The Week the Nation Changed; A journal of the Sentinel staff’s trip to New York City amidst the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

Every spring, the publication club offers staff members the opportunity to travel to New York City for an annual media conference hosted by the College Media Association (CMA). The conference consisted of a variety of sessions and speeches presented by professional journalists to teach students more about the ins and outs of the industry. 

Masked man in China Town. Photo by Hannah Neff.

With concerns of COVID-19 increasing in the days leading up to the conference, several schools barred their students’ travel to New York City. While NIC did not prevent any members of the Sentinel staff from traveling, more than half of the staff members that had planned
on attending the conference decided to cancel the trip because of personal concerns.

Despite the obvious risks, four of us decided to proceed with the trip, including magazine editor Hannah Neff, sports editor Gerry McCray, Sentinel adviser Geoff Carr and myself. 

Sentinel magazine editor Hannah Neff takes in the view in Times Square. Photo by Catrina Martinson.

This was my second year attending the CMA conference in New York City, but the experience could not have been more bizarre. The lobby of the Marriott Marquis, once teeming with eager students ready to learn, was now nearly bare. Conference rooms that should have been overflowing with people became rows of empty chairs facing a frantic speaker who at the last minute put a lecture together because the original presenter didn’t show up. Even the keynote speech was held over a video conference from the instructor’s living room with his dog running around in the background.

“The COVID virus provided an unprecedented experience that my students who went will likely never forget,” Carr said. “I don’t expect a similar conference experience will exist ever again.”

Upon arriving in New York, none of us had any major concerns about the virus. Of the 8.6 million people living in the city, there were only 48 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the time, so we figured our chances of getting infected were slim. We soon realized that while the virus itself did not worry us, the reaction to the situation could create some complications.

Sentinel staff members attended the taping of “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah. Photo by Hannah Neff.

Hours after we arrived in New York, Neff, Carr and myself attended a live taping of “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah and were able to hear the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, voice his concerns regarding the virus. While he seemed calm and hopeful on the show, the following day Mayor de Blasio declared a state of emergency in the city and gatherings of over 500 people were subsequently banned. 

JUST IN: @NYCMayor signs an order declaring a state of emergency in New York City in response to COVID-19. https://t.co/3zelgvCM7H pic.twitter.com/NN1Q9hzLQi

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) March 12, 2020

The start of the first half of the Big East Tournament game between Creighton and St. Johns in Madison Square Garden. The game started despite all major conferences canceling their tournaments before tip-off and was later canceled at half-time. Photo by Gerry McCray.

Neff was able to catch one of the final plays before all Broadway productions were shut down, and McCray, who was covering the Big East Tournament as part of a workshop for the conference, was in the stands during the last Division I basketball game in the country until the game was cut short at halftime.

“It was already crazy being in Madison Square Garden for
a huge game with no fans in the seats,” McCray said. “But because it got canceled at halftime it will likely remain the craziest thing I’ll ever
 be a part of.”

“It breaks my heart. This is the greatest
college basketball tournament ever, but we respect the decisions of authorities,” said Big East commissioner Val Ackerman after the decision to cancel the Big East Tournament. “We are very mindful of what is happening nationally, we do not want to be imprudent in how it relates to the safety of our participants and our fans, and its sort of terrifying, frankly what is evolving here as the science and the assessments of the science are progressing and I don’t think any of us know what is going to happen tomorrow.” Photo by Gerry McCray.

The CMA conference ended a day early, and many students and speakers in attendance decided to head back home because of concerns of getting trapped in the city due to a lockdown. After a group meeting to discuss whether or not we should leave early, the four of us decided we would stake it out and do our best to enjoy the rest of our trip.

Friday afternoon we all attended the rescheduled award ceremony, and just like that the conference was over. Afterward, we decided to have dinner at a ramen restaurant that we’d eaten at during last year’s trip to New York. With all of our plans falling through and businesses closing around the city, I was glad to see that at least the ramen was as delicious as I remembered. Following dinner, we rode the Staten Island Ferry and I was thrilled to see that amidst all this chaos, the city’s skyline was still just as beautiful as last spring.

Hannah Neff poses in front of the Majestic Theatre in Times Square before watching “Phantom of the Opera”, the longest-running show in Broadway history. Neff was able to catch one of the last Broadway productions in the city before all of the theaters were shut down. Photo by Catrina Martinson.

“It was disappointing that our travel landed on a time when all the museums closed and it would have been cool to see more Broadway shows, but we were still able to enjoy walking through the city,” Neff said. “I’m sure none of us will be forgetting this trip any time soon.”

Toward the end of the trip, we were informed that once we returned we would all have to self-quarantine for 14 days. This posed a unique dilemma for some of us as McCray and Neff both didn’t want to infect the people they live with, and I lived in the NIC Residence Hall, where I could potentially spread the virus to everyone in the building if I had it myself. In less than 48 hours we would be back in Coeur d’Alene, so we all began scrambling to figure out where we would live for two weeks.

Luckily, we were able to find a fairly inexpensive Airbnb near NIC that the three of us could stay in until the quarantine was over. With this weight off our shoulders, we were able to enjoy our final day somewhat stress-free as we wandered the eerily desolate streets of New York City. 

Catrina Martinson strolls through the empty streets surrounding Central Park. Photo by Hannah Neff.

Sunday morning we packed our belongings, checked out of the hotel, caught a train out of Penn Station to Newark Airport and headed home.

On the plane ride back, I was able to reflect on all that had happened in the five days since we arrived in New York. Things had escalated much quicker than any of us could have anticipated, and we weren’t returning to the same lives we left behind. All of our classes would be online for the rest of the semester, restaurants and businesses all over town would be closed indefinitely, and the fate of the next issue of the Sentinel magazine was yet to be decided. 

A few days after returning to Coeur d’Alene and being trapped in a small Airbnb with Neff and McCray, I learned that the Residence Hall was asking everyone to move out as soon as possible. Like many other students across the country, I packed up my dorm and headed home for the remainder of the semester.

Sentinel staff in Times Square on Sunday, March 15. Left to right, Geoff Carr Sentinel adviser, Gerry McCray sports editor, Catrina Martinson copy editor, and Hannah Neff magazine editor. Photo by Geoff Carr.

Now only a week since the New York trip, I am once again on a plane reflecting on all that has happened in the last few days as I fly home to Anchorage, Alaska. This all started as a crazy story I’d be able to tell about the time I was in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now I can see that it goes much deeper than that. The past couple of weeks have changed my life and many other lives in ways no one could have seen coming. 

There’s no telling when things will go back to normal, so for now all I can do is wait and hope that once all of this is finally over, the life I had when I left for New York will be patiently waiting for me back in Coeur d’Alene where I left it.