Lily McLean, editor

This article was completed on April 16th and many of the students polled submitted their answers as early as mid-March. Some information will not be current due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation.

On March 16th, 2020, it was announced that millions of Californians, spread across several counties, would be required to shelter in place in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At the drop of a hat, everything changed. Businesses closed, people lost their jobs, and everywhere, citizens were contemplating the prospect of being trapped within their homes for an indefinite period of time. Governor Gavin Newsom extended this order three days later to cover the entire state. Since then, 45 states have announced at least partial shelter-in-place orders, putting normal American life on hold. As the coronavirus spreads throughout the United States, news outlets have covered the myriad of ways it affects citizens, from record numbers of people filing for unemployment to a dangerous shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). In this article, we give students the chance to explain how they have been affected by the coronavirus in their own words.