Thoughts from the isolated generation: how our young people are feeling about COVID-19
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Canberra kids are experiencing times that are unprecedented.
Schools have largely closed their doors, leaving students in a strange limbo. Classes, hobbies, sports, and friends have been temporarily suspended and, instead, our children are spending their time in isolation. So what are they thinking and how are they coping?
We asked the kids of HerCanberra to share their thoughts, and there are some wise words here.
Imogen, 10, Year 5
Photo courtesy Canberra Youth Theatre.
What do you know about COVID-19?
Coronavirus is not actually the virus. COVID-19 is the actual virus and there are many viruses in coronavirus.
Are you scared about it?
Well, I don’t think I should be scared about it because I’m a kid and kids don’t get it, but I am scared about anyone over 70 years old like my Poppy and Nan.
What stresses you the most?
PEOPLE ARE GOING BALLISTIC ABOUT TOILET PAPER!
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
Well, I definitely 100 per cent miss basketball. But for some reason, I also REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, miss school and seeing my friends every day.
What is the best thing?
I can hang out at home with my family more often, school isn’t as uptight and I can… well, ummm, go on my device more often!?
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
I think it will take until the end of the year until COVID-19 is totally 100 per cent cured.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
Do not worry about corona virus, as there is probably only a 0.01% chance you will get it. And take care of your grandparents if they are old! And stay in touch with your friends to show you care.
Sophia, 11, year 6
What do you know about COVID-19?
I know that COVID-19 is a virus that is just like the flu, but you can pass away from it and I know that it can spread quickly.
Are you scared about it?
Yes, I am quite scared about it because I don’t want it to affect my family in any way and I don’t want to get the virus.
What stresses you the most?
That I might get the virus and pass away from it or any of my family does.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
I’m not liking not seeing my friends. Also, I don’t get to keep doing dance after school until it is safe.
What is the best thing?
That you get a lot of days off to relax and you get to do stuff you wouldn’t get to do because you wouldn’t have had spare time.
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
I’m thinking maybe about 3 – 6 more months until the virus is nearly over (maybe?). But I think for everyone to recover it is really in their own time so they can take as long as they want.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
Do not stress about it, just live your life and don’t read the news. 🙂
Olivia, 13, Year 8
What do you know about COVID-19?
I know a decent amount about COVID-19, but I would love to find out more.
Are you scared about it?
I am beyond scared, but at the same time, it doesn’t exactly feel real.
What stresses you the most?
The thing that stresses me the most is that it could potentially affect my loved ones and causes me to miss out on learning opportunities.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
The worst thing about having to self-isolate is the fact that you can’t go out and do anything. I want to be productive and hang out with friends, but I can’t because we have to stay at our house the majority of the time.
What do you miss most?
The thing I miss the most is that I can no longer see my friends and our lives have suddenly changed.
What is the best thing?
The best thing is that doing work is less stressful because I’m in an environment where I can focus more and do my best.
It also allows you to connect to people online in a way which you wouldn’t be able to do in person. This allows you to make more friends and get closer to people you wouldn’t picture yourself being friends with before this event.
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
I think it will take a long time before life resumes as normal. This is because you haven’t seen your friends in so long and it may take a while to reconnect to them properly.
It will also take a while to get back into the schedule of going to school every morning and having specific times to do things, but it will definitely be easier getting out of quarantine than it was going into it.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
A message I’d like to share with other young people is to make the most of this break, take this as an opportunity to do something you wouldn’t usually do this time of the year and do something fun, like learning something new.
Thomas, 14, Year 9 
What do you know about COVID-19?
I know that it is a pandemic that affects older people and people who have compromised immune systems.
Are you scared about it?
I am scared about it, but not for myself. This is because I don’t fall under the risk category.
What stresses you the most?
What stresses me the most is staying on top of everything to do with school.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
I miss being able to hang out with my friends and to do sport.
What is the best thing?
The best thing is having control over what I do and when.
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
I honestly have no clue but I hope that it will be over by halfway through Term 2 or June.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
I think everyone has to mix study time with fun time to create a good balance.
Tilly, 15, Year 10
Credit: Tim Bean Photography.
What do you know about COVID-19?
What I know about COVID-19 is that it is an infectious virus that can be spread from human to human. It has similar symptoms to the flu. But this virus is more likely to affect older generations, younger kids can still get it but the symptoms are less.
Are you scared about it?
I have mixed feelings about it. Because of all of the media saying different things I sometimes think about the worst outcome. But I try not to think about it too much and just hope that everyone stays safe and does the right thing and isolates themselves.
What stresses you the most?
I’m stressed that someone in my family is going to get it. Especially if one of my grandparents will get it because I know it would affect them the most out of all of us.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
The worst thing about self-isolating is that it gets very boring after a while, I miss going to school and seeing my friends and socialising. I am also missing my basketball training and games and seeing all of my basketball mates and having a laugh with them.
You get to spend a lot of time with your family and pets. And you also get to FaceTime with your friends a lot.
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
I have heard multiple things about how long this will take to go back to normal. I have heard 6 months, 1 year or a few weeks. So, at this point, I don’t know which one to believe we are going to have to wait and see what happens.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
STAY HOME. If everyone does this for a little bit, we will slow the spread of this thing and then everything can go back to normal.
Willow, 17, Year 12
What do you know about COVID-19?
That it is an infectious disease that is easily spread through air droplets. Anyone can catch it but people with immune issues (especially people over the age of 70) will be more susceptible to severe consequences and that is the main reason people without risks need to be careful—because they might spread COVID-19 to these people.
Are you scared about it?
Less scared of the disease for myself but I do live with my grandmother so that’s pretty stressful. For myself I’m more scared of the effects it will have on my education, the economy, but I’m also very aware that I’m luckier than most to have everything I need to go on with my life quite normally.
What stresses you the most?
Mostly not knowing how long it will last. I’m sure I can handle self-education or home-schooling for a few months but more than that might be a challenge.
There is a lot of uncertainty about how life goes on without the institutions and structures we’ve all lived with for most of our lives, and the uncertainty is almost as stressful as the disease for me.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
Mostly just miss the routine and the knowing what to do. I do miss my friends and classes.
What is the best thing?
Eating whenever, sleeping later than usual—like, right until class starts
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
Everyone says six months.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
Now is really the time to take charge of your education and lifestyle. Eating regularly, drinking lots of water and washing hands.
We’ve got everything we need to take care of ourselves (hopefully) so there really isn’t any reason we can’t learn how to take care of ourselves now.
Fletcher, 18, first year university.
Credit: Tim Bean Photography.
What do you know about COVID-19?
I know the very basics, in that it’s an infectious disease that starts off with common cold symptoms which will, in the worst case, turn into pneumonia.
There was some misconceptions about the virus that it was less dangerous than the flu, however, we are beginning to understand that it is much more transmissible and life-threatening than influenza.
The last piece of understanding I have is that elderly people and those individuals with health conditions prior to the virus are most at risk. Younger people without conditions can still die from the virus, but this is less likely.
Are you scared about it?
Not necessarily, I’m more counting on all of us to take health advice more seriously.
I think we are already seeing promising signs of people self-isolating and ensuring they are being hygienic, however, there are some individuals that believe it somehow violates their freedom to do what they want, which is incredibly selfish.
I don’t want to get political, but as long as local governments are adapting and implementing the necessary policy to keep everyone safe in the community, then I see no reason to panic or be frightened.
What stresses you the most?
I’m a newbie economics student, so seeing the effects of the virus on the economy and unemployment is definitely the source of my concern.
The economy is a long-term issue, and the fact that thousands of people are losing their jobs and won’t have enough capital to support themselves is a real issue for the future.
We have been predicting a recession for a while now, which will make it incredibly hard for all our local businesses to stay afloat, even more so when the virus is still circulating.
What is the worst thing about having to self-isolate and what do you miss the most?
Being able to give someone a solid handshake or go out in public with friends and family are just a few things that people have been taking for granted, and we are just realising it.
Going out to dinner, doing fun activities with my mates, and simply just visiting family members are things I’m unable to do because of the current situation.
Despite being hard to accept, I at least know that I’m one less person that can contribute to its spread, which is okay with me.
What is the best thing?
Discovering new ways to keep in contact with my friends and family has been quite funny and entertaining. It’s sad, but hilarious how everyone scoffs at each other over a phone call saying things like “see you in 6 months”.
My family has surprisingly embraced this change and have just recently been to a birthday party via FaceTime call, which was amusing, to say the least. I’m a game freak, so I can continue to socialise with my friends through video games, despite having to sacrifice going outside and doing something productive with them.
How long do you think it will take before life resumes as normal?
We have been given a prediction for when the spread will slow down significantly, but there is absolutely no true answer to the question.
Everything is now all relative, in that “normal life” will resume at different times for different people such as those who own a business or who have just lost their job and are struggling to survive financially.
It will resume at different stages for different people. That’s not to say that I don’t want it to go back to normal ASAP, it’s just that its difficult at the moment to predict a specific point when we will be able to resume our normal daily lives.
Do you have a message you’d like to share with other young people?
The absolute number one rule is to stay informed. Browsing through social media and the internet through various different sources will not help with your anxiety about the coronavirus. All you need to remember is follow the advice of washing your hands, practicing social and physical distancing and seeing a doctor if you’re feeling unwell.
It may seem silly, but you are truly helping all the people that are vulnerable to the virus. Another thing is speak to someone about it, if you’re ever at the point of not being able to focus on your assignments or simply watch TV without thinking the virus, share how your feeling with someone. We are all experiencing it right now, and communicating how we are feeling is one way we can support each other at this extremely difficult time.
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