*Neither students interviewed in this article will be named due to the nature of the subject*
In kindergarten, everyone was worried about cooties. In third grade, the cheese touch plagued recess. Throughout middle school, Ebola overtook any normal conversation. With COVID-19, however, some Colorado Mesa University (CMU) students would tell you it is anything but the joke it’s often made out to be.
“I was still in my senior year of high school, and I got really sick about the end of February-and it was kind of when things were trickling in and a lot of people didn’t have it yet,” one Colorado Mesa student said. “I don’t really know how it got to the extent that it did, but I was sick for three or four weeks.”
Senior Summer has always been a time to be with friends, travel and have fun before college, but for one Colorado Mesa student, it came at a cost.
“I was on a roadtrip with my friends and when we came back, my buddy said that he had those symptoms, so he got tested,” another Colorado Mesa student said. “He ended up being positive, so I got my test back and ended up being positive too.”
For any healthy college student, COVID-19 may not be life or death, but it’s certainly not without its consequences.
“Not everyone can die from it, but it still will put you out of your daily life. A good month of your regular daily life, even if you’re a healthy person,” the first Colorado Mesa student said.
“I didn’t really have [many] symptoms. I had a cough, and some body aches for a little bit. I also couldn’t taste or smell for a little bit too. That only lasted for a day or two. I missed my move in day by a couple days, which sucked,” the second Colorado Mesa student said.
Colorado Mesa and the entirety of Mesa County face a challenge that many would have never thought to be more than a recess game; for this reason, there is a mixed bag of reservations and optimism, even in students who contracted COVID-19 before.
“When you look at [University of North Carolina] this week and how they all got sent home, with all these kids being idiots my age, it’s a trip thinking about how fast they could ruin it for everyone,” the first Colorado Mesa student said. “One thing I do think about a lot is how many people you do actually come in contact with in your daily life-it’s crazy how many people you see and could get sick if you actually were sick.”
Despite the many variables going into college during the era of COVID-19, many students still maintain a sense of confidence and trust in CMU.
“I feel safe going here. I know as long as I keep my distance, wear my mask, it should be good. I mean people are going to get it, that’s just what’s going to happen, but when they do they report it, and they quarantine,” the second Colorado Mesa student said.
Unlike the cheese touch and cooties, COVID-19 is not something to be taken lightly. However, with the combined effort of the entire CMU community wearing masks, keeping distance and self screening, there is still plenty of hope for a successful semester.
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