On March 22, 2022, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards issued a stay-at-home order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Two years later, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of COVID-19 continue to decrease in the United States.

But on the second anniversary since COVID-19 shut down the state, students at Northwestern State University of Louisiana reflect on how their lives changed in 2020.

Jaylin Moore, junior music business major, said he was a freshman entering his spring semester when COVID-19 began.

“I thought I was just going to come to college and have a normal experience,” Moore said. “Once COVID hit it was just like everything changed.”

Makiya Jackson, sophomore psychology major, said the 2nd anniversary of COVID-19 is bittersweet.

“It feels like it was just yesterday when I found out we couldn’t return back to school,” Jackson said.

Jenna Caswell, a senior double majoring in biology and physical science, said she thought school was going to resume sooner.

“I didn’t think we were going to be gone for the rest of the semester,” Caswell said.

Jackson acknowledges the damage COVID-19 caused.

“Most people lost a loved one, or are currently suffering from the after-effects of the virus,” Jackson said.

Moore said COVID-19 affected people’s mental health.

“With the transition to online a lot of people had a hard time focusing, and that’s when mental health went bad,” Moore said.

Caswell said online learning was hard to navigate.

“I was a freshman, it was my first year in classes,” Caswell said. “Trying to figure out lab classes online was interesting.”

Although the mask mandate was lifted on NSU’s campus on Feb. 15 by NSU’s President Marcus Jones, Jackson said COVID-19 is not over.

“Everyone is acting like COVID never existed since the mask mandate was lifted,” Jackson said. “I am still going to carry on as if it’s still here because the truth is everyone is not in the clear.”

Moore said COVID-19 showed how quickly life can change.

“I really didn’t expect it to take over like that,” Moore said. “Just seeing how everything was changing, I wasn’t prepared for that.”