It has been a month since the University of Wyoming canceled the rest of the spring 2020 semester, pivoting to online classes and virtual instruction, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
While normalcy has not returned for many quite yet, some UW students have adapted to the closure and have started to settle into some kind of routine.
“I’m spending every day playing the same three video games,” says Nick Jackson, a UW student who returned to his parents’ home due to the pandemic. “Sometimes I’ll have some assignments to do, but there’s nothing to make the days different from each other. It took me like three days to realize it was April.”
Many people on social media have made jokes of a similar type, saying that it is hard to keep track of what day of the week it is due to the quarantine. This mindset, coupled with a feeling that the pandemic is not as severe as advertised, has led Jackson to believe that the quarantine is unnecessary, he said.
“How much longer do they want us to stay inside?” he said. “In March, they were saying that there were going to be a million deaths, and that there’d be like a billion people infected.”
Jackson did not attend any Easter celebration, but he knows friends and family members that held get-togethers despite Governor Mark Gordon’s orders preventing large gatherings. Many churches across the nation held meetings for Easter Sunday, despite the pandemic.
Previously, President Donald Trump said that currently furloughed workers would be back to their jobs by Easter. With coronavirus deaths already numbering over 20,000, and the rate of infection showing no signs of slowing, this claim seems unlikely to happen, and Monday morning, Trump moved his deadline back to the end of the month.
Many workers were not sent home, to begin with. Essential workers, like doctors and police officers, have been working through the pandemic. Though many businesses have closed, many others are still open, like grocery stores.
Julia Erickson is a grocery store employee who has picked up more hours due to the pandemic. She said that early on, the supermarket was inundated with people trying to stock up on supplies, but now, things have primarily quieted down.
“You still get a couple people a day coming in and buying a whole bunch of stuff,” she said,” but things have mostly slowed down back to normal. No one’s buying an entire shelf worth of bread anymore.”
Erickson said that were it not for the masks that both customers and employees have begun wearing; it would feel no different than her usual shifts.
Epidemiologists are not yet sure how long the pandemic will need to run its course. Some said they believe the worst of the virus will be over by June, while others have said social distancing might be necessary for the remainder of the year. Regardless of the possible end date, one thing is sure – no one will be going anywhere anytime soon.
