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COVID-19 As Seen Through the Lens of a Videographer

Posted on: March 25, 2020 in Student Stories by Luke Rooney

It’s been an odd month. We’re going into April, Spring is upon us, there’s been way too much rain, and there’s a virus. My name is Luke Rooney, I’m a student videographer for Cal State Fullerton, and for the past two weeks, I’ve been staying home.

The campus might be closed, but homework and projects still have due dates, unfortunately. My part-time job at The Cheesecake Factory is on hold indefinitely, and so I have a lot of free time on my hands. Staying home, not being able to see my teachers and classmates, having to cook … I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it!

Working from home makes sense. Why do we choose to drive 30 minutes every day to work in a box when we could work from the comfort of our bedrooms?

I’ve enjoyed walking my dogs daily and working with my brother, who’s also been staying home. No longer do we have to meet on our lunch breaks at In-N-Out, we can make food together. (cereal counts)

There have been a couple of inconveniences.

For one, I had to file for unemployment, and I also had to wait in line at Costco for two hours just for my toilet paper. I am not complaining. My mom, who is 62, can’t seem to catch a break though, AT&T refuses to let their entire workforce stay home.

Other people in my family haven’t had it so easy. My sister was laid off from her marketing job. Her husband also had to lay off all the employees from his lighting company. There’s no work, no concerts, events, nothing.

The virus has taken many people’s livelihoods away, and it’s killed thousands. Yet, some people can’t seem to care less about what’s going on.

Spring breakers in Miami have continued to party on beaches up until March 19th, as reported by the Washington Post. In their video, students state remarkable quotes like, “If I get corona, I get corona,” or “This virus ain’t that serious, there are more serious things like hunger and poverty,” and “This is messing with my spring break! They’re blowing it way out of proportion.” It’s probably been a tough week for these kids.  

A lot of people might not recover from this, but I’m glad we’re taking action in California.

I hope that people will keep it up and continue to stay indoors. This isn’t about keeping ourselves safe, but it’s about protecting everyone around us. That’s why I haven’t visited my grandmother in weeks! Recently I heard that China didn’t report a new case of COVID-19 for a whole day. Hopefully, this means that the virus is slowing down and that we’ll be back to normal in a couple of weeks.

I never thought I’d say this, but I do look forward to being able to bus tables at the Cheesecake Factory.

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    Luke Rooney

    Luke Rooney is an assistant videographer with the Strategic Communications and Brand Management department at Cal State Fullerton. He is majoring in Cinema & Television Arts, and he really likes his dog, Mia.

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