Remembering the Pandemic of 2020

 

2020 – A Year of Pandemic

The “Novel Coronavirus" called COVID-19 has had a major impact on health, the economy, education, and people's lives in general. I first noticed references to the Coronavirus in January, when China quarantined about 40 million people to prevent its spreading, but it had already spread beyond China.

By March the tally of deaths in Europe was causing people to cancel their travel plans. In Italy they could not get enough respirators for all of the acute cases, and doctors had to decide who would get them and who would not, basically who would live and who would die. Saudi Arabia closed its borders to pilgrims, the Geveva Motor Show was canceled, and other international events followed.

On March 11, The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The Church announced that April General Conference would be held but the proceedings would be distributed through technology only. This would also be true of the October General Conference. 

By April, most major international events were canceled and many borders were closed to travel.

This caused panic buying by some people, When we were buying groceries, I noticed one woman with a shopping cart filled with packages of toilet paper. Soon there was no toilet paper on the shelves of any of the stores. Some foods became hard to find, such as canned goods, baking supplies, powdered milk, and eggs. But within a few weeks most things were again available, but sometimes with purchase limits.

People were asked to avoid large groups and to wear masks that covered their nose and mouth when they were in public places. Someone humorously remarked "I could never imagine myself walking into a bank wearing a mask and asking for money,” But of course, that was the new normal. Banks were still open as an essential service, but masks were required for health reasons. I heard reports from other areas, of people being given huge fines for being in public parks with their families. There was a lot of confusion by government, law enforcement, and the general public. Across the USA there were massive demonstrations and riots over a period of four months for various reasons.

Many businesses were closed, especially those that required close contact between people. Hair dressers and clothing stores were especially badly hit. A friend of our daughter had to declare bankruptcy because her beauty shop was closed but she still had business expenses that had to be paid. And a favorite dress store Allia & Tanjay went out of business.

Governments went many billions of dollars into debt trying to help those suffering financially.

By July some of the measures had eased, In September we were able to have church twice a month locally, so long as our numbers did not exceed 100 and there were at least 2 empty chairs separating different families, Some chose to attend church at home using Zoom. In October we could have church every Sunday with the same limits we have been observing.

But October also saw “the second wave of COVID-19” with a huge upsurge of infections. Apparently there are about 20 active cases in our local area, and a granddaughter has been exposed to the infection at school.

I saw a statistic recently that said 70% of the deaths are people over the age of 80. Some of these may have been people who were already dying of other causes, so sometimes the statistics are only part of the story,

The pandemic continues, Will the future bring n effective vaccine? I certainly hope so. In the meantime, let's try to be wise and keep safe.

In our family histories. it is a time to remember.