Covid-19 News

On March 12, 2020, we were all sitting in our last period classes when we heard Mr. Kelly announce a 2-week quarantine. Our faces lit up at the idea of no normal school for 14 whole days – no 6am alarms, no sitting through 40-minute classes that seem to drag on and on. “See you tomorrow” had turned into “See you in two weeks.” Yet a lot of us weren’t aware that two weeks was about to turn into six months.

Covid-19: it’s a novel and extremely contagious form of coronavirus that started in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread to the world because of the lack of a vaccine and a cure. As of today there are 46.3 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world and 1.2 million deaths. In the United States, there are 9.21 million cases, with 231,000 deaths. Not many expected the virus to create a global pandemic, and therefore many countries were unprepared for it. As a result of not being prepared, coronavirus turned into a fast pandemic – one with a high number of cases and deaths. 

The economic impacts of Covid-19 are just as devastating. Stock markets dropped a shocking 34%, while U.S. oil prices are seeing negatives for the first time in history. Unemployment rates have peaked, with more than 30 million people in the U.S. filing for unemployment benefits. It will definitely take a lot of time and effort to bring our economy back to where it was before coronavirus caused us to lock down. (Note: economic numbers are as of June 2020.)

Those are the numbers, but how about the more personal impacts, the ones that can’t be defined by calculations? 

Racism. It’s a part of our history, a mistake we should’ve learned from. We are taught the segregation movements that happened in the 20th century, as a lesson to make sure the discrimination of race – and any category – is minimized. Yet, as we stand in the middle of a global pandemic, across the media there are accusations of starting the virus towards the Chinese and Asians. “Chinese virus”, “bat-eaters”, and “take the virus back to where you came from” are only the beginning of the worst things that are being said. Racism isn’t the right bandwagon to hop onto, especially in a time where we need unity in the world.

And second, the mental health impacts. Quarantine orders include staying away from places with many people and maintaining the official social distance of six-feet. Most of us haven’t seen our friends since the lockdown was initiated. Do we even remember how to socialize?

Covid-19 will be remembered by all of us as a once in a lifetime experience – it’s not everyday that a new disease causes a global pandemic. Although times are difficult now and the world is very chaotic and disbanded, we’ll have quite the story to tell when it’s all over. 

Stay strong, and stay safe! ♡