Why Covid-19 Won't Get Better Unless We Do Something.

It all started last year around February. I remember people on the news and in school talking about a new virus that was deadly and dangerous. Considering the way the news portrayed it, you would've thought we would’ve been scared in January and February, but people didn’t seem too worried. The fear and panic didn’t hit us until March. Students were even hoping we would get closed down for a few weeks… it would be a “vacation” everyone said. 

We brushed the virus’ severity off our shoulders and ignorantly thought of it as a problem overseas. Many people believed that even if it reached us it wouldn’t be a big deal. What’s even more haunting is that some people still believe this. 

Looking back now, almost a year later, after almost 365 days of this nightmare, we were all very ignorant to think this. At the time, when speculations started to reach the news, we failed to realize that this virus had already reached us and that we were already doing everything wrong. 

That all changed drastically mid March. One day we were all joking and debating if we would get to have off from school and the next day schools closed down. For two weeks. Then two more. Then another month. It kept going. I think we kind of all remember that moment when we realized it was so much more than me once anticipated. For me, it was when I saw colleges scramming to send all these students home and everybody freaking out and buying toilet paper. 

Reflecting on back then, I really would’ve thought that we would've passed it by now. However, as a country we haven’t really handled this pandemic well. Of course, I give the utmost thanks to all healthcare workers who have put their lives on the line for all of us. What I’m referring to when saying that we haven’t handled the pandemic well is the citizens of our country who haven’t been doing the right things. 

Many of us haven’t been doing our part. Cases are still just as bad as they were, even worse than March. Everybody is trying to go back to normal life but we can’t just do that. Still, some refuse to wear masks and don’t even believe that they work, despite science and data showing that they are effective. It’s impossible to navigate when so many people refuse to cooperate. The only way things will ever get better is if we fully addressed the situation and fully do the right thing. 

As many as you may know many other countries handled the situation much more productively and safely. Many European countries went into lockdown immediately to get a hand and control on the virus. They were successful in that, however, once travel restrictions were lifted, the virus infiltrated their countries once again. Now, most of these countries are doing the safe thing and back in lockdown. They are taking control of a situation. For these countries, unlike here, going into lockdown wasn't something up for debate. It was enforced, which honestly is necessary. You can’t let people decide if they want to go out, party, and travel during a pandemic because they are not the only ones affected by their actions. It’s a domino affect. Everything everyone does affects everyone and if we give people the choice of going out or staying in and vacationing or staying home. Trust me, most people will choose wrong.

On the other hand, in the United States, where cases are just as bad, we aren’t in a lockdown. You would think we would see it working in other places and do the same thing too. Why is that? How can people here not see that it won’t get better unless we stay home? Why can’t we do the right thing for a future? Many hope that future president, Joe Biden will do exactly this. I’m sure it would be hard to enforce and agree on. But isn’t that worth it, to have all of our futures back, to save lives, and to be able to finally get this situation under control? It has been almost a year and case numbers have barely gotten better.

At some point, we have to understand that the virus is still extremely severe. With the vaccines coming out we have hope. However, it's predicted that these vaccinations won’t reach many of us until 2022. Even then, we still must worry about the people who will refuse the vaccine. There are a lot of problems that we need to navigate, but for now people need to just stay home and do the safe thing.