F1. Live map of coronavirus cases
Sadly, it has come to that time where I have to talk about coronavirus. I have been dreading writing about corona because there is just so much to say. Anyway, to get on with things, the World Health Organization(WHO) was first informed about the virus on December 30th, 2019 as 41 cases of a “mysterious pneumonia” were found in Wuhan, China. Researchers believe the spread of the virus could have started as early as November. WHO originally found out about the virus from a group of doctors in Wuhan, including Li Wenliang. Li sent messages in a group chat of his peers indicating that the 41 cases in Wuhan were testing positive for SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome. It turned out that the outbreak was not SARS, but rather SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19. The messages Li sent ended up being posted online and the Chinese government interrogated Li and forced him to sign papers indicating that he would not say untrue statements about a SARS outbreak.
Meanwhile, coronavirus was spreading beyond China. On January 13th, the first case of coronavirus outside of China was reported in Thailand. And in January 20th, coronavirus officially reached the U.S. as a man in Washington was diagnosed with COVID-19. On February 7th, Li Wenliang died of coronavirus raising concerns of Chinese government corruption and intervention. On March 11, COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic by WHO and by March 13th, President Trump declared a national emergency.
Now things only get worse in 2020 as COVID cases only continue to increase. COVID-19 U.S. deaths reached 200,00 cases by September which is officially more Americans killed than every war US troops have died in since 1945 combined. As of September 28th, over 1 million people have died worldwide from the coronavirus.
F2. Dog teaches how to wear a mask because some people just do not know how.
Now I have only talked about the timeline of the spread of corona, but it involves so much more. People across the world were forced into quarantine to “flatten the curve.” This has had a negative impact on economies, businesses(especially small businesses), mental health, unemployment, and education just to name a few. It is hard to stay positive during this time where everything is being converted to online format and the closest we can get to people is six feet. The worst part about this whole thing is that in the U.S. it is still a problem. Americans have been in and out of quarantine since March and as of right now, there does not seem to be an end in sight. Businesses continue to keep employees working from home, masks are still mandated almost everywhere, and school are going online. Vaccines are in the works, but it could be years until it is distributed and do not get me started on the anti-vaxers and how that will play apart in it all. But, in summary, 2020 has sucked and COVID-19 is a leading cause.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Speaking about COVID is something that no one wants to necessarily talk about, for it consumes our media, but it must be talked about. The way you go about it in your post was done perfectly because it was precise and got right to the point. I am also so glad that you brought up the effects on personal life that have come along with the pandemic. I think that people’s mental health is such an important topic, and is definitely not talked about enough, especially right now. Also, in regards to small businesses, they have been hit hard, so for me, I try to make it a goal that whenever I can buy from them, I will. I think that we as freshmen on a college campus are feeling these negative effects of the pandemic, for we can’t have a lot of the typical experiences. Though in this tough position, I think that we are trying our best to make it work, and that’s all we can really do for now.
I think it’s crazy that that COVID has impacted every single aspect of our daily lives, yet it can be summed up into about 400 characters. It really makes you think about how the generations after us are going to learn about this pandemic in their history classes but they will never truly understand the disruptions we have been going through. As much as it sucks, I do think it’s interesting that we are living through history.
People always say how they want to go down in the history books and well our generation did it. We will forever and always be known as the kids who lived through a pandemic. The caption under the dog picture really got me though. The use of humor while still addressing a very large issue currently going on in the world was nice. Especially since there are still so many people out there who just refuse to properly wear a mask and of course those that refuse to wear one altogether. As you said though, there still does not seem to be an end in sight. Some have said this is not supposed to be completely taken care of until the middle of next year. 2020 really does suck…
COVID sucks. It’s an understatement to say that the pandemic ruined 2020. People all over the weird are dying from this pandemic, and then you look to the media to see people protesting against wearing masks. MASKS> This virus has brought to light how selfish people truly are. It’s honestly disappointing.
Covid 19, the thing that single handily ruined the end of our senior year. This virus ruined businesses, the economy, and so much more which we will continue to feel the results of as time progresses. It is kind of mind blowing to me that we let this get to the point it did. I feel like this was partially preventable; we saw the detrimental effects it was having on Italy and we really did nothing about it until it hit us. It is a combination of an easily spread virus, and poor execution in keeping each other safe and poor decision making from our government that created such a disaster. It is humbling to see America, one of the proudest and most successful countries in the world get absolutely rampaged by a microscopic virus. You would think we would be more responsible to stop the spread of this virus, and we absolutely dropped the ball. Selfishness and ignorance showed in the spread of this pandemic and we will feel its effects for years to come.