As we head into the third summer of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is much to celebrate: COVID-19 vaccines are widely available in the United States and have been a game changer in preventing the worst effects of COVID-19. Vaccines have allowed us to safely return to many of the activities we hold most dear: in-person school, family gatherings, and live events to name just a few.
Still, we aren’t out of the woods yet. COVID-19 will likely be with us, in one form or another, for a long time to come. Getting more folks vaccinated and boosted remains a priority, especially with new COVID-19 variants popping up frequently. Additionally, the mental, emotional, and economic effects of the pandemic continue to resonate in our communities. There is still much healing, innovating, and adapting to come.
This summer, we at AAOP are reaching out to Asian youth to ask them to share reflections on their pandemic experiences, the importance of COVID-19 vaccines, and what they hope to see in the coming months. Today, Elizabeth shares her story of working as an essential worker while navigating higher education during COVID-19.
My name is Elizabeth Yang, I use she/her pronouns. I’m 18 years old and turning 19 this year. I’m a second-year in college, about to go into my third year of college because I have a lot of credits from doing PSEO in high school. My major is political science and history, and I’m also minoring in Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota. My hometown is St. Paul, and I’ve previously worked with AAOP as a phone canvasser and youth fellow!
When COVID-19 first hit, I was halfway into my junior year of high school. But at that time, I was doing PSEO at Concordia St. Paul full-time, so I didn’t take any high school classes at the time. When everything first shifted online, Concordia was one of the earliest schools to announce that it will go completely online, so we were online before high schools went online.
I would say it was pretty easy for me at first, because I’m very good with tech, and I’m also very good at working independently and studying by myself. So, I didn’t have too much trouble navigating the online courses. But then, as COVID-19 became more serious during the summer and the fall of my senior year, and as lockdowns started to take place more, it became harder for me to just stay on track with my studies. I like to separate work, school, and home into three different environments, so I can’t really work from home. I work better in libraries and public spaces. So, when the lockdowns happened and we had to stay in quarantine, it was really hard for me to stay motivated and focused on schoolwork at home.
At the same time, I was also working at my parents’ restaurant. So, not only was I doing online school, but I was also working as an essential worker, because we were labeled essential workers in the food industry. Most of the workers at the restaurant got laid off temporarily during the pandemic because we just weren’t making enough to pay them, it wasn’t as busy as before. So, it was just me and my siblings helping our parents there the whole time, and that was a little difficult. I had to do online school, and also make sure to take care of my health and be protected as a worker.
I did my whole first year at the University of Minnesota online, so going back in-person, I barely knew the place. It is such a huge campus, so it was all very confusing at first! It was also really hard going back in-person and having to directly socialize with people. I haven’t done anything like that in two years.
For the pros, I like that we get to engage with the professors more and our classmates more. And the libraries are also open on campus, so I have a safe, quiet spot for me to do my schoolwork. Also, the University of Minnesota requires everyone to be vaccinated and required masks in the buildings these past semesters. So that made me feel safe to come back in-person. I think we were all just glad to have in-person schooling rather than having zoom fatigue, feeling drenched out and losing motivation at home. It was just really nice to go back to school.
I would say that my COVID-19 vaccination experience was really great, it went really smoothly and fast. Because I was working during the pandemic and interacting with new people every single day, and because there are also babies and elders in my family, I wanted to get my vaccination as soon as I was able. It was a little hard at first, because I was 17 and could only get Pfizer at the time. When the news came out [that teens under 18 were eligible for Pfizer], so many people were trying to get it at the same time. But eventually, I was able to get it, and I’m boosted now too.
Now that I’m vaccinated, I feel a lot more comfortable being able to go outside, going to eat out in restaurants and going to parks. When COVID-19 spiked really high [during the Omicron wave], I did get COVID-19. I think I had just gotten my booster and it wasn’t fully kicked in yet, and then I got COVID-19. I was like “well, this kind of sucks!” But because I was vaccinated, and I’m young, I wasn’t worried about my own health, just worried about passing it on to, for example, my younger relatives. But I feel pretty safe now, knowing that I’m vaccinated and boosted as well.
It’s been almost three years since the pandemic started and everyone, including me, wishes we could go back to pre-pandemic society. But I think that is only possible if everyone cooperates and works together to defeat COVID-19. We all must do our part equally, to protect ourselves and others. I do acknowledge that you can get COVID-19 even if you’re vaccinated, but getting vaccinated reduces severe symptoms and hospitalizations. So, overall it is beneficial for everyone to receive their vaccination shot. And if enough people receive their shots, we can build some herd immunity against the virus and eventually make it a less severe virus. We have to think of ourselves not just as individuals, but as collectively fighting this pandemic.
I work in Savage, Minnesota and there, they are not as strict about COVID-19 as they are in the Twin Cities. It was up to individual business owners to decide what they want to do about COVID-19. We required everyone to wear masks inside the restaurant and social distance, and I definitely had difficulty interacting with some customers. They would question us, asking why do we need our masks? Even though, at that time, not everyone was vaccinated yet, it was probably less than 50% of the city of Savage that was vaccinated. But a lot of businesses around us were already getting rid of masks, but we were not, we were still in the middle of a pandemic so we were going to keep our masks on. There was definitely a lot of difficulty trying to tell people that they need to protect themselves, they must wear masks indoors. We had to kick some people out; there were a lot of people who showed their true colors during the pandemic.
In terms of some advice for folks who are struggling to talk about COVID-19 experiences and safety, just talk about the statistics. Talk about the real experiences of COVID-19, how people have lost their lives, been injured, lost their homes because of the pandemic. I would say just bring up these facts to people if they are struggling to keep themselves safe and socially distanced.
My hope is for the pandemic to lessen. We’re at the point where COVID-19 is still out there, and it’s going to be out there, so we need to learn how to control it so it won’t be as severe. So, my hope is to make sure everyone is vaccinated, building community protection so we can go out to public spaces safely, just go anywhere without having to worry about catching a severe virus. I just hope everyone can be smart and safe.
For my college experience, my hopes are very simple. I hope to graduate, and that COVID-19 won’t be a huge factor in my college experience going forward. I also hope that faculty and staff at universities will be able to learn from COVID-19 and learn what students need the most. For example, students at the University of Minnesota are advocating right now to keep hybrid (in-person and remote) classes for the fall semester, because this is helpful for students, especially commuters like me. This is a learning experience for all of us.
