2020 Corona Survey

Thank you to everyone who participated in our class survey about the quarantine and COVID-19. We had 245 responses to the survey. Here are the results:

Are you taking care of family members during the COVID-19 quarantine?

Are you supervising learning at home/distance learning for anyone in your house?

What have you learned from supervising learning at home?

Many of us have found supervising distance learning hard, particularly while juggling a day job. Some of the themes that came up in these responses about the last few months of the 2019-2020 school year:

• Schools were differently prepared for the switch. The digital divide within public schools made transitioning to remote learning harder.  

• We regretted the loss of in-person time with teachers and friends, but letting our kids sleep in was a bonus. 

• We were mixed on at-home routines. Some kids thrived while others needed more structure. 

• More diffuse learning made it hard to stay in the flow.  “It’s like putting a few drops of water in a glass, and trying to catch hold of it again,” one parent pointed out. 

• We recognized that “teaching is an art form that requires patience, creativity, and energy” and “teachers are my heroes!”  

• For better or worse, remote learning brought us closer to our kids and reminded us how proud we are of them.

What has been the biggest challenge of dealing with the quarantine?

The pandemic is taking a toll across many aspects of our lives. We had a lot to say about the challenges we’ve been facing over the last few months. Here are some of the major themes: 

• The most common response (45 responses) had to do with isolation or loneliness. We are feeling the loss of connecting with others, isolation, boredom, and with extremely limited ways to socialize or travel, we are mostly stuck at home. 

• 37 responders cited the difficulty in maintaining balance in one's life, specifically  balancing work, childcare and housework and dealing with lack of boundaries between work and home life when working from home, managing space and wifi with everyone at home.

• We are worried about our kids being unsettled, older kids being back at home, the emotional toll this is taking on kids, kids missing out on big life events (graduations, college, camp, sports), no options for them to socialize, or fear they will put themselves at risk by socializing. (30 responses)

• 25 responders cited the challenge of staying healthy and sane, managing stress and fear, and mood swings, anxiety and overeating.

• 19 people cited the economic consequences of COVID-19, including being out of work, losing a job, having a business failing, having to fire people, looking for employment, worrying about money.

• 16 people mentioned the uncertainty created by COVID-19, the inability to plan and the fear of the unknown.

• Here are some of the remaining responses regarding challenges faced:

  • Being apart from aging parents or relatives and relying on others for their care - 12 

  • Being ill with COVID-19 or trying actively to avoid it if immuno-compromised - 11 

  • Remaining optimistic in this moment - 8 

  • Working as a medical practitioner or in a hospital or in healthcare - 7 

  • The inability to get groceries and other needed supplies - 6

  • Frustration at rule breakers and general poor COVID compliance - 3

  • As a teacher being able to motivate students, switching to online teaching - 3

  • Staying fit/exercising - 3

  • Limiting kids' screen time - 2

  • Our poor government - 2

  • Losing loved ones - 2

What are any silver linings from the quarantine period?

Our classmates overwhelmingly agree that more time with family was the silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic. Several people mentioned having unforeseen extra time with college-aged or adult offspring as an upside; others mentioned the benefit of not having their younger children’s extracurricular activities disrupting their lives. 

In particular, the cancellation of these activities resulted in much less time in the car, a positive development for many. And many people were thrilled to have recovered hours in their day that used to be spent commuting to and from work. 

The benefit to the environment of this quieter time was raised by some, as was the benefit to individual health as many people were using their newly-relaxed schedules to work out -- for some it was rediscovering their love of working out, for others it was a chance to increase their exercise regimens. 

Walking the dog for longer periods of time and taking family walks around the neighborhood were two other “silver linings” that popped up. 

Some also mentioned that they were relieved to discover they enjoyed the extra time with their spouses; others said they’d used this time to reconnect with old friends; and still others were happy for the extra time with elderly parents.

How are you staying healthy -- physically and mentally -- during this time?

Staying healthy has been rough in this pandemic. Several of our classmates have had COVID-19. Others are hard at work fighting it. Being on the sidelines has been tough, too.  Some are “just trying to get by.” Others are medicating with Oreos and bourbon. 

Many of us have been walking, running, kickboxing, doing yoga, and holding dance parties at home just to stay active. Several are using the internet for virtual exercise classes and riding Pelotons. 

We’re de-stressing through meditation, prayer, cooking, and gardening. One classmate planted 6,000 square feet of zinnias and dahlias. Another is figuring out how to grow vegetables in New York City. 

We are trying to stay in touch with friends and family.  We’re doing crosswords, writing haikus, avoiding the news, and getting puppies.  At least one of us is staying healthy by “living in Hawaii!!”

Is your work connected to COVID-19 in any way?

37% of our classmates reported that their work is connected to COVID-19. Some are health care workers on front lines, some work in nonprofits, philanthropy or policy and have been working on related issues and funding. 

Others report that the scope or focus of their jobs -- communications, law, banking, economics -- have been directly affected by COVID-19. Some other interesting responses: 

• My team provides a free software platform (churchonlineplatform.com) used by many thousands of churches to run services online. Our usage went up by about 10x abruptly in March! Far from being idle at home, this has been the busiest season ever, and extremely rewarding to be able to help so many organizations cope with the new situation.

• As Director of Tuition Assistance at an independent school, much of my spring has been focused on helping families navigate financial impacts of COVID-19 and maintain their children's enrollment at the school.

• We developed the online school curriculum for NYC public schools

• I’m a journalist working on development of new ways of telling stories online. We are working hard every day to cover the impact of the virus and make sure readers have access to credible information.

• I am part of a group that reviews COVID-19 research protocols and makes recommendations to improve study design and statistics before university approval of protocols

• Our product makes at-home music recording easy for musicians who can currently only 'perform' via online services that way.

How are you spending your free time during quarantine? Pick the 3 activities you’re doing the most.

The most common responses to this question were reading, cooking, Zooming, family time, homeschooling, exercising, gardening, cleaning/organizing, listening to podcasts, and spending time outside.

Recommend a book, show, movie, podcast etc. that you have enjoyed during quarantine that your classmates might also enjoy.

If you work in an office or location outside your home, when do you expect that you will be back at work in that location?

• Within 3 months: 27.1%

• Now (currently working at my workplace) - 19.6%

• Within the next year: 17.5%

• Within 6 months: 13.7%

• I do not work outside the home: 12.9%

• I don’t expect to go back to that location: 5%

• In the next month: 4.2%

How do you think your life will be different one year from now?

44% still expect to be wearing a face mask next spring. 

27% expect to have less money than they have right now. 

30% will be missing their kids. 

17% expect to be still working from home. 

12.3% expect to still be hoarding Lysol and toilet paper.

Have you or someone in your immediate family been diagnosed with COVID-19? 

What do you miss most from life before COVID-19?

People generally miss freedom -- the freedom to travel, socialize, play sports, eat in restaurants, go to coffee shops and bars, and exercise at the gym. They miss live concerts, theatre and movies. They want to go to parties, art galleries, museums, the library, and religious gatherings. They want to get a massage. 

There is a sense of loss related to their children; they miss school, daycare, and youth sports games. They even miss seeing teenagers become more independent. 

They miss all sports: the Olympics, college sports, March Madness, MLB, and NFL. 

There is a sense of loss of innocence. They miss sleeping through the night and not worrying about the future. They're concerned about their own health, as well as that of elderly relatives. Most poignantly, many people said they miss hugging others.

Which virtual Class of 1991 activities would you be interested in?

These are the ten most popular responses:

1. Ted-talk presentation by a classmate involved in COVID relief efforts: 54.1%

2. Freshman unit reunion: 50.5%

3. A speaker from Brown: 45%

4. A musical performance from a classmate: 44%

5. Ted-talk presentation by a classmate on another subject: 39.9%

6. A theater performance from a group from Brown: 28.4%

7. Funk Night with DJ: 26.6%

8. Book club: 24.8%

9. Academic activities for children: 17%

10. Reunion of your sports team/club/activity: 13.3%