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

Courtney Gentry
Interviewer

Tessa Gentry
Interviewee

April 3, 2022
Virtual Interview

CG: (00:03)
Hello, Miss Gentry thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. My name is Courtney Gentry. Now I'd like to formally explain to you where this interview is going to be about. I would like to learn about how COVID-19 has personally affected your life. I'm going to ask you some questions. And if you don't feel comfortable answering your question, it is okay to skip it. I completely understand that some things are too personal to share. So can you introduce yourself first?

TG: (00:31)
My name is Tessa Gentry. I'm 51 years old and I live in Roxboro, North Carolina.

CG: (00:37)
Okay. What is your affiliation with the university?

TG: (00:42)
My youngest child is a sophomore at ECU.

CG: (00:47)
Okay. What type of work do you do?

TG: (00:51)
I'm a physical therapist for Person County Schools. Full time. I'm also a part time PRN physical therapists for Roxboro nursing center here. Oh, that's exciting. How did COVID affect you in your job. As a physical therapist with person, county schools, I work with students with disabilities. When everything was closed down in March of 2020, where you were basically having to work from home. So we were sort of scrambling to figure out how to handle virtual therapy with a lot of the kids that I work with. And that was very challenging, because a lot of the kids that I work with are pretty severe. So virtual therapy was not very successful. For the most part, the last school year, it was optional. You know, some kids were in school, some kids were out of school. And that was hard to balance. Because I'm the only physical therapist here, it was hard to balance the kids that are in school, and out of school. And this year, we've most of my kids have been in school. But I think the lack of being able to be in an educational setting for that long has affected a lot of the kids that I work with. Also, being a physical therapist at Roxboro. Nursing Center, there were a lot of restrictions. When we were working with patients, we would have to wear in 95 masks, we would have to wear a face shield, we would have to wear goggles. And it just really made it much harder, working with patients trying to do what I normally did. Working with them.

CG: (02:41)
Yeah. I'm sure that was very difficult. Yeah. Did you have to get tested very often during the week

TG: (02:48)
did not with the schools. But when I worked with Roxboro nursing center, sometimes I would have to be tested once a week, sometimes twice a week, and that gradually sort of decreased and It all depended on if they were having active cases with either residents or employees at that time.

CG: (03:07)
Okay. What about the students and patients that were at the nursing home? Do they have to get tested?

TG: (03:14)
Then yeah, they only got tested if they were symptomatic. Usually kids at school, they were checking their temp for a whole year they were checking their temperatures, everybody's temperature as soon as they came in. And usually if kids were symptomatic, or if they had been exposed, they would have to notify parents. There were several times that an entire school would be quarantined for about a week and everybody would have to be at home or an entire classroom would have to be at home. And at that time, you know, if they had been exposed, a lot of people would have to be tested before they could come back.

CG: (03:50)
Okay, goodness. I know that was hard. And I understand that I'm sure that a lot of students had a good week where they were not catched up or caught on with their schoolwork and everything and they were really behind. Yeah. Hearing about that, how to COVID affect you personally. So

TG: (04:13)
I actually never had COVID I'd never had any symptoms. However, I was exposed quite a few times because two of my children, two daughters exposed me because they tested positive and were quite sick. I was also exposed numerous times at work a co worker that I shared the office with she tested positive twice and was sick. There were I was probably quarantined at home about three times because of exposure. So, but I never had problems but I did have a co worker. She and her family got very sick and her mother actually developed COVID and she passed away in the hospital. Oh, and my friend was they were unable to go to the hospital during the last couple of days that she was alive. So, you know, I would have to I would hear a lot of her difficulties, you know, when she was going through that. So I never had to experience that, thank goodness, but I was around a lot of people who did.

CG: (05:22)
Gosh, did you get around your parents much?

TG: (05:27)
There were a lot of times after I had been exposed that I didn't want to be around my parents, because I didn't want to take a chance that I might expose them if I happen to have it.

CG: (05:38)
Okay. And what about work? Whenever you're around your daughters, did they tell you not to come in even though you're Matic

TG: (05:48)
so I had to with the first one, which was early on, I had to be quarantined for 10 days at home, and then had to be tested before I could come back. The second time was further along the COVID timeline. And even though I had been exposed, I had been vaccinated by that time, so I was allowed to come back to work unless I developed symptoms.

CG: (06:12)
Wow, that's interesting. Do you think that others were affected in that same way?

TG: (06:19)
Yeah, it seemed like it was confusing, because the rules would change a lot. I know with the school system, it would change. Gosh, it seemed like monthly as far as what the rules were, as far as if you had been exposed. If you could come back to work if you could continue to work if you had to be tested and everything. So it's a little hard to keep up with.

CG: (06:42)
Yeah, I can understand how difficult that would have been.

TG: (06:47)
And

CG: (06:47)
did you ever get the vaccine this year or last year,

TG: (06:51)
so I got the VAX the Moderna, I got both of the shots. It was fairly early, when COVID was was coming about. And I actually got pretty sick. After each of the vaccines, it was sort of a day of just laying around. And I got the booster several months ago, and didn't experience any problems with that.

CG: (07:18)
Wow. Okay. Were you concerned about what you heard about the vaccine or the booster?

TG: (07:27)
No, not really, you know, there was a lot of talk about, a lot of people were afraid to get the vaccine because of problems with this or that. But I've worked in health care for a long time. And I think all of us have had a variety of vaccines in our lives. And I just didn't view this as anything very different. I tend to sometimes have a reaction to vaccines where I really feel bad for a day. So I was hesitant to get it just for that reason, because I really didn't want to feel bad. But with all of the restrictions. The restrictions were much tighter on people who did not have the vaccine. So to me it was it was worth the added benefit of not being under quite as many restrictions just by having the vaccination.

CG: (08:21)
Whenever you got the vaccination, did it feel like a flu shot vaccine? Or what did it have a different feeling to like to it?

TG: (08:28)
Yeah, I think it sort of felt like a flu shot vaccine except I think a little had a little more arm soreness with the COVID vaccination then with the flu shot

Unknown Speaker (08:43)
no, okay. Okay. Did the pandemic have any effect on your plans for the future?

TG: (08:51)
Well, things are getting sort of back to normal now. However, working in the school system, this year has been extremely hard. I think it's been almost harder than the COVID years, a lot of kids came back. And even like the middle school age, they came back to school and they were in school before all of the COVID stuff happened. So they knew how to function in a normal school year. But when they came back, it's like all of that was gone. They they didn't know how to even walk in a straight line in the hallway. It was it was like so much time has been lost with the kids in school. And it's and we're so behind with special needs kids that have been referred because we haven't been able to test and do things effectively during that time while we were in quarantine or the schools were closed. So this year has been exceptionally difficult in my opinion to try to catch up to the point where I am looking at how early I can possibly retire because it's just made things a lot more difficult. And I start to wonder how long it's going to take for all of the kids in the school systems to catch up to where they were. Before all of this happened.

CG: (10:20)
I'm sorry to hear about that about how you're planning to do early retirement, how this truly affected you in a more personal matter. Yeah. So out of work and school, do you do anything? out of it? Like do you do? Like, are you a coach for anything? Or do you volunteer to places?

TG: (10:41)
Yes, so I am a drill team coach for our high schools drill team. And I had taken a break from it last year, which was the year that everything was affected the most by COVID. And I've gotten back into it this year. And there are a lot of things that it felt like for a while our team was behind just because there were a lot of things we weren't able to do. Because of COVID, they weren't able to go to camp, they weren't able to have practices inside of the school, they weren't able to perform at a lot of the games. And now it seems like we're having to make up for lost time to develop skills in some of these girls that they have not really been able to work on, you know, a lot of dance studios were closed for a while. It's it just sort of set everybody back. I think

CG: (11:39)
in high school is supposed to be a real fun time. You're four years being there. And

TG: (11:44)
yeah, and a lot of kids missed out on a lot. You know, a lot of kids missed out on graduations, proms, a lot of things that they can't ever get back again. And it's pretty sad that those experiences were gone. And I understand the severity of COVID in the reason behind some things, but sometimes I felt Miss felt like it was it was overkill. And there were still a way to have these things happen without just completing completely shutting a lot of things down and robbing kids of these experiences.

CG: (12:24)
Yeah. Did they struggle wearing a mask while they are dancing? Or could they take them off during performances?

TG: (12:32)
Well, even up until this spring, they were still required to wear masks. While they were performing during basketball season. Now since then, our school has dropped their mask restriction. So we all of the schools in the county are now optional as far as mask wearing except for the preschools, that is which is my home school. Because daycare licensure requires that everybody continue to wear a mask right now, because most of those kids are too young for the vaccination. So both staff and students unless they have a medical exemption have to continue to wear masks right now, even though the rest of the schools don't have to anymore.

CG: (13:25)
Goodness. I couldn't imagine. I cannot imagine. Do you think that most people took COVID? Seriously?

TG: (13:38)
I do. Um, you know, every now and then you would see people who were very nonchalant about it. But I think for the most part, most of the people I saw were sort of following the mask rules and following the guidelines, I think. I mean, I understand why some people took it very, very seriously. Sometimes I felt like some people took it too seriously. But then, you know, I did have a friend who lost her brother. So I understand the precautions that a lot of people took. Unfortunately, I think some people used it as just a way to argue about things it seemed like during all of this process, people became very argumentative and very defensive. And you know, if a business required you wear a mask, you know, some people throw a fit about it. Well, if you want to go in that business, you just wear a mask. I mean, to me, it seemed very simple, but some people it just seemed like a reason to fight against something. Yeah. Okay.

CG: (14:47)
Well, working with special needs kids do their parents take very seriously.

TG: (14:53)
Yeah, most of the parents took took it very seriously to the point where some of the kids that I work with, the parents decided to keep them in virtual school this year, just because they they had other health problems, and they really did not want them even being in school and being exposed to anything. Now, lately, we have not had any cases that I'm aware of in any of our schools. But, you know, I also think some of these parents, you know, some of the severe kids that I work with, it's, it's a task for the parents to get these kids ready for school, you know, you have to get them dressed, and get them in a wheelchair and do all of this stuff. And it's almost like, all of the COVID restrictions and everything, gave them a reason to keep the kids at home. It was almost like it's saying, Well, you know, this is easier for us. Plus, we don't have to worry about our child getting sick. So we'll just opt to keep them at home when the whole goal before was to get kids in the school and really have them actively involved with other kids. Now, it seems like it's sort of pulled back in the other direction. And some parents are like, it doesn't matter if they're exposed to other kids or not. Yeah, yeah, I find that sort of unfortunate, because I think even even, you know, special needs kids that are pretty severe can benefit from social interactions with other kids their age. Yeah.

CG: (16:30)
I get it. It's a very difficult time. But still, it's nice to move forward and have interactions with other people did make it feel like it's back to normal. Understand that with kids who are really struggling to Well, besides personal life, how did you feel about the government handling the pandemic?

TG: (16:53)
I think I understand a lot of the government required closings and mass mandates and that kind of thing. But I also think that a lot of those restrictions really damaged our economy. There were a lot of businesses that closed down, there were a lot of people who lost their jobs. And it was the kind of thing where, in my opinion, some of those businesses could have been kept open, you know, like, like, the state governments were closing down gyms and studios and not allowing any in house dining and restaurants and, and that kind of thing. And there were a lot of people who worked at places like that, and owned places like that, that that income is what enabled them to pay their bills and survive. And I think that lasted too long. And I think that really damaged a lot of people. I think things could have been opened up earlier than they they were, I think some of the mask mandates could have dropped earlier than they were and I think it might not have caused such a significant long term damage to a lot of situations as it has.

CG: (18:30)
Yeah, I would totally agree with that, too. Regarding to the mask mandate, since it's been lifted up at schools and other workplaces, do you think it is safer to keep that in line with a nursing home and make sure that workers and patients still wear their mask around others?

TG: (18:51)
Well, so I have not actually been working at Roxboro nursing center for the past several months, I had sort of taken a leave because I had some other things going on and I didn't have time to help them PRN like I used to. When I left. We were required to wear goggles and an n95 mask. And every now and then there would be a case of an employee or a patient who who had COVID. I don't know what the mask requirements are now, because I haven't been there for the past several months. I assume that they still have to wear a mask that they might have switched back to a regular mask instead of an in 95. I don't know if they would still have to wear goggles. It was extremely difficult to treat a patient while wearing goggles and an n95 Mask. It was hard to breathe. It was hard. The glasses would fog up it was just it was just difficult. So I don't know what their restrictions are there now. But I do know when COVID first hit us that that nursing home lost a third of their population in house, a third of their residents passed away due to COVID. So, understand if they still have restrictions, I would hope that they would lighten it up. Because I think in health care and in the schools, I think it's important for people to see facial expressions, I think, if you're a patient and somebody's taking care of you, I think sometimes it helps to be able to see their face and to see caring in their face. And a lot of that is hidden behind a mask. And that's just like kids in daycare. I think they would benefit from seeing an adult's face, you know, who is taking care of them and cares about him instead of just seeing a mask? I don't think that that's good for their development, in my opinion. And I'm hoping that those rules for daycares will be lifted soon, but I have not heard that they'll be lifted anytime soon. That's

CG: (21:09)
great. Okay. That's yeah, well has everything in your job and personal life returned to normal.

TG: (21:18)
I think in my personal life, I don't know that anything is really affecting my personal life as far as COVID anymore. You know, we're, we live, there's, there's no mask mandates, there are still a few kids who wear masks to school.

TG: (21:40)
But, you know, as far as personal, I don't really, I guess it almost feels like things are back to normal work.

TG: (21:50)
I think it'll be more back to normal when we no longer have to wear a mask in the preschools. And but as far as, I don't know how long it's going to take for some of these kids to rebound from the academic services that they've lost, because virtual school was just not the same. So many kids did not thrive at all in that setting. And, you know, I've got one child, that she's supposed to be in middle school this year. And she has some special needs, but she was in regular classes. And for the past two years, she was supposed to be receiving virtual services, but the child would never connect virtually, with teachers with with anybody. So now she's supposed to be in sixth grade. But she has not really had any educational services since fourth grade. And it's not that the school has not reached out, she just the parent would not make sure the child connects, the child would not connect. So that's two years of education.

TG: (22:59)
That's, that's down. So I don't know how long it will take for things like that

TG: (23:05)
to return to normal because I don't know how long it'll take for these kids to regain what they've lost.

CG: (23:15)
Okay, well, Miss Gentry. It was a pleasure speaking with you. And thank you so much for the valuable information you shared with me. Thank you very much. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Bye bye.

[End of Recording]