Day 1 (Jan 11, 2020): News of the first death of a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan China airs on United States news. China is so far way from America that there is no need to worry about this. What happens on the other side of the world stays on the other side of the world.
Day 10 (Jan 21, 2020): First case of mysterious pneumonia in the United States from a man who was reported to have visited China. Its just one case though so it should be no big deal right? I’m sure the government have this covered.
Day 13 (Jan 23, 2020): Its reported on the news that China has gone on lockdown in Wuhan, where this virus originated. China is still so far away from us right? It’ll be fine in a few days.
Day 21 (Jan 30, 2020): Turn on the news in the morning and see that the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency. Oh wow, it’s really getting serious now. I don’t quite understand what this all means but we should be fine here still…..
Day 33 (Feb 11, 2020): It is released that the virus is now named COVID-19, or coronavirus. As Americans do with everything, we shortened it to “The Rona.” Rona is spreading but it all seems surreal.
Day 51 (Feb 29, 2020): Getting sick of turning on the news in the morning but here we go. First reported death in the United States due to The Rona. It’s here. It’s finally happened. As each day passes, I half expect, half tell myself that it would be better if the news came that the dead would start rising and walk the streets from the virus. As though all this would be some big zombie story that has a happy ending.
Day 64 (March 13, 2020): The United States of America is put in a state of National Emergency. This is real. There are no zombies; this is not a story with a happy ending. People flood to the stores buying “essentials” out of fear.
Day 68 (March 17, 2020): As the news is just depressing nowadays, I turn to social media, to see what the people have to report about what new is happening with The Rona. I find out that there are now cases present in every state. California is the first state to be ordered to go in home quarantine. I wonder when Ohio will reach this extent. The country suffers an extreme shortage of hand sanitizer, Lysol spray, and toilet paper.
Day 71 (March 20, 2020): Twitter tells me that New York is now considered the epicenter for the spread of COVID-19 in America. The world is in turmoil, there is no end in sight. Nintendo switches are deemed essential by the masses. They have joined the ranks of the extreme shortage that hand sanitizer and toilet paper.
Day 77 (March 26, 2020): Turns out, whatever America does, it does it best. Go big or go home, right? Cases of COVID-19 top other countries numbers. Panic, fear, anxiety. These seem to be the constant emotions I feel now. At the start of this year, I never thought life would be this way. But we cannot give up. We cannot surrender to fear. One step forward, one day at a time.
