It has almost been two years since the onset of the covid pandemic. While looking up the timeline of this pandemic, I thought “Really? Only two years?”. That sentiment shows how much covid has had an impact on our lives. Obviously covid has changed many things about daily life, but it has also exposed intrinsic problems within our society. Despite changing many things, one thing that has remained the same; American society has a huge stigma against being sick.
On Wednesday of last week, I started to feel like I was getting a cold. Despite this, I started to get ready for class. I had already missed Monday and I didn’t want to miss another day that week. The entire time I was getting ready I felt miserable and I kept complaining about my headache. Finally my girlfriend made me stop and took my temperature; I had a fever. I was frustrated because I definitely couldn’t go to campus now. Instead of being worried about my health, I was worried about missing class. Looking back, it was a good thing I didn’t go to campus, the next three days I laid in bed with a 102 degree fever.
While I didn’t have covid, it would still be extremely inconsiderate to come to campus and spread the yuck. This is when I realized how strange the sentiment towards illness is in America. In the precovid times, it was so common for people to go to work sick, sacrificing their health and wellness to make money and seek approval from their bosses. In the meantime, they are getting their coworkers sick too. When we get sick now we panic that it is covid and rush to determine that it isn’t so we can continue on. But shouldn’t we care about our bodies handling a cold just as much as we worry about covid? We view illness as an inconvenience and that is true; it disrupts our normal routine and makes you miserable. But instead of focusing on healing and protecting those around us, Americans “power through”. In short, covid has taught me that american society has their priorities in the wrong places. Why did we ever think it was normal to expose other people to a cold?
Unruly Bodies 
Right off the back I found it ironic how for you, you question “Really? Only two years” when for me its been “Really? Its been two years?!” Time seems to be going by much faster or just since the pandemic started I have lost a great since of time. Maybe both. I guess we show both (or just two) sides of how much Covid has had an impact on our lives. In terms of how strange you think the sentiment towards illness is in America, I agree that America doesn’t have enough sentiment towards illness. I don’t find it strange though. America as a whole has always been selfish in many ways, one of the most popular ways being with healthcare/health insurance. It really fucking sucks but if they can’t even give their citizens actual affordable or free healthcare that is of great quality, of course they don’t care about illness. It’s not us that matter, more so the money and other things that they gain from using us.
I seem to go back and forth between it feeling like time is flying or stalling! like day by day is so fast but when i think about like the classes i took during quarantine it feels like agggeeeeesss ago. And yes I totally agree, its not odd that america acts the way it does towards illness, we have proven to be pretty terrible. it’s just disappointing. Also i think the sentiment is the byproduct of prioritizing money like you said. we have no choice but to go to work in order to survive.
I agree! COVID has taught me a lot about being sick. Weirdly, I am grateful. Previously, I didn’t think about going to work when I felt under the weather. A slight cough was no significant concern for me, and I never thought about making others sick after all. It is just a cold, right. Getting a cold was part of winter was my thinking. No more. I never thought twice about sending my kids to school unless there was a fever, and even then, I would get in my feelings when the school nurse would say, “they have to be fever free for 24 hours!”
It seems like it’s been more than 2 years, yet it looks like it’s been shorter than 2 years simultaneously. I’m still adjusting to the time, but I see my sense of time getting better than it was.
Fortunately, this, too, shall pass.
Exactly! Like as selfish as it sounds, I used to not think about getting anyone else sick, rather just my own inconvenience/letting down bosses or teachers. i think covid has made me extremely aware of not just my own health but also the health of those around me, in a good way. For example, when I have coworkers that complain about a headache, i urge them to take it slow or even get permission to leave. And I too am grateful for this change. I think covid has really taught me to take care of myself, without feeling shame, and to also be empathetic and supportive of those who are under the weather.
I agree with this 100%. It is very true that before COVID was a thing, we view cold’s as an inconvenience and would still go to work and/or work with the symptoms risking our health and the well being of others vs now its like well Do I have COVID?? I don’t feel like I do. I’m going to stay home and risk it. This should be like this all the time regardless of what you have. Unless your body is 100% and you feel fine, then you should stay home. We have to get better at this for sure.
I agree with you and relate to your post a lot. There was a period at school when there was a really bad cold going around. Unfortunately, I contracted it and it left me ill for two weeks. Although it was fortunate that I didn’t contract COVID, it was difficult to motivate myself to attend class and I was also very self-conscious about possibly passing it to someone else or giving others anxiety regarding my cold. There should definitely be flexibility within all courses regarding excused absences. Many classes require doctor notes but some students also don’t have insurance to easily obtain an official document.
COVID has completely changed the way i feel about being sick. I just got sick a couple days ago, and when I woke up this morning I could barely stand up without feeling weak and like i could fall down. Despite all of this, the only thing i was worried about was going to my teams practice, even though i knew I didn’t have the energy or strength to do so. I think this is the pre COVID mindset. I often feel lost to determine whether i should or should not call in sick because I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I think this is something that people should really start to emphasize. It’s okay if you miss things because you’re sick. You need to prioritize yourself and your health.
For sure! I hope you feel better soon!! We need to create supportive environments where we feel safe to take time for ourselves!
I totally agree with the thoughts you were having about being sick. Whenever I don’t feel good I find I’m getting mad at myself for feeling that way like I could control it. I’m frustrated that I will be missing out and usually what my professors are thinking about me missing class. It’s a horrible feeling and you’re definitely right about COVID changing the way people think about being sick.
I completely agree with this post. Growing up even when I was sick I was still expected to go to school, and the same thing with work. I had a friend who whenever she was feeling suck wouldn’t do anything but rest. And I found it weird. But now I get it. Being in a pandemic really set my priorities straight and made me realize just how important health is. You can’t buy health. But the weird thing is, if you feel sick but don’t know what you have yet, would teachers count that as an acceptable reason not to come to class? Or would you still have to get a doctor’s note? The last time I went to UHS they didn’t take my insurance but that was 3 years ago. I’m not sure what the policy is now, but back then even when I was sick I wouldn’t get checked out because I don’t have a car, and paying for an uber or finding someone to take me seemed more problematic than just going to class. I don’t do that now because I’ve seen the toll that having covid can do to your body. I hope that our culture changes this mindset. And we are mostly just students, I can’t imagine people that go to work and put themselves at risk everyday because they need money to survive. People shouldn’t have to choose between survival and health.
I had this same experience this semester. When I got sick earlier this year I debated if I could afford to not be on campus. I knew it wasn’t COVID but I realized it’s still wrong to knowingly pass a cold that was making me miserable to somebody else. I ended up skipping most of my classes but I had one that I felt I couldn’t afford to miss so I sat away from others and masked up. I then thought about how I would’ve handled this in the past and cringed a bit. Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve thought twice about showing up to class sick in the past. How could I have cared for someone else’s health and wellbeing when I didn’t care for my own? I used to say things like “sleep is for the weak” or “pain is temporary, gpa is forever”. I think if school systems were more accommodating we wouldn’t resort to these methods but it’s hard when the system demands so much from us.
I totally agree that thinking about the amount of time we’ve been living like this is so weird — it feels like a thousand years and brand new all at the same time. And with that, it also feels like we’ve learned everything and nothing about sickness and self-care. I remember that before covid, if one person I knew got sick then everyone we knew got sick and that was just an accepted fact of life. But it also wasn’t life-threatening (for the most part), and we could laugh about how everyone got the same cold. Now if one person has even the suggestion of a cold, it’s a panic to tell everyone they’ve seen in the last week and to tell everyone those people have seen, because it could be just a cold or it could be covid and you don’t know until everyone gets tested.
But nothing about how we deal with sickness has changed, and that’s one of the most frustrating parts. There’s still pressure to go to work and school when you’re sick, because you could get fired or fail a class if you don’t. I was in a similar situation where I had a cold and couldn’t stay home, and I knew I hadn’t been exposed and I got tested as soon as I felt symptoms and it came back negative, but there was the day and a half in between taking the test and getting the results back where I couldn’t isolate, and there was the pressure to “power through” my discomfort, as you said, combined with the fear that I might be sick for real and putting people in danger.
That capitalist pressure to value work and productivity over everything else, including the health and safety of everyone around you, is so insidious. Towards the beginning when everything was online, I remember a lot of talk about how at least this would change how we treat access and illness, but we’ve obviously learned nothing because nothing has changed.
I actually think about this so frequently now and I’m really glad you brought it up. I have also been sick recently, not a fever but I had been coughing a lot and had a really sore throat, but I kept sitting there thinking about not wanting to miss class or feel bad for working from home instead of going into the office like usual. But then I really sat and thought like, no one else wants these germs, I feel like shit, why do I feel so compelled to put ALL of us through this? There is just such a pressure in American society to constantly be productive and get your work done, so when it comes to taking time for yourself when your physically sick, or even just mentally not feeling well, it feels almost like “wasted time,” a little bit. Even though we’re not actuallyyy wasting time. IDK. It’s just frustrating, and it makes me think of all the other times I do things that I don’t want to do or don’t feel well enough to do that I just force myself to participate in anyway for the sake of showing up or being there, and that is such a terrible habit. We really need to get used to taking time to let ourselves heal and reset.