The coronavirus has affected pretty much everyone throughout the United States and most of the world, whether through infection or through the effects of social distancing practices. To help curb the spread of COVID-19, Indiana University announced in March that students would not be returning to campus for the remainder of the academic year, as all classes would be moved online.

While this precaution did keep the student population from mass exposure on campus, several Hoosiers have inevitably come down with the virus. For IU-Bloomington students Gerrin Moore and Yotam Fisher-Pinsker, Spring Break was no where near as fun and relaxing as they had hoped.

Moore traveled to Florida to visit his mother, where he started feeling sick. Some of his friends who couldn’t get tested were told to assume they had the virus, but Moore got some confirmation after getting tested and learning that his test came back positive.

“Whenever I started to realize that I had it, I still didn’t know much about it,” Moore said. “After the fear had passed, it was really just making sure that I was staying home and keeping it away from everybody else.”

Moore’s case ended up being relatively mild, as he only experienced the brunt of the symptoms for one day.

“For the most part, it was easier than a cold, because I feel like a cold just lingers, and this just passed so quickly for me. I had one day where my head was throbbing, and it felt bad to both sit down and stand up for a while,” Moore said. “Other than that, it really wasn’t too terrible of a thing.”

College students who aren’t immunocompromised are generally at a low risk of developing serious health issues from COVID-19, but they can just as easily spread it. Moore believes he passed the virus to his mother, as both of them spent time taking care of each other in Florida.

“It had actually been a while since I had gotten to stay with my mom or see her,” Moore said. “So, it was a happy little blessing in disguise there.”

Fisher-Pinsker also thinks he exposed his family after returning home to Michigan for Spring Break. He recalls Face-timing into a family dinner from his room while realizing that the changes to campus life in Bloomington may not be as temporary as he had hoped.

“I was only planning on coming home for like 4-5 days, and then heading back to Bloomington,” Fisher-Pinsker said. “I was pretty mentally prepared to go back, and then slowly, after the first couple days, especially after I tested positive, I realized that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.”

Since being at home for an extended period of time, both students and their families have recovered, but there are still questions about what the future holds as other families go through similar experiences with the coronavirus.

“It’s just a weird time, because it was always going to be a time of transition and figuring out what the next steps are in my life, but now it’s even more so,” Fisher-Pinsker said. “At what point can I pursue the next step? It’s kind of all up in the air. No one really knows.”

While Fisher-Pinsker is a graduating senior, Moore plans to return to Bloomington for his junior year in the fall, which may still look a little bit different to account for public health regulations.

“There’s a lot of frustration from people on being away from IU,” Moore said. “I think Bloomington is going to be a really interesting and fun place whenever we’re back at it.”