By Joseph Sciancalepore
Staff Writer
COVID-19 has, thankfully, not affected anyone from my family, but we are not taking any chances. The town that I live in, Old Bridge, N.J., has the most COVID-19 cases in Middlesex County, so my parents have not let me leave our house for our own safety.
I am a first generation American born to immigrants from Italy and the Philippines, two countries that are being heavily affected by this pandemic.
Italy has been the most affected country aside from China, and my father has been contacting our relatives making sure that they are safe every other day. Even though the Philippines has not had as many cases as other countries, they are in a national state of emergency to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Like my father, my mother is constantly checking in on our family to make sure they are safe.
I also live with two younger brothers, Mauro, 18, and Angelo, 16. Mauro attends Kean University in Union, N.J. Even though he was not pleased that his freshman year was cut short when his campus shut down, he understood that the university was taking the right measures to keep their student safe.
“My suitemates and I all knew that they were going to close campus. It was just a matter of when they were going to pull the plug,” Mauro said.
Angelo is a junior at Old Bridge High School, and they just closed their doors only a week and a half ago. Like myself and Mauro, he has to continue with the rest of his year through online classes, which is not the most ideal for him.
“I like that I can stay home and be safe,” Angelo said, “but online classes are not the best style of learning for me; I’d rather be in class.”
My brothers and I have not moved from our house for three weeks now, and we have made the most of our time here at home.
We have not seen our friends for a while now, but thankfully being in the digital age, we are constantly on FaceTime with our friends every night. We make sure that they are safe, and even though it’s not as special as hanging out in-person, we still enjoy our friends company virtually.
One of our shared hobbies is being fit and going to the gym on a daily basis. A few months ago, Angelo remodeled his bedroom and bought some workout equipment to build our own gym. We decided a couple weeks ago that it was the right time to finally build the home gym, and we have not missed a leg day or chest day since!
