COVID-19 Pandemic Strikes Families Worldwide
The worldwide pandemic widely reffered to as COVID-19 has struck nearly 185 countries worldwide leaving thouands dead and millions in critical condition. The global case count and death toll are exponentially growing with 4.48 million cases and 304,000 deaths reported worldwide as of May 15. The United States is responsible for over 32 percent of those cases with 1.47 million infected and 88,000 citizens dead.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has carefully followed the spread of COVID-19 and put national regulations in place to slow the spread of the airborne disease. Schools, bars, restaurants, businesses, management companies and nearly every other place of employment that is deemed non-essential to the community has been shut down since mid March for people’s safety and to lessen the blow hospitals and intensive care units have begun to face. With the shut down of nearly all businesses, over 36.5 million Americans have filed unemployment claims over the eight week stretch and many more are expected to file as citizens are ill-informed on when they can go back to work (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/economy/coronavirus-unemployment-claims.html).
The most important achievement the CDC and US government are working to obtain at the moment is flattening the curve. The “curve” researchers are reffering too is the projected number of people who will come in contact with the virus (https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-flatten-the-curve.html). Any projected curve will exponentially increase, hit a “peak” which is considered the most amount of cases at any given time, and from there it’s projected to exponentially decrease. The initial curve projected by reserchers initially had exceeded the Health Care System capacity meaning there were more people infected than any hospital could realistically treat. The flattening of the curve doesn’t necessarily mean cases can’t continue to increase, but it’s a goal put in place to slow the increase of cases and hopefully lessen the amount of people infected. Once the curve is flattened below the Heath Care System’s capacity and hits a peak, researchers plan to work together to safely reopen the country to the public without overwhelming hospitals.
Unemployment rates have hit an all time high with 36.5 million Americans filing for unemployment as another 3 million citizens filed just this week according to a Guardian released May 14. 40 percent of families earning $40,000 or less annually have experienced job loss or a decrease in hours leading to the inability to pay bills and put food on the table. The unemployment rate of 4.4 percent in March shot up to 14.7 percent the first week of April, exceeding the number of jobs lost during the market crash of 2010 and the Great Depression in 1930.
College of DuPage student, Allison Johnson lost her job waiting tables at Olive Garden on March 18 and has since been trying to collect unemployment benefits from the government.
“At first they [Olive Garden Management] told me I would continue to be paid for an average of the hours I’ve worked over the past 13 weeks. I was getting paid for about a week after the 18th but only at a fraction of what I was used to making. After the first week, the payments stopped coming in and I had to file for unemployment,” Johnson said.
The government has been working on improving the unemployment process throughout the crisis, but citizens have still found wait times to be concerningly long and stressful. In Illinois, those who have lost their job are instructed to file an unemployment claim through the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) and wait up to two weeks to recieve a notification indicating wether or not one qualifies for benefits. Those who qualify will recieve a debit card that IDES loads benefits onto. After recieving the card citizens have to endure a waiting period that is between one to two weeks before filing certification of sitll being unemployed. After certifying benefits are expected to come three to four days after as long as there are no issues.
“The process was long, confusing and stressful,” Johnson said. “I waited almost a month just to get my card and than had to wait another two weeks for IDES to let me certify my unemployment claim. After I certified it took almost another week to recieve the money which I didn’t get until May 10th. I have a lot of bills that still haven’t been paid and it seemed really odd that it took over a month just for me to get benefits from loosing a job due to government restrictions. The whole system needs help and I’m scared for people that are going to loose their house and heathcare because of slow unemployment checks.”
Not only does the US now have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world due to the pandemic, they also struggle with the largest amount of cases followed by Russia, Britain and Spain.
The largest contributor to flattening the curve and minimizing infected citizens has been the nationwide stay-at-home order which urges citizens to stay indoors with imediate family unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside. The origional order in Illinois was set in place March 15 following St. Patrick’s day weekend and was due to expire April 7. President Trump then introduced a national stay-at-home order that was to be in effect until April 30. Following the end of the national order, Illinois Govenor J.B. Pritzker extended the statewide order another month with the expiration being May 30. Although the order can be extended by the Govenor and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, citizens look forward to June 1 as businesses plan to reopen and employees go back to work.
Although we may be nearing the end of the national COVID-19 crisis, there are still a lot more precautions to be put in place. States look to the Government for insight on how to further prevent the spread of the virus as people go back to work and seek out some sense of normalcy. Pritzker announced a 5-step plan called “Restore Illinois” on May 6 which outlines what needs to happen to move from phase to phase and what will be allowed as we change phases.
Restore Illinois seperated the state into four regions; Northeast, North Central, Central and Southern. All regions are currently in phase 2 and may move to phase 3 by the end of May. Each region may move from phase to phase at their own pace but can not reach Phase 5 until there is a set vaccination to prevent and lessen the impacts of COVID-19.
Restore Illinois phases are as follows.
Phase 1: Rapid Spread — Strict stay at home order was in place during this phase with no gathering of any size being permitted. Although every region has passed this phase, there is no guarantee it will not happen again.
Phase 2: Flattening — Non-essential retail stores may reopen for curbside pickup and some outdoor activites are permitted such as National Parks. This Phase requires citizens to wear face masks in any public area. To move to the next phase tests have to come back with 20% or less positive infections.
Phase 3: Recovery — Non-Essential offices, retail, barber shops and salons may reopen with limitation to capacity. Groups of 10 or more is permitted even if it’s non-essential.
Phase 4: Revitalization — Restaurants and bars may reopen and travel restrictions can be lessened. Groups of 50 or more are premitted with percautions still being in place.
Phase 5: Illinois Restored — The economy can fully open with safety precautions still being practiced. This phase requires a vaccine to either cure or minimize COVID-19 occurrences.
Illinois along with the rest of the country still has a way to go before returning to the normalcy we once knew. With great thanks to our essential workers for providing food, shelter and medical care we have been able to survive the rapid infection phase and move to flattening the curve to assure we are headed in the right direction. Wether you’re someone who lost their job, had to leave school, spend extra time with family or take care of the most critical cases in the hospital, there is always a place for you to make a difference. Staying home to prevent further spread is one of the most important things you can do to continue the decline of cases along with regularly sanatizing your belongings and washing your hands. Every little thing counts and makes an important differnce to how we conqure this virus. Be brave and do what you can to help our country and our economy survive and thrive.
Internal Links:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Definitions:
• Peak: maximum hospital resource utilization and deaths associated with COVID-19.
• Epidemic: refers to an increase in the number of cases of a disease (in this case COVID-19) above what is normally expected in that population in that area.
• Pandemic: an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large group of people.
• Self-quarantine: isolating one from other individuals for a period of time.
