This was bad because they acted as role models especially to their younger audience. 

In the picture above you can see a meme of Obama where it says "phone, wallet keys, oh darn my mask" while checking his pockets when leaving to a public place. This picture depicts the struggles we face everyday. In the dorm, my room is very far from the elevator. In the beginning of the semester I always forgot my mask and remembered when I was halfway to the elevator and I had to run back to get one.  It was a major problem for most students especially when we RAs had to tell them or give them one. The second meme shows a dog wearing a mask which represents the different ways people wear their mask and the only correct way to wear one. You will expect people to wear one correctly but people mostly wear it the way the dog wore it in the second one.  

The pandemic has definitely shaped popular culture through memes, social media trends and other things.

WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING AN RA IN THE PANDEMIC?

 Being an RA in this pandemic is like being given a car to drive but the car has no brakes. I use this analogy to describe this position because it is like most of the responsibilities in the dorm are passed down to us with little or no instructions. Every time we hear a countdown to the last day of school it incites a 'feeling of unknown' in residents like that is the only thing the university cares about.  The first thing that happened mostly was the school delaying visitations in dorms for two weeks more. Of course when we RAs received the email, our first question was "did everyone receive this email?" The reason why this was our main concern was because most times RAs were a bridge between the housing office and the residents where we provided information and changes about covid in the dorms to individual residents. As a result of this, most times students vent out their frustrations about the whole rules concerning covid to us. Sometimes their methods of venting can be rude and attacking.

Recently, a rule was passed which required students to swipe in when entering the building. This rule was made to enforce the strict no visitation policy because people were sneaking in guests and non-students into the dorms. They also made the no visitation policy because they wanted to prevent the outbreak of cases in the dorm. Originally this policy was to be lifted on September 7th but due to the ever increasing number of cases on campus this policy was delayed till the 21st of September. Some people were very rude in the beginning with the swiping policy. Even though they knew about it, they still waited for you to say 'excuse me' about five times before coming to do it. Then a little number of people will hear you but completely ignore you.

This image above shows the scanner for swiping into the building 

EATING AMIDST THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

 While on campus during the last academic year I had an unlimited meal plan where I could eat anytime I wanted to at the school dining. As a result of this I hardly ever cooked my own meal. My plan previously was to go home, back in Nigeria, after campus closed; but due to the pandemic I had to stay in Lexington for the summer in an apartment off campus by myself. Growing up my mum always prepared meals at home so I can say my cooking knowledge was very limited. I had to cook for myself this entire summer. It was a whole mixture of burnt, tasteless and some times not fully done meals. There were a lot of cooking videos watched on Youtube and Instagram and most times downloaded. I can say that my eating this summer was eventful. Also before the pandemic I went to the gym three times and also watched what I ate because I was trying to shed some pounds. I was finally getting into a routine and then the pandemic happened. I started noticing I was starving myself and trying to consume 1000 calories so as to make up not going to the gym. Then at a point in the middle of the pandemic, I started overeating because I was bored and I gained all the weight I initially lost. 

Like I said earlier, I stayed in Lexington this summer instead of going home. I can't really say I know what my family went through with feeding this pandemic because I wasn't there but from the frequent calls with my mum everything was mostly fine. The only problem was that it was harder to buy fresh food. The coronavirus hit most parts of Africa, Nigeria included, at a later time than the rest of the world. When many cases were reported different jobs, places and markets were closed. A market is a place where different people selling different products are situated. This market can further be divided to a food market where fresh food is sold. This was closed down due to the rising coronavirus rates in Nigeria. That was terrible for many people because people depended on the daily profits made from selling these goods and also people also couldn't afford to buy in bulk and even if you did there wasn't a good facility for storage due to electricity shortage. 

The picture above shows a market in Lagos, one of the biggest city in Nigeria. In this picture everything is mostly sold fresh from the farm. 

THE POLITICIZATION OF THE PANDEMIC?

 Right from when states opened back up in April in the middle of the pandemic without a standard plan on what to do if the coronavirus rates gets worse, I realized that the government or leaders in position cared more about the economy than its citizens who they promised to protect. States like Texas and Florida opened up first and then other states followed through. After opening up without strict restrictions put in place like social distancing and masks in public spaces there was a spike in the coronavirus rates. The video below shows what the Florida governor says about "not closing down after re-opening" 

 

Even in Kentucky, masks weren't enforced until June which I found a bit ironical considering the virus had been around since like February. Even after enforcing masks we still heard of cases where people were protesting against it and also the lockdown. With the presidential election approaching I believe this pandemic is being used as a political test. Apparently a lot of republicans who planned to vote for Donald Trump changed their mind because they did not like the way he handled the virus and also how he downplayed it. They also did not like the false information he spread about how to "cure the coronavirus" like "drinking bleach or chlorox;" also how he contradicted some governors and mayors who wanted the best for their citizens. Recently I came across a video of people protesting against wearing masks because it was a "hoax created by the democrats" and another video that was asking people at the beach why they weren't wearing masks and one person in particular responded " if the president isn't wearing one why should he." I found that response very funny because if by chance Trump got the virus, he would have the best doctors treating him while the person might not even find a spot in the ICU in a hospital. 

 There is no problem with the pandemic being a little politicized because of the presidential election coming up but it becomes a problem when people are focused more on the political side of the pandemic rather than the pandemic itself and the death rates. 

AM I GETTING ALL THIS INFORMATION ABOUT COVID-19 FROM CREDIBLE SOURCES ?

I never had interest in reading the news even though I had access to it through my phone and digital media. Last semester when we moved online during the Covid-19 outbreak I never checked the news so I was in a dark space concerning things going on around the world in general. I was in a personal bubble where there was no flow of information in or out. This led to me downplaying the seriousness of the virus and also being less knowledgeable about how fast the virus can spread and through what means it could spread. The main reason why I did not read anything about the pandemic on media is because all media sources were confusing and contradicting each other. As a result of the unpreparedness towards the pandemic, news sources were not sure of what to inform to the audience. On the other side I can say my parents knew more about corona cases in Kentucky than I knew as a UK student. I can kind of say my mum mostly told me all I needed to know about the rate of Covid-19 transmission in Kentucky. Although most of the information she told me was true some were unproven and mostly false. 

 My mum mostly got her information from Whatsapp (a messaging app) and CNN. The news from CNN was accurate but the same could not be said about the information from Whatsapp. There has been research carried out that showed most people tend to believe what they see on social media apps especially whatsapp which appeals to the older audience that is our parents. What mostly was spreading was a cure to coronavirus being homemade tea using green tea, lemons, tumeric, and ginger. My mum made me buy it but I didn't want to waste my money on that. She always doted on me to buy masks and gloves and wear them everywhere but I did not want to spend my money on them because in early March it was said that they were not effective. The worst of it all was that she didn't want me leaving my place but I persuaded her to let me go to Atlanta. Our agreement was that my dad would not get to know about it because he would have been very angry.

Currently I get information about the coronavirus rates on campus from the University of Kentucky Covid-19 data dashboard https://www.uky.edu/coronavirus/covid-19-data-dashboard. This website provides the total number of people that have been tested and the positive cases on campus.

WILL SCHOOL CONTINUE AMIDST RISING COVID CASES?

 I like to believe that we are going to make it to the end of the semester although there are so many unanswered questions left concerning this whole pandemic. The first step UK made in the right direction compared to other big universities, that shut down just some weeks after resumption, was making sure each student and staff was tested before classes started. Although some of these big Universities that shut down also tested their students and staff most of them made testing optional and also did pool testing. UK faculty also did a good job preparing for classes before resumption. A lot of my professors reached out to me letting me know whether the classes were moving fully online or they were going to be in-person or a hybrid class before the beginning of August. This made easy for students to know whether they wanted to move back to campus dorms or off-campus housing or just stay home if all their classes were online. In-person classes' locations were mostly changed to bigger classroom locations and signs were put up in different seat spaces to ensure social distance was maintained in these classrooms. 

Another reason I believe the school wouldn't close down is because of all the extra efforts UK put in handling coronavirus cases. One extra effort they put in was hiring different roles in contact tracing. The roles in contact tracing are divided into contact tracers who collect and analyze data surrounding coronavirus cases and the contact tracers who call students and staff to inform them they have come in contact with people who tested positive for coronavirus. These people that are called are told to quarantine in their rooms where meals and other personal items like laundry bag are made available to them by health corps (an organization hired by the University of Kentucky to manage everything Covid). There is also a problem with that as they are not supervised to ensure they are quarantining and as an RA I have seen people that were meant to be in quarantine leaving their room. UK also set aside 3quarantine dorms for people who test positive for Covid-19. 

Lastly to answer this question I used the response most of my friends gave in why they don't think the school will shut is because of money and reputation. Having lost so much money last semester when we moved online, the school is hoping to make up for the money they lost with tuition and housing fees from this semester so if they close they will have to refund most of it to students. Also, University of Kentucky believe they will make a good reputation compared to other universities if they are able to stay open for the rest of the semester without a major outbreak

GETTING BACK TO SCHOOL

I am currently an RA (Resident advisor) for Boyd hall one of the dorms on North Campus. As an RA, I was required to move in on August 1st, a week earlier than the residents. I like to believe RAs were lab rats to test the university plans for welcoming students back on campus. During RA training many questions were left unanswered  and we gave them an insight into situations they didn't consider in bringing students back to campus. One of the main situations they were able to resolve before students moved back in was providing another quarantine facility in case the other two set aside was filled up. Ingels Hall on central campus was turned into the main quarantine facility therefore all the staff there, including I, was moved to other dorms. Move in to the dorms was entirely different from last year. Firstly, only one family or two people were allowed in the elevator which made movement within the building really slow, students were advised to move in with only two extra people and also compared to last year no football players or athletes helped people move in. Also signs were put up on each floor of the buildings in front of the elevator, on the kitchen door and in the entrance of the building. The signs are below

Moving in, UK students were welcomed with a wellness kits which was placed in each rooms by the RA. This wellness kits had two masks, a mask bag, a bottle of hand sanitizer, a thermometer and a pack of alcohol wipes. Everything was entirely different this year included K week. K week was shortened from its usual 7 day program to only 4 days. It was held both in-person and online via zoom. I was a K week leader for the virtual team and we were required to host zoom versions of very event like campus ruckus, campus tour and the welcome meeting. My friend who was an in-person leader told me that the major change was k teams were divided into different time frames to attend campus ruckus and that each event was socially distanced. A picture she took of her K team is attached below

The wellness kit given to every students and staff of UK.

       picture of my friend's K team masked up and physically distanced.

INTRODUCTION TO COVID-19

My name is Oluomachukwu Anaenugwu and I am a black girl originally from Nigeria. I am 18 years old and currently a sophomore studying public health with a minor in Biology. At the beginning of this year 2020, I enrolled in a class called CPH 201: Introduction to Public Health. This class was taken in the peak of Covid-19 and this class covered epidemiology which is the basically the study of patterns of disease occurrence and the factors affecting those in factors. This class covered terms like pandemic, quarantine, incidence rate (number of new cases), prevalence rate (total number of cases) and mortality/death rate. Therefore, the pandemic acted as a real life example/application of the concepts learned in the class. That is all I took Covid-19 for at first, a real life example, not until we transferred fully online after spring break that I knew this was very serious. 

As an international student, when the school moved fully online we received an email that stated "all undergraduate students must be moved out by noon on Friday, March 27." 

I was panicking because I had no idea where to stay or what to do and all this was happening while classes were transitioning to an online format so this was a recipe for confusion and disaster. Thankfully, it turned out that we could still stay in the dorms. My plan right from the beginning of the second semester of my freshman year was to go back home in Nigeria to spend the summer with my family but due to the Covid-19 situation the trip was postponed till June with the hope that the situation will be better. June came by but the situation had gotten worse. I still wanted to go back home but my mum didn't want to risk my health and also the Covid-19 situation had gotten worse back at home. Even if I tried my very best to go home, all the borders were closed. I ended up spending summer alone in an apartment close to campus. The major way covid-19 changed my life was the increased number of times my mum and family called a week to check up on my mental being and health. I can say the closest I think I have come to Covid-19 was when I took a trip this summer to Atlanta (a Covid -19 hotspot with about 100,000 cases as of July).