My experience with COVID-19 is probably similar to yours - I’m staying home and not doing much. On March 17th I was at softball practice; it was only the 7th practice of the year and I was still getting to know my teammates. My coach ended our practice early to say that one of the local middle schools had a staff member that tested positive and they were shutting down my school for one day. This was the first time that it was affecting my life and my community. It was easy for me to cast it aside and joke about it when it was further North but it had been slowly creeping down for almost a week. The next day I stayed at home and didn’t worry about the virus or what it meant for my upcoming season.

Around noon that Wednesday I got word that the Seattle Public Schools were going to be closing for two weeks for cleaning. At that point, two weeks seemed ridiculously long and on top of that we weren’t allowed to practice while school wasn’t in session. It was a hard hit to the beginning of the season, but everyone knew that we would kick butt when we all eventually came back. The next day was when the governor announced that all schools in Washington State would be closed for six weeks. That shocked me.  I had been foolishly thinking that everything was fine and that the schools only had to be cleaned and then we would be back. I wasn’t worried about work because my school already gives every student a laptop so I was covered on that end, but I couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t be practicing and playing games every week. In a way, I’m very lucky to have gone through this my junior year because at least I have one more year to play, but for all my seniors it’s their last chance to play in high school. I’ve played with these seniors for three years and we’ve made Cleveland history together, so it's painful watching their senior seasons be cut so short by something that we can’t control. We had such high hopes this year to go even further than we did last year and grow the program but I’m afraid that we’re not going to make it as far as we hoped. At this time, we are still set to go back to school. While my mom thinks that we won’t go back for the rest of the school year, I’m holding onto that shred of hope.

While it’s unfortunate that schools and sports are being postponed, I think that it was the right call to make. We don’t know where people have been or what they’ve been exposed to and so we don’t know what we’re bringing home. As someone who lives with a person who is at high risk, I know how important it is to be cautious and make sure that I’m staying as safe as I can so I can keep them safe as well. Many students think that the state is overreacting, but I think that we are taking the right steps and that it’s better to wait this virus out and make sure that everyone’s 100% safe before returning to school. So while I would love nothing more than to go play softball I’m staying home and making sure I don’t expose myself to anything that could possibly endanger my family. I encourage you to do that same thing and to limit your exposure as much as you can. Find a new hobby, clean your house, but try to stay inside and away from any unnecessary trips to the store.