It’s no secret that people have become increasingly lonely during COVID-19 as safety measures such as quarantining, social distancing and mask-wear- ing are specifically intended to decrease human interaction. So, in the face of a global pandemic transmitted by human contact, how are people handling dating and ongoing relationships?
For freshman musical theatre major Je’Taime Goldwire, forming new connections during a pandemic has proved difficult.
“It’s hard to be able to mingle with people because you hear, ‘don’t hang out with this amount of people,’ or, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that.’ Plus there’s masks, so you can’t always read who you’re hanging out with,” he said. “So, it’s hard to get to
know different people.”
While singles continue to balance staying safe and dating, are those already in relationships faring any better?
“I feel like [the COVID-19 virus] just put more pressure, not necessarily on the relationship, but on ourselves, because of school. Now I’ve got a relationship to keep up, and corona, and school. COVID just makes everything 10 times harder than it needs to be,” said Sam Stoever, a freshman graphic design major at Winthrop.
For Stoever, who’s been in his current relationship since before the start of COVID-19, the unprecedented changes brought about by the pandemic have limited his interactions with his partner and have made him adapt to the new social landscape.
“I feel like I’ve learned how to have a long-distance relationship during Corona,” said Stoever. “Communication is obviously the number one thing whenever you’re long-distance, and it’s had its ups and downs. We FaceTime every day, so it’s not like going out of the way or anything.”
For those like Winthrop freshman musical theatre major Sydney Largent, a key part of making a relationship work virtually is good internet.
“It’s been a little harder to communicate because of [Wi-Fi] connection. We’ve had a lot more arguments about certain communication… and a lot has gotten lost in translation,” Largent said.
Largent said she often encounters issues with her internet connection while on the phone with her partner.
“When he would skip and I couldn’t hear him he would get very aggravated or agitated, because it would be very aggravating to try and communicate with some- one and… have to keep asking [him] to repeat,” said Largent.
When preparing for in-person dates, couples now have to also take into consideration whether or not they may be infecting their partner. This worry is something both Largent and Stoever have struggled with over the past few months.
“I feel like I clean a lot more than I usually do. I just feel the need to be clean now,” Stoever said. “As simple as it is, I always wear a mask, no matter who I’m around or what I’m doing. I do DoorDash, and even if I’m just dropping something off at their front door, I have a mask on.” Largent said, “I make sure that I stay away from large groups of people on campus, which I already do anyway, but I also wash and sanitize my hands a little bit more before I
see [my partner].”
Despite the ever-present threat of COVID-19, it’s nice to see that the internet is able to bring people together in a time filled with so much isolation.
Graphic by Katelyn Miller
