The COVID-19 pandemic caused many problems, but what was the one problem that we all least expected? Being scared to cough! After the pandemic hit, coughing became something like an alarm. When you hear a cough, you immediately think: COVID!

But now, even though the COVID numbers are falling, coughing still feels… well? Illegal. We’re in an awkward stage. Coughing can be caused by many conditions: allergies, asthma, and dry throat, just to name a few. Yes, possibly COVID. But we all still feel alarmed hearing a cough and feel awkward ourselves trying to cough in public.

I know we’ve all been through that one situation. You know what I’m talking about. That horrible situation where we have to cough, but we’re scared that people will hear it and think we have COVID, so we do that awkward little throat clear, hoping the urge will go away (hint: it never does).

So we end up just running to the bathroom or just owning it and coughing into your arm, braving the weird looks and the clearing around you.

A recent survey of Bob Jones students showed that 66% of people who took the survey felt uncomfortable coughing in front of people, and 75% of those same people try to hide their coughs or make them less noticeable.

When asked why they feel more uncomfortable with coughing, freshman Jordin Dunning said, “Because I feel like the person may have Covid, or may think that I have Covid,” Even though coughing can mean a variety of different things, everyone’s brains are so wired right now to think of COVID that the virus is all we think about! Junior Andrew Zamaron said, “I’ve had asthma and really bad allergies…”

So here’s something to think about: when you hear someone cough, don’t immediately assume that it’s COVID. This might help you to disconnect the two and might make it feel less awkward for you to cough in public, too!

(Of course, if your symptoms persist, get tested for COVID and follow CDC guidelines.)