Never been in a pandemic? Here´s our manuscript

It has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started and the world is never going to be the same.

In late February and early March of 2020, there were some talks about the virus being “really bad” in China. Or that it has “totally” has changed Italy. Everyone was so excited when some schools started closing in the United States. March 5, Maryland declares a state of emergency after three confirmed cases, all MoCo residents. The week of March 9th-13 was just the countdown to when MCPS would have to pull the eventual plug. On the night of March 12, it was announced that we will be taking two weeks off school. I remember specifically having to clear out my PE locker and the room looks like it was never inhabited. On March 13, the president declared an emergency for COVID-19. I remember going to the grocery store that evening and it wreaked havoc. Just chaos. The store was incredibly busy and most products were sold out, it looked like the first couple scenes of an apocalypse movie. We had to get used to wearing masks all the time. Everyone stocked up on hand sanitizer. And since then we have been under lockdown.

But how did we get there?

Well, on December 31, 2019, Wuhan, China reported to the World Health Organization that a cluster of cases of a new coronavirus has been identified. On Jan 13 the first case outside of China, in Thailand, was confirmed. On January 21, CDC confirmed the first case in the United States. On February 28, the first American died. On March 13th, the majority of the country went into lockdown. 29 million cases and 525k deaths later here we are.

A constant thought throughout 2020 is how are we going to remember the pandemic. Or what if someone woke up from a coma now how are we going to explain to them what was all that. How are we going to explain coronavirus to them? How are we going to explain what a pandemic is to them?

A pandemic is a globally prevalent disease, in this case coronavirus. Quarantine is a place of isolation intending to stop the spread of a virus. Lockdown is an emergency measure in which people are temporarily prevented from entering or leaving a restricted area during a threat of danger. And since March 13th we have been in and out of lockdown, which explains why we are still in a pandemic.

We have all had different memories during the pandemic. Whether it is getting used to standing six feet away from others or just trying to not get bored out of your mind at home. It has been a lot of getting used to the “new normal”.

And for the first couple of weeks, there was this awkward phase where people would avoid talking about this and would just say “with everything going on right now”, “recent events” and “the crazy past couple weeks.”

There have been a lot of milestones celebrated during the pandemic– graduations, birthdays and even remote weddings.

The good news is, there’s a vaccine now and it’s going to be distributed in the first half of 2021.

Data is unavailable on how the pandemic is going to impact the future; the impact on mental health, online school and working from home is yet to be determined.