COVID-19. A respiratory virus that has infected so many people that by the time this article goes from draft to published, the numbers will likely have risen astronomically. So what is it like to be a student as this virus continues to spread? Well, to be honest, it’s quite strange and stressful.

Things began to escalate on Friday, March 13th. That was the first day we were out of school. Over the course of a couple of days, things went from totally normal to no school for three weeks. I played a lot of Minecraft for the first few days. Every increase in the amount of days off felt exciting--more time for fun and entertainment! But soon enough, the stress started to creep in. How would I catch up? Would I learn from home? And also, just what was going on? What was going to happen? Nothing made sense.

So I tried to make the best of it. I planned to write, rest, get my schoolwork done, and make progress on other half-finished projects. But that never happened. I could barely focus on planning my story, and I was too distracted by everything else. This is a momentous time in history and that’s not the kind of thing you live through every day. Plus, how would it affect my family members who have impaired respiratory systems? Long story short, social distancing can be stressful, tiring, and a thousand things in between. I’m not supposed to hang out with friends or do much of anything outside because of it, so I have wound up being stuck inside trying to figure out what to do.

Furthermore, I've lost hours of education. Suddenly, I have begun to wonder if or when my Biology MCAS will happen and I have begun to wonder how I will prepare for it. The same goes for next year. We have already lost three weeks and it is very likely that we will lose more weeks of school. How will I prepare for my classes next year that build on classes from this year? What education will I miss out on? How will this affect my future when other schools haven’t missed this and suddenly I’ve fallen behind? In this sense, I don't blame some students for feeling that social distancing is a waste of time. We’ve been completing online review work for the sole purpose of keeping ourselves on track and our minds sharp as so we can pick up where we left off when we return to Whiting Ave. Nothing new has been taught. While I understand the reasoning behind this policy, and it is an honorable and fair one, it is a disruption to my education, nevertheless.

But social distancing is decidedly NOT a waste of time. If life goes on as usual, the disease will spread so fast that hospitals will be overwhelmed in short order. And then what will happen to those who need life-saving treatment but can’t get it? We need to flatten the curve. Many epidemiologists believe that most of us will become infected with the Coronavirus, so if we help in taking the virus longer to spread with social distancing, then we stand a better chance at not overwhelming hospitals. This is a win for everyone. For young people like me, who the virus is unlikely to harm, we'll have the satisfaction of knowing we haven't compromised the respiratory systems of the most vulnerable.

Once I adjust to the reality of this very strange situation, I aim to use the time off to rest, relax, attend to my studies, and pay more attention to the things that I've been putting off. Although we may be stuck in our homes, we can at least make the best of it.