“Coronacation”: How Students are Spending Self-Quarantine

With the exponential rise of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have urged citizens across the world to self-quarantine and practice social distancing.

But what do these organizations mean by “self-quarantine” and “social distancing?” Do we have to completely cut ourselves off from civilization? Storm a local Costco’s toilet paper section in case of an apocalypse?

Not exactly.

Self quarantining, according to the CDC, is a precautionary measure separating sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick.

Social distancing, in layman’s terms, is saying ‘no’ to that trip to Avalon, or keeping as many human interactions as possible through the screen and not face-to-face.

On March 13, Fulton County schools closed for the rest of the semester. With all this newfound time, as well as the CDC’s pleas to society to practice self quarantine and social distancing, what are students doing to keep themselves entertained during their time away from school?

“I think my screen-time went up at least two hours from TikTok alone,” said senior Erika Aaron.

Other students agree that they’ve seen an increase in device usage during this period of self-quarantine.

“People finish their school work for the day in a few hours and then they have the entire rest of the day to kill,” said Aaron.

Though many can see quarantine as isolation from anything in the outside world, students say going outdoors can have a positive effect on their not-so-positive attitude toward the quarantine period.

Junior Ava Engler, an artist, said she’s trying to spend more time outdoors, as well as branch out into new styles of art.

“I have a lot of time, God knows how much, so I’m really taking my time trying out new things and maybe try to make it a hobby,” said Engler.

Other students, like freshman Zainab Mansouri, are using this break to focus on making up work for their classes in which they fell behind.

“During school I kind of felt like I was being suffocated by all of the work I had missed, and then piling on the new assignments,” said Mansouri, “it was too much.”

Despite students finding new ways to entertain themselves on break, time still feels like it’s at a standstill.

“A day goes by and I think, ‘That literally felt like a week’,” said Engler.

Though this period of self-quarantine can feel mundane for some, students are taking this time to relax and be away from the stresses of school, catch up on their work, find a new hobby or even fall into a TikTok rabbit hole. The possibilities of this “CoronaBreak” are endless.

Even in this unpredictable time, remember to wash your hands, practice social distancing and stop hogging all the toilet paper at Costco.