Sarah Drake, First Entry

Covid-19; America vs. Sweden

            When Covid-19 hit America it felt surreal, my life was completely turned upside down. My future plans were shattered and my way of living was completely changed.

 I was a full-time student teacher at Lander University and I was teaching at Emerald High School when Covid-19 came. My students and I were following the cases on the news every day. I had my students make a prediction based on the news, I said to them, “If there were 40 cases in China yesterday and now there are 200 in China today what do you anticipate to happen with the virus?” My students predicted that the virus would spread world wide because of traveling and they predicted that the spread would happen quickly. Their predictions were exactly right, within the month of their prediction schools were shut down and our way of living would be changed forever.

Schools were shutdown that Friday in March so I was unable to say goodbye to my students which made me upset. I along with many others were unable to finish our PPAT requirements, and PPAT is what certifies us as teachers if we pass it. Also, we are unable to take the PRAXIS which certifies us in our content area of teaching due to testing centers being closed. South Carolina granted us a temporary certification from the year 2020-2021 and hopefully that will be enough time for testing centers to reopen for us to take these certification tests.

Covid-19 completely shattered my visions of my future, I was unable to receive my graduation that I had been dreaming about, I am unsuccessful at getting a teaching job, which has really disheartened me and made me come to the realization that I may not become a teacher. Due to Covid-19 schools are unsure about what their procedures will be for the upcoming year, they are also unsure of what positions that they need to fill and this all causes a problem for recent college graduates looking for a teaching position. I have applied to all of the schools in my area with vacancies and have only received one opportunity at an interview and unfortunately I was not selected for the job. It has been a very disheartening process for me and I am sure for many others. This is not how we pictured life after graduation to be.

Wearing masks have become a way of life now, wearing a mask has become such a habit for me and I am sure for many others. Grabbing your mask is the same as grabbing your keys when you leave your house, you do not leave without your mask. However, I have made some observations, during the beginning of Covid-19 I noticed everyone wearing a mask and gloves, but as a few months have passed I noticed less people wearing them. I also noticed almost everyone that shops at Walmart wears a mask but most of the people that shop at Target do not wear a mask. To me it is like people think that there are more germs at Walmart to protect themselves from rather than Target.

I have also noticed how uneducated people really are when preventing the spread of Covid-19. I see people hanging their masks in their mirror, which is completely irresponsible because when your car A/C is blowing you are blowing all of the germs from your mask through your car and on you. It is almost like your mask is a car air freshener, which is filled with germs. I always put my mask in a Ziploc bag in my car after use. I have also noticed people wearing latex gloves in the store but no mask. The gloves do not help you especially when you are touching everything in the store with your gloves then you start touching your phone, keys, wallet, face with the same gloves on. I have also observed people that are very precautious they walk around the stores with their arms out so people stay farther away from them, I have also heard people ask other people to back away from them.

South Carolina, along with other states have made it a law that people must wear masks or they will be fined. Some people agree with this law since it protects others, but then there are some people that think the government is taking away their rights by enforcing this. I have seen videos of non-mask wearing people coughing or spitting on employees because they refused them service because they are not wearing a mask.

Things in America are just getting out of hand with the preventions of Covid-19. People are becoming increasingly violent and angry. However, I had the opportunity to come to Sweden for 6 weeks to be with my boyfriend and his family and it is almost like Covid-19 does not exist here. I have not seen a single person wearing a mask or gloves. People here do not stay six feet away from you either. There are stickers on the floor in stores where people should stand but nobody in Sweden really follows them. Life in Sweden is almost normal. Bars and restaurants are open, but they are limiting the amount of people, but there are no such thing as mask requirements. When I landed in the Arlanda airport none of the employees were wearing masks. There is no chaos here or anger or violence, people are simply living their lives as normal as possible. Sweden is offering free Anti-Body tests, which will tell you if you have anti-bodies to the virus or not. My boyfriend and his family took the test and he tested positive for anti-bodies which meant that he had Covid-19, but his mom tested negative to the anti-bodies. Sweden’s approach in my opinion has been successful. Yes, many people were infected with Covid-19 but their illness was not in critical need of a hospital. People are living in Sweden peacefully, there are no riots, or people attacking other people for wearing a mask or not. It makes me think is America doing the right thing or should they maybe follow more of Sweden’s approach?