COVID Reflections

By Jamie

"Once society reflects on the pandemic 100 years from now, those who passed away, will always be talked about."

Jamie: Hello, my name is Jamie de Leon Santos. I go to Richmond High School and I am 17 years old. I have two interesting facts about me. One is that I am a huge fan of the UFC, like the biggest out of Pinole and Richmond. The second fact is that I love living in ranches. Love, to be specific, especially my dad's and uncle's, up in Clear Lake.

I love riding horses, love talking to new people, especially hot girls. The person I interviewed this past week was my close friend Kimberly Meses. I know Kimberly because of tennis. In the beginning of the year, she started playing tennis and I saw her. She looked, well, cute as well. So I made my move and started talking to her. Who would have known that we would have become very close friends?

I interviewed Kimberly in a smoothie shop. I took her out and we had our small interview. Something that stood out to me, was that during the interview, she kept looking at my coffee smoothie. So I gave her some, and I continued. LOL. On a serious note, the thing that stood out to me was when I asked the question, “What's something that stood out during the pandemic?” And she responded, "Something that stood out, was the food markets running out of food and being low on stock."

That stood out to me, because when I went to the store back then, when the pandemic was really serious, there was no food at all. Me and my mom struggled a lot to find food for us, our family. So, that made me think, not only I struggled, but her family struggled and a lot of people struggled to get food.

Jamie: What is your name?

Kimberly: Kimberly Meses.

Jamie: How did your family take the pandemic and school's shutdown?

Kimberly: Um… not well. Because jobs were getting closed down.

Jamie: Okay. How did your family feel about schools shutting down due to COVID-19?

Kimberly: Mm, they thought it was safer for us.

Jamie: Okay. Has any of your family members ever gotten COVID?

Kimberly:Yes, everyone. My mom, my dad, and my brother.

Jamie: Including you?

Kimberly: Yes.

Jamie: What is a memorable experience you went through during the pandemic?

Kimberly: Oh, when, um, grocery stores were low stock. When it was really hot.

Jamie: How did you feel when the vaccine came out to the public?

Kimberly: Mm… I felt like… like the virus was going to be over, and people were going to be more, um… open-minded.

Jamie: You're Jamie Santos. I want you to know that if you're reading this, it means that you survived COVID-19, the deadly virus that came from China. I'm not trying to blame them, just be aware. Be sure to wear a mask and be six feet apart in public spaces. It helps—trust me. What we will remember most about the pandemic is that it took the lives of a lot of innocent people, so be careful, and take good care of mom and dad. When society reflects on the pandemic 100 years from now, those who passed away, will always be talked about. Some good things about the pandemic is that the government will be sending help. Money, food cards, rent money, et cetera. Some bad things about it is that you get charged the money on your taxes. And another bad thing is that the food markets will be empty, for a while. So, go buy a lot of foods and essentials right now.

What no one knows about the pandemic is that if you don't take this very serious, you will die.