If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that 2020 was an insane year. All of the setbacks just kept coming right after the other, but the most devastating of them all was the outbreak of COVID-19. Going into spring break last year everyone was excited to get away from school, but little did they know that it was their last time in school for a significant amount of time. Before we get into details, how did it even go from 0 to 100 so fast?

As we all know, the virus originated in Wuhan, China, and the virus wasn’t very friendly to Asia after that. No one knew the severity of the virus when it started and almost all countries kept their borders open. That’s what allowed the virus to spread worldwide. While COVID-19 is very similar to the flu, the most dangerous difference is that COVID-19 bacteria can survive up to 72 hours depending on the surface, but the flu bacteria can only survive 24 hours. 

Let’s fast forward to March of 2020. This is when everything started to go down in the United States. Donald Trump declared a national emergency and citizens started hoarding various necessities, such as toilet paper and disinfecting wipes. Sports leagues like the NBA postponed their season right in the middle of games. Ultimately what happened is that Earth decided to flip its open sign to closed. This is also around the time that masks were mandated. While that’s happening we get the most exciting part of the year; quarantine…YAY. Many people got more conscious about keeping themselves and things around the house disinfected to the point where all the shelves in stores were completely out of any cleaning supplies. Everyone was very unsure about the future due to the lack of knowledge of COVID-19.

COVID-19 has caused millions of employees across the country to lose their jobs and millions of students across the world were unable to do school due to the pandemic. Fortunately, essential businesses like grocery stores and doctor’s offices stayed open, but other businesses were doomed. That’s when the virtual meeting software Zoom came in to save the day. Everyone used Zoom for school, work, and basically anything you could imagine. My friends and I were stuck on Zoom for ballet class. To say the least, that was not my definition of fun. As a whole, more Americans are more reliant on technology for things we do every day, like school and work. Many students are still enrolled in virtual schools even though most schools are opened. 

While it sounds like the pandemic has already caused enough trouble, we all know it couldn’t stop there. The issues stretch from all the deaths from the virus and little day-to-day changes such as wearing a mask and social distancing. Many students at iUniversity Prep have had to embrace many changes big and small. Here’s the voice of some fellow iUP students:

The end of the 8th grade school year was as if I had no school at all, so I was mostly doing any online courses I could find to keep on pace. My tennis training facility shut down along with the local tennis courts nearby so I was not able to train or practice much. Even though I couldn’t go to any courts I did hit a little in the driveway with my mom. Right now, I am able to train and do conditioning, lessons, and clinics like normal. My family and I are not socializing with any other families; the only places we go are to HEB, tennis practice, and home. We also have not eaten out since it all started, but we do make meals at home. – Brooke Bolinger, 9th grade

It has affected how me and my family travel. It’s honestly really stressful keeping up with masks, and if you don’t have it, you’re kinda stuck. – Emily Greene, 8th grade

I play volleyball and I was getting into it, but ever since the pandemic I have only been able to train and not able to play matches. On the plus side, it has given me something good by introducing me to iUniversity Prep. I came to find out that I actually like digital learning better and I have also made some really great friends here.    – McKinnley Rupp

The pandemic affected both of my sports and I wasn’t able to participate in them for a while. I also had COVID-19 and it has taken a toll on my health since. – Haley Travis

During the pandemic I was forced to stop my activities because they were either canceled or changed to virtual, making it very difficult for me. – Sophia Sokoll

In the midst of a pandemic, you know all the scientists are on a race to make an effective vaccine. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is the first one that was released to the public. To be expected, many people hopped onto the vaccine train in hopes of getting out of this mess, but with this vaccine, you had to get two doses of it, and you had to wait a while in between the two. While some people had some awful reactions to this vaccine, many people were confident that it could save the United States. Fairly recently, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was released to the public, and the good thing about this one is that it’s only one dose of the vaccine. While the age limit for the vaccine is still in effect, word has it that it will be available for everyone soon. 

COVID-19 has definitely calmed down in the past year, but it still affects us in our daily lives. We have to wear masks (at most places) when we go out in public, social distancing by 6ft is strongly enforced by many businesses, and some businesses aren’t even opened up. In the whole timeline of COVID-19, the United States has a total of 32 million cases, 570k deaths, and almost 150 million people have been vaccinated.

Sources:

“Google Search Covid 19.” Google Search, Google, www.google.com/search?q=united%2Bstates%2Bcovid%2B19%2Bcases&oq=united%2Bstates%2Bcov&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0i131i433j0i67i131i433l2j0i131i433j0i20i131i263i433j0i67i433j69i61.3419j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on.