4-5 page paper with the required sections (such as Introduction with thesis statement, literature review, methods observations, conclusions)
The paper should address the observation done while your friend attends his/her classes online. The observation should focus on how online schooling may or may not meet the learning criteria to students during Covid-19 pandemic. The observation should also include the distracting factors during distance learning and overall students performance and their interaction with the teachers. The aim of this paper is to observe and analyze a students performance in distance learning caused by the covid pandemic.
Do New Yorkers take COVID-19 seriously and wear a mask while riding on the subway?
Thesis
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaped and reshaped our lives in many ways. The pandemic has disrupted the everyday lives that people were so used to in pre-pandemic days. With the rapid spread of the virus and the high number of deaths associated with the disease across the U.S., the disease has instilled fear into Americans’ lives. Couple that with the shut-down of economies and the disease becomes unbearable. The orders to stay-at-home, shelter-in-place, and work from home escalated the gravity of the Americans’ perceptions of the seriousness and the dangers of the disease. Most Americans panicked, which led to clearing essential foodstuffs and other items in the market stores. These orders were meant to short-circuit the spread of the virus, and as the number of recorded infections subsided, a gradual reopening of the economy was implemented. However, strict observation of COVID-19 safety measures was vital if not mandatory, including wearing face masks, frequent washing of hands, and social distancing to ensure positive progress in the disease’s containment and management. These measures hit hard on low-income and minority populations. Nevertheless, observation of these measures is necessary to enhance one’s safety and that of others. This ethnography paper seeks to establish whether New Yorkers take COVID-19 seriously and wear a face mask while riding on the subway.
Literature
As the Americans struggle with hard-economic times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of observing the COVID-19 safety measures is a relatively personal choice. This is because of the social, demographic, economic, and political factors that directly influence peoples’ perceptions of the disease. Americans who have experienced or witnessed a loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic tend to adhere to these safety requirements strictly. However, those who only hear reports of COVID-19 deaths do not take COVID-19 seriously, with some even claiming that it is a political scam. For others, they attribute their seriousness or lack of it to the COVID-19 protocols to the prevalence of contracting the virus and dying from it. Still, another group of individuals, mainly comprising low-income and minority groups, faces challenges implementing these measures amidst their social and economic struggles.
Not every American can cope with these changes. Americans who make up the middle- and the upper-class are better placed to adapt to the pandemic’s life changes. According to Khan, race and class are densely intertwined, and Blacks and Hispanics make up the largest part of the low-income population in the United States.[footnoteRef:1] Therefore, the abilities of the minority groups and low-income populations to adhere to theCOVID-19 protocols may be limited as their priorities lie with basic needs such as food and shelter. Although the COVID-19 pandemic situation affects all communities equally, the outcomes cannot be expected to be automatically equal across the communities. As Khan notes, the setup does not guarantee equal chances of success, but rather success varies depending on how the actors implement their actions.[footnoteRef:2] Low-income individuals who use public transportation means have a higher likelihood of contracting the virus than the high-income populations that rarely use public transportation systems. It is because of such inequality gaps that disparities arise in the COVID-19 infection rates. [1: Khan, Shamus Rahman. Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2011. Book. P. 212] [2: Khan, Shamus Rahman. P. 212.]
Moreover, there is the aspect of the long-standing ignorance of the social welfare of the people living in the minority-dominated places. The zero-tolerance policing system subjects people of color to the prison system that actively contributes to the inequality among the population groups in the United States.[footnoteRef:3] However, while the tough-on-crime measures have created social inequality, their benefits are witnessed in the pandemic era. Following increased surveillance that is often present in minority groups’ neighborhoods, these groups tend to avoid conflicts with the authorities at all costs, including wearing face masks in public. As Goffman puts it, individuals from these groups, especially men, have harnessed the art of coping with increased surveillance and policing by avoiding “dangerous places, people, and interactions entirely.”[footnoteRef:4] [3: Goffman, Alice. On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2014), P. 3.] [4: Goffman, Alice. P. 52.]
Method
We reveal part of our true selves when we are in familiar places and with people we know. Thus, for an ethnographer to attain their objective task, they have to be deeply embedded into these places and among these people. According to Khan,
“ethnography is best when it gets the lives of people right, when it provides an accurate account of places or institutions, and when the argument is helpful for making sense of the world around us.”[footnoteRef:5] [5: Goffman, Alice. P. 203.]
To this effect, there is a need to capture an accurate account of New Yorkers’ behavior towards COVID-19 by physically observing them in their natural setups in the New York subway train. My observations were conducted during the day, around noon, and early in the night, at around 9 pm. I sought to capture the differences in behavior at both times. Further, to explore whether there was a difference in human behavior regarding COVID-19 safety measures in the subway train, I headed in opposite directions by taking the Q train from 86th Street, the second subway of the New York City subway, to Downtown Brooklyn on 20th October in forty minutes. The other ride was from Church Avenue Brooklyn back to uptown Manhattan 86th street, second avenue subway station on 22nd October, a ride which took thirty-five minutes. Both observations were conducted on two different working days, the 20th and 22nd of October. An observation of the general public, who were not riders, was also made at the subway stations.
Data and Analysis
When I got onto the Q train from 86th street to Downtown Brooklyn at 8.50 pm, there were five riders on the train, all with masks, throughout the forty-minute ride. The train attained a maximum of seven people, and everyone had their face masks properly worn. Its riders included men, women, the elderly, youth, whites, and Asians. Everyone wore face masks, and all apart from two young individuals who were sitting across me did not engage in any face to face communication. Each of them was glued to their phones. It was at noon when I got on my second ride back to Uptown Manhattan. This time, the subway was crowded, with some people sitting very close to each other and some, including one I identified as a nurse choosing to stand. While every one of them had their masks on, a young man I believed to have been a high school student wore his mask improperly, covering his mouth and leaving the nose exposed. However, the young man pulled up his mask at some point and slept. Some of the riders were sleeping. The elderly seemed more concerned with riders who were not wearing their masks.
At some station, a homeless man entered the train with his mask on, seeking help from well-wishers explaining that he had no job and had a family to feed. Most of the riders alighted at Times Square, and only three riders were left on the train by the time I alighted. My observations at the subway stations revealed that most people wore their face masks, with a few, mainly young men aged between the early twenties and mid-thirties, improperly wearing their masks. Some had them in their pockets and did not wear them unless they were about to encounter many people.
New Yorkers are generally keen to observe the COVID-19 safety precautions of social distancing and wearing face masks. Some of them even carry sanitizers with them. The elders, in particular, seem to be more observant of these precautions as they understand they are more vulnerable to the disease. In contrast, the young population, who believe that they are less susceptible, appear to take the COVID-19 safety measures less seriously. Men are also seen to implement the measures sparingly, probably because they consider themselves less likely to contract the disease. The overcrowding and lack of social distancing in some subway train wagons during peak hours demonstrate a strong desire for people to carry on with their daily routines, including work and leisure activities while taking precautions within their control. There was no notable difference regarding race and ethnic identity in the implementation of these safety measures.
Conclusion
In conclusion, my observation of New Yorkers as they ride in the New York City subway and pass around the subway stations reveals that most New Yorkers are serious about the COVID-19 disease, as is shown by their wearing of face masks and social distancing. However, while the older adults are extra careful in implementing COVID-19 containment measures, the young individuals seem to apply the standards sparingly. If we are to secure all groups’ safety against the COVID-19 pandemic, there must be a united front in implementing the safety measures. Therefore, targeted public education on COVID-19 is required to achieve absolute containment of the disease.
