Setting is in a room with two chairs facing each other and a world map in the background. Barb, white woman with white hair and glasses wearing gray shirts with red cardigan, and Larry, white man with gray hair in a ponytail and glasses wearing a black buttoned up long sleeved shirt, takes turn interviewing with Nic, white woman with short buzzcut hair and glasses wearing black long sleeves shirt.
Nic: Hello! What is your name?
Barb: My name is Barb Schmidt. My name sign is this.
Larry: My name is Larry Romanowiz. My name sign is this.
Nic: Did you experienced getting COVID?
Larry: No I have not.
Nic: How did you not get COVID?
Larry: I think positive keep up with news, pay attention to your surroundings including going to the store. If I heard spike in cases, will wear mask as much as possible.
Barb: I did
Nic: What did your experience look like?
Barb: It started on a Sunday. I had a bad headache. I tried using medicine and felt ok throughout the day. Then on Wednesday, there was a deaf cookout (pinic) and I went. Later that evening, I felt something was off so I went to the office at my apartment. I live in an apartment. I told the office I wanted to get tested because I wanted to see if I had COVID. I took the test through my nose. Sure enough, they told me I had to go quarantine for 10 days. I thought of the previous people I had contact with and felt sorry about it. I did not feel sick after that Sunday and was fine on Monday and after that. I still had to quarantine for 10 days and food was brought to my room.
Nic: What is the living situation for you? Do you live alone or with anyone?
Larry: I live with my wife and older brother who has autism
Barb: An apartment, Senior citizen apartment.
Nic: You live with your family? What steps did you take to protect yourself and your family during COVID?
Larry: My older brother is fine on his own but my wife has low immune system so we have to be careful. I always remind her to make sure to wear her mask. On public transportation, we have to wear a mask. Any medical facilities like hopsitals, clinics, and doctor’s office usually already require wearing a mask where we respect these rules and wear a mask there.
Nic: What kind of masks do you wear? Disposable masks?
Larry: We do use disposable masks most of the time. We also have one of the hard of hearing mask with the plastic see through window.
Nic: What made you feel you need to take a COVID test?
Barb: It was spreading and I felt guilty because I had a headache. But I doubted I had it. I was actually curious and took the test and found positive results. I realized this is COVID wow.
Nic: After getting COVID and recovering from it, did you take another COVID test?
Barb: I took a test after recovering and then I took another test the week after.
Nic: When the year 2020 came and that time the pandemic started, how did you feel at that time?
Barb: I see people wearing masks and I went along with it following the rules. I have 4 vaccines. I haven’t got my 5th one yet and I do want to do that soon. I just follow the vaccine recommendations and Im okay.
Nic: Did you get vaccine yet?
Larry: Yes I got the first two and just did the 3rd one (booster) 3 weeks ago.
Nic: Did you walk in or made an appointment for vaccination?
Larry:Most of the time I follow the website. Also I look through CVS where I signed up to get my COVID vaccines. I will get online information and a card where it will tell me when my next vaccine will be due.
Barb: The first three were walk-ins. The last one, 4th one, I had to make an appointment. So I did made an appointment for a few days later. The first three I walked in and got my vaccines right away.
Nic: Did you bring your family to the vaccination appointment or they came to your house?
Larry: We went to the clinic and got vaccinated there. My brother was due for a physical so he got his vaccine at the same time.
Barb: Hmm, where did I get my vaccination? Oh, we went to walgreens and it’s free.
Nic: Did you feel fine after vaccination? How did you feel?
Barb: I was fine. It was sore but not bad. I was really ok.
Larry: My arm was sore and I felt really tired. After that I was okay.
Nic: How did you get your COVID information? Newspaper, TV, internet?
Larry: Watch news on TV, look on Facebook page that my friend set up for deaf and hard of hearing people. The page have a doctor who gives information on there. My good friend always tell me the latest news. Evening and morning news on TV too.
Barb: Newspaper, TV, and VP.