A Year of COVID

A return of Cal sports during the pandemic requires a litany of tasks that are not obvious to the casual observer.

Sometimes, maximum potential can only be reached in times of crisis, and the pandemic has been a crisis not just for society but for the sport of gymnastics.

In our Year of COVID impact issue, The Daily Californian takes a look back at topics including COVID-19 research and athletes playing in front of empty stands. 

From event cancellations to local business closures, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on Berkeley’s economic makeup.

When a Berkeley tenant’s roommate, a student at UC Berkeley, left the city a month before the pandemic unfolded, the tenant decided to renew the lease on their rent-controlled apartment. The tenant said they thought they could find another roommate, and they reckoned it would be hard to find a cheaper place to live.

Devoted parents and cherished friends were among the 35 people who died from COVID-19 in Berkeley over the course of the pandemic. Some were pioneers in their respective fields, and others were passionate social workers with bright futures ahead of them.

In March 2020, UC Berkeley freshman Prasuna Lingineni was still a senior in high school. With her thoughts focused on graduation and summer plans, the prospect of having to spend her first year at UC Berkeley online had not settled in, Lingineni said.

In addition to the personal complications of adapting to a pandemic, Berkeley city council members have also had the state of the city weighing on them.

For Daniela Gonzalez-Perez, the Day Labor Program Assistant at the Berkeley Multicultural Institute, the COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified the struggles that have confronted racial minority groups even before the country first shut down in March 2020.

When the pandemic hit, UC Berkeley researchers rose in legions to respond to the crisis by studying the virus and its impacts in their areas of expertise.