Over the past couple of months, the coronavirus, scientifically known as COVID-19, has become a global pandemic. This has caused fear among countless numbers of people and big events being cancelled. On March 13, the Houston Rodeo was cancelled, leaving many people upset and disappointed. “I was really upset because it was going to be like my first rodeo and concert,” Jenny Kim, a freshman at Memorial High School said, “I was looking forward to all the rides and food that my friends were talking about and mostly excited to see what the rodeo looks like because I’ve never seen it.”
Most study-abroad programs are also cancelled and college students are being sent home. Claire Liu, a junior at Tufts University, was studying abroad in Athens, Greece when her program was cancelled and she had to fly back home to Houston.
Along with the rodeo and studying abroad programs, Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the country, and the Met Gala, a fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City, have also been postponed.
With the growing outbreak of coronavirus here in Houston, Spring Branch ISD and at least 30 other school districts have extended their spring break for students until April 10th.
And with numerous events along with school being cancelled, families are stocking up on food and other basic necessities and going into quarantine. With things like water, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper going out of stock, many local supermarket shelves like Costco, HEB, and Walmart have been wiped empty.
Lots of teens are being forced to stay home like Alyssa Landa, a freshman at Memorial High, who shares how she’s coping at home. “I feel like I’m more tired than usual and worried that other people aren’t taking the situation seriously.” With being stuck at home, Alyssa says that at home she likes to do things like “bake and do face masks and yoga” to entertain herself and be productive.
Sometimes, though, when people are stuck at home, they are bored out of their minds, so if you are also being quarantined and feel like you have nothing to do, here’s a list of 15 things that you can do to kill some time:
- Deep clean your room or closet
- Try new cooking or baking recipes
- Read a good book
- Do your makeup or dress up for fun
- Paint or draw/DIY something
- Binge watch movies or a tv show
- Start a bullet journal or diary
- Learn Tik Tok dances
- Have a self-care day
- Do at home workouts
- Research future colleges
- Window shop online
- Organize and create music playlists
- Listen to a podcast
- Play board games or do a puzzle with family and friends
