Empty street of Chicago, U.S.A on March 20th, 2020. Photo taken from wikipedia.
On a regular day, in the middle of spring, you would usually see people playing games at the park, students attending their classes and counting down to the last day of school. Along with high school seniors getting ready to graduate and start the next chapter of their lives; and families getting together to spend quality time out in the nice weather. But when I look out the window now, I see the complete opposite, noticing that my neighborhood streets are completely empty.
Although I haven’t been outside as much as I normally would, I recently went on a car ride to Boston and it looked like a ghost town. The traffic that once flooded the streets of the busy city are as empty as a politician’s promises. Most of the people I saw outside wore a mask and intentionally distanced themselves from others. The supermarkets are full of panicked customers excessively purchasing items they do not necessarily need during this global catastrophe.
At first, when the pandemic had just started to spread around the globe, I would always pay attention to the news so that I would know what to do to prevent myself and my loved ones from getting the virus. Since this was new, people did not know who to listen to when it came to obtaining reliable information on the matter. As a result, a lot of fake news was passed around before people realized the information was false. As soon as I found credible news outlets, I read as many articles on the coronavirus as I could so I could get a sense of understanding. I stopped doing so after I got the gist of it because I began to feel that the information got repetitive and stressful.
Unfortunately, because the virus originated in China, I learned that xenophobia and hate crimes on asians were on the rise. I saw many barbaric videos going around the internet that made me question if we were really in 2020. It is overwhelming how many people do not understand the importance of social distancing. I read that if only 80% of people choose to follow social distancing rules, the world would be up and running by next month, however only 50% are doing what they are supposed to which means this pandemic could extend all the way through summer or possibly beyond.
The world looks like it is going through an unpredictable disaster and it feels as though I am walking down a dark and scary alley without knowing what is awaiting for me. Will we learn from this global experience in order to prevent a pandemic from happening in the future? How long will this last?
