Having COVID-19 During the Election
The Corsair
Sunday Nov. 8 marked two weeks for me, two weeks since I contracted COVID-19. When I entered quarantine Donald J. Trump was our President. This election could not have had better timing, occurring just nine days into my two week quarantine. Now I feel like I am entering an entirely new world. A world of hope, joy, and celebration, in which Joseph R. Biden Jr. is projected to be the president-elect and Kamala D. Harris to be vice president-elect.
Being a part of the COVID-19 statistics during this election felt pretty weird. It was as if there was just one more thing at stake that I had not anticipated. I was a part of a new class of Americans, a victim, for lack of a better word, of this current administration's continued inadequate response to this crisis.
I was fortunate enough to only present minor symptoms of COVID-19. It felt like a decent cold or minor flu coupled with no taste and smell. My time with the virus entailed an easier recovery than I had expected, which allowed me to return to my classes and to The Corsair’s news coverage just in time for the election.
My mental health was a different story. The weekend before the election my physical health began to improve, and my mental health started to tank. Through Election Day my anxiety shot through the roof. Existential dread found its way in, stress manifested, and I was overwhelmed with an array of other unrecognizable emotions. By Nov. 4, all I was left with was stress. Throughout the entire week, all I wanted to do was go outside or take a drive, just to escape my room. Then the waiting game ended.
Saturday morning my quarantine isolation was abruptly broken by my mom. She rushed in and woke me with, "Biden just won, now go back to sleep.” I immediately put my head back on my pillow, taking several moments to process what she just said. I shot up out of bed, as if I was in a cartoon. For the next five minutes, I gripped my desk’s chair as I cried in relief. That morning I felt like 45 pounds were lifted off my shoulders.
Even now on Nov. 10, I wonder how the hell I made it through this election while being locked in one room. I can only chalk it up to having CNN running every waking minute on my TV, editing videos for hours on Election Day through Saturday, and the many, many Zoom calls with The Corsair staff.
The one thing I can say is those countless Zoom calls made this week bearable. Whether we were all muted watching as events unfolded, playing rounds of Among Us, or pulling quotes from one of Biden’s or Trump’s speeches, it all helped.
The two things having COVID-19 has taught me are to be grateful for people, even if you just see them on a screen, and that I would not wish this virus on my worst enemy.
As a first time voter and journalist, this election meant a lot to me. If Trump had won I knew that COVID-19 cases would more than likely rise and his attacks on journalism would continue. But with Biden’s victory I am relieved to know that hopefully less Americans will experience what I have and that there is hope for our country.
