About Me

     Hello, my name is Jordan Smith. I am a sophomore from Henderson, Kentucky, a small, rural town in western Kentucky. I am a 19 year-old African American male in a town that is predominantly Caucasian. I am majoring in Neuroscience on a pre-medicine track. I consider myself to be middle class. My family and I live in a populated neighborhood that can be considered the suburbs.

    As far as COVID-19 goes, most of my family has had no interaction with the disease, except for a few of my cousins that live together. My immediate family- my parents, and my sister- all live together and self-isolated for the most part at the beginning of all of this. I moved back home in March when everyone was forced to move out of the dorms. At the beginning, I wasn't allowed to visit anyone other than family. This means I didn't see any of my friends until late April or early May. The lack of social isolation, the strain of being with my family 24/7, and the transition back home to online school took a toll on me. I struggled with my schoolwork, and I was always stressed. Eventually, I finished school and was allowed to visit my friends more often, but only with masks and social distancing. My brother and his family, who lived separately, wouldn't let us hold my nephew whenever they visited. We all just sat around outside and watched him run around. People began to get careless when reopening occurred, myself included. I went to stores and restaurants more. I saw my friends more without proper distancing and masks. I never got the disease, nor did my family or friends. I only know a few people who had it. One that sticks out to me is a family friend's niece that I knew very well. She sadly passed away from the disease at age 21. She had cicle cell anemia, and she was alone in Atlanta, GA when she passed because her family didn't want her to spread COVID-19 to them.

    My family handled the pandemic very well. We all mostly followed protocols such as masks, hand washing, hand sanitizer, and social distancing. We didn't struggle financially. My dad was able to start working from home for part of the week. My mom still went in every weekday for work. My family had to take on a little more responsibility by doing things for my grandmothers so they wouldn't out in the public and exposed to the virus.