Every student finds themselves to be handling the situation on their hands differently. COVID-19 came as a huge shock and left a lot of uncertainty amongst the students and teachers. The effects of COVID-19 seem to be stress and anxiety which have ended up affecting the mental health of some students.

A source who is currently stuck in the United states and being from south Africa spoke about how COVID-19 was affecting her life as well as her ability to focus on what she needed to focus on.  Having asked her about her academic life, she spoke about how she has been stressed out about going back home and work kind of feels like a second option to her right now and is adding to her stress.

“This whole situation has been so stressful and draining and I’d just like to go back home,”said Michaela Graney. Life has been fairly stressful for her and she has been starting to feel homesick as she has been away from her family and friends for almost 5 months now.  

Michaela has recently had a flight cancelled which was due to leave on May 5. “They might be sending reparation flights for South Africans stranded in other countries, so I might get one of those and be home soon.” There is hope for her and hopefully everything goes her way. It’s during stressful times like these where we need to be together as one.

As a country of South Africa, something like this virus could be very fatal to our people. Having used the news broadcasted on the tv, it is clear that COVID-19 is adding stress to the leaders of the country as they have to figure out a way to stop this virus from infecting and taking people’s lives. The news reported that South Africa’s cases have now reached 4 996 and 93 deaths since the start of the outbreak.

The site DispatchLive confirmed that South Africa’s cases have been shifting in terms of which province had the highest number of infections and this was not good as it means that the situation is not being contained. The more people are being infected and dying, the more everyone has to stay inside and this is the big problem for people which leads to the stress.

The president has initiated a phase 4 which will allow certain businesses to open but people may still not have social visits. No one knows how long all this will last so the people remain at home and they wait. The president has been trying to sort out those who are low income earners as well as those who live poorly. This is a fight we are in together and by the president showing us that human lives are more important than money is a great example for all of us. We need to remain positive and hopefully everyone continues to follow the rules and protocols.

Sports has been a hot topic amongst all the students and learners on social media. Everyone seems to be itching to get back out there and compete, especially the national athletes as they have Olympics and world cups to prepare for. Having being a part of a process to try qualify for the world cup, the COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the team as it has been a struggle to remain fit and focused. The virus as caused stress and has really effected the athletes. All that the group can hope to do is return to training soon and hit the ground running to recover some fitness as well as form.

We all hope that this pandemic doesn’t last long and we lose as little people as possible. We are grateful for all the nurses and doctors doing their best for our people and hope that everyone can continue to fight. It is possible that people could get used to this whole online format but for now, we hope that those who are struggling find their way and manage to overcome their personal obstacles.