SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)-The students at Syracuse University look forward to in-person dining, packing the dome during sporting events and feeling like they’re on a college campus again. To many, getting the COVID-19 vaccine is the first step to achieving these goals.
On Monday, SU announced its plans to become a vaccination site and is waiting for approval from the state. In the meantime, students anxiously wait for life to go back to normal.
David Harvey, a junior at Syracuse University, worked at a nursing home over the summer and saw firsthand what the virus did to families. He hopes students getting the vaccine will minimize harm to at-risk communities and hopefully bring back some sense of normalcy.
“It would be great if the vaccine was more widespread, like being got by other students because then different opportunities on campus would start opening up,” Harvey said. “Hopefully by the time I come back for my senior year things will be back to a new normal”.
A new normal. That’s what most families impacted by COVID-19 have had to adjust to over the past year, including the family of Michael Gottlieb.
After coming home from college last March, both Michael and his father, Jay Gottlieb, were diagnosed with COVID-19. His father died just weeks later.
“Just dealing with the grief of if I brought it from school, that took me a while to get over,” Michael said. “Like maybe it could’ve been me who killed my own father.”
Michael describes his dad as an emotional guy, who wore his heart on his sleeve. The absence of him this past year left the family struggling to deal with their new reality. Michael, a lacrosse player at Boston University, always turned to his dad for advice on sports and life, something he now has to figure out on his own.
“Just kind of giving that fatherly advice that you need is something that we are missing. I wouldn’t say our family is not as close anymore, but there’s definitely some rifts. Especially when we’ve all been stuck in a house together,” Michael said.
Going back to normal for most people looks like going to restaurants, traveling and living without as many restrictions. For Michael, it means not being constantly reminded of what happened to his father. Constantly seeing masks, COVID-19 precautions, and hearing about it on the news, brings him back to the day his father died. His last image of him leaving a painful memory engrained in his mind.
“Going up to see him and he just didn’t look like my dad. It was obvious that all the treatment and COVID messed up his whole face, his body was different everything was different,” Michael said. “When I think of COVID, all I can think of is what COVID did to my dad.”
For the Gottlieb family, getting the COVID vaccine starts a new chapter. It serves as an opportunity to remember all the joyous moments in life they shared with their dad Jay Gottlieb, not just the tragic ending.
Nicki Cox: On Saturday over one percent of the U.S population got a vaccine shot. S-U is now making plans to become a vaccination site after the State Department of Health announced starting April 6th,
anyone over 16 qualifies. To many college students the ability to get vaccinated signals that the end of this long pandemic might be in sight.
Hanne Haynes: I think that Syracuse
vaccinating people is going to help make it go back to normal because i think the fact that the vaccination site is so far away makes it so that a lot of underclassmen haven’t been able to get the vaccine so I think it’s going to help a lot.
David Harvey: I think it’d be really great if the vaccine was basically more widespread like being got by a bunch of other students because then
different opportunities on campus could be.. start opening up like we’re starting to open up the dome a little bit which is nice and
hopefully by the time I come back my
senior year things will be back to a new normal.
Cox: we hear it all the time, the idea of going back to normal.
But for families that lost loved ones to Covid-19 there’s no going back to the same life they had before the pandemic. For Michael Gottlieb normalcy looks like
going just a day without remembering what happened to his family.
Michael Gottlieb: I think of like the last view I saw of him where
he was just so messed up like lost like 20 pounds just when you see him in the like.. we got to say goodbye to him so he was pretty much he was dead. Um yeah we went to go pull the plug but he died and when we were in the lobby and going up to see him and kind of just…he didn’t look
like my dad. Like it just was obvious that all the treatment and covid kind of messed up his whole face his body was different everything about him was
different the last time I saw him. So when you go back to doing things that you enjoyed you kind of remember the things that you did with him in a positive way rather than when you think of covid
all i can think of is what covid did to my dad.
Cox: Michael learned a lot from his dad. He taught him how to play sports, shared with him his love for music, and most importantly how to act with your heart and not your head. But Michael was never prepared to live in a world without his father.
Gottlieb: Just kind of giving that like fatherly
advice that you need is something that we’re missing. And especially I mean I wouldn’t say our
family’s not as close anymore
but there was definitely some rifts.
Cox: As a Sophomore in college
Michael understands why most students struggle to see the point
of taking covid precautions seriously. But with his father in mind he urges young people to do their part and get the vaccine out of respect for the families who’ve lost people they loved.
Gottlieb: All these people that have passed away, they all have they’re all hopefully really good people, really great stories so it’s…
I mean this year has been tough for
everybody and just losing a lot of these types of people that have really had a strong effect on our on our society on our world and especially in my family.
Cox: Michael looks forward to getting his first dose and he expects to shed some tears in the process. He says in 10 years he hopes to look back at this time and remember the man his father was
not the fact that he died from covid.
Nicki Cox N-C-C news
