We Make Southampton Podcasts: Teenage COVID journals Episode 3: Isabel talks to Katie and Oliwia from Bitterne Park School

What link could there possibly be between Cluedo &Dora the Explorer and Katie’s secondary school education during the pandemic? How did the pandemic impact Oliwia’s relationship with her strict Polish parents?
In our third podcast in the Teenage Covid Podcasts series, 16-year-old Isabel talks to her mates, Katie and Oliwia, whose candid and humourous recollections reveal how they dug deep into their personal curiosity to cope with the pandemic challenges.
Thank Goodness they didn’t drink bleach as the American President Trump suggested! Duration 20min

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

lockdown, vaccine, people, school, friends, pandemic, mom, bit, felt, southampton, home, family, sat, teachers, locked, parents, public health, virus, mum, sister

Isabel 

Hi, my name is Izzy. I'm 16 from Southampton and I'm going to be interviewing my friends today about their experiences during COVID and the pandemic. This podcast series aims to explore the pandemic experiences of young people aged 12 to 18 attitudes towards vaccination and protective measures as well as awareness and access to reliable and official sources of information.

Katie 

My name is Katie. I'm 16. And I'm live in Bitterne Park

Oliwia 

My name is Olivia. I'm 15. And I live in Bitterne Park

Isabel 

Do you recall when you first heard about the pandemic, when it was still just in China? Like did you hear about it in school or at home? And what was your reaction to it?

Katie 

I remember going to a friend's for asleep over the weekend before lockdown. And I was sat with her parents and we're all just chatting and someone said. Oh, yeah. Well by that a virus in China, and I was like, oh, yeah, because I'd seen it a bit on the news, but I hadn't considered it important. And then someone said that there was a recorded case in the UK. And we kind of paused and I was like, "oh, in the UK, all the way over here... That's interesting!

Isabel 

Yeah. Because I remember in the first time I heard it, we were in geography, and it came up on the board. And our teacher was saying, what do you guys think about this? I think we were discussing influential situations or something like that. And I just remember thinking, it's never gonna come here, like, we're fine. And I remember talking to my classmates and then thinking the same thing, but obviously not.

Oliwia 

I don't think much of it didn't faze me. But remember, I was sat in bed with my mom. And we are both looking out on our phones. And I was like, oh, it's not gonna be big, is it? And then she said, Well, you never know. And I just thought she was bluffing. But obviously, a week later, we had to isolate.

I have family in Poland and no-one in my family out here was that worried because we thought that Poland’s government precautions were better than in England and how they handled it, was better there, so if anything, they were more worried about us, because they thought that here was worse…

Katie 

I remember feeling like, oh, the government of being a bit... OTT about this. Why are we going into a mass lockdown?

Isabel 

So obviously, that was your reaction to it. But do you know what your family's reaction to it was?

Katie 

We were a bit hesitant about how serious it was going to be. But within a few days, we realised the schools are going on lockdown, flights have been cancelled. This is bad. And quite quickly after that, we became quite uptight about going out and the half an hour of exercise, and so on, we'd stuck to the rules. 

Isabel 

My mum actually took me and my brother out of school early, so as soon as she heard schools was shutting down for lockdown on Monday, but they had announced that on the I think it was the Wednesday beforehand when she went no, you and your brother have to come out of school because they're only keeping kids in school so that parents have enough time to sort out childcare situations and also their work situations.

Katie 

I remember, my parents kept me into school until the government said, 'Don't go in'. And on that last day, though, about there were about 70 students in our year who still attended, it was really quiet. It was the quietest I've ever been in school. My parents sat me down at the start of every like two weeks or the first two weeks, because we had two weeks, and it was the Easter holidays. So, they sat me down at the start of those two weeks. He was like, right, let's get your work organised. I think it didn't take long though. Like a day's work took like half an hour, maybe an hour. So, it was quite relaxed actually

Oliwia 

 My family at first were like 'oh, it's just a virus, a bit silly, but they're like, Okay, well, obviously stay indoors because we've got at risk family living next door, and we do communicate with them and stuff. So, we are going to be cautious

Isabel: So obviously there were quite a few theories going around at the time, did you hear any of them in your social circles or maybe even online?

Katie 

I mean, yeah, obviously, like on social media, there was all kinds of things. And what the US President was saying at the time was quite unreliable, say the least. And yeah... 'drinks some bleach.... that will solve all your problems'. So, my family raised me to be quite critical and scientific. So, I never really believed anything. I think as young people were all quite logical, and we all kind of just went with it and didn't really, you know, it makes no sense that drinking bleach would help so why would you drink bleach, it's a bit silly.

Isabel 

So tell me a bit about your personal circumstances back in February, March 2020.

Katie 

I would have been 13 I was living with my parents and my older sister and my little sister.

Isabel 

Did you have any pets?

Katie 

Three guinea pigs but didn't play much with them, I'll be honest

Oliwia 

I live in my mom, my dad and my dog Molly and my grandparents next door.

Katie 

We were very lucky that my dad already worked from home before the pandemic started he had an office in the garden so not much changed for his work life except for the fact that we were always there. We would just spend the morning working then the afternoon resting having fun because the work set was only a morning's worth.

Oliwia 

My mom didn't work from home. Yeah, she always went to work, so did my dad. So, it used to just be I'd come back home wait two hours till five and they'd both be back. 

Honestly locked down such a lazy period of time for me I just didn't do anything. Scroll my phone, go on tick tock on Instagram text friends, that was it, all on social media and lockdown stuff so it was mainly on my phone. I didn't spend a lot time with my mum though.

Katie 

And we would always sit around the table for breakfast because we just wanted to spend time together you know, you may as well embrace it and then we'd work for the morning, have elevensis, where someone had normally baked something on the Sunday so we'll eat that throughout the week and have tea and stuff then we'll get back to work have lunch and then be resting for the rest of the afternoon you know, I might do some reading, watch some Netflix just because had all the spare time in the world and the weather was really nice in the first lockdown like that May June kind of time, it was lovely. So, I spent most my afternoons outside. Before COVID, I did horse riding weekly, and obviously that was stopped. But I did continue practicing my guitar. I tried to learn Spanish on Duolingo. And I read a lot.

Oliwia 

I didn't do any clubs before lockdown. But I did start reading more in lockdown because I just thought I had more free time. I liked hanging out and my friends were like to the park going out with them. That was alright because it was out of the house and I was away from my phone, which is something different than what we did throughout the whole of the lockdown.

Isabel 

So throughout lockdown, did you pick up any new hobbies?

Katie 

I decided on the first few days to start doing a picture a day, just to make sure I had some memories of it because I was sure that this would be such a big thing. And my kids would be learning about it in their history classes. And I could show them this and I printed out some of them actually, I printed out my favourite ones and put them in a little scrapbook kind of thing. So, it was just like a way to keep track of everything I've done and whatnot.

Oliwia 

I used to read before lockdown, but I feel like in lockdown I did pick up reading, like regularly again. And I definitely picked up my passion for painting again. Because I used to paint a lot when I was younger, but I stopped because of school.

Katie 

And then during lockdown, I spent a lot of time down at Riverside. I just found parks. I went to the common a lot as well as fun parks were really nice way to relax. I think I was in quite good shape. To be honest. I did Jo Wickes every day, which was absolutely amazing. It was so much fun. I did it with my mom and we had an absolute blast.

Isabel 

So would you say Joe Wickes became a household staple?

Katie 

I would... he really… it was such a good way to start the day. And I loved the live streams. And just like the community aspect of it. It was so engaging.

Oliwia 

I didn't do any sports before lockdown, but I became less active when we came into lockdown. And I was diagnosed with anemia and that wasn't great. Although I don't think I was that active before lockdown. I do you feel that the lockdown made me less active because all regulations have been in place. It made it harder.

Isabel 

What would you say you enjoyed most about your life?

Katie 

I got very close with my sisters. And I think those bonds have really helped since lockdown. And yeah, just like family, it was great to see everyone and yeah, they were annoying. But you know, you have to love them. So, it was good times. I can't picture our relationships if we hadn't been forced into that proximity.

Oliwia 

I enjoyed being by myself in lockdown. Because I'm always around people. And sometimes people get annoying. So it was good to be by myself in the lockdown. Obviously, some people have really didn't like that, and their mental health got low because of it. But I think for me, it was really good. And I very matured since that. I think being by myself and just like being proximity just with me.helped me mature.....

Katie 

I remember I was obsessed with the fact that for like three, four months, I'd only ever gone in one building, like my home. We had to go into school for some catch up on jabs. And the sports hall where we did it was the second building I'd been in, in three months. And it was mad. Yeah, it was crazy socializing with those nurses after three months of only ever talking to my family

Katie 

So when we went back to school after the first major lockdown, if you got COVID, you would then have to be taken out and everyone who sits near you, had to be taken out. And it was honestly it felt like we were playing Cluedo trying to figure out by who had the sent home who got the virus, because obviously you weren't going to come out and say, oh, yeah, no, I got it. But you would know, like 50 people would go out in the year. And you would then try and figure out by all those people who had the virus.

Oliwia 

Do you know what I've never had it? I've never had it. I was gonna say like, everyone's Oh, yeah, yeah, like I had that and COVID and stuff. I've never had it. So whenever like that happened, I was always like, please let me be the one that was in contact with someone. 

Isabel 

Did you find there were any new advantages and disadvantages of having to be at home all the time, sort of with your family and things like that?

Katie 

We've had a lot of time to learn new things, I was very bored. So, I decided to learn all the countries capitals, and flags the world to fill the time. And that's been quite useful since, so that was quite the advantage.

Oliwia 

I think before the lockdown, me my mum didn't have a great relationship because I wasn't allowed out like at all, I wasn't allowed out to the park. I've had quite strict parents. But I think in lockdown, we just all got to know each other more obviously knew each other before. But we just got to… because we were in close proximity, I must have earned their trust more. And they must have understood that I was more mature than they thought I was. And so like, probably like in mid lockdown. Whenever we were allowed out, they let me out. And then since then I think we've just gotten closer because they've trust me more.

Isabel 

Tell me what your education was like during the pandemic. So obviously it was over teams, or zoom.

Oliwia 

I loved school like…. at home, I think I didn't learn anything. But when I did, it was by my rules. So, like, Oh, I'll do I had the PowerPoint. I have the paper, I have the pens. I'll do when I want to, but I'll do it in my own structure. So, I didn't never do like Miss told me too... I just did it how I knew I'd learn it. So, I think I definitely didn't learn in lockdown, but if I did, then it was better than I would have learned in school anyway. 

Katie 

Yeah, so we had for the first lockdown. It was just they emailed you like PowerPoints for every week. So, on Mondays, you'd get like nine emails from every subject. And I remember coz we chosen our options that year. The general vibe was you only do the subjects that you're doing in Year 9 like.... I wasn't going to do any history work. Who do you think I am? And then in January, February of 2021, it was online. Which sucked. It was so bad because you'd sit there in a lesson and it'd be like an episode of Dora the Explorer, because the teacher would ask something, and then no one would answer because no one would want to answer. And then like the chat, no one would answer no one would unmute. And then they would answer it themselves. It was literally like Dora the Explorer. 

Isabel 

And how did you guys hear the teachers describe the situation, were their views similar to yours. So just trying to make the best of the worst situations or joking or when a more....?

Katie 

I think because they're aware that they're very big role models in our lives, they were very measured with how they spoke about it. So, they would never say anything extreme, they would never voice their own opinion, they would just tell us the facts that the government had produced, and nothing more because they didn't want to negatively or positively influence us.

Oliwia 

Sometimes you knew, like teachers didn't want to, like, overstep, but they just had to give their little opinion...

Katie 

And then in the November lockdown, we still had to go into school, but the rest of the country was in lockdown. And every like period 5 lesson, when you went home, they would always like remind you 'go home straight after this lesson'.

Isabel 

Were you aware at the time of the term public health? Did you know sort of that every local authority has a public health team and health director who, you know, their responsibility is to oversee the health and improvement of the local population. So for us, obviously, Southampton

Katie 

One of my dad's friends, a guy that goes to our church, I don't know if he still is, but he was the public health director for Hampshire. So I'd heard his name chucked around a lot. And I didn't really know what he did. And I didn't really know what it was, but it sounded official. So I was like, okay, good for him. I know that he had to make some big decision, and I was like, okay dok... Good for him.

Oliwia 

No, I've never really heard of it before...

Isabel 

So no fee, there were quite a few online meetings organised by public health, with a few like doctors from the NHS answering questions from people about the virus. So, did you know if your family knew about them, and if they attended them? Did they find it helpful?

Katie 

I don't. I don't remember anything like that. If we had any questions, we just asked friends who are doctors but didn't do any zoom.

Isabel 

So once you sort of think about all of the current regulations having to wear masks from distance, sanitizing, all of that.

Katie 

I thought it made a lot of sense to be honest, we'd learned about like communicable diseases and how they spread, in science. So, it all made sense, in my mind. I remember being quite fascinated that you know, when you leave the house, you check for your phone and your keys. There was a new one added and it was mask. And I was like that's, you know, you know, it's big when you've added a new thing to the list.

Isabel 

Does anyone in your immediate family or even extended family fall ill with COVID? Or maybe did you fall ill with it with COVID? 

Katie 

I got it in a summer of 2021 I think it was going around to school and school ended. And there's two days. And I was testing because we were about to go up to London to see Hamilton and then it's just a positive so we had to cancel it. But yeah, it was quite annoying because I was the one in my family that got it. And then my sisters and my mum then got it definitely from me. And I felt quite guilty about that, because I'd given it to them, I mean, but it was around the time of the Olympics. So, I just watched the Olympics the whole time. I was quite ill with it. 

Isabel 

Did anyone in your family get it worse? 

Katie 

I think the scariest time was when like my grandma got it because that was like when it's serious when an elderly person gets it. You know, that was the first time I was like worried and actively nervous about how it would affect her.

Oliwia 

I think my dad had it once. But more than that, I think me and my nan, my granddad, and my mom, we never had it because they were always worse for me. Honestly, we just got lucky because there are definitely a lot of times we were exposed to it, but we never caught it, which was quite a relief because we had a very high risk person, which is my nan, she has diabetes. So, we were just very grateful, none of us have got it.

Katie 

I remember I just coughed a lot. And I felt like it was almost half it was like placebo effect. But half it did kind of feel hard to breathe.

Isabel 

What were your thoughts when you heard about the COVID vaccine?

Katie 

We'd learn about vaccines in school, and we'd learn how good they were and how they were effective. So, I was I was happy. I was really pleased that they've made one. And I was, it was quite impressive how they did it in like a year when normal vaccines took like, 10 years to get certified. So yeah, no, it was really good. It was really good. 

Isabel 

Yeah, I was really I was ready to go get that vaccine. I am so scared of vaccinations. But I just wanted to be able to go out and see family members that we hadn't seen in a long time because my nan hasn't got Wi Fi. We could do a phone call. And that's about it. Yeah.

Katie 

... we were going on holiday, relatively soon after. And I just, you know, I just wanted to go, you know, I didn't want to be held back by not being vaccinated.

Oliwia 

I remember the first time my mom told me about the COVID vaccine. I honestly, I don't follow the news and stuff. So, if anything got told me, I always got told my mom. So, I just asked Mom, like, is it something you want us to take on? She was like, yeah, we're definitely doing that. So if my mom said yes. And I had like, Yeah, but doing it. 

Isabel 

So did you know that was obviously you guys were open to the vaccines? And so we're your close family. But did you know of anyone who was skeptical that having the vaccines?

Katie 

So, I think we were more open to it, then, like my grandparents were a bit more skeptical, like what's a vaccine?

Isabel 

I know, we had friends, parents who didn't want them. And actually, when really it was all the kids really wanted to get it. And some of their parents didn't want to get it. But aside from that...

Oliwia 

I think everyone with families were positive and getting it but I do know, there was a family friend that didn't, and they were quite opposite to letting him come into the house. But they didn't want to say it rudely. So, there should be like, oh, did you like get the vaccine yet? And then like, they just let him down slowly. But then he got the hint. And I think he got after a while. So, he did have it. I think pure peer pressure

Isabel 

in your opinion, is important to have the vaccine or was it important to have a vaccine?

Katie 

Yeah, definitely. 100% important. Because that's, to be honest, that's what's made the case numbers go down. Isn't that like, 100%? That's why it's decreased because this winter, in winter of 2021, there was that... another massive spike. But, you know, there hasn't been this time.

Isabel 

So what do you think the best way of keeping people so our age informed about transmittable diseases and illnesses? And how to look after your health?

Katie 

I think education at school because that's where we spend quite a lot of our time and if there's like in PSHE lessons or in Tutor Time, if that's something that is accessible and if that's information that can be told to us that'd be really good.

Oliwia 

Use social media definitely because that's probably where every single person, like young person has an access to, and checks most days.

Isabel

I’d like to thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for the podcast, funded by Southampton City Council and produced by We Make Southampton Community Media CIC.