When I first heard of COVID-19, I never thought a virus that originated on the other side of the world would ruin my social life for a couple months and would lead to an entirely online semester. In January, I distinctly remember waking up on the morning after my 21st birthday and reading breaking news that Italy was in state of emergency and that large swaths of the country were expected to be entirely shut down due to COVID-19. This was the first time that I contemplated the possibility of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting my everyday life. So, when Towson University halted in-person classes and the country essentially shut down for two weeks to slow the spread I was not completely taken off guard. Several months later and the world still seems to be reeling from this pandemic. I suppose today some might say that it was ignorant for me to assume that a global pandemic wouldn’t penetrate my personal life to such a degree, but hindsight is always 2020 and as the second wave approaches, we need to use what we’ve learned to react appropriately.
The panic of the pandemic made many of us completely willing to stay inside and avoid contact with anyone not in our household. During quarantine we saw videos of bodies being stacked in military vehicles for burial in Italy and ice rinks in Maryland were being turned into temporary morgues [1]. After the fourteen-day federal mandate to social distance, we waited for governors, mayors and then Universities to allow us to return our regular lives. During this time, it slowly became clear that we were no longer just waiting to slow the spread but were waiting until we found a vaccine. An second wave is predicted to hit us in the winter and is expected to be just as, if not more, devastating than the first wave, making the desire for a vaccine more insatiable than ever. But, while we’re waiting for a vaccine, we need to mitigate the number of unnecessary deaths by COVID-19 by washing our hands, wearing masks, and social distancing when needed.
[1] McNamara, Audrey. “An Ice Rink in Maryland Has Become a Temporary Morgue.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 6 May 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/maryland-ice-rink-temporary-morgue-coronavirus/.
