I've been struggling with this for the last week. One of my coworkers had contact with someone who tested positive. I talked to my Master, and he told me to take a break until my coworker's test results came back. They came back today (he's negative), and my Master told me to go ahead and come back on Monday (when we still have class today and tomorrow).
Normally, when the school is on break (or I'm sick and starting to feel better) there's this itch to get back to class. If I get told to stay home, I'm usually anxious to get back and try and plead my way back early. But today...I just accepted it. I don't feel that itch. I don't feel that same drive. I feel like I'm there more out of obligation (to do whatever I can to help the school push through), than I am out of passion.
Doing the online classes has been better than nothing for a lot of our students. But I don't know if I can keep it up. It's become like a long-distance relationship (which I had several of, mostly with girls I played World of Warcraft with). We get to do forms together, but that's about it. There's no sparring. There's no tossing each other down. There's no trying to one-up each other. I don't get much of a chance to chat before and after class.
I know I've gotten flack for it in other threads, but I'm dreading going back on Monday, when we re-open, and there's going to be more time spent on COVID-19 safety measures than actual class; and the actual class is going only be half of an actual class. It will be slightly better than video training, but with a ton of extra work. In some ways, it may be worse, because a number of the students will have their faces obscured (everyone will wear masks, but a lot of us are going the face-shield route), so it's even less personal than online.
I'm at a point where I don't know if my mental health is going to be better or worse by going or not going. I know I need to be there to do what I can. I know my Master is really stressed out, too, and I don't want to add to it. But these restrictions are definitely taking a toll on me.