This week marks the 1 year COVID Anniversary and the day the entire earth stood still.
Health
Exactly one year ago this week, the dangers of COVID began to wreak substantial havoc across the globe. Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita, both announced they had contracted the virus. The NBA canceled all games indefinitely. The lights at every Broadway show in New York City went immediately dark. Schools, restaurants, grocery and drug stores, businesses, places of worship, and transportation centers were all abruptly shuttered.
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As if a nuclear bomb had hit the earth, the traditionally vibrant Times Square became an instant ghost-town while Broadway show marquees and large marketing signs continued to flash and blink as if all was normal. Airports were completely deserted and it was next to impossible to spot a plane in the sky. Hundreds of passengers were stuck on cruise ships at sea and refused permission to enter the US. Entire neighborhoods around the world went completely silent as streets emptied and residents hunkered down inside their homes for an indeterminate future.
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In Italy, where the virus initially hit the hardest, residents were mandated by law to stay inside their homes and to not venture outside for any reason. To pass the time, Italians took to their balconies to sing songs and play instruments and to interact with each other remotely. A similar mandate was enacted across Asia where even the animals seemed to disappear from the streets. In America, residents from coast to coast hung outside their windows every evening at 7pm sharp to applaud health care workers and those on the front lines risking their lives to save ours. Additionally, grocery store shelves looked like they were in 3rd world countries. Toilet paper, paper towels, Lysol, Bleach-based cleaners, hand sanitizer, and even water were instantly hard to come by and was being hoarded and resold at 300% or more markups.
However, in Washington, Donald Trump was living in the land of make-believe. Aside from refusing to wear a mask, he was busy ignoring science and his own medical experts while assuring Americans that the virus was not so bad and would disappear as miraculously as it had appeared. He decided that Americans would somehow be able to attend church services by Easter. Then, he promised that the heat of the summer would make the virus dissipate into thin air. Next, he vowed to have a vaccine available by election day and Americans back to normalcy by the time they cast their ballots (for him).
Needless to say, we all know how all of his misguided predictions turned out.
Now, 1 year and 2.6 million deaths later on this COVID Anniversary, the world is a totally different place. Donald Trump and his nonchalant attitude toward the coronavirus are gone. Joe Biden is the new President of the United States. More Americans have accepted the severity of the virus and are wearing masks and taking better precautions. Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson have each produced a vaccine while millions of people in America and around the world have already received it. In fact, President Biden has predicted that everyone in the US who wants the vaccine will be able to get it by the end of May.
In the US, movie theaters and small entertainment venues have recently reopened with strict rules of a limited capacity. Restaurants are also finding their way back to profitability. However, workplaces have discovered that it’s no longer necessary to make their employees come to an office every Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 or to fly their people across the country or the world for in-person meetings. ZOOM is the new work standard as people are now permitted to work from home or from some remote exotic location of their choice. As long as there’s a computer, a cell phone, and WiFi, work can happen anywhere.
Regrettably, this is bad news for cities that are now left with tons of empty buildings where thousands of employees once thrived. Nearby restaurants and shops are no longer able to rely on folks grabbing a danish and coffee before work or the traditional lunch crowd business. Busses, subways, and other means of public transportation are losing revenue and are needing to permanently cut back services due to an approximately 70% decrease in ridership. Retail shops are also having a hard time. With people no longer needing to don business attire to go to the office or dress up for a night out on the town, sweat pants, t-shirts, and uncombed hair are the new normal.
One year ago this week, nobody could have predicted all that has happened. Now, on this 1 year COVID anniversary, we brace ourselves for the unknown and a world that may never go back to what we once considered to be “normal.”
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We are at a year already. Wow it is crazy to look back over this past year and see all the things that happen. Trump really did almost ruin us the way he dealt with things. I remember when everything first shut down everybody just stayed at home and did not go anywhere. Nobody knew how bad it would get and people were scared. We have come a long way since last March.