[This text is machine generated and may contain errors.]

Nivea Williams
Narrator

Najee Williams
Interviewer

April 19, 2022
Virtual Interview

Najee Williams (00:06)
My name is Najee Williams, I'm a senior at East Carolina University and I'm doing an interview for my folklore class. With me, I have my sister. So today she's gonna be answering some questions. And we're just gonna have a discussion about like, the kind of stuff that we heard or might not have heard about COVID over, you know, the past couple years. So, if you can just tell me or tell them what you do. That kind of stuff. Where are you from? What you do?

Nivea Williams (00:39)
Okay, my name is Nivea Williams. I'm Najee's older sister. I am from New Jersey. I currently live in Belleville, New Jersey, and I work in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, which is about 20 minutes from New York City. I work in human resources.

Najee Williams (00:57)
Okay. So just off the bat, for we recording I was talking about geographically the ideas that we might have heard, so like what, probably have you heard living more in a more city environment compared to like, what I might have heard down here, so I'm gonna let you go first.

Nivea Williams (01:19)
Okay, um, in regards to what I heard about COVID I heard quite a few things. When it first started, I heard that it came from 5g towers. Um, I heard that it came from people eating bats. I heard that, Yeah, pretty much a bunch of crazy stuff. Like, I also heard that vaccinated people could be, could be detected by street lamps.

Najee Williams (01:55)
I don't think I've heard that one

Nivea Williams (01:56)
a lot of crazy stuff.

Najee Williams (01:58)
Yeah, I think the probably the most out there thing was like the 5g Tower thing. I definitely heard that down here too. Although I don't think we have as many 5g towers. So it probably wasn't as probably wasn't as big down here. I think probably the craziest thing I might have heard is like, I heard it was able to, like spread through like the meat we would eat and spread through like, because there was a story that it was like going between animals and things like that. I don't know whether that was true or not. But like, there was like a tiger at the zoo or something that had got COVID. And that was a big deal. Because they were like it's coming through the animals and like

Nivea Williams (02:37)
I remember that one. I remember that one. I think the tiger was in the Bronx Zoo. Supposedly too I also heard now that she reminded me I heard also they're like, people's pets. Regular you know, house cat and dog

Najee Williams (02:52)
COVID Yeah, I remember that, too. Um, so what was the daily life like for you in the height of the pandemic?

Nivea Williams (03:05)
The daily life. The daily life for me was waking up at 750 to be ready for work at eight o'clock. We were working from home so I will say I did enjoy the privilege of just rolling over out of my bed and working. Everything was closed down. I remember being very scared going to the grocery store. There was lines outside of the grocery store literally wrapped around the parking lot to get into the grocery store because they were only letting like six to 12 people in at a time. So I remember trying to just run real quick on my lunch break to go get lunch or something from the supermarket and it will take too much time because you were literally online for one hour. And then in the store for another hour. The mask I remember when we first started wearing masks that was super crazy. The variations of mask everyone were wearing.

Najee Williams (04:10)
I was going to ask you that too. I was thinking because like people had like almost like Sub Zero for Mortal Kombat looking masks.

Nivea Williams (04:16)
Yes, people had crazy masks and some people was like, Where do you even get that from? Did you have it the entire time? We're just waiting to bring it out. I think they had it the entire time. They were just waiting for their moment. But yeah, that's that was pretty much my day to day like everything was closed down. The most fun at that time was going to the grocery store, which was not fun at all. I do remember not going into the office at all unless I had to like pick up paperwork or something like that. So going into the office I remember it feeling like weird like eerie, so dark and empty. Kind of felt like a ghost town like old shut down building that hasn't been used for years. I remember the highways and the commute anywhere was fairly, I was probably if not one, but maybe one of 10 people on the highway at the time, which is very unheard of up here. We have traffic unprovoked for no reason. Yeah, it was completely different from what I was definitely used to. It was a scary time.

Najee Williams (05:34)
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I feel like it never got that bad down here where it was, like, you know, waiting in line at the grocery store. But I can say from experience of like, because I worked at the grocery store at the beginning of the pandemic, if you remember and like, it was like being in the military how we had to be so like ready to be like, just ready at any point to just like jump up and go and like work and stuff. And we had to, we would get in shipments of toilet paper, and the shipment of toilet paper will be gone within 20 minutes. And mind you we open the store at like 7am I and it will be gone by like 710 or 715 or so. So it was just very scary. Especially as a, especially as a person who worked at the grocery store, but also someone who has sickle cell. Just being in public was definitely like the scariest thing. Yeah, just the scariest thing imaginable.

Nivea Williams (06:38)
Toilet Tissue I even remember, because you're bringing me back now. But I remember certain items were like, you can only have one per household. So the orange juice section, it was like you can only have one per household. And it was literally someone there from the grocery store that worked there Like really monitoring and making sure people didn't take more than one orange juice. That was scary.

Najee Williams (07:03)
Yeah, I remember that. And I remember I think, [unintelligible] might have called or something and they were like trying to see like, what the what the Lysol situation was down here because Lysol was like diamonds to have and I remember we came up there one time and they were like "you have Lysol?" like. We, I think we ended up giving them a can or something like that. But it was just yeah, that was crazy.

Nivea Williams (07:31)
Yeah, it was hard to find Lysol wipes, toilet tissue, hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, things that you've never seen go out of stock. I remember even the price gouging for those items because they weren't available. I remember I paid $13 For a little Purell hand sanitizer.

Najee Williams (07:31)
Yeah

Nivea Williams (07:42)
or the the alcohol was like $30 when it's normally 99 cents.

Najee Williams (07:54)
I didn't know you paid that much. Jeez

Nivea Williams (08:01)
yeah

Najee Williams (08:01)
okay. Yeah. That's crazy. Do you feel like people are going to look back at this time and be like, Oh, that was such a, like an aesthetic time, you know, like, I don't know, like y2k or something and be like, Oh, then I missed like the pandemic era, like wearing masks and things like that.

Nivea Williams (08:24)
Um definitely because I see people doing it now. You know, I feel like I've been seeing for the past couple of months, people on social media complaining about how much it costs to go outside, saying, you know, outside cost a minimum $100, Lock everything back down. So yeah, because we're way more affordable during the pandemic. I think people also people like me, as well, I will say I did kind of appreciate that sense of peace in the house. Like that was the most sleep I've ever gotten. I do think people will but then I also think the people who experienced the roughest time during the pandemic, you know, losing family members and loved ones those are the people who won't feel that way. And don't feel that way. Those are also like the people who still to this day probably take COVID very seriously, you know, would be going out and masking up because you know, from some people COVID is gone. There's no such thing as COVID anymore. And then to others. It's like you know, they're doing all the finger points in you're the reason we're still in year three of this.

Najee Williams (09:40)
Yeah, definitely.

Nivea Williams (09:42)
So yeah, you definitely get a mix of both.

Najee Williams (09:47)
Ah, man Yeah. So what do you think? What do you think was normal before but seems weird now?

Nivea Williams (09:57)
Okay, so one of the things that was normal before and that is weird. Now depending on the type of person you are, is wearing a mask. It was weird. It was normal to be outside and in stores and breathe with no mask on. And now if you do wear a mask, you're weird. And I wouldn't say necessarily this is weird, but just maybe nasty- the realization blowing on birthday cakes.

Najee Williams (10:25)
Yeah.

Nivea Williams (10:26)
Like what? My family, Well, my family, you know, you don't ,you're not up here. So like Grandma, you know, I just remembered the last few birthdays we celebrated, we don't even, we don't blow the birthday cake candles out anymore. We fanned it with like a plate or something. And I actually remember, it was somebody's birthday in the office. And you know, they had got him ice cream cake. And he blew the candles out with his breath. And I just was like, Yeah, I'm not eating that. So it's, it's over. Yeah, I would think those are probably the two that stand out the most to me.

Najee Williams (11:04)
Yeah, I definitely feel like especially now like the whole since the restrictions have been lifted on campus. And I remember we talked about this a couple weeks ago, like it just, it feels different. And like I remember because I work on campus. And like I like took my mask off people like I came in the building that day that the mask mandate came down and people were like, Why are you still wearing your mask? And I was like, I didn't know we were all like collectively deciding that Yeah, we were going to start wearing the masks. So like, I had to get used to like my face in public. Because you know, when you're under the mask, and like you're doing all your like face twitches and stuff.

Nivea Williams (11:45)
Yes

Najee Williams (11:45)
What is this? You have to like relearn, like how to adjust your face to like being in public.

Nivea Williams (11:51)
I told you my job recently ended the mask mandate as well. So I have co workers that started after, you know, I'll say March 2020. That's a memorable month for us. But everyone who started after that date, I never really fully knew what their face looks like. So now that the mask mandate is off, and people are taking their masks off, I'm like, oh, that's what you look like. And I do agree about you know, certain faces, you probably make them in your mask. Definitely hard to hide my facial expressions now in meetings, that I take my mask off. Yeah, it's crazy how. And I still have that hesitancy and not gonna lie. Some certain places I wear my mask, in certain places I don't. at work, I don't wear my mask because I have to be there for eight hours. No. Ridiculous. And the grocery store because I feel like there's so many people in the grocery store, I wear my mask there. The doctors offices I don't know about now in there, but up here the doctors offices any like medical facilities, you still have to wear a mask.

Najee Williams (13:04)
Okay. I think if you go to the hospital, so we went to the hospital for my girlfriend's friend, like a month or so ago, and they were still messed up, which is understandable because those people, those people might, you know, have been exposed to covid with that might be the reason why they're there. So that definitely, it makes sense.

Nivea Williams (13:24)
But, you know, some of the stuff that I do is kind of backwards too like, the grocery store, I'll be in there with a mask on and like kind of looking at people who have their mask off. Like I don't trust them. Yeah, but let a Saturday night come I'm at a Hookah Lounge. Like, not only am I out with my mask while but then I'm also in an environment where it's okay just be blowin your breath everywhere. So I gotta get it together.

Najee Williams (13:51)
This is a really good question. What do you feel like you missed out on? Like, how did your plans change over the past few years, like events or like anything

Nivea Williams (14:01)
I missed out on. I feel like, I'm in my 30s Obviously, you know that, but I feel like I missed out on time. I feel like that's what probably a lot of people have in common. And I when I say that I kind of feel a little selfish because it's like, you're in your 30s Right. But you know, I think about like kids in high school or just starting college those years where it's like, you know, you want to make the most memories where you'll be talking about those memories forever. And, you know, they were kind of gypped out at that time. But I feel that way as well. Starting the beginning of COVID I was single and then here we are three years into it. And I feel like this three years wasted and also the comfortability that I had was taken by the pandemic you I know we have our chosen places and people that we feel comfortable not being masked up around. But, you know, I feel like with dating or being around new people, I kind of look at them like, oh, I don't know who you was around and where they was at.

Najee Williams (15:16)
Yeah

Nivea Williams (15:16)
so it really felt like, you know, I don't know, I just like I was, I was gypped of my time. Like, that's three years, and none of us will ever get back. And every age is important, you know, not just when you're 16, when you're 18, or you're 21. You know, being your, you know, I was turning 30 Going into this. And now I'm going on thirty four. So kind of crazy to think about.

Najee Williams (15:45)
Yeah, I definitely agree. I feel like the biggest thing, so like, I work with a good you know, bit of kids who have been in the school system for not that much longer, that much shorter than me, like, I came into ECU in 2015. It was my freshman year. And I can say that, like I had a college experience. But like some of these kids, they've never had like, like, they never got to go out to parties. And they never got to do all this stuff. And I'm like, Man, y'all really like and I look back at my college years, like my early college years, and I'm like, so fond of it like, Wow, that was a great time. But then their memory of like their freshman year and the sophomore year, they're like, I'll just, you know, stuck in zoom meetings during class and stuff like that. And just,

Nivea Williams (16:35)
they were they were still home, they didn't some places, you know, I believe up here, some colleges didn't allow on campus, like dormitories and stuff like that. So, I know dorming is one experience that a lot of people love. Their first year of college, even thinking of it like [unintelligible] the year before her. She heard that year, they didn't have prom, a senior prom, because the COVID. So the following year, when [unintelligible] was a senior, they invited the prior class before her to come to the prom that year, because you know, they missed out on it. So I thought that was super nice. But yeah, I don't know how I would feel if I missed out on those type of experiences. And it wasn't, you know, because I chose to miss out on people chose not to dorm or go to prom, but you know, that was taken from me, I will feel completely different about it.

Najee Williams (17:37)
Yeah, I definitely feel like grateful about that kind of thing. Because I went to my prom I went to, you know, all that stuff, I got to have the college experience of my early freshman year, or early college years. And it's just, it makes you think about it like me. And that's like, memories that someone just like doesn't get to have.

Nivea Williams (18:02)
You know, and even worse, because I have a few people that I know that were engaged at the start of the pandemic, they, you know, just went ahead and gotten married, they didn't really have the wedding that they were planning the entire time, where they just waited. And then you know, people who've had babies over the past three years, that was a completely horrible, in my opinion, experience to go through, especially if you were well, in my opinion, if you're a first time mother, but you know, having a child and not being allowed to have the father in the room during the ultrasounds or during labor, you know, even having to give birth with a mask on and not being able to kiss your child. Like that's so crazy to me. So yeah, the pandemic has definitely we've done a number on some of us.

Najee Williams (18:55)
This is one of the last few questions. Did you ever get COVID? I think we spoke about this too. What was your experience like? So did you did you get COVID? And what was your experience like?

Nivea Williams (19:06)
So um, January 2020. I was very, very, very, very sick. And looking back on it, I believe and my doctor believes that it was COVID. At the time we didn't know it was COVID because there was no you know, testing for it. You know January's normally flu season and I just remember being in the hospital. And actually, before the hospital, I kept going to like urgent care because I didn't you know, January I didn't want to use my freshly new PTO that I got for the year. So I kept going to work, kept going to work and everybody's telling me oh, you don't look too good. You know, that cough I had was so horrible. I was keeping up everybody in the house. And when I would go to work everyone would tell me how horrible I look. Even one person went to the extent to say I looked even gray and that I needed to go to the hospital. So I just said, You know what I'll use a day tomorrow. Stay at home. And I had this persistent fever that just would not go well, it was a low grade fever, it would just it wouldn't climb over, like 101 or 102. But I just felt horrible. I felt super weak. I couldn't even get off the bed to use the bathroom, really, I had no appetite. I would eat like one can of soup a day. And that would be it. But then I finally went to the hospital. Well actually kept going to urgent care. They kept with me, test testing for the flu, that kept coming back negative, they kept testing me for everything. Everything was coming back negative. So finally I go to the hospital. They test me for all the same stuff comes back negative. When I tell you literally everybody in the hospital had the same symptoms as me. And the nurses were telling me like, Yeah, we don't know what's going on. And you know, everybody's coming in with the same symptoms, but it's not the flu. So I was in the hospital for quite a few days. I even had the what's it called breathalyzer, breathing machine thing called?

Najee Williams (21:10)
oh, yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. The thing that goes in your nose with the oxygen and all that.

Nivea Williams (21:15)
Yeah, I had that. And it was also like a mask that goes over it covers your mouth, your nose, and it just like steams medicine in

Najee Williams (21:25)
Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Nivea Williams (21:27)
Yeah, that was the only way I could breathe. And I swear I needed it like, every 20 minutes, but they couldn't give it to me every 20 minutes, because it was medicine. But yeah, that was the time that I had COVID that, you know, my doctor, and I believe it was COVID Looking back at the symptoms. And I'm actually grateful I had it when I did, because had I been sick in March of 2020. You know, that machine wouldn't even been available. The hospitals up here were so crazy. They were, I actually you remember, they were when COVID first hit hospitals here. Like if you had symptoms. And, you know, everyone's like paranoid thinking everything was covid at the time. So you just felt sick, and you're like, Oh, my God, I got COVID. If your symptoms weren't so bad that you needed to be in the hospital, they wouldn't even let you get tested, or like a doctor wouldn't see you. It was almost like they were sending people home to die.

Najee Williams (22:24)
Sending people away. Wow, that's crazy. I wanted to discuss this because I remember, you were sick. And like, I didn't think at the time that you had got COVID. But like looking back on it, I was like, yeah, that probably yeah, that definitely was COVID. Cuz like that early time of the pandemic where we really did not understand what was going on. It was just crazy. And like, I remember, we didn't really like think too much of it. Because it wasn't happening to us specifically that we were just like, oh, there's this like outbreak in China, it might come over here. I didn't find out about COVID until like March. But by that time, it was already over here. A girl at my job had got sick. And it was just kind of already, you know, on the fly, but we never really talked about those cases, like you were it was like before people even knew what it was, you know what I'm saying? Or even like, knew that, what it what it was going to be eventually.

Nivea Williams (23:27)
Yeah. I saw an article or something back in, I believe it was either 2020 or 2021 was after it was known that COVID was here and prevalent, they were even saying that, you know, they found out that it's actually been here since November of 2019. Yeah. So, and I remember even at that time, like everyone on my job was sick, which is how I think I caught it.

Najee Williams (23:59)
Yeah, I and I think they were talking about like, the airline restrictions, just now lifting for certain airplanes.

Nivea Williams (24:09)
literally just like today, yeah.

Najee Williams (24:12)
And that's kind of scary to think because of, there's this there's a movie, which is the sequel to The Davinci Code. I forget what it was called. I think it's Angels and Demons or The Last One. Anyway, so there's like a there's a like a conspiracy plan to like, unleash this virus. And we believe that we're going to do it was through like the system like the water system, because all these people were at this event and then after the event, they were all going to go back to their like, parts of the world that they were in. And it kind of reminded me of that movie because I remember like, I remember seeing the people about to release the virus and then they got stopped, because it was like literally like a vial that they were going to break into the water and then the people we're going to drink it or something like that. And then then we're gonna go back to. So there's, you know, there's interesting parallels to be drawn between, I'm not going to put on my tinfoil hat today, but

Nivea Williams (25:12)
I'll put it on it, that's quite a crazy idea to just have it make it to a movie, you know?

Najee Williams (25:19)
Yeah, definitely. So I think we're gonna wrap it up now. Is there anything else you would like to? Would you like people to know? Do you feel like, here's my last question? Do you feel like your kids will ask you about this? Like, it was like, I don't know, like World War Two or something? Like, is it something that you'd be asked to be told stories about or something like that? Because I feel like, right now, it doesn't seem like it was that big of a deal. But it was like, literally the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And we might not even like, think about it, it might, you know, there might be another worse crisis. Let's knock on wood about that. But

Nivea Williams (26:04)
unfortunately, I think by the time I have children, it definitely will be printed in their history books. And probably when they see the year that it happened, they'll probably have some questions like, you know, "Mommy, you were alive when this happened", you know, and then I'll probably be able to get some feedback. But unfortunately, I think we'll still be dealing with COVID. Even that day, it probably just look more like the flu. We have flu season. Yeah, unfortunately I don't really see us never dealing with COVID anymore, because there's so much inconsistency in the world with dealing with the virus. And, you know, I think also, one thing that we should look forward to, I guess, is, once it is printed in those history books, we get to, you know, correct certain things that are not necessarily the truth in those books, because we actually lived through it.

Najee Williams (27:10)
That's a Yeah, that's a good observation. I have I feel like there was so much information spread online about it, that some people might, you know, if they're writing a textbook or something, they might draw inspiration from an article that might not have been, you know, that credible. And I think that gives us an opportunity, like you said to like, correct, that kind of information that might not have been accurate.

Nivea Williams (27:39)
right. Like, you know, learn the book stuff to pass the test, but this is what really happened.

Najee Williams (27:44)
Yeah. That type of approach. I appreciate you doing the interview, and I think that should be about it.

Nivea Williams (27:53)
You're very welcome. I hope you pass your class.

[End of Recording]