4/24/20 Zuting Chen PD 1

Zuting Chen

Period 1
Modern Mythology

4/24/2020

What is it like working from home?

Personally, it’s been easier for some classes but also harder for some others with remote learning. Although some topics are clear enough that just the notes suffice, there have been some topics throughout my classes that I haven’t been able to understand as well without the regular class periods. Each period lasts either 75 or 150 minutes per week compared to the previous 225 minutes (due to a day being spread out into 3 days with each day having three 75 minute blocks), which is a notable reduction (SITHS). On the brighter end, I do like the flexibility in time for the work to be done. The classwork is usually due the day of or the following days, allowing me to spread out the work more and take my time in understanding the topics. Another benefit to working from home is being able to get more rest. I usually go home late from school and wake up early because I live far away. I’m glad that I’m able to rest better for these months before attending college.

What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?

In the beginning few weeks, the United States didn’t take the coronavirus very seriously and kept most services and activities open. When action was finally taken, it was to limit the amount of people who can gather to 500 people (CNBC), which helps a bit, but school was still open as usual. Although our school is smaller, We still have well over that amount of people, many of which also have to commute. For example, I have to take multiple trains and a bus to get to school, coming across hundreds of people daily. There’s hundreds of other students who have to commute to Staten Island Technical High School alone, and many more across New York City. By that week, many parents were urging their children to stay home because the number of cases were increasing exponentially. On that Friday, March 13th, schools reported a drastic decline in attendance. That weekend, it was finally announced that school would become remote. If this outbreak was more deadly, this delay in action would have meant the difference of many more lives. With another week as cases continued to grow rapidly, services and jobs were starting to come to a temporary halt.

With many services and activities closed, the Dow Jones saw a decline that dropped to the lowest on March 23rd (Google), Since then, it has been improving, suggesting that economic activity is resuming. Although millions of Americans have filed for unemployment, a coronavirus stimulus package was announced late March to account for the lack of income. The economic state has been questionable, but we will know more in time about the effect this pandemic had on the economy.

Aside from the government’s reactions and the state of the economy, there’s also been mixed impressions from people. There are always people who won’t take the situation seriously, but there was a lot of racism and mistreatment of people as a result of the coronavirus. Since the virus originated from China, some Chinese people were targeted and their businesses faced a decline. But even with the negativity, there’s also been many people like medical care workers who put their lives on the line to attend to the spike in cases — one of the biggest challenges to the pandemic. For many who are infected by the virus, that medical care is critical. Bill de Blasio, among others, called out to medical workers to help (NY Times). According to that article, there’s also been a shortage of beds and other medical supplies.

Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.

I think it’s a learning experience for everyone alike. Like explained above, it took some time for school and other activities to be closed to limit the spread of the virus. The public reacted in a multitude of ways, good and bad. But I’m grateful for all the help from medical workers and anyone who has to keep working to make sure life is sustainable during these tough times. People doubted the scale of this virus and it spreaded really quickly. The coronavirus luckily isn’t as deadly (of the 2.8 million cases, there’s been a reported 197,000 deaths) as the 1918 influenza, but is still widespread (Source). Despite the approximate 7% death rate, 197,000 deaths is a large number of people who were fatally affected by the virus. It’s not guaranteed that future pandemics would be the same — it could be better or worse. It was a struggle this time, hopefully preparing the world for future pandemics.