Charlie, 16 years old, talks to Basti about his experiences with the pandemic. Given his extended family in Germany and America, Basti had an insight that many of his peers did not. Duration 15 min This series is a We Make Southampton production, funded by the Southampton City Council Stronger Communities Team
Charlie, 16 years old, talks to Basti about his experiences with the pandemic. Given his extended family in Germany and America, Basti had an insight that many of his peers did not. Duration 15 min This series is a We Make Southampton production, funded by the Southampton City Council Stronger Communities Team
THE TEENAGE COVID PODCAST SERIES
TX Dec 24, 2022 Charlie & Basti
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Southampton, vaccine, people, friends, hear, locked, school, pandemic, lockdown, Germany, happening, anti vaxxers, march, trampoline, news, point, remember, teachers, Boris Johnson, World Health Organization, minutes
SPEAKERS
Charlie, Basti
My name is Charlie and I live in Southampton. When the pandemic was declared in March 2020, I was 14. Our personal freedoms were suddenly restricted like never before, by public orders, because of the threat of the newly emerged CORONA Virus. Communities were weakened by the deaths of their loved ones and strengthened by the common purpose of surviving and looking after each other.
My friend Basti, who has extended family in America and Germany, shared with me his reflections from that time.
Charlie
Basti, thank you for agreeing to talk to me.
Basti
I can think of late 2019, maybe after Christmas... I don't know when it was… like term time… just going down pretty early in the morning hearing on the radio, you know, they're saying someone's eaten a bat. And it's caused the pandemic, and talking to my mom about it …like wouldn’t it be funny if this created the whole thing?
Charlie
Let's talk about the period between the 11th of March when the World Health Organisation declared the Coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic and the 23rd of March, when Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, announced the first national lockdown during an address to the nation. Tell me what do you remember from this time?
Basti
It was that period where we kind of saw what was going to happen to us happening in other countries. So, you know, at first, it was… I mean… obviously, it happened in China, you saw them being in lockdown. Of course, the Chinese were quite very strict with it, the whole city was locked down, and then it spread to Europe. I remember Italy quite clearly. And you know, it was fully locked down no more tourists in any of those special places… like a picture of Venice being completely empty. And you know, the rivers, they were clearing up even because of the lack of tourists, the lack of pollution. And then you know, I have family in Germany. So, I got some information from them. And then we knew it was bound to happen, really. And then I remember Bo Jo, the prime minister going out, he called that lockdown. We knew it was coming.
Charlie
So you mentioned you had family who lives abroad. Did you communicate with them much?
Basti
Yes, I think I did, because I was curious about what was going to happen to us because again, I knew that it was going to come to us eventually. So probably my granddad and my grandma, other than that, is probably who I speak to in Germany. So yeah, I knew it was coming. We spoke a little bit about it. And obviously, my dad's family. He has a lot of family in America. And, it might be later on in the pandemic, but, you know, we heard about it and the Trump administration and how they were dealing with it was much more like ‘herd immunity’. We'll let everyone get it. And then I remember me following some news pages on Tik Tok and just watching the number take up.. when it hit 100,000 150,000. And just seeing the government not care about it all. Us, in the UK, we were much more locked down and isolated, we couldn’t go to the shops without queuing, queuing like five minutes beforehand, to seeing in America people with no masks just walking into Walmart, getting their toilet paper
Charlie
So lockdown hits, it’s the 23rd of March 2020. What changes did you and your family have to make to adapt to this new situation?
Basti
Well, first of all, I remember watching that speech...the Boris Johnson speech…you know, ‘you must stay at home’. ‘protect the NHS’, ‘save lives’. We were watching that speech and we were like, ‘oh my god, it's happening’, getting on messaging everybody we knew …we knew this was coming.
Charlie
Do you have any memories of teachers speaking specifically to like a class about COVID?
Basti
Miss West in history! She told us about how to wash our hands and sing Happy Birthday twice, do it for that long, right? I think I've carried those habits forward.
Charlie
Who did you share your home with?
Basti
Well, my whole immediate family mother, father, and two sisters.
I was year 8, about 12 years old. I was just getting on with school, really not that much keeping in touch with the news playing video games, a bit of football. That was really how my life revolved around then.
We got into that lockdown, maybe I checked the news, to see what was happening really. And pretend to do school for six hours ... gotta… hold my hands out for that one.... rest of the day, get on my Xbox, play video games with my friends because that's really all I had to socialize.
I mean, it was hard for lots of people. But I had the good end of the stick whatever you call it. I mean, I never really had it. I could just do what a 12-year-old would like to do, stay alone in his room, and play Xbox....it's not like we were in a time where being in lockdown we couldn't speak to anybody, right? We have phones, we have Instagram, we have the X book. So, it was actually fine for us because our parents couldn't make us get up and go out.
Charlie
So being the 12-year-old, did you hear any wild conspiracy theories, like passed around as a joke or maybe something else?
Basti
Definitely, we heard about them. That's the beauty of social media. Yeah, this like, oh, is this just a weapon made by China? And you can, can say it was a joke really… I'm sure there are many more.
Charlie
So how did the school handle the lockdown?
Basti
School at that time, we didn't do teams or zoom, it was very much, like your teacher would email you the work every hour, or every slot you're meant to have in a normal school day. And you were just expected to do it.
Maybe at the start, I did some definitely, but not all, because it was really, really hard to stay motivated at that point, when, it was so easy to just drift off, and do whatever I wanted, like, play video games, or go outside jump on the trampoline, right?
I mean, as a joke, me and my mom would also always go like, in the middle of a school day, when, you know, I was meant to be working and have a PE lesson where I just jump on the trampoline, and she'd throw a ball to me. And so that was actually quite fun. I look back at that nicely.
Other than that, the school didn't have a way to enforce you doing that work. And at the end of it when we came back in year nine, I guess, I was relieved to hear that they weren't gonna put it against us that we didn't do any of the work.
Charlie
So apart from the previous advantages of spending time with friends online and having fun, what were the disadvantages of being in lockdown?
Basti
I think I lost my fitness very quickly. For lack of a better word, I got fat. I knew it. My dad certainly knew it. He wasn't afraid to hide that was a yeah, I hope you hear this, Tom. But not being as active was definitely a problem. And coming back right afterwards, playing my first game of football. I didn't start... I played for about five minutes until I just could not run anymore.
Charlie
So, when you...when you went to play your first game of football, what restrictions did you follow?
Basti
Well, in the first game, that was later, but I'll take you to my first training session back. So, there were rules and regulations set by the government that our coaches had to follow. So, we all had our own poles. And still to this day, they're labeled with our names on them. And we had to stay in that line. And then I remember our first-second session back was fitness based. And it was just running through poles through cones because I guess our coaches knew that lockdown hadn't done us any good either.
Charlie
What did you think of these measures?
Basti
Well, you know, I was, we were lucky that it wasn't any worse, right? And at least we were back out there being more active so the measures, it's really the least you can do, I think.
Charlie
Did anyone in your immediate or extended family fall ill with Covid?
Basti
No, actually, later on in the pandemic, yes, in but not properly ill, they all recovered quite quickly.
Charlie
How was your mood during the first lockdown?
Basti
Good, because I remember that that summer, or after March, it got sunny really quickly. And it wasn't like you were stuck inside having to do what you need. I could go outside, you know, take my dad's laptop, you know, do some work in the sun. And enjoy because from the little time you could actually go out I could go in the garden, jump on the trampoline.
You know, I had a neighbor who recently moved in at that time, a little toddler... I always pulled faces at her, I think she loved me to be honest. But yeah, I think it was generally good. And then towards the end of that summer, I did think we managed to get away to Germany. I can't remember because I think the restrictions were relaxed. So, I could go to Germany and have a holiday to get away from it all here
Charlie
So how did that holiday change the way you viewed lockdown when you got back into the thick of it?
Basti
First of all, I think the Germans took it a bit more seriously in terms of mask-wearing, and testing. I don't think that they had a vaccine by then. But when it did come to that they were very serious about the vaccines, to get into places you either needed a test on the day or a vaccine and a pass for that. But when I did get my vaccine, I got it in Germany and not here.
Charlie
After you came back from your German holiday, and you went back to school, what impact did COVID have?
Basti
I think COVID at that time at our school, I think it was probably a good thing for me as well because I could grow in confidence, knowing no one was there. I figured it out, you know how to do it. Because those first two years in school probably weren't the best times for me, friends-wise, I didn't have too many. But then I came back. And I built some solid relationships that I still have now, and I hold very close to me, but yeah, it was a good thing coming back into it, you know, we, it was different.
It was like not the same as full-on five periods, all the same length. It was staggered, we had different times. So, one less would have been 70 minutes, and one would have been 45. So, to stop the year group from mingling, cause bubbles and all that.
Charlie
At the time, were you in fact aware of the term public health?
Basti
Probably not that specific term. I mean, I knew of it. Obviously, the public needs to stay healthy. But no.
Charlie
So, I'm guessing you didn't know that every local authority or authority has a public health team and a public health director who is responsible, whose responsibility is to oversee the health improvements of a local population.
Basti
No, I had no idea about that.
Charlie
So during that first lockdown, do you remember regularly checking your phone for the number of COVID cases to see if we might be going into another lockdown?
Basti
Yeah, I do. Because one way or another. With today's world and access to technology, you're gonna see it. I also wanted to be someone who wasn't sheltered. I could, I could see what there was when it was, you know why it was because I wanted to know the facts. And everything that was happening because it's happening to you…you'd want to know why, but I never really worried. And at that point, another lockdown, was it really the worst thing? But eventually, you do want to get back to normal life and the tail end of that. And when we did get back to normal, I mean, not even that long ago now, it was a good thing.
Charlie
So normalness came back. Do you think that vaccines helped with going back to normal?
Basti
Oh,, definitely because it's a tool to stop it from spreading, and giving it to other people was hurting you just as much, so you need it. You needed to do that. You needed the vaccines. It's really one of the main things that's pulled us out of this horror show.
Charlie
Were you skeptical, when he first heard about the vaccines being available?
Basti
No, not at all. Not at all. Because, you know, there's full-on government bodies, dedicated scientists, experts who are making sure that this vaccine is safe and does its purpose. And once that time, that time has come when it's readily available to everyone you want, it's it should be your purpose, job, and responsibility to do that because you're not only protecting yourself, you're protecting other people because even if you're healthy, maybe someone's grandma or granddad right, they can't deal with it as much. So, it's everyone's responsibility is collective to get that because it will, it will help.
Charlie
Did you know anyone who was skeptical about vaccines?
Basti
Yeah, I mean, everyone around you… there's going to be some form of anti-vaxxers... course, they are entitled to their opinion. Then you see on the media, these whole… anti-vax rallies ‘my body my choice’, ignorant, completely out of context. But you know, it's, it's not right, you're being selfish at that point, I think. Because it's your responsibility to stop spreading it to other people. And that argument that ‘I don't know what's in it, so why should I put it on my body?’, is just totally flawed. Because as I said before, there are the whole expert scientists dedicated to making sure it's safe for you.
Charlie
How did your family react to the same news about the anti-vaxxers?
Basti
I can definitely hear my dad saying some strong words about it. Because I think he'd had enough of lockdown at that point as well. Everyone had, you know, maybe some strong words said at the television because a lot of this was actually coming from his home country. So maybe he was embarrassed.
Charlie
So, when did he get the vaccine?
Basti
For my age group in this country, you know, I didn't have anything chalked down, that I was gonna get an appointment. I just went to Germany, my mum said because we have some doctor friends there. they said we can get you the vaccine. And that was something I was totally up for straight away. So, you just turn up, not really too many questions, you just tell them the date of birth, where you're from who you are, and they give it to you. Because they as a people, as a culture felt the same, really, that it was going to be the way to get them out of it. And they wanted to get out of it, too.
Charlie
And after that first vaccine in Germany, how many more did you get afterward?
Basti
So then at the tail end of that Germany trip, I got the second one just I was about to leave. So, I was double-dosed at that point, which was probably the amount that most people had. There weren't really updated doses, third doses at that point. And now you see people getting like four and five. But since then I haven't actually got another dose. I don't think.
When the vaccines came to school, a lot of my friends did get their vaccines. I mean, some s of my friends were, were skeptical about it. Of course, they can do that. They're still fine people.
Charlie
Did talk you talk about the pandemic in school at all?
Basti
Probably we talked about it slowly. And then obviously, there was the hype around…as it got further and while we need to shut schools, and of course, we all wanted that. And we were in year eight, so nothing really mattered at that point. You know, some would say, but maybe it did actually affect us much more than we thought.
Charlie: Basti, thank you for your insights. This is funded by Southampton City Council Stronger Communities Team and produced by We Make Southampton Community Media CIC.
END