“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”- Fred Rogers. 

Since the latest event to grab the world’s attention was the Australian wildfires,  you might think that did enough damage for both animals and humans living in that situation. 

Now looking back, something that was discovered by China is affecting us significantly which is called COVID-19. At first it wasn’t really taken seriously. For example, the first reported case of COVID-19 was on November 17, 2019. By December 20, the number of cases increased by 60 confirmed cases in China. Ultimately, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

How can our community help by decreasing the spread of COVID-19? 

There are many ways for us as individuals to stop the spread of the virus. WASH YOUR HANDS for 20 seconds! If you know the movie called “5 Feet Apart” (which in reality is 6 feet apart) DO THAT!!! We all need to be distant from one another right now because being in close contact with someone can easily spread the virus. If we want to help out with this pandemic, we need to listen to the CDC for the correct medical information on how to prevent getting COVID-19. 

The CDC said, “Fear and anxiety about COVID-19 can cause people to avoid or reject others even though they are not at risk for spreading the virus.”

 Furthermore, more ways to prevent the spread is to wear masks everywhere you go, prevent large groupings, sanitize yourself and other things around you, and most importantly STAY IN YOUR HOMES!

Speaking of homes, isolation is the key to saving lives. It’s recently proven that being isolated has slowed down the contamination of COVID-19. There are two differences between quarantine and isolation. 

Quarantine is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 so they stay away from others. As for isolation, it’s used to separate sick people from healthy people. There are ways to still keep in contact with your friends and family during this isolation. For example, having a Zoom meeting, face timing, texting, and/or visiting each other six feet apart. Not only will we help decrease the numbers of COVID-19 but you will still be able to keep in contact with your loved ones. 

All in all, COVID-19 should be taken seriously even if you don’t have it and/or if you go outside as much. People are going through really tough circumstances due to this pandemic and many don’t realize the damage that it has done to our country. For example, there have been loss of jobs, death, hoarding, and a lack of medical supplies. Overall, we have to take into consideration how everything is rapidly increasing such as the virus itself, and the number of deaths since we are the #1 country that contains the most cases of COVID-19.