Most people take COVID as a game. I in fact was one of those people. I lacked applying my mask the right way (above the nose) and constantly was around people. This all changed when I caught “it” for the first time. 

From personal experience COVID was the worst sickness I have ever gone through without exaggeration. I was exposed to someone in my school and caught it 1-2 weeks later. The body pain, headaches, nausea, loss of oxygen, and sore throats were agonizingly unbearable. My ability to walk deteriorated for seven days. That’s 168 hours. This was only the halfway point. My COVID lasted for 14 days. Straight pain. The persistence of symptoms through the entirety of the time.  I was at the point of hospitalization but figured what could they do? 

Not only did I have to deal with that, but the excessive additional work from school that I had to complete. This put me in a difficult position. I could not complete my work on time and receive the grade I deserve. However, everyone’s experience is different. This doesn’t always have a bright ending. Everyone wants to travel and party on the weekends but this won’t help avoid this crisis. It’s only going to get worse. 

In October 2021, COVID had hit one of its lowest peaks in New Jersey where cases hadn’t reached over 2,000. This convinced the citizens of the state that it was dying down, causing people to get familiar with removing their masks. They started going back to habits that existed prior to the pandemic. With the onset of Omicron things started declining once more. Many school districts in New Jersey shut down right before winter break and have since reopened. However, it feels like we are just biding time. With the end of the pandemic nowhere in sight, one has to ask themselves, am I going to catch this again?