Amanda Paskavitz, September 3rd, 2024

Title

Amanda Paskavitz, September 3rd, 2024

Description

In this interview, MD/PhD student Amanda Paskavitz shares what it was like for her to move from Boston to Detroit during the pandemic and how it impacted her academic life.

Publisher

Detroit Historical Society

Rights

Detroit Historical Society

Language

en-US

Narrator/Interviewee's Name

Amanda Paskavitz

Interviewer's Name

Taylor Claybrook

Date

9/03/2034

Interview Length

13:21

Transcription

Taylor Claybrook [00:00:00] Okay. Today is September 3rd, 2024. My name is Taylor Claybrook, and I'm sitting down with...

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:00:06] Amanda Paskavitz.

Taylor Claybrook [00:00:08] Thank you for sitting down for this interview. So I'm going to start by asking what was your initial reaction to hearing about Covid when it was spreading and then when the lockdown finally happened?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:00:19] Yeah, I think my initial reaction was pretty similar to Andie's. I remember hearing about it in December 2019, not really thinking much of it. It was happening in China. It seems really far away. It didn't seem like it would ever become a problem. And then I think it was in March when the..there were starting to be late February, March, there were starting to be cases in the US. And then people were talking about lockdowns and some of my friends, at their various companie were e going into lockdown, and I was working in a lab in Boston at the time, and my boss was very slow to, to decide to go on lockdown, and we all thought that it was going to be kind of like a 1 or 2 week thing. And I remember I left my plant on my desk and all kinds of stuff on my desk, and I, I going back months later, I was like, what was I thinking? But at the time, I really didn't think it was going to be very long. And yeah. So when we went to ...when we went on lockdown, I thought it was just going to be a couple of weeks and then, you know, it was getting worse and worse. And, you know, I was going grocery shopping and there was nothing on the shelves. There was nothing anywhere. And it was feeling a little bit apocalyptic.

Taylor Claybrook [00:01:57] And you said you were in Boston at this time. So you're from Boston?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:02:01] Yes. Grew up outside of Boston.

Taylor Claybrook [00:02:03] Okay. So what was... What was it like being there and then coming here?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:02:10] Yeah. So I came here to Detroit in July of 2021. So, by that time, you know, people were vaccinated, but still cautious. And I remember coming to Michigan from Boston and, people...people were really very diligent about wearing masks and maintaining, you know, your six foot distance from other people and probably because it's so congested and crowded. And also, unfortunately, it was a political issue as well. And, you know, Boston's a very liberal city. And when I came to Michigan in general, not necessarily Detroit, but in general, I felt like people were not wearing masks as much as I was used to. And so that was like a very uncomfortable thing for me at first because it was different. And then I came here also because I was starting medical school. And, we had to do everything with masks all of our, all of our labs, all of our learning activities were in masks. So it wasn't until months later when the school started relaxing the restrictions that I actually, like saw people's whole faces. People in my team that I had been working with for months, I didn't even really know what their face looked like.

Taylor Claybrook [00:03:56] So what kept you busy during lockdown? And then, the next part of that question is who are you living with at the time? So that can be when you were in Boston and then when you came here.

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:04:07] So I was in Boston. I had two roommates, and they were also working in labs and research jobs. And when the lockdown really happened, I actually went back to be with my parents in Connecticut. And, I took my boyfriend with me at the time, and he stayed with us for, I think like 4 or 5 weeks. And my sister had just graduated from actually, no, she was on spring break. She was about to graduate from college, but she had also a spring break that... That never ended. So she came back to. And I was with them until the summer. And then I ended up going back to Boston when things were ...seem to be settling down slightly. But during that time I was really busy and really stressed because I. I was working full time. I was studying for the mCAT, which is the exam to get into medical school. And my exam date had been pushed multiple times because of the pandemic, so I didn't end up taking it until July of 2020. And I was getting all my materials together for my applications to medical school. And so I was I was just very busy with that. And also, unfortunately, deep in the weeds of, you know, everything going on politically at the time, and getting really fired up about all of that.

Taylor Claybrook [00:05:38] So at Wayne State, what department are you in?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:05:42] So I am a second year graduate student in, the department or center, I guess, of molecular medicine and genetics. And I am also an MD PhD student. I did my first two years of medical school, and now I'm doing my PhD, and then I'll finish medical school once I finish my PhD.

Taylor Claybrook [00:06:03] Okay. So the transition of being online and then coming back in person, what was that like?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:06:12] So it was always kind of a hybrid, approach, I think when I started, because we did have the labs in person and, learning group activities and clinical skills were in person, but it was all masked. And sometimes they tried to do smaller groups if they could. But all of the lectures were prerecorded. So it was... And thankfully we never, like, fully shut down, even though there were a couple other surges during my first year of medical school. But I think mainly I just like, didn't get a chance to meet a lot of people in my class. I was working with the same people, every week.

Taylor Claybrook [00:07:00] Do you feel like you've been able to catch up on meeting people from your class since Covid has ended? Not ended. But, you know.

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:07:10] In some ways I got to a bit more. But it's also, just a really big class. And I think the curriculum wasn't designed in a way to, to meet a lot of different people. But I guess I would say that since starting my PhD, I've had a chance to meet more people, inside and outside of Wayne State and, make new friends that way.

Taylor Claybrook [00:07:41] Okay. And then, interacting with people or your family that lived outside of the home. And again, that can be for when you were in Connecticut and then when you came to Detroit in 2021. So what what was that like?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:07:53] Interacting with the people I was-

Taylor Claybrook [00:07:55] Yeah. Interacting with your family that lived outside of where you were living at the time?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:08:01] Okay. So yeah, we my, my parents were really they were following all of the latest CDC guidelines all the time. That was ...that was their thing. So if we were visiting, extended family, grandparents, we were wearing masks. We were doing everything outside, like, trying to be far away. And then even as things started to get better with Covid, especially with my grandparents, we would still make sure to take Covid tests before going to see them. And then there was at least one Christmas where I think it was during Christmas of 21, where we still we were all inside together, but we all wore masks.

Taylor Claybrook [00:08:56] Okay, so you already answered this question. So now know that Covid is not as bad as it used to be, how different is it to be at Wayne State than... Compared to during Covid?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:09:17] At Wayne State specifically?

Taylor Claybrook [00:09:19] I mean, yeah, sure.

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:09:22] Wait, can you repeat that?

Taylor Claybrook [00:09:23] Yeah. So what is it like to be at Wayne State now that Covid is like the Covid restrictions are lifted? I think that's a better way to put it compared to, you know, when you first came there and it was still Covid, but people were vaccinated, but we still had restrictions on campus. So what is it like being at school now that everything is more relaxed?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:09:44] I think it just feels a little bit freer. It feels like there's a little bit less anxiety about Covid, like in the back of your mind when you're interacting with people and you're all sitting close together in, in a room together. Yeah. And it's obviously less of a hassle to, to get on campus because you don't have to do the screener. And, you know, you can actually see the whole faces of people that you're talking to.

Taylor Claybrook [00:10:16] Yeah. It felt so weird going on campus and it was like, oh, you have to fill out a screener. And it's based on, like trusting the other person like that they're going to tell the truth. And, you know, hey, I don't feel sick today and I don't have a fever and all that stuff. It was really weird.

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:10:31] Yeah. And that was definitely, I think, a concern for some people specifically in medical school because the curriculum is so fast paced. It's like you really can't miss anything, or you'll get behind. So, you know, there were I think... I would imagine that there were people who are perhaps not always truthful.

Taylor Claybrook [00:10:52] Oh, yes. Absolutely. And one of the last questions is how has Covid shaped where you are today or who you are today? And again, that can be from any perspective or angle you want to answer that question. It's ...it's a very loaded question.

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:11:16] I know, and you already asked Andie and I was trying to think and I still don't, I don't know.

Taylor Claybrook [00:11:26] Has it influenced, you know, your studies at all or what you're interested in?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:11:37] I'm not sure if this is like influenced who I am as a person, but I think something that still really disturbs me today about Covid is that it became a political issue. You know, a virus is not a political thing. It doesn't discriminate against any person or political party. And I think I was really disheartened and frustrated by a lot of misinformation that was spread about Covid and conspiracy theories and, you know, people making it just a political thing when it's when it's simply not. And I think that that just was very disappointing to see in our society.

Taylor Claybrook [00:12:39] And is there anything you wish Wayne State would have done differently or anything that you appreciate, you know, like their Covid precautions or the restrictions that they had in place?

Amanda Paskavitz: [00:12:53] Yeah. I mean, I think, I think the medical school specifically like really I think they did the best they could at the time. Like, you know, we were all figuring it out as we went and yeah, I don't have any, I think. Yeah. I don't have any issues with how they did things. Yeah.

Taylor Claybrook [00:13:10] And then do you have any additional thoughts or questions? [No.]

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Citation

“Amanda Paskavitz, September 3rd, 2024,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed February 10, 2025, https://oralhistory.detroithistorical.org/items/show/1064.

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