Everyday when I wake up, I say to myself, “when is this going to go away?” As the days and weeks pass by the more frustrated, upset, and anxious I get. At this point it feels like we are living inside a movie. Since, I have more time to myself, it really makes me think about everything going. I realized I kept asking my parents, “when is this going to end?” The more I think about that question, the more I realize how wrong it is. It’s not about when is this going to end, it’s about how we are going to change and adapt our lives moving forward. The new question I ask everybody around me is, “How will we change the way we live going forward as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?”
I am currently living in New York, which has the most deaths from COVID-19. Mayor De Blasio stated, “In May we’ll have stronger enforcement efforts, we’ll pass out free face coverings and we’ll use all the tools we have to assertively make progress. We have the chance to do something transcendent when it comes to testing and tracing” (Patterson). It is crazy to see what the world has come to, but I believe Mayor De Blasio is doing a great job in regards of the outbreak in New York. One of the most important things you need right now is a face mask and it is great to see that people will be getting free masks in May.
With many people not being able to work, unemployment has reached an all time high. Nelson D. Schwartz states, “In the last four weeks, the number of unemployment claims has reached 22 million” (Schwartz). Layoffs are being imposed all across different industries. I do believe that this is one of best ways to stop the spread of the virus. I know people need to work to support their families, but in the long run this will help drastically. If we try and stop the spread as early as possible, the more likelihood that we can live our normal lives again.
Everybody all around the world has seen or heard the saying, “social distancing.” Social distancing is the most important thing that we can do to, in order to combat the virus. If we ever want to have face to face interactions with people, we need everybody to practice social distancing. Jen Gunter stated, “Those practicing social distancing should stay home as much as possible and look to keep a gap of six feet or more between themselves and others if they do leave the house” (Gunter). Since, many people didn’t practice social distancing at the start of the outbreak, they suggest you wear a mask whenever you leave the house now. This shows that if we still don’t follow the right pre-cautions that the outbreak will keep getting worse.
Another thing that has been drastically affected from the coronavirus is the economy. The one bad thing that comes from social distancing is that it hurts the economy. Austan Goolsbee stated, “If people stay home from school, stop traveling and don’t go to sporting events, the gym or the dentist, the economic consequence would be worse” (Goolsbee). This is why the coronavirus is so hard to deal with it. If you stay at home and do the right thing to stop the spreading of the virus, you hurt the economy and can’t make any money.
I would have never thought we would be going through this in my lifetime. The simplest way to get through this is that we all must come together and take the right pre-cautions. This will not be easy, but I know if we all listen to the right people, we can do this. Life right now is not ideal, but with the right choices we can be back to normal in no time.
Work Cited Page
Goolsbee, Austan. “Why the Coronavirus Could Threaten the U.S. Economy Even More Than China’s.” The New York Times, 6 Mar. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/business/coronavirus-economy-us-china.html
Gunter, Jen. “I Practiced Social Distancing Before Coronavirus. It Works.” The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/parenting/social-distancing-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=3
Patterson, James. “Coronavirus NYC News: Mayor De Blasio Says Reopening ‘A Few Months Away’ As Cases Decline.” International Business Times, 2 May. 2020, https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-nyc-news-mayor-de-blasio-says-reopening-few-months-away-cases-decline-2968985
Schwartz, Nelson D. “‘Nowhere to Hide’ as Unemployment Permeates the Economy.” The New York Times, 16Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/business/economy/unemployment-numbers-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1
ENGL110 Spring 2020 11:15-12:05 
This essay was extremely well written and thorough. I especially appreciate your introduction and how relatable you made it. I am sure many of us are going through the same emotions as you are and asking ourselves the same questions, so I like how you set the stage with your own thoughts. Also, I like how you touched upon a bunch of different topics instead of focusing heavily on one. It allowed me to learn more about how this situation is affecting our lives as a whole.
-Sydnee Schapiro
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There was a nice flow of this piece because of how you divided up the paragraphs. I also really liked the first paragraph. I think your first sentence, when you say, “…’when is this going to go away?” is a very relatable aspect of the average American’s mindset. It’s nice to see you acknowledge the frustrated mindset by writing about the importance of listening to the right people.
-Jack Renz
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