For me, every Wednesday this semester has been partially spent getting tested for COVID-19. I have been doing so at the LSA building’s testing site, consistently enough that one of the workers knows me by name. Wednesday is also the day I work at The Daily, so my camera bag joins me for the journey. I have gone from doing this walk dressed in snow boots and my huge winter coat to doing it in shorts and a t-shirt, which has been an exciting change.
Today, after finishing up my Econ 101 exam, I headed over to the LSA building for my weekly COVID-19 test. It was business as usual. I presented my completed Responsiblue, provided my last name and date of birth, responded ‘no’ to the questions that have been forever etched into my mind (“have you had anything to drink in the last thirty minutes?”; “have you tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 90 days?”), scanned my M-card, sanitized my hands, and grabbed a baggy with a test tube in it. As the worker handed me the printed label with my name and date of birth on it, I noticed a stack of pins and stickers on the table that read, “Beat Covid.” As a sucker for anything free, I grabbed one before sitting down at a testing station.
As I left the building, I took out my phone to take a picture of the pin. I remembered that I had my camera with me and started to take some pictures of the pin. What started as a picture of my hand holding the pin against the blue sky became a series of pictures of the pin at different locations around Central Campus.
Next week is my last week on campus and thus my last COVID-19 test for the semester. Although I will miss my Wednesday walks, often including a stop at Starbucks, I hope the University of Michigan and the rest of the country can continue to “Beat Covid” so I can find a more “normal” way to spend my afternoons.
Staff Photographer Grace Beal can be reached at gbeal@umich.edu.