The Covid-19 Issue

DePaulia

The

March 2021

Our year of Covid-19 ERIC HENRY | THE DEPAULIA

One of many empty classrooms across DePaul’s two campuses. In-person instruction has largely been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to resume in full.

A year of...

fear

loss

social distancing

challenges

changes

online classes

unprecedented events

isolation

INSIDE

masks

Students on academic probation increases Page 4

A uniquely American pandemic

COLUMN: Sports continue to grapple with new reality

Page 6

Page 11

2 | The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021.

Letter from the Editor: We’re in this together

By Lacey Latch Editor-in-Chief The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Lacey Latch eic@depauliaonline.com

ARTS & LIFE EDITOR | Nate Burleyson artslife@depauliaonline.com

MANAGING EDITOR | Ella Lee managing@depauliaonline.com

SPORTS EDITOR | Lawrence Kreymer sports@depauliaonline.com

ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR | Emma ASST. SPORTS EDITOR | Ernesto Oxnevad Hernandez online@depauliaonline.com sports@depauliaonline.com NEWS EDITOR | Cailey Gleeson news@depauliaonline.com

ART DIRECTOR | Alicia Goluszka art@depauliaonline.com

ASST. NEWS EDITOR | Nadia Hernandez news@depauliaonline.com

DESIGN EDITOR | OPEN design@depauliaonline.com

POLITICS EDITOR | Nika Schoonover politics@depauliaonline.com NATION & WORLD EDITOR | Marcus Robertson nation@depauliaonline.com

PHOTO CHIEF | Eric Henry photo@depauliaonline.com MULTIMEDIA EDITOR | Quinn White multimedia@depauliaonline.com SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR | Jessica Rish social@depauliaonline.com

OPINIONS EDITOR | Rebecca Meluch opinion@depauliaonline.com COPY EDITORS | Luke Myers, Ryan Gilroy FOCUS EDITOR | Chinyere Ibeh copydesk@depauliaonline.com focus@depauliaonline.com ADVISOR | Marla Krause mkrause1@depaul.edu

CONTACT US depauliaonline.com GENERAL PHONE (773) 325-2285 OFFICE HOURS Monday: 5-7 p.m.

Friday: 10-6 p.m.

Sunday: 10-5 p.m.

NEWS TIPS news@depauliaonline.com ADVERTISING business@depauliaonline.com

When life as we knew it ended last March we had no idea the year that was awaiting us. To say that it was difficult would be a wild understatement. The past year introduced changes and challenges in just about every facet of life, with a definitive end to the pandemic still off in the distance.

Here at The DePaulia, we lost our ability to print a physical newspaper to distribute across a now nearly empty campus. So we shifted our focus to our website, ensuring that we were a resource for the DePaul community as they navigated the uncertainty ahead of them. Through it all, we were here. Here to report, inform and empathize with our peers as we all wandered through the darkness together.

In the early weeks, our social media presented a direct line of communication to our readers and we couldn’t have anticipated the community that that would cultivate. At a time in which everyone was grappling with sudden isolation this offered an opportunity to virtually link arms with our readers and trudge forward together. And for that I’ll be forever grateful.

Now as vaccinations pick up and the world starts to slowly return to normal, we want to make sure that we never forget the trials, tribulations and triumphs of 2020.

Most importantly, we wanted to document this historic time

We want to make sure that we never forget the trials, tribulations and triumphs of 2020. Most importantly, we wanted to document this historic time through the eyes of those who lived through it. through the eyes of those who lived through it.

So, here is our Covid-19 special issue focused on the many different impacts of the pandemic, particularly as they relate to the DePaul community.

Importantly, this isn’t meant to be a feel-good, celebratory “we did it!” as the pandemic winds down. Instead, it will serve as a historical record of the experiences of DePaul during this time. We did not want to shy away from the horror that this year has brought for so many people but instead ensure that we never forget those experiences in the hope that this never happens again.

Inside you’ll find a collection of reported stories and columns about navigating the new world we find ourselves in.

On pages 3-5, read about how the pandemic has impacted student life and academics, particularly after a year of online learning.

If you’re interested in recounting the country’s handling of the pandemic and how

the media covered it, head to page 6 and 10.

And while the entirety of this year’s impacts are still yet to be known, we took a look at a few things that are already drastically changing. Head to page 9 to learn about the rise and fall of digital screen time while page 7 looks at how disposable masks present a sustainability problem.

Finally, see how the world of sports, both online and off, is adapting to this new environment on page 11.

The back cover offers an edited timeline that pinpoints the biggest days of the pandemic as it relates to DePaul.

Overall, we hope that this special issue offers some clarity and maybe even some solace as you read and potentially relate to the perspectives reflected in these pages. While this year did not go how any of us expected, it was a privilege and an honor to inform the community during this time and we can’t wait to return to campus with the rest of you.

Until then, we’ll still be here.

The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021. | 3

Students look back on a year of online school

By Emma Oxnevad, Rebecca Meluch & Cailey Gleeson Online Managing, Opinions & News Editors

O

n March 11, 2020, DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban announced that the upcoming spring quarter would be almost entirely remote, due to growing fears regarding the potential spread of Covid-19 on campus.

“In the interest of the health and safety of our community, DePaul has decided to take proactive, immediate steps to encourage social distancing — a practice that is encouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to limit the spread of Covid-19, or coronavirus,” he said in an email to the DePaul community.

In The DePaulia’s initial coverage of this news, we noted that it was “unclear if the university’s decision was set in stone.”

Over a year has passed since the announcement and the DePaul community remains largely virtual, with a majority of courses, organizations and resources being offered in a digital setting.

After a year of “unprecedented times”, canceled campus life and many Zoom calls, DePaul students are sharing many of their similar and different experiences as they reach their first anniversary of virtual college.

The early onset of the pandemic saw high school seniors across the country forego traditional milestones, like prom and in-person graduation. For Mason Lampa, now a freshman at DePaul, one of the most significant disappointments was being unable to participate in his music department’s senior performances.

“My senior band concert, jazz band concert, choir concert and night of percussion were all canceled,” he said.

For Lampa, a jazz studies and music performance major, the loss of an in-person classroom environment has proved to be a major obstacle in his education.

“There are many essential parts of learning that just can’t happen effectively in a virtual setting,” he said. “...I am a music major and I have yet to play music with other DePaul students and faculty in person this year. While there is obviously a very good reason for this, making music with others is an essential part of learning how to become a better musician.”

For those who began their college career in a pre-pandemic setting, trading a traditional college experience for one that revolves around Zoom was a difficult adjustment.

Incoming freshmen often look forward to living in a dorm, visiting campus for orientation and welcome week events, but for many this year, they missed out on those experiences as they all went virtual. When incoming students lost their ability to dorm on DePaul’s campus, they faced the option to stay at home to begin college or look for an apartment around campus.

Will Blevins, a freshman at DePaul, decided to leave his home state of California and look for an apartment in Lincoln Park despite his classes being online.

“I think a big thing for me was that I really just wanted to move out and I was looking to get a job,” Blevins said. “I really wanted to go to DePaul because of the great film program they have here so I decided to look for apartments, find one, come to Chicago, get a job and go to school.”

Without an orientation or chance to do a campus tour, when Blevins moved to Chicago, it was his first time in Chicago. “I did kind of have to do a lot of learning and exploring myself with the train and stuff,” he said. “Just a lot of trial and error.”

ERIC HENRY | THE DEPAULIA

An empty classroom on DePaul’s Loop campus set aside for socially distanced learning when in-person instruction resumes.

After a year of online learning, many students feel that they still haven’t adjusted to the virtual setting.

“I never did well with online classes simply because I don’t have the proper time management skills,” said Natalia Narajczyk, a senior studying early childhood education. “I think a big component is also lacking the motivation to sit there for an online class or find the time to work on assignments for these courses.”

Mary Zopf, a senior studying international studies, said her experience has been “extremely strange” given her circumstances, but the transition wasn’t too difficult overall.

“I’m a third-year student but graduating this June, and by the time I graduate I’ll have spent more quarters away from campus than on campus,” Zopf said in an email. “I was studying abroad last winter [and] spring and had to come home due to Covid, then took on a few DePaul classes for spring quarter while completing my study abroad ones remotely.”

Another senior, journalism student Katie Kostelic, said she misses connecting with professors and other students in class.

“When I’m in-person, sitting next to classmates and listening to a professor, you start to make friends, understand the class dynamic and become more involved,” she said. “It’s fun to make friends in your classes and make study groups or see the real personality of a professor, and I haven’t done that in a year.”

Matthew Yonemura, a senior studying film and television, shared that while this year was a bit unconventional, it taught him more than what traditional college could.

“This time taught me a lot about the important things I think as far as I was educated so much on the social injustice in America,” Yonemura said. “It let me look inward a lot more.”

Yonemura shared that over the course of this past year, he felt detached from the university as an institution. “To be honest, more and more I got a little bit detached from DePaul in the sense of the college experience of school spirit,” he said. “It had a

lot to do with just their reaction to the civil unrest.”

Yonemura added that he felt the university has also been really lackluster in its response to Covid-19. “I’ve been more and more disappointed with the higher-ups at our school,” he said. “That’s been kind of the most –– that’s been the most disheartening part of it all.”

Yonemura shared that when classes went online last spring, there was only one class available to him that contributed to his degree progress. Instead of taking classes that directly added to his progress, he had to take replacement courses in different film departments.

For those just starting to earn their degree, the prospect of beginning college in a virtual setting was enough to deter some students from attending DePaul at all.

Liz Holder, associate director for Enrollment Management & Student Success in Institutional Research and Market Analytics, told The DePaulia 268 freshman applicants deferred their enrollment for future terms.

“This is an all-time high figure for DePaul and is directly related to the impacts of Covid,” Holder said.

Twenty-eight of the deferrals have enrolled in the winter quarter and another 15 have registered for spring.

Despite the deferrals, enrollment summaries for the 2019-2020 academic year showed an overall increase in enrollment.

A record-breaking freshman class was welcomed and undergraduate enrollment increased by 3 percent since 2016. However, continuing undergraduate enrollment decreased by 12 percent, with a 42 percent decline in part-time student enrollment and a 6 percent decrease for full-time students.

Vice President of Enrollment Soumitra Ghosh acknowledged the university’s student retention problem.

“This steady decline in the undergraduate student body tells us that we need to become more effective as a community in ensuring that a larger proportion of our continuing students persist and complete

their college degree at DePaul,” Ghosh said.

Some students have remarked that they don’t think the quality of DePaul’s online courses is up to par with the price of tuition.

“I do not feel the price is worth it through an online education,” said Stephanie Suazo, a senior studying user experience design. “Many professors skip out early so we have less time with them as a senior, we don’t have the in-person interaction for our higher-level courses like the multi-part capstone.”

Others admitted to reconsidering if they should have returned to DePaul at all.

“It has been almost a year full of only online courses and I can say that it has been my most difficult year at DePaul,” Narajczyk said. “It makes me wish that I had taken a gap year.”

In spite of the difficult adjustments needed to adapt to online school, students have been able to find silver linings.

“I hate to say that a year of Covid has been good for me, but online school and lockdown last year gave me time to connect with friends and family way more than I did when school was in-person,” Kostelic said.

“I am someone who doesn’t like to travel home to Kentucky and miss class, but with online school, I’ve visited home more and still kept up with my school work, which has been nice.”

Some students appreciated how their professors and how they adapted to help students during this difficult time.

“I have nothing but respect for the professors and how they handled it,” Yonemura said. “Especially that first quarter when it was online, a lot of them had to really adapt to their coursework.”

Zopf said she’s learned that online learning works well for her.

“I’ve strangely been feeling much more independent and prepared for a ‘real job’ by being off-campus and juggling classes, a remote internship and a part-time job,” she said. “[It] makes me feel like I’m managing a lot while not feeling very much like a ‘student’ by being trapped on campus for hours every day. I like it.”

4 | The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021.

Pandemic to probation Academics falter during online fall term

By Ella Lee

A

Print Managing Editor

lik Schier has trouble viewing his college classes as what they are: school.

“I know I’ve got to do class, but it’s like — camera off, mic off, taking notes and then ‘bye!’” the DePaul freshman said, slamming an imaginary laptop.

Schier is just one of 19.6 million American college students who plunged into online schooling last spring when the Covid-19 pandemic began infecting millions, decimating normal everyday life. A year later, the effects that those changes have had on students are becoming apparent.

“Online school is one of the most challenging experiences, especially when starting a completely new format of schooling in general,” said Austin Glass, a freshman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “I don’t know the expectations other than just get work done, and it’s honestly stressful when that becomes my entire identity at the school. I feel like success has been reduced completely to turning in assignments and attending class, and I can’t even say if I’m really learning anything or just doing assignments.”

A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that 71 percent of college students reported increased stress and anxiety due to the pandemic, 89 percent indicated difficulty concentrating and 82 percent indicated concern over their academic performance.

These and other circumstances have led some to perform poorly in their classes.

According to an internal email sent to DePaul faculty in January by interim Provost Salma Ghanem, there were 750 undergraduate students placed on probation after fall quarter 2020 — an increase of roughly a third compared to previous years’ data.

Of first-year students alone, 339 students were placed on academic probation after their first quarter at DePaul this fall — an increase of nearly 50 percent from previous years’ data. In 2019, 179 first-year students were placed on probation after fall quarter, and the year prior, 153 students were placed on probation at that time.

“Data from fall quarter supports anecdotal reports of classes in which many students actively engaged and thrived, but more than the usual number of students ‘disappeared’ at some point in the quarter — whether they stopped showing up to class, stopped participating in assignments, didn’t turn in assignments, or any combination thereof,” Ghanem said in the email.

The data is particularly concerning given its broader implications for the students on probation.

“Students who go on probation are less likely to graduate at all,” Ghanem wrote in the email, a claim backed up by studies. “So this is a moment when, like St. Vincent, we ask, ‘what is to be done?’’’

While DePaul students are not unique in their academic struggles, more of them have been placed on academic probation than at other Illinois universities.

A public records request revealed that 4.7 percent of undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and 1.5 percent of students at University of Illinois Chicago were on academic probation in fall 2020. About 5.3 percent of DePaul’s 14,145 undergraduate students were placed on academic probation fall

ELLA LEE | THE DEPAULIA

While the number of students on academic probation per thousand in both University of Illinois schools went down, the number at DePaul went up.

ELLA LEE | THE DEPAULIA

The number of first year students on academic probation incrased by nearly 50 percent from 2018-2020.

quarter.

And, between fall 2019 and 2020, both University of Illinois colleges saw decreases in the number of first-year students on probation — 128 fewer at UIUC and 445 fewer at UIC — while DePaul saw an increase of 160 first-year students placed on probation.

Caryn Chaden, DePaul’s associate provost for student success and accreditation, said the university takes the issue seriously.

“For students on probation, the colleges have an extensive process for working with students directly to help them improve their subsequent grades and raise their cumulative GPAs above the 2.0 cut-off for probation,” Chaden said in an email.

“In addition, the university did a great deal of work to try to ensure that fewer students go on probation after winter quarter,” she added, referring to Ghanem’s email detailed above which also encouraged professors to flag students who might be struggling more than others early on.

Chaden said those measures have been

a success, as more faculty raised flags or referred students to the writing center and library earlier in the quarter than in previous terms.

But not all students are struggling in strictly academic ways.

“I don’t think that many schools really have taken in account the mental toll this takes on students,” Glass said.

Fatima Zaidi, a DePaul senior, knows this firsthand.

At the beginning of the year, several of Zaidi’s family members died from terminal illnesses and her father was diagnosed with Covid-19. As an only child, she’s been the only immediate support system for her parents as their family has grappled with these losses, leaving her little time for schoolwork.

“I am a growing, young adult who has such a heavy weight on my shoulders right now that I’m not even sure where to begin to help myself mentally,” Zaidi said. “I have considered dropping out of school; I look

at successful people and think ‘will I even achieve that?’ At times, I have even had insidious thoughts that maybe, removing myself from this world will be the easier option that no one seems to understand.”

“I’ve lost confidence within myself as a student,” she continued. “I’ve lost confidence and that drive I had for my passions.

I, as a person, have plummeted trying to be in good academic standing at this institution during the past year.”

Still, the switch to online schooling wasn’t detrimental to all.

In fact, a number of students performed better in the fall quarter of 2020 than in previous fall quarters. The message from Ghanem indicated that while the quarter brought an increase in F, FX and IN grades, there was also an increase in grades A and A- compared to past fall quarters.

“I don’t feel like I’m struggling,” Schier said. “But I don’t feel like I’m being lifted up, either. I’m kind of just there.”

The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021. | 5

Column:

I’ve outgrown my home, but I can’t move

By Nadia Hernandez Asst. News Editor

ALICIA GOLUSZKA | THE DEPAULIA

Students’ mental health takes hard hit

By Lacey Latch Editor-in-Chief

For many adults, the pandemic threw a wrench into their workdays and kickstarted a nationwide social justice movement that captured the attention of the world during the summer.

For young kids and teens, the coronavirus swept in and disrupted the ability to go to school and see friends on a daily basis, a large part of what a kid’s life revolves around.

For those in college, these two realities converged and presented a particularly difficult situation for the millions of students across the country.

Minding the gap between the challenges that come with pandemic schooling and the very real political, social and civil upheaval taking place in almost every other facet of American life is an immense burden. All of these factors combined in the past year created a uniquely toxic mental health landscape for young adults to traverse, many for the first time.

“Students are experiencing feelings of isolation, lack of connection to friends and/or family, increased stress around finances, loss of jobs, the impact of the illness on themselves and/ or friends or family members, the impact of the social unrest that has been highlighted even more through the pandemic,” said Shannon Suffeletto, director of Health Promotion & Wellness and interim director of DePaul’s University Counseling Services (UCS). “All of this is in addition to students transitioning to almost solely online education for this past year is a lot to manage. Each student is having their own lived experiences and some students will need more support than others.”

In a country that at once has one

of the highest rates of mental illness and one of the worst records for mental health-related outcomes, the pandemic has only exacerbated a burgeoning crisis.

According to one recently released study, 4 in 10 adults have experienced some form of anxiety or depression throughout the pandemic, up from 1 in 10 in the first six months of 2019.

“My mental health for the past year has definitely been like the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” said Sadie Mae Fisher, a junior studying journalism and media and cinema studies.

Like many DePaul students when the pandemic fully took hold last March, Fisher returned to her hometown to quarantine with her family.

And while having a support system helped her mental health, it was impossible to ignore the factors that were outside of her control.

“The first quarter that was online was super rough on my mental health becuase there was so much unknown it almost felt stupid to be doing homework,” she said. “I was so worried about everything else going on and because it was such a transition from life in Chicago going to class everyday to being in my hometown in a small house having to do everything online, it really flipped a switch on my mental health.”

Importantly, the mental health challenges that have arisen in the past year manifested themselves in different ways for different people.

A July 2020 poll indicated that Americans are experiencing more challenges that are directly related to stress and worry caused by the coronavirus such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increases in alcohol consumption or substance use (12%), and worsening chronic conditions (12%).

For many college students, this all translated into an overall inability to concentrate, especially on their newly online courses.

President A. Gabriel Esteban acknowledged the increased challenges facing students in his annual State of the University address last October.

Esteban referred to a then-recent survey indicating that mental health was among the chief concerns of the student body.

As a direct response to these challenges, he said, the university introduced the Now We Must campaign in which $60 million is allocated for student resources, including mental health support. In addition, UCS has expanded the services they offer, including tele-mental health services and connection to resources and adding more outreach/telereach (educational opportunities) than ever before on the current trends in mental health, Suffoletto said.

With vaccinations ticking up and life slowly returning to semi-normalcy, the day-to-day mental health impacts of the pandemic may wane but the long-term implications are still unknown.

According to a new study from the Association of Psychological Science, much of the mental illness seen throughout the pandemic including depression, anxiety, stress and trouble sleeping weaken the body’s immune system and therefore potentially lessen the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines. Notably, the impact on vaccine efficacy can be lessened with traditionally healthful activities like exercise and getting more sleep.

On the other hand, for many, the vaccine represents the light at the end of the tunnel and has its own positive mental health impacts, however psychological in nature they may be.

How am I supposed to grow if I never leave the place I’ve outgrown?

Every 18-year-old anticipates the transition from high school to college, as it symbolizes becoming independent and discovering yourself.

It’s paired with being in a new environment filled with new experiences.

What better way to grow out of the shell of childhood and into adulthood with this change?

Unfortunately for the high school Class of 2020, the pandemic has deprived us of this passage to a new chapter. We remain in our homes, surrounded by everything that reminds of our past life. I pass by my high school often. I pass by all the places I would hang out with my friends. I remember these were the places where we would talk about the future. Who knew I’d be in the same spot after all this time?

It hardly feels as if I ever graduated. I’m still in my workroom with the same computer and surroundings. The only difference is which Zoom link I press. The lines between college and high school blur because I have nothing to distinguish the two.

Although college has major differences, I can’t help but feel like it’s the same as when I did online high school.

If anything, I’m more isolated from my school community. I can only “see” the people on my screen when I’m in class.

Zoom only allows limited interaction, so it’s hard to feel like we’re a part of the community when we never see the full scope of it.

It drains us of our spirit and enthusiasm to stay in these “in between” spaces. There really isn’t a whole lot of excitement for education when trapped behind a computer screen.

It’s hard to grasp being in the college mindset when you get one-tenth of the experience.

I think about what could’ve been all the time. I wish I could be in the dorms with my roommate, explore the streets of Chicago and figure out myself. It’s kind of hard to discover yourself if you stay in the same place all along.

I’m stuck. I’m stuck in the same place I’ve outgrown. I try to wiggle out and as much as I can but without risking myself and others, there’s not a lot of room to do so.

Losing this experience is worth knowing I am keeping people safe. I’ve seen how being irresponsible about guidelines will risk lives. I don’t think we are at the point to return to normalcy right now.

However, this doesn’t mean I’ve lost my chance. I’m waiting for the moment I step foot on campus for the first time. I know that although it will be unfamiliar and scary, it will be worth waiting.

I’m stuck here, but my mind is looking forward to the future.

6 | The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021.

American plague J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., gavels in the final vote of the impeachment of President Donald Trump, for his role in inciting an angry mob to storm the Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021.

The U.S. was woefully unprepared for the Covid-19 pandemic

By Nika Schoonover Politics Editor

Commentary The pride embedded in American culture has made it significantly easier for the collective to ignore the underlying issues plaguing its society. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has persisted and ravaged the world for the past year, has exposed those issues. America’s growing hyperpartisanship, corrupt political class and underlying health inequities have been brought to the forefront and a crisis that should have been universal for the American people has exacerbated the growing divide between the many factions of the public.

“The Newsroom,” created by Aaron Sorkin in 2012, follows a group of journalists in a fictional cable news network in New York City. The first scene opens with a group of panelists at a university event. The show’s lead, Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), attempts to persist with his amiable persona, refusing to engage in any disagreement with the other panelists.

Then, a university student asks the question, “What makes America the greatest country in the world?”

McAvoy continues with his avoidant answers, originally giving the response, “The New York Jets.” The moderator pushes him until he breaks and, for the first time, states his actual opinion.

“It’s not the greatest country in the world, professor. That’s my answer,” McAvoy says.

McAvoy was right. The tenets of American pride, as the fictional panelists listed in the show, are freedom and equality. Instead of being ideologies to aspire to, these terms have often been utilized to belittle opposition from differing political affiliations. The idea that

America is the “greatest country in the world” is simply not true, and that could not be more clear when you look at the effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the American public.

In March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 crisis a pandemic, there were more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 people had died. At the time, there were over 1,000 cases in the U.S. Currently, there have been over 29 million cases in the U.S. There have been more cases in America than in any other country.

Stephen Farnsworth, professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at Georgetown University, said that what makes the Covid-19 crisis even worse is that it did not have to be this way.

“If President Trump had not dismissed the public health threat of Covid, and had he not encouraged reckless individual behavior, fewer Americans would have died and fewer would have been sick by Covid,” Farnsworth said.

The necessary safety precautions, as determined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), became politicized as President Donald Trump made the enforcement of social distancing measures a partisan issue.

At the first 2020 presidential debate, Trump openly mocked Biden for wearing a mask.

“I don’t wear masks like him,” Trump said of Biden at the debate. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

Ironically, a few days later, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19.

Wearing a mask was only one precaution determined to slow the spread of coronavirus. Trump spent most of

the past year mocking Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. Trump’s belittling of public health experts such as Fauci led to an increasing coalition, mainly consisting of Trump supporters, that has refused to abide by the guidelines put forth by the CDC to enforce individual responsibility for the prevention of Covid-19.

“Trump’s dismissal of scientific advice encouraged his followers to ignore the best practices for minimizing the impact of this virus,” Farnsworth added.

“A generation of Republican attacks on experts primed Trump’s supporters for this message, and the consequences have been terrible indeed.”

Craig Klugman, a professor of health sciences at DePaul, said that health inequities are often revealed in a pandemic.

“And I think, you know, we have definitely seen that here from who is more susceptible to the disease, to who can work from home, to who’s dying more from it, who’s getting care to who’s getting the vaccine,” Klugman said. “You know, that is definitely being displayed, the health inequities we have in our society.”

There are many factors that contribute to the health inequity in the U.S. According to a data analysis by the Mayo Clinic, outside factors such as where people live and work can lead to a stronger likelihood that a population will be affected by Covid-19. CDC data shows that 25 percent of employed Hispanic and Black people work in the service industry, compared to 16 percent of non-Hispanic white workers. People of color also tend to have less access to health care. In 2017, nearly 18 percent of Hispanics and 10 percent of non-Hispanic Black people were uninsured. In comparison, 6 percent of non-Hispanic white people were uninsured in 2017.

Robert Kallen, a professor of economics at DePaul, says that because of

the pandemic, the economy still is not ready to stand on its own.

“Each time a pandemic goes to pass, it’s adjusting both present and future of what information that government leaders have is the right prescription of moving forward,” Kallen said. “So, right now, there’s no doubt that we are not out of the pandemic.”

The latest stimulus package, which was signed into law on Thursday, aims to provide the necessary government aid to reinvigorate the economy. The measure includes $1,400 stimulus checks, the extension of unemployment benefits and money to reopen businesses and schools.

In light of the new law, a faster pace of vaccinations and death rates down, Biden announced in a primetime address that he hopes for Americans to return to a semblance of normal by July 4.

“Just as we were emerging from a dark winter into a hopeful spring and summer is not the time to stick with the rules,” Biden said in his speech. “This is not the time to let up.”

America’s problems preceded the pandemic. The erosion of truth, a heartless economy that benefits a privileged class and a combative discourse that divides the American public became even more prevalent in the past year. A year later, cases of Covid-19 are down, vaccines are becoming more widely available and stimulus checks will soon be available to all Americans. Things are getting better, but those underlying conditions are still there.

After his statement in “The Newsroom”, McAvoy continues on his rant that America is no longer the “greatest country in the world.” He does end, however, on a more hopeful note.

“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one,” he added. “America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Enough?”

The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021. | 7

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Protesters march in the Chicago climate strike in Grant Park on Sept. 20, 2019.

Mask use amid pandemic leaves questions about sustainability

By Jessica Rish Social Media Editor

Last March, Minsu Song had been in the middle of the Disney College Program and had anticipated staying until April, but her stay in Florida was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic and she found herself on the next flight back to Iowa. She was unemployed and uninspired. The constant boredom led her to start making reusable masks out of scrap fabric, as at the time it was nearly impossible for her and her family to get their hands on disposable surgical masks.

Reflecting on the craziness of going home and impending changes, what would the coronavirus mean for other college students like Song, and what would it mean for our lifestyles? A life revolving around masks.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, carbon emissions have decreased due to the drastic decrease in air travel. According to an article from CNBC.com, “Global greenhouse gas emissions plunged by roughly 2.4 billion tons this year, a 7% drop from 2019 and the largest decline on record, triggered by worldwide Covid-19 restrictions.”

However, this decrease is expected to rebound.

With the decrease in carbon emissions from travel, wastefulness has become a prominent topic regarding our changing lifestyles, from wearing disposable masks to ordering more food delivery with excess packaging.

Christie Klimas is an assistant professor in the Department of En-

ERIC HENRY | THE DEPAULIA

Disposable mask dispensary located in DePaul’s Lincoln Park Student Center.

vironmental Science and Studies at DePaul, specializing in topics like consumer environmental behavior.

There have been many changes in our sustainability habits, some bigger than others.

“The filters in masks are made of polypropylene,” Klimas said. “This takes 500 years to decompose. If not properly disposed of, these worn masks can create litter, but if people switched to reusable masks, this would reduce the amount of PPE waste, though not eliminate it.”

Song realized that disposable masks and her lifestyle were not compatible. With a family of four needing masks every day, she decided it was essential to make reusable

masks to have masks that show off personality but were also sustainable for her situation.

“My family of four would hypothetically need a mask every day,” Song said. “That makes 28 masks thrown away each week or 112 a month. It just didn’t seem environmentally friendly, and now that we’re pushing on a year of this, I’m so glad I started making them early on. Not to mention, so many people just throw their masks on the ground, which creates so much unnecessary litter.”

DePaul senior Gaby Proctor conducted a group study in her senior capstone with Klimas. The study compared disposable and reusable

masks to measure the harm of each to the environment.

“Our main finding was that even without considering disposal, disposable masks cause much more harm to the environment than reusable, specifically 2.62 times more, much of which is contributed to the impact of polypropylene, the main fabric used in disposable masks versus the impact of cotton, the main fabric used in reusable masks,” Proctor said.

Harm reduction has been significant in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, protecting the spread, but now with masks. The CDC now recommends people to wear two masks at once to further mitigate the risk of infection. According to CDC.gov, layering a disposable mask under a fabric mask is a good way to make masks more effective, but it is also fine to layer cloth masks.

Since the start of the pandemic, Song has made an estimated 600 masks; she sells her masks on Instagram (@masksxminsu) and has been able to donate profits to organizations she is passionate about. Making and wearing reusable masks has made her feel good about her sustainability efforts during these interesting times.

Klimas and Proctor both recommend considering other forms of sustainability even if you opt for a reusable mask.

“Think before you purchase something about the environmental and social impact of that purchase,” Klimas said. “Try to purchase items that do good — benefiting those who make them with living wages and taking the environment into account during production.”

8 | The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021.

Zoom offers access to world amid Covid-19

By Rebecca Meluch Opinion Editor

Before last March, “Zoom” was once just a nostalgic American live-action children’s show on PBS. But the name is now used in everyone’s daily life in reference to the video communications platform that we have relied on during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Used for remote work meetings, K-12 classes, college courses and social gatherings, the video conference company has nearly kept all social interaction and in-person activities alive through a virtual scope.

Eric Yuan, the founder and CEO of Zoom has earned a fortune of over $17 billion, raising his own net worth by almost 400 percent since the beginning of the pandemic. Prior to finding Zoom, Yuan was the vice president of engineering at Cisco Webex –– one of Zoom’s competitors.

The video conference service was first launched in 2013 with only about six million users within its first year. By the end of April 2020, Zoom’s user rate increased to about 300 million daily participants. Its second quarter reports of the 2021 fiscal year show that its total revenue amassed to over $663.5 million –– a 355 percent yearover-year increase. For the full fiscal year of 2021, Zoom anticipates a total revenue amount between $2.37 billion and $2.39 billion.

“Organizations are shifting from addressing their immediate business continuity needs to supporting a future of working anywhere, learning anywhere, and connecting anywhere on Zoom’s video first platform” Yuan said in an announcement related to the quarterly report.

Universities like DePaul have adopted Zoom as their main source for virtual learning. As of Sept. of 2020, more than 100,000 schools in 25 different countries

are using Zoom as their main virtual learning service.

In an advertisement from 2019 shared by Zoom for Higher Ed, it was reported that 96 percent of the top U.S. universities were Zoom customers.

Bob McCormick, DePaul’s vice president for information services shared with The DePaulia in an email statement that DePaul has owned an enterprise Zoom license prior to the pandemic since the middle of 2019.

“Zoom was chosen for its usability and affordability,” McCormick said. “We purchased Zoom through our Internet2 membership and it was more affordable than Cisco Webex and Adobe Connect.

When we purchased the Zoom license, it covered student usage.”

McCormick also shared that the costs for this Zoom license are not at all passed forward to students.

“Since the pandemic, we have purchased some extra Zoom licenses for about 100 of our classrooms, and to allow us to conduct some larger Webinars, but the main enterprise license remains the same. We went from about 2,000 meetings in Jan. 2020 to over 60,000 in Oct. 2020. However, we paid the same amount because we owned the enterprise license,” McCormick said.

While Zoom has seemed to work for many during the pandemic as an alternative to safe virtual learning, many have wondered why Skype, another video conferencing service popularly used in the early 2000s, wasn’t our fail safe during the

pandemic.

Skype is a telecommunications application that was first launched in 2003 – it had a 10 year lead over Zoom.

It’s owned

by Microsoft Corporation and yes –– it’s still somewhat used today.

Despite The DePaulia reaching out to Microsoft’s Public Relations team, the company was unable to provide an interview or offer any information in regards to Skype’s usage metrics during the time of publication. A spokesperson instead referred The DePaulia to a Microsoft 365 blog related to the growth in usage of Microsoft Teams –– another proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft.

Zoom also failed to respond to The DePaulia’s request for an interview.

The question still remains, why are people using Zoom over Skype during the pandemic?

Yujong Hwang is a professor at DePaul who specializes in electronic commerce and human-computer interactions.

“Microsoft acquired Skype with 100 million users and eight million paying customers in 2011,” Hwang said. “Microsoft tried to improve Skype with more integration of Windows phone and mobile apps by cloud-based servers. Skype users were not satisfied with this change, and Microsoft shifted its focus from Skype to launch Microsoft Teams in 2016. Disappointed Skype users moved to Zoom with its free 40-minute conference call service for up

to 100 attendees.”

Another issue with Skype is that the platform has often had issues with bugs and incompatibility with certain devices.

Detailed in a story from The Verge, many issues involved with Skype related to the service becoming unreliable, instead of fixing bugs and issues, Microsoft spent time redesigning the program. Common issues reported pertained to the call quality being less than sufficient, difficulty connecting to webcams and microphones, and a spamming of notifications The simple answer is that Zoom was a much easier interface to use for everyone.

“Zoom has been most useful communication platform since Covid-19 came to our life urgently and most people found that video conferencing is so useful for almost all kinds of activities in life,” Hwang said. “There was no other choice than adopting it, thus it became necessity rather than a choice. On the other hand, Zoom is easy to learn and implemented through the web cost-free and lightly.”

Prior to the pandemic, there was already a competitive environment amongst video telecommunications platforms.

But as Microsoft focuses it’s time to improve and advertise Teams, the company is slowly moving away from Skype.

In 2019, Microsoft Corporation announced it will retire Skype for Business Online in July of 2021 in order to focus and bring more attention to Microsoft Teams. “Over the last two years, we’ve worked closely with customers to refine Teams, and we now feel we’re at the point that we can confidently recommend it as an upgrade to all Skype for Business Online customers,” the announcement read.

Other services such as Google Meet and Adobe Connect have entered the video conferencing sphere, but it will be Zoom that will hone the virtual world the Covid-19 pandemic has introduced to us.

It will always be Zoom.

for that time. I have prepared by compiling a list of things I know I will not do.

Standing close in line with strangers I’m not sure why we thought it was okay to get into each other’s personal spaces when we were waiting in line –– but it’s sure something that we should never do again.

There’s no use breathing down a stranger’s back when waiting to get somewhere –– it won’t make the line go by faster and it’s definitely not going to make the person in front of you let you cut them. The pandemic has proven that it’s rude to get in someone’s space and can be dangerous as well. But truthfully, it’s always been rude. We just didn’t always have the stress of the pandemic and fear of Covid-19 like we do currently. But now, I will snap at you.

Not wearing a mask whenever we have a cold or flu I remember when my grandmother was ill back in 2017. It was one of her last days when my mom, dad and I visited her in the hospital. She had sepsis and if anyone around her had a cold or flu, she could get sicker. I remember walking up to my dad by the coffee station and seeing him wearing a mask — one like those we wear today. At the time I thought it was funny because I knew he wasn’t a doctor, nurse or surgeon. But he explained he had a cold and didn’t want to make my grammy sicker. Wow, what a thought.

People were already wearing masks when they felt sick around others, especially in other countries before the

pandemic, as it was a respectful thing to do. In America, we are just so individualized that it doesn’t matter if we get others sick –– it just mattered if we could get ourselves well again. But wearing a mask whenever I have a simple cold, flu or runny nose is not something I’m going to give up when the pandemic is over, especially when considering I haven’t gotten a cold all year –– probably because others are wearing masks.

Not sanitizing after touching things other people have touched How gross were we? I used to touch doorknobs, CTA poles, railings and ate at tables that people once ate at without properly cleaning it beforehand. We know now that germs are everywhere and they stay there for a while. We used to touch things without thinking about what could be on them –– and then sometimes we would touch our faces or eat food right afterwards. Once the pandemic is over, I will never not carry hand sanitizer and be aware of the germs around me.

Eating someone’s birthday cake after they blew out the candles One of the best parts about having a birthday party or celebration is blowing out the candles on a cake, when everyone’s eyes are on you and rejoicing in music the anticipation to blow out those candles builds up. And after puckering your lips to blow out those candles, the germs on the cake build up too.

One thing that should not return after the pandemic is over — is blowing out birthday candles on big party cakes.

Also, please no more combined toddler parties where two or more toddlers are both blowing out the candles –– that’s even yuckier.

There’s something even more special about having a birthday cupcake or a mini cake all to yourself, “this one is mine, therefore I will blow all of my germs on it to mark it.” Then others can have one, big, boring cake not marked with your germs.

Blowing out candles on a cake is harmless –– or so we thought. That air that’s in one’s mouth is now all over the cake, people are eating each other’s germs. What if the birthday girl has a cold? Why risk it all to eat cake?

Regardless if this pandemic ends this year or these next couple of months –– there are just things we should not go back to just for the sake of our public health and respect for others.

Of course there are going to be people ripping off their masks whenever they get the chance or spreading their germs because they think the chances of getting sick are gone. But there’s also going to be so many others who have opened their eyes to the world we live in –– and how gross or inconsiderate we used to be with our space or germs.

There will never not be a day, now or in 20 years, where I won’t have a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer and a stylish mask on me. I’ll also have a clear depiction of what six feet away really is and never stand close to someone in line again.

Column: Please don’t get close to me in line – now or ever

By Rebecca Meluch Opinions Editor

I don’t think I’m alone when I say that there seems to be a “change in the air” where people think the pandemic is over.

Just because we reached our one year mark does not mean that it is over.

Please stop standing close to me and walking around indoors and in public without a mask on. Guidelines are still in place –– not everyone is vaccinated yet.

During the course of the pandemic, I have really questioned the way things were before our lives changed so abruptly and how we once cared or didn’t care enough about public health.

We used to stand so close together in lines, sometimes feeling the breath of a stranger on our backs. We often went to work sick, coughed openly around our peers and loved ones and spread flus and colds like we were okay with infecting one another.

Once the pandemic is over, there is a list of things that I know I will never go back to. Some of the things I did once before –– like sharing a drink with a friend in a bar –– were out of sheer stupidity. And some others –– like not wearing a mask when I felt a cold or cough come on –– were out of sheer selfishness.

There’s no use in predicting when the dust will settle, everyone will be vaccinated and we can go back to a completely normal life –– but we can prepare

The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021. | 9

Heads up

ALICIA GOLUSZKA | THE DEPAULIA

Students lower phone use after pandemic caused increase

By Jessica Rish Social Media Editor

My days last March looked nearly the same every day — wake up just in time to log onto a Zoom call, then spend the rest of the day rotating through different social media apps, googling Covid-19 symptoms and reading the news. I thought my habits would eventually change and I would get used to life in a pandemic, but that never settled. A year later, my Screen Time still shows an average of eight hours a day.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of everyday life, from how we go out in public to how we communicate and even our relationships. One thing that has changed is how we interact with technology and media.

In 2018, Apple introduced Screen Time, a feature that lets users know how much time they spend on apps, websites and more, according to Apple’s website. Every Sunday morning, a Screen Time report shows up on Apple products like iPhones and iPads alerting users how much time they have spent on their devices.

DePaul senior Caroline Schlegel started setting app limits before the pandemic hit to prevent her from mindlessly scrolling through apps.

“I have a one-hour limit for Instagram and Twitter combined,” Schlegel said. “I set that one because I don’t think I need more than an hour of social media every day. If I hit that limit, whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”

On average, Schlegel’s screen time averages nearly four hours on her phone each day. Most of her days are

dedicated to doing work on her computer, but setting limits for apps helps her set boundaries with social media and keeps her focused on school and her job.

DePaul senior Andrea Torres in the past has tried to set app limits but realized her addiction to her phone ran deeper than just time spent on apps. After failed attempts at limiting screen time through app limits, she decided to take a more holistic approach, and completely deleted apps off her phone. This is what Torres calls a social media cleanse.

“I’ve tried setting limits in the past, but they were never effective for me,” Torres said. “I had no impulse control and would just bypass my time limits by hitting ignore. I’ve never responded well to placing limits on the things I’m addicted to, so I decided to delete my apps off my phone entirely… In fact, I’m gonna go delete all of my apps right now.”

Orson Morrison is a clinical psychologist and director of DePaul Family Community services and recognizes how Screen Time data can make a positive difference in an individual’s life, but recommends mindfulness when it comes to our newfound life in an increasingly digital age.

According to Mindful, “Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

Morrison recommends that when we scroll on social media or use our phone, we should recognize the purpose that we are seeking from it and acknowledge our own needs to train our brains to slow down a bit.

“It is a way to train our minds

to actually slow down and be intentional about our actions and how we want to live in the present moment,” Morrison said. “We live in such a fast-paced culture, and social media is definitely fastpaced, and it doesn’t really create room to pause and think about what we are doing, so we mindlessly scroll.”

Setting intentions for phone use can be a great tool for finding the ideal balance. Morrison doesn’t necessarily recommend setting app limits, but appreciates how Screen Time data can help develop a healthier relationship with social media and our devices.

“To get feedback once a week is a nice objective way to know whether we are spending too much time on these activities,” Morrison said. “Taking the data and then being intentional with it and then being like, ‘how am I going to change it for next week,’ that is part of it that I recommend people having.”

DePaul Senior Cade Torkelson does not believe in app limits and has disabled the Screen Time data report from popping up on Sunday mornings because he knows he spends a lot of time on his phone. Torkelson does not feel inclined to stay off his phone during the pandemic and values his happiness more than a low Screen Time.

“The thing that this pandemic has taught is that happiness is truly what matters, not to be sappy, but it’s true,” Torkelson said. “[At the] end of the day, I just want to be happy. If I spend my free time working on a bomb Instagram feed or being an active member on Twitter, then so be it. I know how to balance my happiness on social media to where it doesn’t affect my mood, so I’m not doing any harm to my wellbeing.”

To develop a healthy relationship with social media, one must balance technology by addressing their basic needs.

“As human beings, there are various things we need to sleep, we need to eat well, we need to exercise, we need to socialize — those are all biologically necessary tasks,” Morrison said. “So screen time can become a problem when it interferes with those other tasks that we need to do. Are you getting the time to do those absolutely necessary things, or is your screen time actually chipping into those developmentally required tasks?”

At the beginning of the new year, I was getting disturbed with my Screen Time report and decided to limit my app use and now have limits for many social media apps, and most of the time I go over, but it is a small step to making a positive change in my life. It’s nice to know that a lot of my time spent on my phone is directed to talking with friends and family and not just scrolling aimlessly through social media apps.

I often have to remind myself that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself when it comes to Screen Time and that some days are going to be easier and that it is crucial to check in with myself on a day-to-day basis.

“Approaching ourselves with a lot of compassion and kindness is super important; we are living through a global pandemic, and our lives are totally different, and we are going to be using devices and screens a lot more than we once did and not necessarily to judge ourselves harshly for that, but again to reflect on the things that we need to stay healthy,” Morrison said.

10 | The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021.

Pandemic changed how journalists report

By Chinyere Ibeh Focus Editor

The Covid-19 pandemic hit its oneyear anniversary and many industries have changed drastically, one being journalism.

Journalists have had to adjust the way they conduct their business, including the way they get sources, how they interview those sources and how they accurately report information. Not only do journalists have to deal with the noise of social media, but they also have to deal with people not understanding the industry as a whole.

“I think people either misunderstand or don’t understand at all is... safety measures when it comes to protecting our sources’ identities, and also protecting our sources going forward,” said Grace Del Vecchio, the engagement editor at 14 East Magazine.

Del Vecchio says that 14 East faced backlash when they interviewed protesters during the summer. They allowed anonymity to the protestors by using coded apps to communicate and Google Forms that didn’t ask for any contact information.

With regards to the pandemic, many people across various industries will say they miss coming into office. The pandemic has forced everyone to be almost entirely virtual.

“I’ve been giving a lot more Zoom

KATIE AKIN | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Police officers are shown arresting Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri. calls than before,” explains Alex Acain, a sports journalist studying at DePaul. “I used to conduct man on the street interviews and I gave significantly a lot more phone calls [throughout the pandemic].”

Acain says she misses physically conducting interviews and visiting places like Billy Field. She also misses the feeling of writing a feature on a Chicago sports team and having little time to catch a game afterwards.

Del Vecchio has a similar sentiment saying she not only misses the physical

newsroom, but she misses the collaboration and relationship building.

“The relationships that I’ve built within newsrooms, have been just so critical and crucial to my growth as a journalist,” Del Vecchio said.

Both discussed the idea of objectivity, with Del Vecchio saying that it doesn’t exist while Acain says it’s harder to resist bias. Acain says that it’s hard to resist bias as people are behind their screens and all over social media, saying whatever they want without any reper-

cussions.

Del Vecchio explains that objectivity can be harmful, especially to people of color. She believes that objectivity upholds white supremacy as well as racist and misogynistic systems. Del Vecchio says that people’s experiences and identities qualify them to speak on those issues.

“I think our identities and our experiences need to be considered as vital parts of reporting and not be dismissed in the vein of objectivity,” she said.

The pandemic has impacted their journalism in the college setting as well.

With Acain, she tends to lose motivation to get assignments done as she tends to be more on her toes in person.

Del Vecchio wasn’t even sure if she wanted to continue as a journalist before the pandemic hit. Once Covid-19 hit Chicago and the DePaul campus, people were leaning on journalists for accurate information. Due to that reliance and everything being flipped on its head, Del Vecchio and fellow journalists were thrown into a role of responsibility, a role that she hadn’t had before.

With regards to the journalism industry as a whole, some have been able to survive while others haven’t. According to a New York Times article, the pandemic has led to pay cuts and layoffs at many news outlets throughout the nation. About 37,000 people employed at news media companies have experienced these pay cuts and layoffs.

Where DePaulia editors were when the Covid-19 pandemic struck My clearest memory of the early onset of the pandemic occurred when I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to break the latest update of DePaul’s impending closure on Twitter.

My role as Social Media Editor had been relatively tame up until that point, mainly involving posting the week’s content and open positions. While heading home from the Lincoln Park Campus for what proved to be the last time ever, I typed away what felt like my 20th thread of the day and hit send.

-Emma Oxnevad, Online Managing Editor

A year ago, I was in New York City covering the Big East men’s basketball tournament.

On March 11, 2020, DePaul won its firstround game against Xavier, 71-67, setting up a meeting with Villanova in the quarterfinals the next day. But these two teams would not meet, as the Big East - and every other conference in America - canceled the rest of its conference tournament due to Covid-19 concerns. After finishing my final story from Madison Square Garden, I got to the airport and got on the next flight back to Chicago.

-Lawrence Kreymer, Sports Editor

I was finishing up — what would be my final closing shift — at Dr. Martens. As I got the email notifying the cancellation of classes and finals, I was ironically complaining to my favorite co-worker about a project since I had come straight to my shift from renting equipment at the Loop campus after a long day of classes. We were both slightly more concerned about the virus, but neither of us thought much of it as we finished cleaning and closed for the night.”

-Cailey Gleeson, News Editor

The night DePaul announced classes would be online for spring, I was on the treadmill.

I broke the story, called my mom and went home. I haven’t been to the gym since.

-Ella Lee, Print Managing Editor

A year ago, I was at a Chicago Blackhawks game when I got the email that DePaul was telling students to go home and not come back for spring break. I also got a notification about the NBA and NHL seasons being suspended indefinitely. I had been following the news on Covid for over a month at that point, but had not really understood the gravity of the situation until then. It was weird looking around into the crowd and wondering when something like a full arena would be allowed again.

I’ll always remember the way people’s attention shifted away from the game.

-Nate Burleyson, Arts & Life Editor

Not long before shit hit the fan, I had just finished covering DePaul’s women’s basketball team winning the Big East Tournament at Wintrust Arena. I remember saying to myself, “this might be the last game I shoot for a while” and it’s still true today. About a week later, I found myself packed up in a UHaul traveling back home to Maryland with my mom and step dad. And one year later, not much has changed; except for what appears on my computer screen.

-Ryan Gilroy, Copy Editor

A year ago today, I had just received the news that our Spring musical would be canceled for our second performance weekend. I had spent about 2 months preparing actors and stage crew to perform one of my favorite shows. Not only would my friends never see it, but neither would my parents. I remember hoping that quarantine would be over in time for my one-act show that I was directing to start rehearsing. -Nadia Hernandez, Asst. News Editor This time last year I was reminding my parents to make sure they ordered plane tickets in time for my graduation. I was meticulously planning how to spread out my coveted graduation tickets and was looking forward to celebrating with those who supported me during my time at DePaul.

Instead I drove 12 hours home as cases surged, just in case.

-Lacey Latch, Editor-in-Chief I had to move out of my apartment at the University Center a couple days after the university announced that everyone would be sent home and classes would move online. Coincidentally, the day I had to move out was also the day I’d scheduled an appointment for a tattoo, which I stubbornly still went to — something that seems unconscionable when looking back on it from this far into the pandemic. The studio was virtually empty and I talked with my artist about the upcoming lockdown in the same way you would talk about hunkering down for a winter storm. I never imagined we’d still be in this situation a year later.

-Luke Myers, Copy Editor

The one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic is officially upon us and one has to look back to what life was a year ago. It’s crazy to me that this time last year I was a sophomore in college. During this time last year, I was thinking about who will be performing at Fest. I’m actually sad that I will now miss two Fests. I remember the life of going back and forth between the apartment that I share with my mom and the Loop campus. During this time, I was taking a class where I wrote part of a film script. The professor actually liked my idea of a story. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might just finish that script and give a crazy story. Please, everyone needs to wear their mask. I want to get back on campus!

-Chinyere Ibeh, Focus Editor

One year ago, I was wrapping up a winter quarter featuring one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken: Cooperative Argumentation, with Dr. Barbara Willard. On the last day, after we had given our final presentations and class ended, a few of us stayed behind with Dr. Willard and chatted, not quite ready to put the moment behind us. If only we knew. Within the next week, officials locked Chicago down. The virus was here. Now, a year later, I sit here five years older, down one sibling, and up one diagnosis. If there was a ref, I’d be tapping.

-Marcus Robertson, Nation & World Editor

In one of the last days before DePaul told students that the spring quarter was going to be online I remember being exhausted. I worked the opening shift at Barnes and Noble in the Loop and hurried on my way to Lincoln Park to get to my 1 p.m. class – most likely just making it on time because an opening shift meant I had to be up at 5 a.m. and needed a caffeine refuel. I was in my Literature 1900-present class, scrolling on my laptop reading articles and switching back and forth to my notes and Twitter. I heard my professor say something along the lines of, “This could probably be the last day for in-person classes for a while, for some of you juniors and seniors ––the last ever.” I quickly started paying better attention after that. I remember saying to the girl next to me, “no way,” and then it wasn’t later after class ended, that I took my last steps – probably ever – inside DePaul’s most beautiful and loved building, Arts and Letters Hall.

-Rebecca Meluch, Opinions Editor A year ago today I was in my final weeks of my third quarter at DePaul. I remember I had a big research paper due, but could not focus at all given the rapid developments related to Covid-19. I was also living with my parents at this time and clearly can recall the moment my mom first expressed her concern for the direction things were going. Her reaction in part alerted me to the fact that we were in for some real major change. Everyday brought less security for the future and it was a very stressful time.

-Eric Henry, Photo Editor

The last time I went outside my apartment without a mask, my friend and I were on our way to a birthday dinner. We rode the train from Southport to Merchandise Mart without anyone getting into the same cart as us. We talked about our lasts. Our last time seeing each other in a while, the last time we would ride the train, the last time we would share a laugh over a cigarette and perhaps even our last full day in Chicago. Nonetheless, I went to the club that night and haven’t been back since.

-Jessica Rish, Social Media Editor

The Covid-19 Issue. The DePaulia. March 2021. | 11

Column: Video games are still my safe haven one year later

By Ryan Gilroy Copy Editor

I wanted to write a lede about how it’s been a year since the pandemic began, and how all of our lives have drastically changed since last March. But we all know that. What hasn’t changed — and has gotten more attention — is the time we spend gaming.

The gaming industry hasn’t been slowed down at all due to the pandemic — in fact, it’s actually sped up production like never before, giving people a source of entertainment while quarantining in their homes. Hardware sales hit a record of $5.3 billion and video game purchases totaled $56.9 billion in 2020 alone. Even DePaul’s Esports team is continuing to hold matches against other universities in the Big East.

I had to dig up some old games from my original Xbox, Gameboy Advance SP and Nintendo DS to occupy myself and block out all the noise happening outside my window. Personally, I can’t wait for Pokémon’s remastered versions of Diamond & Pearl to be released, as I’ve spent hundreds of hours across both titles on my DS, and the subsequent release of Platinum back in 2008. But these nostalgic consoles and games, handheld or not, have become a focal point for interaction amongst players of all ages to communicate with each other when we can’t do it face-toface.

“For me, video games has been giving me a way to socialize with my friends for a while even before Covid,” said Christopher Jones, Jr., a recent DePaul graduate. “It has made it easier to interact with my friends who went to different schools for college, but yes, it has become even more convenient now due to Covid.”

Nintendo was the first to capitalize on the opportunity, releasing Animal Crossing: New Horizons back on March 20 last year. According to Ars Technica, as of December, the release has accounted for 47 percent of all Animal Crossing sales since the franchise debuted back in 2001. It broke the world record for most digital copies sold in one month with 5 million, and

Even in the minor leagues, DePaul’s video game team is living the dream. now holds the honorary distinction of being the 15th best-selling video game in history.

And it’s not difficult to see why.

Other notable games that have been released during the pandemic include Doom Eternal, Resident Evil 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake and my personal favorite, the remastered versions of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1&2. You just can’t beat the 50-songplus soundtrack, either.

“I recently dug out Minecraft because of the new updates,” said Glen Verfurth, a senior at DePaul.

Speaking of Minecraft, those new updates were released back on June 23, titled the Nether update. The Nether is a hell-like dimension linked to the Overworld, the main starting point for all players in the game, and includes tons of new additions that revolve around a deadly, volcanic eruption with monsters constantly trying to kill your character.

Minecraft has been the prime ex-

ample of a game that has retained and grown its player base since Mojang, the Swedish video game developer who created the game, initially released it in 2009. By the end of 2020, the game had seen a $415 million increase in revenue and broke $200 million in sales in 2020 alone.

“I think game developers are doing an amazing job of taking advantage of this situation and adapting by continuing to push out new content and new updates,” Jones said.

And we can’t forget about the next-generation installment of new consoles, too. Since both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X were released in mid-November, sales reached 4.4 million units and 2.4 million for the PS5 and XBSX just in 2020, respectively. Demand for both consoles has been extremely high, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

“I got my hands on a Xbox Series X and I love it — it is not that big of a jump,” Verfurth said. “But there is

MARCUS YAM | LOS ANGELES TIMES

enough changes to the games I play a lot for me to get sucked back in to gaming.”

For an industry that never could have predicted what a pandemic of this scale could look like in the 21st century, not much needed to be changed when it comes to consuming these games.

Even older console generations have this convenience as well, as it requires very little to wipe off the dust and plug in and play. It’s a gift that none of us deserve to hold so close.

“It has given me another level of appreciation for video games,” Jones said.

So, what’s next? For me, it’s about keeping that same nostalgic feeling for what video games are made for: having fun. After I get fully vaccinated, I plan to expand on the library for my original Xbox, which has seen more screen time in the past 10 months than it has in the last 10 years. Titles selling for less than $10 a piece? Yes, please.

There’s really nothing like it.

Sports still coming to grips with new Covid-19 reality

By Lawrence Kreymer Sports Editor

A year ago, the sports world came to a screeching halt. With growing concerns about the spread of Covid-19, every sports league and organization in America made a collective decision: a work stoppage.

Just like the entire world changed with everyone going into lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, sports leagues suffered the same fate and are still operating with strict rules and restrictions 12 months later.

It just passed the first anniversary of when NBA star Rudy Gobert made a mockery of the coronavirus by purposefully touching every microphone in a press conference room. His actions, at the time, revealed a lack of understanding of how serious this virus really is.

Two days later, Gobert tested positive for Covid-19. His team, the Utah Jazz, were getting ready to play the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 11, 2020, only for the NBA to pull all the

players off the court because of the positive test. A couple of hours later, the league officially postponed its season.

And so began the onslaught of every other sport either canceling or postponing its season. At the time, I was in New York City covering DePaul’s first-round Big East Tournament game against Xavier — the Blue Demons won the game 71-67, moving on to face Villanova in the quarterfinals. It really didn’t hit me at the time that the NBA being the first league to postpone its season will cause a wave of similar actions by other sports leagues a day later.

But the signs of college basketball taking the same route were already in place. For starters, the Ivy League conference canceled its tournament the prior weekend, raising eyebrows as to whether it was the right decision.

Then, the same night that DePaul was playing Xavier in the first round, the Big East announced the rest of the conference tournament wouldn’t have any fans in attendance. By then, sitting in Madison Square Garden (MSG), it

started to hit that something worse was about to happen.

And on March 12, 2020, that’s when most leagues started to cancel or postpone their season — except for the Big East. As news was rolling in from around the country that the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC and others were canceling their tournaments, the Big East allowed Creighton and St. John’s to take the floor for their quarterfinal game.

To say it was weird watching that live at MSG while seeing what the other conferences were doing would be an understatement. It wasn’t until halftime that the Big East pulled the plug on its conference tournament.

Then, the madness began. Every media member scrambled into the press room to hear from commissioner Val Ackerman, and she was asked plenty of questions as to why the tournament wasn’t canceled earlier. Going through the entire process, she reiterated that the decision was made by all the parties involved — school presidents, athletic directors and the conference office.

As soon as the press conference was over, I wrote my end-of-the season story and had one thought on my mind: getting back to Chicago.

After leaving MSG for the final time, I ran back to my hotel room, packed my bags, checked out and got an Uber to the airport. I was lucky enough that I was able to change my flight from the 13 to the 12, and was able to get back home that same day.

It’s still surreal to think that I was in the building for one of the last sporting events before the world changed for the next couple of months.

A year later, the Big East and college basketball completed an unprecedented season that was filled with restrictions, testing, social distancing and plenty of mask wearing.

Maybe in 2022 we all can get back to our normal lives — whatever the heck that means — and MSG will once again be packed with fans to watch the sport’s greatest conference tournament.

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