How much more must Covid take away from us?
As a young student, who has lost out on many experiences over the past couple of years during the pandemic, Gemma Good in her column The Good Life examines the cost of Covid to young people...
It’s hard to know if our Black Friday shopping deliveries will be here on time for Christmas. I think Brexit, customs and all the rest has made people a little sceptical about shopping online. I know personally, I’d rather go to the shops, but then that poses many other problems especially to one’s bank account. Anyway, there is one thing that was on nobody’s Christmas lists but arrived on the first of the month nonetheless: Omicron.
Did we know it was coming? Absolutely. Were we happy to ignore the new variant until it got here? Most certainly. I walked into the kitchen last Wednesday and my roommate revealed the news. I rolled my eyes, unsurprised. We have plans to go out as soon as our exams are finished, to hit the Christmas markets over the festive period, go ice-skating, head out for dinner, to go abroad in January and just enjoy ourselves. We sat and debated whether this would still happen, drawing up the same conclusion as everybody else, who knows?!
The first to go were nightclubs. They closed on Monday night and it’s fair to say they got a good send off by students. Unfortunately, I wasn’t among them, but not really by choice. I was sat in the Glucksman Library furiously typing on my keyboard. Law essays should not be left until the last minute. It’s hard to know where I was better off. Certainly, I made good progress with my essay and, sitting in the library with my mask on and socially distanced from others, my chances of contracting Covid were significantly less. But looking at stories of other people out dancing and mixing with people for the last time in who knows how long, I did regret my decision to stay in. With the threat of the variant, you’d wonder if the closure of nightclubs will be followed by the rest.
As a student you do feel as though you are being deprived of your college life experience. One of my friends is heading off on placement for all of next semester. As she’d tell you herself, she doesn’t even want to go. Like us all, she has been on campus for one semester and is only getting to know the place now. As part of her course, it’s a requirement to go on placement for the second semester in second year and then go on Erasmus for all of third year. Realistically, after this Friday, I probably won’t see her again until fourth year. Everybody says that college is the time to go wild, after that it’s work, make money and settle down. Is that true? If it is, it honestly scares the crap out of me.
Despite taking the student’s perspective a lot, I do know that the virus has had unbelievable impacts on other age groups. The move online is huge for the older generation. When I hear this mentioned, I would think of online banking or even the digital covid certs, but there are still ways around that. It was only when I was working in the pub one night that I realised that the rise of technology during the pandemic has made the simplest things impossible for this age group. One customer showed me his phone and asked if I would be able to download the Cavan GAA app on it, as he wanted to go to a match the next day. I looked at the ‘block’ phone and I thought he was joking. The dead serious expression on his face confirmed otherwise; there’s no joking about football in a country pub. I explained that the app was only compatible with apple or android phones to the best of my knowledge, and that I couldn’t download the app. He was genuinely distraught, claiming that he would never go to another football match because entry had been made so difficult.
The virus now seems to be spreading a lot among young children. Young kids are finding it hard to isolate in their room for 10 days. It must be horrible for them. I know when I was sick back in the day, I would throw myself a pity party in the sitting room. My duvet would be brought down, and I’d lie and watch films all day while everybody waited on me hand and foot. Children nowadays must feel as if they are being punished.
This time around feels different to any other time. I’m aware we aren’t in lockdown, but there is the threat of rising cases. Before Christmas last year, we were hopeful the vaccine would be our saving grace. Many of us thought COVID-19 would be a distant memory by now. While packing up my stuff to head home for Christmas, I couldn’t help but wonder if I will be returning for next semester or will we be online? On that note, I had better go and pack my walking shoes.
* Gemma Good is from Killeshandra and a second year journalism student in University of Limerick.
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