Interview with Alberta Witherspoon

Interview with Alberta Witherspoon. Interviewed by Samariya Smith and Felicia Pilewski on November 14, 2022 in New Haven, Connecticut. She was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Historical Society's Community History Project discussing her experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Alberta Witherspoon is a retired human services worker. She is a tenant council president, a city-wide advisory board president, a housing commissioner, a member of the mayor's affordable housing commission, and a ward co-chair of Ward 7 in New Haven. She first learned about COVID-19 from the news. The first disruption to her life occurred in January 2021 when her niece, who worked at a hospital, contracted COVID-19. Her niece's condition worsened to the point of needing to be admitted to the ICU and put on a ventilator before she passed away from a cardiac event. Six weeks before her niece's death, Alberta's daughter passed away from a heart attack. She explains that it seemed like everyone around her began being infected with Covid at that point. She did not want to be around other people and was cautious by wearing a face mask and gloves when around others. She carried Lysol with her to spray in the elevator. She explains that she attended a family retirement party and many of the guests contracted Covid. Alberta explained to the host that contact tracing needed to be done, so guests would know that they had been exposed. Alberta first heard about the Covid vaccine in February 2022 and found information about the vaccines from the internet and television. She thought everyone should get the vaccine unless they had a religious exception. Some of her family members questioned the vaccine, but she decided to get vaccinated. She trusted the CDC for information about Covid. She explained that during the pandemic most of the meetings related to her housing work took place on Zoom or via teleconference on RingCentral. Alberta discusses the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd. She then discusses the 2020 election, how she is a Democrat, and her views on Donald Trump. She thinks absentee voting should only be used by the sick and shut in. If you can go to the voting polls, then you should go in person. She briefly discusses the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021. Her mental health was affected during the pandemic because she felt isolated and was grieving several loved one's deaths. She spoke with her doctor about how she was feeling and decided that therapy could be helpful for improving her mental health. During the pandemic, Alberta did a lot of baking, as it has always been a hobby, and she would give the food she made away to other people. She said she lost some of her independence during the pandemic and found that food prices rose. She would use the word "terrifying" to describe the pandemic. The biggest lesson she learned was to tell your loved ones you love them every time you get a chance.