The Reality of Coronavirus
by Isabella Zollner
Maybe your state’s governor has been easing up on COVID-19 restrictions. Maybe your friends have been throwing parties where masks are only suggested. Maybe your place of work doesn’t even require masks anymore. You’re starting to feel safer, not because the number of cases are going down (they aren’t) but because everyone else is letting their guard down. No one wants to be the only person who doesn’t think that it’s safe to get together. This is all starting to feel normal and so you’re letting things slide. It’s hard to keep up with the strict precautions when the sense of urgency is being left behind by almost everyone.
Coronavirus cases aren’t going down; countries like France, Spain, and Russia are experiencing second waves. In America we are having our third wave (and counting). Each wave of new cases comes with more devastation, more death, and more idiocracy and carelessness than the last. A disgusting negligence for human life and for the laws that are meant to keep us safe is painted on these data tables. More and more people are dying everyday, especially in countries like America where the government is concerning itself with everything except the national public health emergency.
And this is why it’s so important not to get lax with the rules. If your state has a mandatory lockdown, abide by it. In fact, even if your state isn’t enforcing lockdowns it is important that you limit all flippant social gatherings. Be ready to cancel plans at any moment. What was allowed last week isn’t anymore. In a situation like this, where cases are increasing every day, it is important to recognize that things are changing very rapidly. Just because you were able to have a Halloween bonfire with masks does not mean you are allowed to invite all of your friends and family to an inside Thanksgiving dinner. The status of our pandemic is constantly changing (for the worse) and our behavior should reflect that.
Too many people have become lax to already lenient restrictions and it’s killing people. If you need a guide on what your state is enforcing the New York Times has an interactive map showing restrictions per state. You should also consider how many cases there are in your country, state, etc. NPR tracks case numbers in several fashions. They have a graph depicting total death comparisons between states, one to show you if new cases are still growing in your state, a graph showing which states have the most new daily cases, and one showing total case and weekly trends.
It’s time for us to remember that we are far from done with this pandemic. Most countries haven’t peaked yet. As of November 19th there have been 1,361,664 deaths from coronavirus worldwide. Even if you are lucky enough to know no one who has lost someone to coronavirus let alone lost anyone yourself, at this rate you might. World wide daily cases are increasing everyday as are deaths. And people in our cities are acting like coronavirus is a thing of the past. Even more despicable, our leaders and lawmakers are not supporting us, in fact they are actively harming their citizens. They are putting the economy, among other even more frivolous things, before the lives that they swore to protect when running for their position. They are lifting mandates left and right as our daily cases and deaths continue to surge. They held public rallies in anticipation for the election that in some cases (looking at Trump) led to 30,000 new infections.
If we keep going the way we are, we are projected to have 2,814,532 coronavirus deaths worldwide. A staggering 15% of those deaths are projected to be in the United States, alone. Even if we obey universal mask mandates and continue to quarantine as much as possible we are still looking at 2,237,066 deaths worldwide. And if we don’t? If we become even more lazy and careless with the lives of our friends and family? There could be more than 4 million deaths worldwide. That number reflects how careless, cruel, and ignorant we have allowed ourselves to become. But we don’t have to get there, we still have the chance to carve that number nearly in half. So wear your mask, make sure your friends and family wear theirs, and limit your social interactions like your life depends on it, because it does.
About the Author:
After being subjected to homophobic harassment in the classroom, Isabella decided to try and use her writing to encourage others to stand up for each other and themselves. Isabella is a high school student in Lafayette, IN.
