Junior Alyssa Dorrien had been enjoying a relatively normal summer. That was until she contracted COVID-19.
“I had to get tested five times, and when I learned I had [COVID-19] I was stuck in quarantine for four straight weeks until I tested negative,” Dorrien said.
Dorrien lost her sense of taste and smell during her time with the virus and was tested five times because she had a very high viral load.
Having the virus changed her whole summer. According to Dorrien, she was very limited on what she could do during her month in quarantine.
“All I really did was binge Netflix, watch some TV and sleep all the time,” she said.
With beach days and plenty of other trips cancelled, her summer was quite underwhelming.
Luckily for Dorrien, COVID-19 did not spread through her family or to any of her relatives.
After her summer of quarantine, Dorrien said she was ready for school to start and is excited to be back with her friends.
Contracting COVID-19 came as a huge surprise to junior Nick Kohm as he had been wearing a mask and social distancing the whole summer.
After he contracted the virus, Kohm only had to get tested once and went into quarantine for 15 days. During his time in quarantine, Kohm said he had plenty of time to relax. He played Xbox with friends, watched a new show on Netflix and talked with people over Facetime while trapped in his room.
Prior to getting the virus, he had a trip planned to Texas to see some of his friends that he had to cancel.
“Quarantine wasn’t too bad for me,” Kohm said. “I had some symptoms but felt just fine. The worst part was that I missed my trip.”
Unfortunately for Kohm, COVID-19 spread quickly through his family.
“After I got [the coronavirus], my family was tested, and we learned that my mom and sister had gotten it too,” Kohm said.
Senior Alaina Pisello also encountered COVID-19 this summer. After learning that her sister contracted the virus, Pisello began showing symptoms of the virus herself. She sided with caution and quarantined for 20 days.
Pisello’s senior year summer was much different than years past. Like many other students, Pisello missed out on a lot. She had plans for boat days cancelled, she was unable to hang out with her friends and even missed a big family trip. Her family contracted COVID-19 the week before their trip to Boulder, Colorado and were unfortunately unable to go.
Pisello was still able to enjoy limited time with her friends, but in much different ways than before. With newly introduced mask mandates, closed restaurants and new social guidelines, Pisello and her friends had to make the best out of the summer.
This summer looked a lot different than previous years for many students at Trinity. With new COVID-19 guidelines, the Trinity family has had to adapt. Staying home and going out only when necessary were some of the actions taken by families throughout the summer of 2020.
“For my friends and I, our junior year is going to look different in many ways, but I think I’m finally ready to be back,” Dorrien said.
