“I Know How to Take Care of Myself” How the COVID-19 Outbreak Impacted an FSU Student’s Spring Break Trip to Miami

Planning a trip for spring break can be done in six steps:

1. Decide where you want to go
2. Pick a time to travel
3. Decide your method of arrival
4. Budget
5. Enjoy Your Trip
6. Return Home

The ordering of these steps is arguable, and each step might be uncompleted. Yet, with a new variable to the equation like the coronavirus, a spring break trip might be factored out, moved to another date, or introduce new steps.

For an FSU senior majoring in Business Administration, traveling to Miami during the COVID-19 outbreak didn’t mean cancellation of his trip but just adding in a few extra steps.

Deciding where to go for spring break was “kind of just off the whim” for this Frostburg student who preferred to stay anonymous. “My friend it was his birthday a week before, and he planned to go to Miami. And he just called me and asked me what I was planning on doing for spring break. And I was just going to tell him that I was going to work as usual and just stay home. But he told me that he paid for Airbnb and the location is fine.”

However, there was concern a couple of days before the trip. “I was thinking about it. Wow, I am going to one of the states that has it the most. You know like New York, California. That’s why I made sure that the place where the Airbnb was the number wasn’t that much.”

The decision to travel by car instead of a plane was also made as it was considered cheaper and safer.

The senior took more steps once arriving in Miami. “I showered 2-3 times a day. I had hand sanitizer. Every time I stepped to like a restaurant I always had like a glove or like a napkin or something just to make sure that I physically don’t touch it. I made sure that I didn’t talk to people as much or when I did talk to people that I wasn’t too much into their space… I would just talk to them from a certain distance.”

Upon returning from Miami, “I was kind of concerned for my family. They weren’t as exposed as I was if that makes sense. Once I got back…. I didn’t go to my family first.” The student decided to quarantine at three different cousins’ houses.

This interview was conducted on March 27th, and it wasn’t until two days before the FSU student returned to his permanent residence. He also mentioned he did try to get tested but was unable to since he didn’t display symptoms.

“Ever since then, I really just have been out and about with other immediate families rather than being in my own household because I still kind of just wanted to make sure that I cleanse myself, and I take care of whatever I need to take care of before I bring it out to my immediate family,” he said.

Reflecting on the trip to Miami, the FSU student mentions how he cut his trip by two days due to the limitation to participate in the activities interesting to him. “I didn’t enjoy it to the fullest because of the you know outbreak. There is always something to do out there in Miami, you know the weather is nice, but the events that I was looking forward to go to, they just shut down.”

When asked if he was ever concerned about obtaining the virus, the FSU student shared he was never concerned. “Like, I said I know how to take care of myself…. There have been other viruses such as Ebola. That one was kind of a little more serious than this. And people in Africa have taken care of that situation.”

He also shared he still would have decided to travel. The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted his life by emphasizing the need not to eat bats, learn to sanitize, and being with others that are essential to an individual.