What it’s like covering COVID-19

To put it plainly, I am sick and tired of COVID-19. Even hearing the word just makes me stressed. I know I’m longgggg past being tired of it. It’s a part of my life...every...single...day. It’s like I can’t ever get away from it— even when I’m off work.

While what we report is super important and our communities need to know about this pandemic, I just feel oversaturated in all things COVID-19. It’s exhausting. In the news industry, it just chips away at you a little every day.

At the beginning of all this, it was interesting— something we didn’t know a lot about. As a journalist, I love diving into a new topic and learning about/becoming a “master” of a topic I didn’t know much about before I was working on the story.

I remember when I was first covering a story about the coronavirus, I called it “a mysterious virus.” I look back now and have a sad laugh at how little I knew it would impact the whole country. Fast forward to now. The U.S. is overridden with COVID-19 cases and deaths. This virus impacts EVERYONE.

In the beginning, it was pretty much every day that we get a new report about a higher death count and more cases. Things have gotten better, I will say that. To put it plainly, though, I just am sick of it. I hate that almost every story news stations are reporting has something to do with the virus. The thing is, these stories are SO important for people to listen to. If no one listens, we’re not going to get any further because some aren’t taking this virus seriously.

Regardless of the importance of making our communities aware of what’s going on with the coronavirus, it’s frustrating. I’ve spoken with doctors, nurses, and people who had the virus or watched someone die because of the virus. This is impacting real people. I just want to scream about my frustrations with the virus. I can’t begin to explain how I feel that on SO many levels. This virus is hurting our families and friends and it has no mercy.

As someone who is fully emerged in pandemic news, PLEASE do your part. Let’s all do our part so the entire country can get back to some semblance of normal.

Xoxo,

Amber