Hi, I’m Liz Waid for Spotlight English. This week’s program is about the COVID pandemic and our stories during that pandemic – how the pandemic affected each of us and how people experienced that worldwide problem. This program was written before we knew very much about the Delta variant and other variants that are affecting populations all around the world. And while this program does have a hopeful ending – and I do think that we will get through this – we also want to acknowledge and let you know that we know there is still a lot of pain around COVID around the world. This is not a problem that is going away soon and it needs all of us working together to make it go away and to make it better. So we hope that when you listen to this program you hear about the experiences that people around the world have had. We want to hear about your experiences too. But we also want you to hear the hope that people do have for finally getting through this pandemic. We hope that you enjoy this program.
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
We begin today’s program with a story from March 2020.
Voice 2
“It was almost midnight. My roommate and I had been hanging out. It had been more than a week since we had left the house, because of the lockdown. So, we decided to go for a walk. No one was wearing masks, then. But there was also no one around. We walked to an intersection of streets. Normally, it would be crowded with people. Even on the weekdays, many people went to the bars. And a lot of cars travelled through. But there was no one. I remember I walked to the middle of the street. And then I lay down. I lay there for several minutes. No cars came. Nothing that night seemed real. Nothing seemed real for many nights after.”
Voice 1
This is a program about the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 2020 was unlike any other year. A new coronavirus named SARS-COV-2 spread through the whole world. It led to the disease COVID-19. And it changed everyone’s lives. Countries shut down. People had to make big changes to the way they worked, shopped, and had relationships. When the pandemic began, these changes seemed strange. But soon, the restrictions seemed normal. Today’s Spotlight is on the coronavirus pandemic. It is about how that first year felt. We tell stories from different people around the world. We look at their experiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many people’s first experience was not with the virus itself. They first experienced measures designed to prevent the virus’ spread. Xiang Zhao is a researcher from Austria. But he is originally from China. He was visiting his family when COVID-19 began to spread. Zhao wrote about his experiences in the journal Health Communication. He wrote,
Voice 3
“Several apartments with infections were blocked by a thick metal bar on the door. This was an attempt to stop the virus from spreading. One night, I walked on a big bridge. I saw the new shopping mall I had not visited yet. I saw the restaurant where I had rice noodles last year. I saw the shop where I got a globe model when I was a child. All of these memories rushed into my head with the beautiful, but empty night view. A strong sense of isolation came over me. I felt extremely alone. I have no previous experience with such an outbreak. I was only a high school student when SARS happened. It did not affect my life very much.”
Voice 1
Loneliness was a common experience with the pandemic. Many people also experienced how terrible the loneliness could be. June Perry lives in the United States. Her father lived in a nursing home, where medical professionals would take care of him. COVID-19 was especially dangerous for older people. Someone in this nursing home caught COVID-19. The disease spread like a fire in a dry forest. And June was not able to see her father. She told NPR:
Voice 4
“We saw my father through the window. It was very, very sad. He had signs of dementia before he went to the nursing home. He did not know that people were dying around him. He did not know that three people near him had died of COVID. Six months after lockdown, he died alone, with nobody beside him.”
Voice 1
The isolation affected all people greatly. Most did not go out to work. They did not see their friends or family. It was like everything in the world had stopped. Several Italian scientists studied this feeling for the journal Frontiers in Psychology. They asked almost 3,000 students about their experiences. One, a 16-year-old, told the scientists:
Voice 5
“It is bad to wake up in the morning knowing that you cannot accomplish anything with your life. You cannot do anything. I look out the window, and it is all deserted. There are no more sounds of cars, buses, or people talking. It is like a changed world, like being in prison for something that you did not do. All I can do is wait and stay at home.”
Voice 1
When people caught COVID-19, they were not just afraid for themselves. Being infected meant people close to them could also be infected. This Coronavirus was a very new virus. Scientists did not know very much about it. People did not know how it would affect their loved ones. Angela Brangaccio had just given birth. Then doctors told her she was positive for COVID-19. She was afraid for herself, but she was also afraid for her child. She told to NPR,
Voice 6
“All I knew was that I had this three-month-old baby. I was so scared of anything happening to her. I felt so sick. I could not think how this virus would feel in a three-month-old body. The pain that you feel when you are sick: If my baby feels like this, I cannot go on. <br>In the end, I decided I would move into a different room. I did not spend much time with my baby. I could not kiss her. I kept my mask on all the time. It was so hard. I am not joking when I say it was the worst 14 days of my life.”
Voice 1
By the end of 2020, there seemed to be some hope. SARS-COV 2 had destroyed many lives. But countries were also developing vaccines for the virus. The vaccines would protect most people from getting seriously sick if they were infected. Scientists even believed that they might also prevent infection. By early 2021, some countries had vaccinated some of their population.
In many places COVID-19 cases began to fall. But there was still a lot to do to beat COVID. Many people still could not get the vaccines. But people began to think that there might be a life beyond the lockdown. They began to imagine a future where everyone could be safe again.
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect you? Do you remember when you first heard of COVID-19? What was your experience like? Tell us your story. You can email us at contact@spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The writer of this program was Dan Christmann. The producer was Liz Waid. The voices you heard were from the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.spotlightenglish.com. This program is called, ‘Life and Loneliness During COVID-19’.
Visit our website to download our free official app for Android and Apple devices. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
Question:
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your life? Do you remember when you first heard about COVID-19?
Hello, i am a Mongolian listener. Covid-19 pandemic is very harmful in our country. Some peolpe always stay at home. But most people don’t notice this virus. We should keep our mask all the time i think.
My too
My too
What a terrible disease. I has not only killed many people over the world, but has also lessened the growth of many countries
I felt so desperate when this pandemic started
The pandemic situation in my country now is worse day by day. I’m sorrowful about it. I hope everything will be alright soon. I hope our government will have an effective policy which makes this situation better, or simply not as bad as what is happening now.
What country do you live in? I am from Vietnam and the covid pandemic is also going worse here, especially in the southern part.
me too. But I come from the North
Now, I’m living in Ho Chi Minh city, the hotspots of disease. All of the residents in the city are under directive No 16 of the Ministry of Health, people are only allowed to go out for emergencies or essential activities. I’m so anxious and hope this situation will move fast and we will come back the normal life.
Hi I’m Aisha I’m listened about coved 19 March 2020 , i can’t believe the virus did all of this and stop our life totally but thanks god know return our life gradually I’m living in African country this was problem
My life changed when pandemic had started. I work as a teacher and I worked from home during lockdown. Now life is getting better in my country. Level of disease is decreasing. This spring our government started vaccination.
may Allah save the world from this pandemic and every evil
Amen ♡
When COVID 19 pandemic start everything changed In my country all shopping centres were closed.
I still for 3 months work from home don’t meeting people really i felt loneliness at this period.
But I think this pandemic developed somethings in work environment
e.g.
we shouldn’t go to work . We can work from home and we can make meetings via zoom.
When I heard COVID-19 I thought it’s just as ordinary disease it will last two weeks at most, but with time the news tell us we have to stay in home and we have to wearing a mask outside
Hello Iam from Saudi arabia. First when I heard about the Covid-19 pandemic, I felt so depressed, because I couldn’t go to university or meet my friends. Also lockdown was so harmful, but our government have an effectivee policy which makes the sitiuation better.
Coronavirus is spreading in my city. The delta variant spreads rapidly everywhere. The government requires people to stay at home, only going out when absolutely necessary such as buying food, medicine or emergency. I and lots of people had to take time off work and life was very difficult. I pray that the pandemic will pass quickly, so that we can return to normal life.
I hope the COVID-19 pandemic ends soon. Thanks to all the medical staff around the world for treating and caring for the patients.
The covid 19 pandemic has affected my life a lot. And I believe it
also affected to your life, right?
This pandemic delay my work and study and my parent too. I’m finish the course with an online exam at the August 6th. It was too late for normal. And now, I still can’t start new school year. This pademic make work of my parent and other people were stopped. That makes the economy go down. More terrible many people died from pandemic or maybe from hunger. we only go out when really necessary, remember to wear a mask, disinfect regulary. i love the world and I hope the world will be getting through covid 19 pandemic to everything to back normal.
I heard about COVID – 19 two years ago. In Gia Lai, I celebrated the Lunar Year festival and my country – Viet Nam had a virus called COVID – 19. So we have three months off from school. That virus spread through the city and the neighbouring provinces. So my parents also worked from home. This made my family’s economy difficult. In the present, Gia Lai had many cases. I hope it will finish soon.
Sorrowful stories! I haven’t had a bizarre story since covid commenced I don’t really have sth to tell.
When I initially heard about COVID-19, I was a little taken aback, but that’s not surprising since I have no plans to do anything in the near future, so it didn’t impact me. However, these things impact everyone, not just me. As a result, I study online, am cautious with anything I come across, am careful when talking to anybody, and do not go out onto the street unless absolutely necessary.
That’s right. The COVID-19 was dangerous for people. There were many changes affected life each of us. I haven’t been going out and working from home for months. I didn’t see my family and friends. Even my friend died because he was infected. I hope that the COVID pandemic will be ending soon.
I heard my sister taking about COVID-19 pandemic when it spread first in china. So, I faint too.
The covid 19 affected me very much. I have to work and study at home. Plans must pause.
I remember getting up to go to college in January 2020 and watching the news on TV about the Covid-19 virus spreading in China, but at the time I didn’t think much of it. After a few weeks I went on vacation, and it was when the government decreed curfew I was in a farm of my parents, there I grew up since I was a child and there are not many people so the loneliness was not what affected me because I was already used to what most affected me was to get food because there were no buses but my brother arrived from the city and had a car thanks to that we could go out to buy food.
Fortunately, the situation is much more stable now. I no longer have to work from home. All new plans are working.
i caught covid-19 in february 2021 , i had vaccination before so i tolerate it physically , but another side was a hard time when i was all alone with alot of work to do
Yes, I still remember when my huspand told me about this Virus during our trip to indonesia. So we decided to return to Saudi Arabia, Meantaim, Saudi Arabia Closed its airports, So we stayed a month in a hotel under the auspices of the embassy, it was hard times
When I first heard about COVID-19 I didn’t care at first then when the ministry of education cancelled attendance at schools and universities I was so happy because it was a test period.After that , the situation became dangerous and a quarantine was imposed .My family and those around me were not affected by the epidemic , so it was not so scary.But hearing about those suffering because of the epidemic was heartbreaking.In addition, staying at home for a long time was boring and suffocating.
I thought it was really the end of our life! Our world but thanks God every became better
At first, i dont believe it , i think that it’s just a real virus,but when it begins to spread at my country i feel like a horrible thing ,but thanks the god i didnt infection
Back then, covid 19 was horrible! When I went to class face to face in computer, my 3rd grade teacher would tell me abot covid, and I felt miserable.
It was a very tuff year it was the second year for me at my college
everything stopped. no college no hanging out with my friends no work
I thank God every day that my family and my friends are fine.
I had a very bad experience with COVID-19, when it started spreading, I was a student in the last year of high school, we continued to study remotely and I was very stressed and bored but it was good that I passed the exam and succeeded in it, But a few weeks later, my mom contracted the virus from her dentist, She was so sick and I was so scared and confused, my mom was thinking she was going to die, And my mom started making recommendations like taking care of your brothers and yourself and studying well. Her words were so cruel to me, but I was holding together and telling her that God willing her to recover and come back healthy. My mother finally recovered and stayed alive, thank God. But before that I had picked up the infection because I was the only one looking after her. We both fell ill, and yet we had to take care of ourselves and my younger brothers. It’s been a really hard days. Thank God we could get through it.
I don’t forget this a bad year I hate it because It happened with me a more of bad and sad things Including COVID _19 this period It was a difficult for my life when I saw a million of people died and I can’t help them I feel destroyed our life changed become us sit down at homes. Schools, supermarket, universities, restaurants, all this closed We were feeling sadness, Loneliness, isolation. Moreover, the big damage when you injury my father I feel destroyed when I saw my father In that case I couldn’t help him difficult for breathing, Loss of sense of taste. However, thanks god because help us must be strong to face this virus. Finally, I remember when I first heard of coronavirus I saw her with family when we were watch Tv show in this time I think it’s a normal illness but I didn’t The seriousness of the matter even I got it I reached a point where I completely lost my breath. These are very difficult moments that I would not like to remember but this fate from a god we must be Accept it Thank God we were able to get rid of that deadly nightmare.
Covid 19 affected me because I could not meet my friends or familie and I had to do online classes instead of normal classes.
I do not remember when I heard about it.
Covid-19 is changed my life,I remember when they announced it in the first week we were in school and they told us we would be back in a week or a few days, but we stayed for years, I remember when the home quarantine happened, the days werw boring, stressful and full of mixed feeling