Spring Break is typically considered to be the time that students can relax and have fun before the final quarter of the school year begins, but this year, it only seemed to serve as a source for more anxiety.

Since January, my history class had been lightly following the “Wuhan Coronavirus” (now called COVID-19) on CNN 10, but it had never been something that really scared me, considering people seemed to have been taking the proper precautions in the countries that had people infected. However, as the last month has shown, this situation wasn’t close to being finished.

 Over Spring Break, my family ended up going to California to check out some of the views of the state, as well as to head to Disneyland. The entire trip started off calm, without a fear, since people inside of the states that were closing down were joking, so they should be fine. Everything changed when I checked my phone in line for a ride at Disneyland. 

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In just three notifications, my time at “The happiest place on Earth” became the most stressful.

It was a piece of news that everybody was talking about around us. We weren’t speaking to each other, but we all thought the same thing, ‘this just got real.’

 As a big NBA fan, I’m sure this will become a “where were you when…” moment later in my life, but it seems that the news had more impact than just the impact on NBA fans.

 That night was my last night in California, and subsequently my last in a pre-quarantined world. Within the next 24 hours, every sport in the country had shut down, Disneyland was closed for the rest of the month, schools were canceling.

It made it hard to not be worried about what was going on even in seemingly normal situations. The first thing my family did when returning to Texas was picking up my sister from The University of Texas, since her break was starting, but little did we know that it would be the last time my sister would be inside her dorm room.

 As time progresses, and even more things shut down, all I can think of is how grateful my family is that our 14 day incubation period has come and gone, without any of us showing symptoms or testing positive. Hopefully, everything can slow down soon, so that we can return to our normal life and look back on this pandemic as another obstacle that the human race had to overcome, but until then, we must remain calm and follow the guidelines that those in charge are suggesting to flatten the curve.

Matthew Johnson