This piece expresses how the Black Death and the Covid-19 pandemic are similar, and
also how they are different. It shows that they were similar through the struggles of being trapped inside. Both pandemics forced us to stay in our homes and rethink life as we knew it. For us, school, business, politics, and so on changed, and the same is true for the people during the Black Death to an extent. The differences that are shown are the differences in housing and resources. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we had much nicer houses with things like air conditioning to keep us cool, and computers to allow us to chat with friends and do work. During the Black Death, the homes were much worse, and there were no real ways to connect with others or to work and earn money.

This piece was created inside of Fortnite’s “Creative Mode”; a mode where players can
use different items and devices to create experiences for other players around the world. The mode can be used to create racing maps or a cool adventure game, but it can also be used to create art and express yourself. I’m a terrible artist, so I thought, “Why not use a system that I am not only accustomed to but a system built into the game that I enjoy playing?”.]]>
In this stop motion animation, I attempt to encapsulate my view of the connections
between the plague and COVID-19. In the beginning of the video, I show how the computer was my world during COVID because it felt like the world revolved around that one device. The computer proceeds to open and automatically go to zoom, as that was how everybody talked, and lived, and worked. Daily.
The first face to pop up on the zoom screen is a woman dressed in clothes from the 1300’s, but wearing a mask from COVID. The second face on the zoom is a man dressed in clothes from 2022, but wearing a mask from the Black Death era. I think these two characters are important because they showcase how masks unify the plague and COVID, and are a bridge connecting the two illnesses. They show how masks are a common challenge: it was very uncomfortable to wear them during COVID, and it must have also been very uncomfortable for doctors to wear those bird masks during the plague.

The third video screen to pop up is a person, half dressed in the clothes from the 1300’s
and half dressed in the clothes from 2022. This person represents the many people who refused
to believe that the Black death or COVID was going on and proceeded to live life normally. This
person depicts someone who is burying their head in the sand, refusing to see or hear about
anything that is happening in the world. The first two people are thinking about a doctor. Doctors were important figures in both the Black Death and COVID-19. They tried to help many people during the plague, and during COVID they served as an emblem of hope and security.

One big difference between the Black Death and COVID is that during COVID we had
medical knowledge and it took doctors and scientists a shorter amount of time to get an accurate
understanding of the COVID virus. Granted, it did take us some time to learn everything, and the
community of scientists initially told us not to wear masks. However, we eventually figured it
out. In contrast, during the plague there wasn't as much research or general knowledge on how to
treat or deal with such a serious and scary illness, and so it took a very long time to get a grip on
the plague.
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My experience with covid and school was that I felt as though the school really focused, and did an amazing job with safety precautions and keeping everyone physically healthy but in my experience the mental health of the students was not prioritized in the same way. I believe that the 2020-2021 school year is hard for everyone. I personally struggled greatly with my mental health throughout the year, and I felt as though I was not provided with the right help that I needed. I hope that what came out of that year was the importance of prioritizing the mental wellbeing of students as much as their education and their physical health. ]]>