The coronavirus, or Covid-19, has taken the world by storm over the past few months, and on March 11th it was declared a pandemic by WHO. While the US was able to avoid the outbreak for the first few months, the number of cases in the US have skyrocketed over the last few weeks. This has led to widespread panic and closures all over the country. Major sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB, NHL have all suspended their seasons, and the NCAA has cancelled all sports for the rest of the school year, leaving many athletes heart broken. In addition to sporting events being cancelled and postponed, schools all over the world are being shut down or switched to online teachings. Covid-19 has forced a change in the way of life for many people and panic is starting to set in for some people. The virus has affected me in multiple ways as well, my club sport championships were cancelled, something I was really looking forward to. The closure of UNC is also very disappointing to me since it is my last semester as an undergraduate.
At the moment, the country being hit the hardest by Covid-19 is Italy, so far there are an estimated 1,800 virus-related deaths and over 350 people died on Saturday, March 14th alone. However, the spread of the virus appears to be slowing down in China and Korea. The CDC in the US has urged people to stop gathering in groups of more than 50 people and to practice “social-distancing” in order to stop the spread of the virus here. NYC has taken measures to stop the spread of the virus by closing nightclubs and theaters, as well as limiting eating establishments to takeout only. I think a lot of people in the US are frustrated with the way the government is handling the pandemic because there is not any uniform policy for people to follow. Some states are placing restrictions like those in NYC while other states are doing nothing at all. I think people just want the leadership to come up with a policy for everyone that will help everyone.
With the coronavirus getting worse and spreading farther throughout the world, the race to create a vaccine/cure is on. According to government officials in the US, the first vaccination trial for Covid-19 is set to take place on Monday, March 16th. Last week, two Canadian doctors were able to successfully isolate and reproduce the coronavirus in their lab. This is significant because this isolated coronavirus can now serve as a tool to help test vaccines and therapies for patients. While some people may be excited about this news I know that developing a vaccine is not that simple. It takes months and sometimes years of testing in order to develop a vaccine that can actually be deployed against the virus, let alone one that can be successful. However, these are promising developments and perhaps this news can give people hope and relieve some stress about the virus.
Eric's Blog 