Writings of Shania

  The end may be near as more new information continues to come out about the COVID-19 vaccine. New year, new vaccine? The question of safety still remains as many people as the COVID-19 vaccine continues to make progressions.  There have been daily updates in regards to the controversial vaccine, leaving the public to have conflicting thoughts about it. According to ScienceMag.org, there have been more than one successful trial runs with high efficiency rates of about 90%. While these reports have some people feeling hopeful, others like Rain Petrillo are not letting themselves get too excited.  “I don’t think that it’s immediately going to solve the problem, so I’m not overly excited about it,” she said.  Those who share some of Petrillo’s reservations have brought up many questions in regards to the vaccine. Concerns over how the vaccine will be distributed have risen. The CDC has addressed these concerns and claim that they are working to make sure the va...

  In store or online? With talk of a “second wave” of COVID cases on the horizon, Black Friday could be looking a little different this year. Black Friday usually sees large crowds gathering outside of stores across the country, but shoppers may not be participating in the holiday. For holiday shopper, Marissa Diem, 21, her decision came pretty quickly. Diem admitted that she hasn’t gone out during Black Friday in the past. The rising number of COVID cases only encouraged her decision to stay home this year.   “With everything going on, I’ll be online shopping,” she said.   Unlike Diem, Hannah Parrino, 21, has been out shopping during Black Friday. Parrino says she has traveled to stores like Kohl’s and Target with her older sister in years prior. While Diem has decided to stay home, Parrino remains unsure if she’ll actually go out this year.  “We’ll have to see how restrictions are and we’ll make our decision then,” she said.   It currently appe...

  Shopping has never been so complex. As most of the world has continued to deal with the ongoing pandemic, many retail businesses have made adjustments to help protect their employees and customers.  After being closed for several months, Kohl’s has been one of many different department stores to reopen their doors over the Summer. Part-time employee, Rain Petrillo, has reflected over some of the changes that have made to the store post COVID-19 . Petrillo claims that there were a lot of changes made upon her return to work.  “We clean literally everything after every single transaction. If you get one person at the register, you wipe everything down. You get another person, you do the same thing,” Petrillo said.  According to Petrillo, wearing gloves is also required of employees. She also says that shopping carts are regularly sanitized for customers. With all of these changes in effect, Petrillo admits it took some getting used to in the beginning. She also sta...

  The show must go on. While the world continues to be plagued by the pandemic, many school districts are left to try and figure out the best way to teach their students. SUNY Buffalo State is one of many colleges depending on remote online learning this semester due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Some students have voiced their concerns about online school. College senior, Hannah Parrino has her own worries.  The 20-year-old college student is a former Journalism major that recently changed to a Public Relations and Advertising major. Parrino has been taking all five of her classes online since the start of the semester. Parrino has already noticed some major differences between online and in-person classes. “If you’re in person I think it was a little less, at least for my classes. Now they’re adding all these things that you have to constantly check up on ,” she said. Parrino has found the workload for online courses to be more when compared to them being in person....