I think during COVID-19, I struggled to comprehend how everything fell apart so quickly. In the months before the pandemic hit the states, I fell ill with an unspecified upper respiratory infection. I was sick for about 2 months, and had trouble sleeping. No matter what I tried, my condition continued to worsen. The brain-fog I experienced during this time makes it difficult to recall much of the second half of my Sophmore year.
It wasn't until campus shut down and I returned home, that I was prescribed immunosuppressants. Fortunately, these made me sick enough that my infection could finally be seen on an X-ray.
At no time in this process was I offered a COVID test. After all, there were "no cases of COVID-19" in Berkeley back then, which is why health services in the city were not allocated any tests, and I was not offered any sick leave accommodations. A classic example of the tried and true "nobody can have COVID if we don't test for COVID" approach.
And then one day, I got better.
When presented with so many circumstances so far beyond my control, I like to pick something I can control and work to make my corner of the universe better. That's when when I found the IGI's job listing in the UC Berkeley work study database. They were halting research operations in order to open a COVID-19 testing lab, and needed undergrads to produce the kits. I began in the summer, and continued my tenure until the end of the 2020-2021 academic year. My work was important enough that the IGI nominated me for early access to coveted Moderna vaccine, during the time when it was only available to healthcare workers.
I fully am vaccinated now, and will likely never have answers about why I was sick for so long, but my work at the IGI ensured other members of our community could get their answers. At a time where information about COVID-19 was so scarce. It was an honor to work in support the talented staff at the Innovative Genomics Institute.