The weirdest thing about this whole quarantine situation for me was how it seemingly came out of nowhere. Granted, the Coronavirus was in the news, especially coverage in Italy and China, but I really did not think much of it. In my mind, I had equated it to Ebola from a few years back in that I thought it would reach the States and then just sort of die off. When schools announced that they were closing, I even then thought we would be back in the classrooms at the time of the original return date. In fact, the first weekend, I was on the phone with some of my friends as we planned out our spring break, because we legitimately believed it would still happen. It’s crazy to think that it has been almost a month and a half since then and the end to this all is still questionable.

I know a lot of people that are suffering from this almost complete shutdown of business. There’s really no other way to put it than it just sucks. I have a lot of friends who have family members that are at-risk and their caution has really put into perspective the gravity of not taking the quarantine seriously. On the flip side, I also have friends who have ignored the social distancing guidelines. While I have spent the majority of my time at home, I’d be lying to say that I hadn’t gone on drives and driven by friends’ houses to wave from my car. What has surprised me the most about being out is how many people that I see out of their houses. It seems weird that in a time of supposed isolation, parks are more packed than they usually are and there is hardly a difference in regular traffic.

The biggest influence that this whole COVID-19 pandemic has instilled in me however, is a real sense of state pride. Seeing articles ranking states based on their COVID-19 response and seeing Kentucky at the top of those lists really makes me feel proud to be a Kentuckian. Along with that, after talking to friends across the political spectrum, I have found that nearly everyone is happy with the way Governor Beshear has handled this pandemic. In a time of such divided partisan politics, to see everyone generally happy with the way the state is being run really says a lot. I feel like while there has been division and disparity during these uncertain times, the biggest take away for generations to come will be with how people came together and put aside their difference to protect the good of the nation and even the world.