The Northerner Magazine | Ed. 66 Issue 1 by thenortherner.com

The Northerner

SEPTEMBER 2020 THENORTHERNER.COM Est. 1970

‘I WANT TO LIVE PAST COVID’ Students and alum explain what it’s like to have the disease that has infected millions By Natalie Hamren

The Northerner

The Northerner Magazine

The Independent Student News Organization of Northern Kentucky University

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

VOL. 66

SEPTEMBER 2020

“SOTA department heads and professors shared the changes they made within their respective programs to comply with the university’s social distancing guidelines, how the pandemic has affected the arts community nationwide and how they’re helping students cope with the changes,” Weber wrote. News Editor Rachel Smith spoke with NKU officials about why it was safe to return to campus and how NKU is tracking COVID-19 cases. “Several universities have opened for the Fall 2020 semester, leading many to express health concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. While even the near future is shadowed in uncertainty, members of Northern Kentucky University attempt to shed light on campus safety during a global pandemic,” Smith wrote.

For the main feature, I spoke with two NKU students and an alum about their experience with having COVID-19. These experiences range from having no symptoms at all, to spending hours in the emergency room gasping for air. “Around four days after Kaeppner’s fiancee, Isabel Sleczkowski, started experiencing COVID-19-like symptoms, Kaeppner started experiencing them, too. Her mom had coronavirus over the summer, so Kaeppner was spending a lot of her time bringing her mom groceries and helping out with other tasks. Her mom had been sick with COVID-19 for months, so Kaeppner knew first-hand how bad the symptoms could get,” I wrote. Lastly, Design/Photo Editor Billy Keeney also created a photo gallery that shows how campus looks during a pandemic. We hope you enjoy this first edition of The Northerner magazine. It’s not something we usually do, but we enjoyed testing the waters and creating something brand new. These uncertain times have shown us that nothing is ever guaranteed and life is precious, so it’s important to do things you love. At The Northerner, we love creating stories. We love being the watchdog voice of students, staff and faculty. We love being a safe place for students to learn, fail and grow. I hope you love this issue, and I hope you love and cherish the people in your life. Enjoy the little things. Accomplish the big things. Treat people with kindness, and wear a mask. — Natalie Hamren, Editor-in-Chief

Natalie Hamren Editor-in-Chief, The Northerner About The Northerner The Northerner is an independent student-run media outlet innovatively providing relevant and credible content to facilitate informed discussion within the Northern Kentucky University community. While upholding the ethical standards of traditional journalism, The Northerner provides practical experience in interviewing, writing, editing, photography, publication, web design, marketing, advertising sales and billing, legal and ethical decisionmaking, and other aspects of a student-run business. The Northerner Magazine is a special publication published and distributed on Wednesday while classes are in session, multiple times a year. Thenortherner.com is a studentproduced news website that publishes new content daily. The Northerner Magazine, thenortherner.com and its staff are members in good standing of the Kentucky Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press and benefit from all of the training and support provided. Entire content is copyright of The Northerner and may not be reprinted without prior consent. Views expressed do not represent those of the administration, faculty or student body. The Northerner is considered a designated public forum. Student editors have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval. The Northerner staff respects the right to a free and open dialogue under the First Amendment.

The main entrance to Steely Library at night.

SOTA during a pandemic

Page 4

Photo by Billy Keeney/Cover Photo by Billy Keeney

Arts & Life Editor Alyssa Weber

Photo Editor Billy Keeney

Advertising Samantha Brown

Your Name Here Contact us to have your work featured!

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram @northernermedia

Email northerneredits@gmail.com

Faculty and health experts weigh in on the decision to return to campus during a global pandemic By Rachel Smith Page 6

‘I want to live past COVID’ Three COVID-19 stories—ranging from emergency room visits to no symptoms at all By Natalie Hamren Page 9

Campus after coronavirus

GALLERY

News Editor Rachel Smith

NEWS

Was it safe to return? Design Editor Billy Keeney

Contributors

Illustrations Abby Behrens

See how the School of the Arts has utilized digital media and alternative learning methods amid COVID-19 By Alyssa Weber

Magazine Staff

Editor-in-Chief Natalie Hamren

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

In our first magazine edition, we wanted to cover how COVID-19 has impacted the campus community. Arts & Life Editor Alyssa Weber spoke with School of the Arts faculty members about how they’re preparing students to find success in an industry shaken by the pandemic.

SEPTEMBER 2020

ARTS

Throughout 2020, The Northerner had to adjust to various circumstances and scenarios. No longer having the ability to interview sources, collaborate or interact in person, our team has shifted to virtual operations. We decided that a weekly print publication was no longer feasible for many reasons. However, we still wanted to give the campus community a tangible item to read. We decided to create a semi-monthly magazine that allowed our staff to have the time to fully create and flesh out ideas. Having a magazine has allowed us to create longer stories, stronger visuals and bigger print editions.

NO. 1

Masks, social distancing and empty spaces: see how campus life has changed during a pandemic By Billy Keeney Page 13

The Northerner

The Northerner Magazine

The Independent Student News Organization of Northern Kentucky University

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

VOL. 66

SEPTEMBER 2020

The main entrance to Steely Library at night.

SOTA during a pandemic

Page 4

Photo by Billy Keeney/Cover Photo by Billy Keeney

Arts & Life Editor Alyssa Weber

Photo Editor Billy Keeney

Advertising Samantha Brown

Your Name Here Contact us to have your work featured!

Twitter/Facebook/Instagram @northernermedia

Email northerneredits@gmail.com

Faculty and health experts weigh in on the decision to return to campus during a global pandemic By Rachel Smith Page 6

‘I want to live past COVID’ Three COVID-19 stories—ranging from emergency room visits to no symptoms at all By Natalie Hamren Page 9

Campus after coronavirus

GALLERY

News Editor Rachel Smith

NEWS

Was it safe to return? Design Editor Billy Keeney

Contributors

Illustrations Abby Behrens

See how the School of the Arts has utilized digital media and alternative learning methods amid COVID-19 By Alyssa Weber

Magazine Staff

Editor-in-Chief Natalie Hamren

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

SEPTEMBER 2020

ARTS

NO. 1

Masks, social distancing and empty spaces: see how campus life has changed during a pandemic By Billy Keeney Page 13

The Northerner

SOTA DURING A PANDEMIC By Alyssa Weber

NKU’s School of the Arts (SOTA) has decided to utilize digital media as an alternative method to typical live performances, open art galleries and music/vocal lessons in order to ensure a safe, ‘socially distant’ fall semester for its students, faculty, staff and other patrons. SOTA department heads and professors shared the changes they made within their respective programs to comply with the university’s social distancing guidelines, how the pandemic has affected the arts community nationwide and how they’re helping students cope with the changes. Theatre + Dance Ronnie Chamberlain, SOTA’s area coordinator of design and technology, typically works on three different shows with three different groups of 100 people at a time. “The general rule for theatre, performing arts, is for every one actor you see in a play or a movie or a film, there’s eight other people who made all that happen,” Chamberlain said. “Technology is any student that’s not on stage as a performer,” Chamberlain said. In addition to Chamberlain’s role as coordinator, one of the classes she instructs is a business of theatre course that prepares students for work in the technical field of the entertainment industry. Students in the design and technology field enter the program for theatre, but when they graduate, they work in many fields within the entertainment industry, ranging from ballet, opera theatre, concerts and even the haunted house industry, Chamberlain said. According to Chamberlain, the entertainment industry, which is commonly the lowest paid and most poorly 4

Photo provided by Brianna Mullins/Illustration by Billy Keeney

treated industry in America, is currently redefining itself. “We’re struggling for a living wage and with COVID, 98% of our industry is currently unemployed,” Chamberlain said. Eight students in theatre technology graduated last semester and only one was able to carry on with the postgraduation plans they made. The rest all found themselves unemployed—their internships gone, their summer work gone and they’re sitting at home in their parent’s basement trying to figure out what happened, Chamberlain said. Instead of working on this semester’s filmed productions, guest artists have been recruited to work with design and technology students in a different, engaging way that will help build their portfolios, Chamberlain said. After the productions initially scheduled for the fall semester were canceled, Michael Hatton, theatre and dance program head, said he felt it was important to offer students the same learning opportunities despite the changes in operation. Instead of traditional live audiences, productions will be filmed on the two sound studios currently being installed in the Strauss and Corbett theatres. “It’ll be a “pay-what-you-can” donation kind of set up ... we wanted to make it easier for people to connect with the arts during this time when the arts are really important for people,” Hatton said. “We’ll be doing a lot of costume shopping and having the costumes shipped to us to already fit the body of the actor as opposed to tailoring the costumes and having to do multiple fittings,” Hatton said. In order to safely film an actor on the soundstage without a mask on, they must be the only one in the room. Hatton said the theatre department could’ve filmed performances with multiple masked actors on stage at a time. However, it would’ve been difficult to differentiate who was talking with three quarters of the actors’ faces

blocked. It also would restrict an actor’s ability to properly emote. According to Hatton, 75% of theatre and dance classes are still being held face to face in some capacity. Particularly for dance courses in order to maintain compliance with social distancing guidelines, classes are being held in a few different places on campus, including the Campus Recreation Center. Hatton said this arrangement allows dancers to continue to take the technique classes they need to be successful and graduate. Despite mandatory masks and 12 feet of distance between dancers, Tracey Bonner, dance coordinator, said everybody is excited to be back in the studio together and eager to learn. Bonner said it was important for classes to be held in person this semester because dance is very communitybased and it’s important for dancers to feel a part of an “artistic community.” “It’s so much about being in the room with everybody else and learning together and when you’re doing that in isolation, it just doesn’t feel the same,” Bonner said. According to Hatton, the yearly Emerging Choreographers Showcase, which typically invites guest choreographers to work with dancers on a festival-style performance, will be held in a virtual, individual format and will include small casts. In addition to ensuring her students have safe ways to rehearse and perform, Bonner is also making sure to stress the importance of self-care. “I implemented a module in class called “Self-care for the Performer” and I’ve got a lot of things in there that are inspirational… and we’re reading a book together that’s called “The Wellness of the Performing Artist” that talks about mental health and nutrition and rest,” Bonner said. Art When private art galleries and museums had to close at the beginning of the pandemic, artists had to quickly think of new ways to share their artwork, said David Knight, director of exhibitions and collections. In the spring of last semester, the annual Juried Student Exhibition, a gallery for visual arts students, had just opened when the university closed due to COVID-19. “That’s why when we formed the SOTA page on YouTube to constantly have things every couple of days loaded up on there, and we’re going to continue to do that for our program … that’s been the saving thing is getting it out in digital forms,” Knight said. Although the art galleries have reopened, a digital version of all galleries will be posted to the YouTube channel. However, gallery access has been restricted to visitation by appointment only. Knight also teaches the senior exhibit class which revolves around preparing artwork for a gallery. According to Knight, when students begin to set up their exhibits, no more than five at a time will be allowed in the main gallery and only one person at a time will be permitted to set up in the small gallery. Kevin Muente, who teaches all levels of painting, has also faced new changes within his classes, specifically with the way students receive feedback. According to Muente, typically demos would be conducted in class and then he would walk around the

room while students worked to help them correct their paintings if needed. Currently, students paint at home are required to provide a photo of their artwork in progress. “I’m still doing demos in class via Zoom but also have already recorded the demos and have loaded them on Canvas in case their Wi-Fi goes out or they would have other difficulties,” Muente said. “I feel it’s all extra work for all of us, but we all seem to be managing well,” Muente said. Music Dr. Kimberly Gelbwasser Lazzeri, program head and vocal coordinator, said the music department is facing unique challenges as a program. According to Lazzeri, there is a long list of safety protocols/distancing requirements that vary depending on the class and type of instrument. Masks are required at all times for string musicians and singers while brass and woodwind players are permitted to wear their masks on their chin when they play. “They can pull it down so that they’re able to use their mouthpiece, but then if there’s any talking at all and when they’re not playing, they just pull it right back up,” Lazzeri said. Due to social distancing requirements, brass and woodwind players must be distanced 15 feet apart and singers 12 feet. Instructors like Lazzeri have taken advantage of outdoor spaces on campus for rehearsals. “We have classes happening in the amphitheater, we had classes on the baseball field,” Lazzeri said. According to Lazzeri, practice rooms are normally first come first serve, but this semester, rooms can only be reserved for up to an hour and then an hour of vacancy must be kept between each reservation. “We’re just trying to be creative with the way that we use our spaces and our time so that our students and our faculty are protected as best we’re able to,” Lazzeri said. Dr. Holly Attar, professor of viola, is also Director of the Music Preparatory Division, a program that provides music education to community members of all ages. According to Attar, music lessons through the preparatory program will be entirely virtual this semester to ensure the safety of the students who are predominantly children. However, Attar said she will meet with NKU students one-on-one in person in a “socially safe, distant way.” Despite the changes in performances, Lazzeri and other music professors have continued to connect students with professionals in their field to prepare them in their postgraduation careers. “We’ve been inviting a lot of guest artists into our Zoom classrooms and I think that is one way that we’ve been helping to prepare our students because these professionals have been able to talk about their experiences in the field, and how their experiences have been affected by this time,” Lazzeri said. Despite changes in lectures and performances, Attar believes there is no room for giving up and there is no equation to always be successful. “Art is important, not just because it’s entertainment and beauty and all of those things, but it’s also about discipline and creativity and I think we are showing that,” Attar said. Dance, Art and Music illustrations by Abby Behrens 5

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SOTA DURING A PANDEMIC By Alyssa Weber

Photo provided by Brianna Mullins/Illustration by Billy Keeney

Positive-testing individuals are also highly encouraged to fill out an online form for NKU’s record keeping. Statistics pertaining to positive-tested campus community members will be reported and disclosed in NKU’s dashboard and the KDPH public records. If the number of new cases on campus are lower than five, the statistic will show up as “between one to five cases” on NKU’s dashboard. If the number is more than five, the statistic will be published as a specific number. According to Hardcastle, this is to ensure the maximum amount of privacy for individuals so that they could not be singled out on campus. No publicly identifying information of those tested positive will ever be disclosed to the campus community or the public at large, Hardcastle said. Members of the community have the most significant impact on whether the pandemic will cause NKU to close early this semester, according to health administrators and faculty.

A mask left outside the Kenton Drive parking garage.

Photo by Billy Keeney

Why can we stay on campus?

Signs like this, depciting the ‘Norse Nine,’ can be found around campus.

Why did

we come back to campus?

Photo by Billy Keeney

“Each person has that personal responsibility to follow the rules of campus,” Tempel said. Students and faculty should also keep each other in check on campus, according to Tempel. If someone is not properly socially distanced or wearing a mask, you should feel comfortable talking with that individual and asking them to respect the guidelines. “It’s just really changing the culture and saying, ‘This is what we expect of each other,’” Tempel said. According to Tempel, she has noticed trends amongst other universities that NKU students should be aware of. Attending large gatherings and non-essential travel can quicken the spread of coronavirus, Tempel said. “The more people gather and socialize, the more likely we are to have an outbreak on campus,” Tempel said.

A mask left outside the Kenton Drive parking garage.

Photo by Billy Keeney

Why can we stay on campus?

Signs like this, depciting the ‘Norse Nine,’ can be found around campus.

Why did

we come back to campus?

Photo by Billy Keeney

The Northerner

“Student and staff behaviors will determine how healthy our campus will be.” Randel Plowman is a lecturer in NKU’s visual arts department, and he said student adherence to the health guidelines has increased as the semester continues. During one of the first few days of classes, he witnessed seven students all enter in a singular elevator. Since then, Plowman said he has not seen any other problem with enforcement. While enforcement has been generally maintained on campus, Plowman said he hopes students will continue to be cautious and follow safety measures. “When I was young, I didn’t take a lot of things seriously. It’s easy in your youth to think you’re invincible,” Plowman said. If a student does not comply with mandatory guidelines, such as social distancing and wearing facial covering, they are in violation of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities and could be held accountable by Student Affairs, Hardcastle said. “But we are trying not to be punitive,” Hardcastle said. “We're working on it from the positive side. You'll see people walking around with disposable masks, giving them to students if they see a student who forgot a mask.” The current plan for the semester is to maintain oncampus services until exam week, which will be delivered through remote learning. Why will we leave campus? After Thanksgiving break, finals week will be administered online for all classes at NKU. “Thanksgiving break is a big travel time for a lot of people. That's when a lot of extended families get

together,” Hardcastle said. “We think it is reasonable to believe that at least some of our students, faculty and staff are going to be going to these gatherings. As a result, the chances are greater—not 100%, but greater— that they might get infected with COVID-19.” But campus closure also has the possibility of coming sooner than planned. The COVID-19 Preparedness Team meets on a weekly basis to ensure the community is considered healthy enough to maintain in-person services and courses. “Primarily what we pay attention to is the number of new cases, the number of active cases, the number of our people who are either isolated or in quarantine,” Hardcastle, who is a member of the team, said. “Also, we look at the rates of infection, so how fast is it spreading?” There is not a specific point in regional cases that must be reached for a complete or partial closure of campus, but the administration has recently released a document that outlines possible “triggers” for such action. Some possible triggers that would warrant a complete or partial closure of campus include increasing cases of transmission in the student population, an inability to quarantine or isolate residential students, sustained increase in hospitalizations and government action. The guideline also outlines possible responses to these issues. Minor actions include increased enforcement of behavioral measures, temporary building closures or a brief suspension of in-person class. More serious responses are the closure of one or more residential halls or campus closure. “I think the faculty and the departments have been doing a great job with putting out safety measures,” Plowman said. “If everyone just uses caution and takes those measures, I don’t think there’s much to worry about.” Editor’s note: COVID-19 case numbers were accurate at the time of reporting.

‘I WANT TO LIVE PAST COVID’ Students and alum explain what it’s like to have the disease that has infected millions By Natalie Hamren

Isabel Sleczkowski with her daily medications, vitamins and fluids inside her apartment.

Isabel Sleczkowski, Senior Philosophy and Theatre BFA Major Isabel Sleczkowski felt the blood pressure cuff squeeze her arm. She knew another 30 minutes had passed. Between the cuff, an IV, a pulse oximeter and her relentless fatigue, she could hardly hold up the book she brought to read to pass time. A few hours earlier, Sleczkowski’s fiancee dropped her off at the emergency room. This was her second time in a month; she knew the drill. She wasn’t afraid to be firm and direct with the ER staff about her needs. “I think I have COVID. I can't breathe and my chest hurts. Help,” Sleczkowski told the person at the front desk as she was gasping for air. It was around dinner time, no later than 6:00 p.m. The staff didn’t seem to be in a hurry as they were 10 days prior for Sleczkowski’s first ER visit. “OK, keep your mask on and go sit in the waiting room,” the front desk worker told her. She found a seat in the waiting room and tried to not touch anything—not knowing what potential germs were around. A few minutes passed, and she was called back. Two nurses started attending to Sleczkowski. One nurse took her temperature while another checked her oxygen levels. They started an EKG, inserted an IV and set up a blood pressure monitor. Sleczkowski, in too much pain to do or say much, allowed the nurses to remove her shirt to make her chest more accessible for the EKG. Sleczkowski didn’t wear a wired bra this time because she knew she’d likely need a chest X-ray, and taking off a bra while gasping for air didn’t seem too appealing. 8

Photo by Billy Keeney

After the nurses inserted various medical instruments into or on Sleczkowski to monitor her vitals, the chaos subdued. She was alone in the ER, waiting for someone to give her an answer about what was wrong with her. A doctor told Sleczkowski it’s likely she has COVID-19. However, weeks earlier on July 18, she tested negative. She told the doctor about this. “You have COVID,” the doctor said to her, clinically diagnosing Sleczkowski with COVID-19, the respiratory disease that has infected tens of millions of people worldwide. Potential exposure to COVID-19 Weeks earlier, Sleczkowski was healthy. On July 6, she started filming a video for Norse Violence Prevention Center (NVP)—a center on campus that provides resources for students impacted by sexual assault, dating violence, stalking and more. The group was very small—no more than six people. They all social distanced and wore masks, only removing them briefly to film scenes. After a scene was shot, they immediately put their masks back on. A member of her filming group for NVP developed coronavirus-like symptoms but hadn’t tested positive yet. On July 16, Sleczkowski started developing COVID-19like symptoms, such as mild chest aches and trouble breathing. She thought it was a side effect of another medication she was taking at the time, so she brushed off her symptoms at first. However, two days later, Sleczkowski decided to get tested for COVID-19 as a precaution. Sleczkowski struggled to find accessible testing locations near her, but she eventually found a drive-thru 9

The Northerner

‘I WANT TO LIVE PAST COVID’ Students and alum explain what it’s like to have the disease that has infected millions By Natalie Hamren

Isabel Sleczkowski with her daily medications, vitamins and fluids inside her apartment.

Photo by Billy Keeney

The Northerner

test at a church in Cincinnati. Sleczkowski’s fiancee, Emmy Kaeppner, had symptoms of COVID-19 as well, so they both scheduled their tests. “The day I got tested, I marked that I had no symptoms, even though I had been dealing with chest pain and, subsequently, trouble breathing. Those were so far apart in my head—the possibility of me being exposed to COVID and my chest pain,” Sleczkowski said. After she was driving back home from getting tested, it struck her that she might actually have COVID-19. She acknowledged that she had been having chest pain and other symptoms that could be coronavirus-related, but she thought she was just overreacting. Facing her mortality Two days later, on July 20, Sleczkowski’s friends and family encouraged her to go to the ER. “It just got really worse, really fast. I think I had been so dismissive of my symptoms that I wasn't even realizing everything that was going on,” Sleczkowski said. “I just kept writing it all off to coincidence.” Her shortness of breath was so intense that she could hardly finish a sentence. After talking to her and Kaeppner’s mom on the phone, Sleczkowski decided to go to the ER. Kaeppner drove Sleczkowski but couldn’t come in with her due to COVID-19 visitor restrictions. Sleczkowski said she was slightly worried about going to the ER because she typically doesn’t get sick. “I don't really get sick. I don't really go to the ER. The only times I've ever been to the ER have been for a broken ankle once, I think. I've gone with other people to take them and then I'll sit with them, but I'm never the one in the bed,” Sleczkowski said. After telling the ER staff she thinks she has COVID-19, they settled her in and began running tests. Sleczkowski began thinking about dying and how her death would impact others. “It's something that I can tell the people around me are worried about, and they won't say it. It's like this really taboo thing,” Sleczkowski said. “We all know that COVID kills people. We know that it kills people our age, too.” While sitting in the ER hospital bed, she created a Google Doc titled “In Case I Die,” where she detailed how she wants her finances and belongings allocated, as well as other essential information. “I just started typing because I don't have a will because I'm 21. That's not something that I had thought about

before,” Sleczkowski said. Currently, Sleczkowski doesn’t feel like she’s dying. But when she was in ER for the first time, she didn’t know that. She said she doesn’t deal with death the way most people do; she’s not religious. Death isn’t something Sleczkowski fears, but she does enjoy living her life on earth. “I want to get to do the things,” Sleczkowski said. “I want to get to have the wedding, and I want to live past COVID, and I want to have a family.” Recently, Sleczkowski talked with her fiancee, Kaeppner, about what to do in the event she’s hospitalized. “If I go into the hospital again, and it seems like it's really bad, we're just going to get married in the hospital. And then if I die, then we'll have gotten married, which is what we want,” Sleczkowski said. “But if I don't, then that's great and then we can just celebrate it later.” Testing negative After she was discharged from the ER on July 20, days passed and her symptoms worsened, but she hadn’t received her test results yet. Sleczkowski called the Cincinnati Health Department and they looked up her results. She tested negative for COVID-19. “I crumpled, kind of. I had been convinced that I was overreacting and this really just affirmed that to me,” Sleczkowski said. She continued taking medicine, vitamins and fluids as directed by doctors. However, she progressively was getting worse everyday. She decided to take another COVID-19 test on July 29 but still tested negative. Her doctors believe she took her first test too soon and that the second test was a false negative. On July 30, she went to the ER for the second time. They treated her symptoms and clinically diagnosed her with COVID-19. Since then, Sleczkowski hasn’t been back to the ER, but she has spoken to doctors, nurse practitioners and infectious disease specialists virtually. Currently, a typical day for Sleczkowski involves waking up, going to the bathroom and immediately getting back in bed. Kaeppner brings her breakfast before they both start their online courses. She takes Tylenol and her inhaler every four hours, as well as plenty of fluids—such as Pedialyte, Gatorade and water. She takes various vitamins—such as magnesium, vitamin D3 and BC/Zinc. She also takes Famotidine to

help with inflammation, and she takes Dramamine, to ease nausea, as needed. On any given day, her symptoms include chest aches, shortness of breath and trouble breathing, low oxygen, muscle pains, sore throat, fever, chills, abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue, increased heart rate, numb toes and fingers, difficulty sleeping, earaches and more. She reached out to all of her professors before the semester started, and she said they have been understanding. On Zoom meetings, she tries not to push herself too much and sometimes goes to bed early if she feels overly exhausted and/or fatigued. The personal impact of a pandemic Sleczkowski said one of the harder aspects of being sick is losing physical intimacy between her and Kaeppner. Doctors advised them not to kiss until they can confirm neither one of them is contagious. “Mostly what [Kaeppner’s] dealing with is being worried about me, and I can't really fix that, and I can't even kiss her to be like, 'it'll be OK,’” Sleczkowski said. She said the pandemic has made her angry at the government for not doing enough and at her peers for not taking it seriously. Sleczkowski said she’s seen friends of hers traveling unnecessarily and going to parties. It’s made her question if she wants to be friends with them. “While I wanted to be optimistic about the pain ending, now I'm like, 'how long is this going to go on?' Because I did everything right and I still got sick,” Sleczkowski said. “Because as long as you have to work and/or you have to go to school, you can't avoid spreading it—even not purposely. Emmy Kaeppner, Senior BFA Costume Design and Technology Around four days after Kaeppner’s fiancee, Isabel Sleczkowski, started experiencing COVID-19-like symptoms, Kaeppner started experiencing them, too. Her mom had coronavirus over the summer, so Kaeppner was spending a lot of her time bringing her mom groceries and helping out with other tasks. Her mom had been sick with COVID-19 for months, so Kaeppner knew first-hand how bad the symptoms could get. When she started experiencing symptoms, she was scared at first. She knew how bad coronavirus could be for some people and wasn’t sure what her symptoms would be like. “I've seen that there's just a giant range of symptoms,” Kaeppner said. “Some people are only super mild, but some people have to go to the ER and intensive care and get a respirator. I didn't really know where I was going to be on that spectrum and luckily didn't get as bad as Isabel or my mom, which is good.” After she and Sleczkowski scheduled and took their COVID-19 tests, they got their results back a few days later. Both Kaeppner and Sleczkowski tested negative. Kaeppner said she wanted to test positive for COVID-19 because it would have reaffirmed what her doctors had been telling her. Symptoms worsening

Sleczkowski’s takes various medications to ease her COVID-19 symptoms. Photo by Billy Keeney 10

Sleczkowski’s laundry has to be picked up outside by family members.

Photo by Billy Keeney

pneumonia. Kaeppner said the night was hazy, but she remembers being driven to the hospital, getting dropped off and filling out paperwork in the waiting room. Eventually, she went back to a room and they performed tests on her to rule out any other illnesses. “I wasn't scared at any point,” Kaeppner said. “I was just anxious that I was overreacting the whole time.” A few hours passed and she was discharged and sent home. The ER told her she had symptoms of COVID-19 and to stay home, rest, take vitamins and drink fluids. Her symptoms persisted for a few days, but she never went back to the ER because there wasn’t much they could do for her. When she and Sleczkowski were both sick, they would take turns getting out of bed for different tasks.

About a week after testing negative, Kaeppner’s symptoms intensified and she decided to go to the ER. It wasn’t the worst night for her, she said, but she was having trouble breathing and wanted to make sure her symptoms didn’t turn into anything worse—like

Emmy Kaeppner in her apartment.

Photo by Billy Keeney

“She's like ‘Emmy, I can't get out of bed, but I really need a Gatorade or a Pedialyte' and I'm like, 'OK, I can do this, I can go get it,’” Kaeppner said. “Like an hour later, it'd be different. I'd be like, 'I'm so hungry, but I can't get up and make anything' and so she'd go and she'd get a box of crackers from the kitchen and get back.” Most days were like a roller coaster, Kaeppner said. She would wake up in a lot of pain, but by the middle of the day, after the medicine kicked in, she would feel better. However, once her body started to feel exhausted and it was time to go to bed, the pain intensified. When both of them were sick, they’d spend their time in bed watching movies and TV shows. They rewatched a few episodes of “Bones,” which is the first show they watched together when they started dating. “Her excuse, sometimes, to get me over to her dorm was like, 'oh my God, we should binge watch “Bones” together. It'd be cute.’ We'd lay in her dorm bed and rewatch “Bones” but actually talk for most of it,” Kaeppner said. 11

The Northerner

Sleczkowski’s takes various medications to ease her COVID-19 symptoms. Photo by Billy Keeney 10

Sleczkowski’s laundry has to be picked up outside by family members.

Photo by Billy Keeney

Emmy Kaeppner in her apartment.

Photo by Billy Keeney

The Northerner

Feeling better One day, Kaeppner said she woke up and wasn’t in as much pain anymore. Her symptoms had lessened and she started to feel better. It was easier for her to get up and accomplish tasks without feeling overly exhausted. She made muffins the first day she felt better. “It was really nice to feel that,” Kaeppner said. “Isabel [was] next me, I was like, 'oh, I'm feeling better. I'm getting better'. And she was like, 'I think I am too.' And I was like, ‘oh, that's good.’” “Obviously, she wasn't getting better as fast as I was. I was like, ‘it might just take you a little more time' and now it's been like six weeks, and she's still not better, which really sucks.” Kaeppner said sometimes she has survivor’s guilt feelings because her health improved but Sleczkowski is still sick. However, now that she feels better, she’s thankful she can take care of herself and Sleczkowski— such as cooking meals, taking out the trash and getting the mail. A typical day for her now involves getting up, feeding the cat, making breakfast and starting class. She checks on Sleczkowski every morning and makes sure she takes her medicine. After that, she heads to the living room where she works on homework and making face masks. Moving forward Kaeppner’s outlook on the pandemic hasn’t changed that much; she still thinks everyone should stay home and quarantine. In fact, she thinks personally having COVID-19 and knowing people who have COVID-19 has made her stricter on quarantining. “It's really not worth it to get COVID because you never know how bad it's gonna be until you actually get it,” Kaepner said. She said having COVID-19 has offered her a unique perspective when arguing with people online who don’t share her same viewpoints. “It's given me a lot more strength in my punch when I’m like well, 'I have COVID so when you say that it's fake, it really hurts because you're saying that I'm lying and that my fiancee is lying and that my mom is lying,’” Kaeppner said. Despite getting COVID-19 and being in pain frequently, Kaeppner said the experience allowed her and Sleczkowski to spend more time together. This summer, they both were going to be separated but their summer plans were canceled when COVID-19 cases started increasing. After seeing Sleczkowski sick and in pain daily, Kaeppner said she’s still the strongest person she knows. “If I didn't think she was strong before, she definitely is the strongest person I know now … She's still taking five classes. She's still an LGBTQ ambassador, and she's still running Lavender Society,” Kaeppner said. “I don't think I could do what she does, which is wake up every day and still hurt and just keep on truckin’ and everything.” Bailey Fox, Electronic Media and Broadcasting ‘20 alum Bailey Fox was the only person in her inner circle of friends who tested positive for COVID-19 over the summer. Her friend group, which consisted of around four people, hung out over the summer. Fox wasn’t worried about contracting COVID-19 because her friend group typically only interacted amongst themselves. 12

Fox found out that someone her friend knew tested positive for COVID-19, so she and her friend group decided to get tested as a precaution. “I wasn't really nervous at all because I knew that even if I did have it, I'd be able to quarantine with my friends and we could watch movies for a week and it would be great,” Fox said. After Fox got her results back, she was bummed that she was the only person in her friend group who tested positive. The doctor who called Fox and told her the results said it wasn’t likely she would experience any intense symptoms since she was asymptomatic when she tested positive. “I knew from the get-go that it wouldn't get super bad. I wasn't really upset about that or worried,” Fox said. “I was just mostly bummed that I had to be completely alone for two weeks.” Fox’s friends were shocked that she was the only one who tested positive. They went to Lexington to do rapid tests and all of them tested negative again. Fox was upset and shocked about her results and wasn’t looking forward to quarantining. “Whenever you're self isolating and you have coronavirus, obviously you're self isolating for the good of everybody, but it still feels like a punishment anyway,” Fox said. Fox took her temperature every morning to see if she had a fever, but she never did. She felt fine the entire two weeks and never developed any symptoms of COVID-19. The worst part of quarantine for Fox was the isolation. She said she’s an independent person, and she felt helpless not being about to cook her own meals, clean her house or change her cat’s litter box. To cope with the isolation, Fox FaceTimed her friends, played iMessage games and watched TV. Fox said she was depressed during quarantine. She called her doctor and had her antidepressant dosage increased. “It was horrible feeling super alone and also knowing that you have the illness that's killing thousands of people—that's just not a good feeling to sit with, especially for a week,” Fox said. Fox said she’s more cautious now that she’s had COVID-19. She wears a face mask to the store and sanitizes her hands, groceries and mail. “I'm more conscious of where germs can live. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was like, ‘oh, I could go grocery shopping and not sanitize my stuff.’ I could get stuff in the mail,” Fox said. “But now I'm like, 'no, I'm just going to spray Lysol on everything that someone else could have touched.'” Fox said she feels lucky that she didn’t have any symptoms and that she didn’t lose her life to COVID-19, like so many people have. She said coronavirus is something people don’t want to contract and that the fear people have about it is valid. Having COVID-19 made the pandemic more real to Fox. When cases started increasing in China, Fox understood that the virus was bad but thought it likely wouldn’t come to the United States. It wasn’t until all of her classes at NKU transitioned online did the reality of the pandemic feel real. “I think as more and more people I knew got it, the more real it felt, but it didn't feel entirely real until I actually experienced it,” Fox said. “But even then, I didn't even get, like, the full coronavirus. I was completely asymptomatic.”

CAMPUS AFTER CORONAVIRUS

IN PROGRESS Life on campus during the ‘new normal’

Photos by Billy Keeney

The Northerner

CAMPUS AFTER CORONAVIRUS

IN PROGRESS Life on campus during the ‘new normal’

Photos by Billy Keeney

The Northerner

A student studies alone outside Health Innovation Center.

Students in the Health Innovation Center hanging out.

Unused chairs and tables piled high in the Terrace dining room in the Student Union.

Socially distanced chairs inside the Fine Arts Building.

A university worker wipes down a door inside Health Innovation Center.

Socially distanced desks inside a lecture room in the Natural Science Center.

Masked workers and patrons at Sbarro in the Student Union. 14

A skater whizzing by a student studying outside.

A class taking place in Griffin Hall.

Students studying six feet apart inside Steely Library. 15

The Northerner

A student studies alone outside Health Innovation Center.

Students in the Health Innovation Center hanging out.

Unused chairs and tables piled high in the Terrace dining room in the Student Union.

Socially distanced chairs inside the Fine Arts Building.

A university worker wipes down a door inside Health Innovation Center.

Socially distanced desks inside a lecture room in the Natural Science Center.

Masked workers and patrons at Sbarro in the Student Union. 14

A skater whizzing by a student studying outside.

A class taking place in Griffin Hall.

Students studying six feet apart inside Steely Library. 15

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