COVID 19 is an ongoing disease that spread in 2020. Today, we learn about it and how it’s affecting the world.
COVID 19 is a very infectious disease, revolving around the SARS-CoV2 Virus, according to the National Cancer Institute. The SARS-CoV2 virus can spread through contact, such as touching something contaminated with it or it can be while you’re interacting with a specific person by droplets (such as sneezing, talking, and more). COVID 19 can cause body pain and aches, general fever symptoms, and more.
COVID 19 first came to be when people started to get severe pneumonia in Wuhan Hubei Province, China in late December 2019. Soon, WHO (World Health Organization) declared COVID 19 as a pandemic as it spread around tremendously on March 11, 2020. As you all may know, online school was implemented in early March of 2020 and people were required to wear masks outside.
“I didn’t make many friends–and I missed my best friend,” said Akshara Karthikeyan, a sophomore at JFK.
For a period of time, students weren’t allowed to go to school, and some parents feared that their children would catch the new disease. According to the Annie E. Casey foundation, students during their online learning felt isolated and were more prone to problems like anxiety, depression, and more. During the pandemic, students’ learning was also affected, an example of this can be in 2022, 26% of eighth graders were excelling in math, while in 2019 which was before the pandemic, it was 33%.
“When I was in a zoom [class] I couldn’t really concentrate nor read or do math properly,” Karthikeyan said.
Places had also needed to make accommodations for quarantine, such as wearing masks and staying a few feet away from people. 1.1 million businesses had to shut down because of it!
The Children’s Librarian in the Woodbridge main library, Brinda Patel, says “for the library, we had to block off certain areas–limits.”
In the Woodbridge Main Library, certain areas were limited because of covid, so when kids needed books, it was tedious to search and find the specific one, especially when the kid needed a lot or changed their mind. Students also couldn’t use zoom on the library computers, since Genesis wouldn’t register properly.
Finally, across internet platforms such as TikTok or YouTube, people have been saying that 2020 to 2026 felt way too fast. Many people expressed how the years went by way too fast because of quarantine, but others disagree.
Karthikeyan said, “Around 2022 to 2023, that’s when time started to really fly.”
While Patel said,“ It was very slow but I understand for young kids.”
Overall, COVID is a tough time for everyone. Between the learning decline and the millions of lives lost, it wasn’t easy, and it still isn’t, but we should still keep fighting through it, even when it feels impossible.
