Blog #128 – Your take on the coronavirus pandemic
So, all Michigan schools were shut down on the evening of March 12 (my birthday, BTW). The state’s first two COVID-19 cases had been diagnosed two days before, but a large number of cases had first started in Washington state and also New York at the end of February. During that week beginning March 8, a flurry of major cultural events had been cancelled or postponed, including the Big Ten basketball tournament, the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament, the NBA and NHL seasons, Broadway shows, NASCAR, and Major League Baseball. Also, major colleges and universities were closing for the year or moving to online learning. All gatherings of 250 or more had been banned as well as visits to nursing homes. On March 16, the governor closed all restaurants and bars for dine-in service and gatherings of 50 or more were banned. The next day, Michigan experienced its first COVID-related death. The Big 3 auto makers shut down production, and COVID cases started to spike dramatically. There were dramatic food and cleaning supply shortages in the first couple of weeks of the virus hitting Michigan which would continue for the foreseeable future.
ON March 23, Governor Whitmer issued a stay-at-home order that was to initially last for three weeks (2 months later, we’re still waiting for it to end). By March 25, Michigan had the 5th most cases in the country. After a record number of deaths and confirmed cases, Governor Whitmer cancelled school for the rest of the year on March 30 (officially on April 3). On March 27, Congress passed the CARES Act which would provide $2.2 trillion – a package for small businesses, large businesses, increased unemployment benefits, and upwards of $1,200 per person.
On April 9, Whitmer extended the stay at home order until April 30. In mid- late April, Michigan was 3rd in number of cases in the country. Also, on April 15th, “Operation Gridlock” descended upon the capitol to protest the stay-at-home and mask requirement orders. On April 24, Whitmer extended the stay-at-home order until May 15 but allowed for some partial reopening of businesses. Yet the protests continued.
As of May 17, there had been 51,142 confirmed cases and 4,891 deaths from the virus. Nationally, as of 5/18, there have been 1.53 million Americans infected w/ COVID and over 90K have died because of it. And Michigan has fallen to 7th in the nation in number of cases. And just yesterday (5/22), Governor Whitmer extended the stay-at-home order until June 12.
Nationally, the stock market took a massive hit in March but has rebounded in the past 4 -6 weeks. The biggest story is the number of people unemployed. Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment, numbers we haven’t seen since the Great Depression (and easily higher than unemployment during the Great Recession of 2007-2010). Part of the CARES Act provided $600 extra a week for unemployment insurance until the end of July. Numerous small businesses have been closed and may never reopen, partially because the Paycheck Protection Program, $300 billion in loans, quickly dried up as so many small businesses applied for them. The real fight will be in Congress in the next few weeks over how much help they will or won’t give to Americans while the possibility of slower reopenings in the states is highly probable. Latest numbers with breakdown by industry from the Bureau of Labor here.
And the virus seems to be affecting African Americans at a higher rate than other Americans. They are infected and dying at a greater rate than the rest of America. In Michigan, Blacks make up 14% of the population by 40% of the fatalities. It’s also been noticed that a greater percentage of essential workers, especially those in minimum wage jobs like delivery people, grocery store clerks, nursing home employees were also Black. African Americans are also 70% more likely to live in a health care desert where there is a severe shortage of primary care physicians. The virus has exposed many flaws in American society – massive income inequality, lack of reliable health care, health care connected to one’s job as opposed to being guaranteed by the government, need for child care, and a realization that many jobs deemed essential do NOT get paid as if they are essential.
Give me your thoughts on the following questions:
- How had the pandemic affected your life, your family, your home? Explain. What do you think has been the strangest thing that has impacted you or your family? Why?
- What are your thoughts on the protests demanding that the state open up? Does this seem like a reasonable or an unreasonable demand? Why?
- What are your thoughts on some of the things that other states and companies are doing as they reopen – restaurants and airlines and places of worship w/ limited seating capacity; required mask wearing in public spaces; possible temperature checks; shortages of essential items – and do you think these things will be enough to prevent a 2nd wave?
- How do you foresee school being different in the fall? Why? (Take a look here at the CDC’s recommendations for reopening in the fall here).
The Corona pandemic hasn’t changed my at home life very much. I still do the same things I usually do, like play videogames with my friends, sleep a lot, take care of my dog, and do work around the house. My family is starting to get on my nerves even more than when school was in session. They bug me all the time and do stuff like leave my door open when I’ve told them repeatedly to close it and turn off the lights. I wish I could see my friends though. We all want to do something together, like see a movie or stay the night at someones house and mess around. A majority of my friends have the same opinion as me. That they want to get outside and hang out with each other without limitations. But because of Corona we can’t hang out, and Whitmer keeps extending the quarantine. Outside of my home, Corona has decently affected me. I can’t go anywhere with my friends and going to the store is annoying because of masks and stuff like that. I personally think that the protests are kinda dumb. I understand that this quarantine is ruining small businesses and the economy in general, but protesting in large groups while a pandemic is at large probably won’t do any good. These large group protestings may end up resulting in Corona getting worse after all. I think that the reopening of businesses is great. Sure there’s some stricter rules that go along with it but those requirements like, wear a mask, have a temperature check, sit away from other people, and more may be enough to help contribute to not having a second wave of this pandemic later this year. The only thing that is annoying is only being able to buy limited amounts of items, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, etc.. While I understand the main point, it does get annoying if you have a bigger family. On the topic of school, I think school will be majorly different than normal. I think that schools will result to a mixed category of online activities and physical, in school activities. We don’t want to have everyone go back to school and then make this pandemic worse, but we also don’t want to stay all cooped up inside with our parents and siblings all day being forced to learn on school laptops or personal computers.
The coronavirus pandemic has affected my life as well as everyone else’s in the world jusastically. I think that the strangest thing is not being able to see people like we used to. I like some parts because I get to spend more time with my family but I also get tired of them alot. We have been cooking at home a lot more because we usually always eat out. We have also been playing more games and doing more things that we normally don’t have time for. I think that it is also crazy to see the impact of people and how that affects our economy and mood and our businesses around us. I did recently drive to Colorado with my sister to move her out of college which was a nice change of scenery and I have been up north so I have been able to keep busy. I was also tested for covid after my trip because I had been in contact with a lot of people. It was a very weird experience but thankfully it came back negative. I think that the protests demanding the state to open backup are not helpful in preventing the spread of the virus. This is a new situation and everyone is trying their hardest to deal with the situation and keep everyone safe. In the end people’s lives are more important than our economy. I don’t think it is reasonable for this to happen at this point because we don’t want to lose all of the progress we have gained to slow down the spread. These protests do have important messages behind them and can be getting a message across. I think that limiting reopenings and still having regulations is a good start to phasing in the world back to how it was and trying to help the economy get back up again. I think that these could prevent a second wave as long as they are executed correctly and people are extra careful about cleanliness in areas where they might need to go. I think that school will be very different in the fall because there are so many people and it is hard to keep everyone in a clean environment which is very sad to think about. If school starts I think it would be amazing for all students because it would be some sense of normality in our completely changed lives.
This whole situation has changed my day to day life quite a bit. As an athlete I miss track. As a student I miss class time and learning. As a teenager I miss my friends and my interaction with them. This whole thing I find is really hard to put in perspective, in the grand historical sense. At least for me. Even with my extensive knowledge of the past and the similar Influenza outbreak. I still find this difficult to grasp. As it stands today more people have DIED than vietnam. That to me seems staggering even with the understanding of the loss of life, I can’t understand why there is such a push to reopen. As it stands now protests fill the streets at night and during the day for change in the police system and previously for reopening, which will soon be fully in effect. I however cannot understand how one justifies gathering in protest for nearly any cause during a pandemic. I refuse to stand by these protests for the sole reason of their recklessness. If even 1 person dies because of these protesters It is not right. The death of george floyd is awful and police brutality and discrimination does exist and is a problem. With that said we have a much larger one on our hands right now. A virus that has and will kill and does so unapologetically. When you get this virus you die alone. In a hospital bed in your sleep or awake struggling to breath. These protesters have a voice and I’m with them with their message, but in an age of social media and technology there are much better ways of going about doing this than lightly building on fire and spreading a deadly virus. Okay moving on as for school in the fall seeing that’s one of questions, I topher the prophet foresees a reopening as usual then the realization of the horrible mistake that was then a swift reclosing of schools before november ends. For businesses reopening well I think half capacity is better than nothing but I do not believe we are ready, sadly I’m not the one who gets to decide. As for the demands for the state to reopen, I think they are unfounded and absurd. Unless your from the northern part of the state then I understand.
Coronavirus has affected every single family in the US, without a doubt. It has caused businesses to shut down, unemployment to rise, and has unfortunately increased political tensions. Personally, my family has not experienced too many big changes. The summer swim season has been postponed, school sports have been totally changed, and we have had to make changes at home, because my brother and I have had to work at home, as well as my dad. The first protest was much different than the others, and I attended it, while staying in my car. The people surrounding my car were happy, with none shouting horrible things. Some people compared Whitmer to a Nazi, which is way too far, but most stayed within the comforts of their car. The protests after that were completely idiotic. Not nearly as much turnout, no one was wearing masks, I did not attend these one, thankfully. People inside and swarming the Capitol with guns and no masks is very threatening, but what will it accomplish? If anything, that would slow her progress. And they were demanding the stupidest things too, like haircuts and public pools. Sure, we all want those things, but we will need to wait, anyways. She is not just going to say, “Okay, let’s open up everything because people are using violent force to make me give them stuff!”. It’s unrealistic, and we will need to wait for good things to come. States in the south, the ones off the top of my head are Georgia and Florida, are not the hardest hit states, but have many population-dense areas. I assume those areas will be left up to the cities to see what will happen to them. But so far, they are doing successful, and cases have been going down in those states. The open areas still are restricted however, but this shows us that gradual reopening must start somewhere, and it might be a big step. I think that school can’t change too much. Unless we group desks together, there still might not be 6 feet of room in between desks. Masks are also in high demand, and most cheaper masks are not as protective as the higher end ones, which are selling out like crazy and are unfairly expensive. If the school were to provide masks, they would not have money to get proper, safe masks, and it is not guaranteed that a student will have a mask of their own.
The pandemic has affected my life in a positive way by bringing my family together. Now that my sister is home from college, my whole family is back together. We usually hang out and play family games together, which has made us all closer. It has impacted us negatively because it has made me much less productive, due to the fact that I have nothing to do all day. We all try and fill our time with things like exercise and reading, but sometimes it’s difficult. Recently, since gatherings have been allowed, I’ve been allowed to visit my friends and see them, which has made this quarantine situation ten times better.
I feel that the protests demanding the state open are unreasonable, because although I agree with some of their arguments, our governor is doing her best to keep us safe and stop the spread of the virus so that we can go outside and feel safer while doing it. I understand we can’t stay inside forever, and this is hurting many, many businesses, but the health of our state is very important too and should be a priority. The protests also seem to be dangerous and some protestors are armed, which I find very upsetting and unreasonable.
I believe all the restrictions placed on businesses and restaurants and such for when we open up are necessary and reasonable. I believe that we cannot just jump back into our old routine so quickly, because this would harm many and the spread would get worse, and then we are right back where we started. It must be a slow, gradual process. However, I do not think this will prevent a second wave, which I believe is inevitable anyways.
I foresee school being different, as maybe some people will have to wear masks, and the school will have to increase cleaning and sanitation for everything. I worry that large gatherings like spirit week will be cancelled, or that sports teams will not be able to play and practice. I know all classes will have to try and catch up on everything we missed, which will not be very easy and I’m not sure how we will do it. I feel we may have physical barriers at some points in the school, and possibly water fountains will not be operating. Overall, I really hope that we are able to return to school, but I know that our usual friendly school environment will be incredibly different next year.
The pandemic has had a massive impact on my life in a very negative way. It has prevented us from working which has its complications with rent and payments, it has forced us to be more conservative with how we spend money at the store. Stores that we are not allowed to enter without masks and stores that have run out of toilet paper. Because we are unable to go to work it forces us inside, where it gets quite repetitive and boring. The strangest thing that has impacted my family would probably be how much time we are spending with each other. Even though that isn’t bad, it’s strange because it’s different from what we were used to. I wouldn’t see my parents in the morning because I usually left for school, the only time I would see them would be late at night when they return from work. But now that school has switched to online classes, I spend almost all of my day surrounded by family. Regarding the protests demanding for the state to open back up, I don’t believe that there should be a complete re-opening of all businesses, but we should re-open most of the state. It’s not an unreasonable demand because the infection and survival rates are not as bad as it is hyped up to be, however it is still prevalent. There is still a risk and the people should be informed that there is a small chance. I think that the way some businesses are approaching reopening will be enough. I believe they are taking the necessary steps in order to stay as safe as possible while at the same time attempting to make up lost profit. It should be enough to prevent a second wave, that is if people will follow the rules and take the necessary precautions. I would like school in the fall to open back up because I am completely sick of staying inside and repeating the cycle. Hopefully there won’t be a second wave, although it could be likely since some states have already disregarded the existence of the virus. I can see a lot of students needing to retake classes that haven’t been passed online, which is pretty stupid. The board of education needs to realize that some students do not have the bare minimum requirements and are living in a complete dumpster. It’s unfair to regard every student outside of the school campus as equals economically speaking.
Well, according to my dad we had a lot of assets in the stock market, but it crashed. So we lost lots of money, is what he said. Also during this time my dad was furloughed from his job; it’s essentially when you get laid off but you’re going to get your job back. We also build a lot of puzzles. How the virus impacted me is that I’m really pored and my mom makes do a lot of chores: like cleaning the patio, building a shed, and mulch. I also got a job during this time. The strangest thing that has impacted us is that we’ve had a lot more time to recall weird and detailed memories of when I was little.
My thoughts about the protests are that I think it’s great that they are protesting. But. I don’t think we should open up until we get more tests. So I don’t think it was reasonable for the state to open up when the protests happened, but I do want the state to open up. We need more tests for people who have been exposed to the virus. I wish it could be like an Ancestory.com kind of thing where we could just spit into a tube at home.
I think it’s great that businesses are being able to get to reopen. I’m sure those businesses are really happy and I’ve seen people going to other states to take advantage of open businesses. Small businesses need that business. I think the safety measures that are in place for those open businesses are going to be enough to prevent a 2nd wave. Outdoor seating and masks should be enough.
In the fall, I think people are going to be a lot more distant and suspicious of each other at school. I think it is going to be a weird vibe. I hope we will be going to school in person. I think we will have to get our temperature taken and have to use hand sanitizer often. I don’t think they will make us wear masks. I’ve worn a mask at work and it gets really uncomfortable wearing one because of all your breath getting trapped in there. I hope that by the time we go to school in the fall that there will be a shot and that people have to take the hot to come to school. If people do not want to take the vaccine, then they can continue to have school online.
When the pandemic first came to attention in March, my parents were worried about it because my family went to New York City at the end of February Break, and it was one of the cities being hit the hardest at the time. However, several teachers brought up the pandemic during class and were not sure if we would actually shut down schools. Because of the pandemic, my sister and I can not go to many places we used to, such as stores, restaurants, parks, and other places. My dad now works from home, and my mom goes to her office a couple days a week. My family normally goes to South Carolina to visit my grandparents over spring break, but didn’t this year because of the pandemic. The strangest thing that impacted my family was not being able to see anyone but your immediate family for a few months. I think that the protests demanding that the state open up were unreasonable, although I understand part of the protester’s argument, it’s more important to have a lockdown order, so hospitals are not overwhelmed, and we can slow the spread of the virus. While I think that the protesters had the right to be there, I feel like it was selfish of them to carry guns, and not wear masks in the capitol. I think the things that states and businesses are doing as they reopen are completely necessary to prevent a second wave. However, they might not be enough because there is probably going to be resistance to these measures in some way, and people who don’t show symptoms of the virus can still spread it. A second wave of the corona-virus is going to happen, but if states, businesses, and people take precautions, a second wave could be more contained.
Until there is a vaccine, if students return in the fall, they may be required to wear a mask, and classes will have to be smaller. One thing my family thinks will happen regarding school is, half of students will go to school in-person on Monday and Wednesday, the other half of the students will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and schools will be sanitized on Friday and the weekend. The three days students aren’t in school will be done online. Most likely, there is not going to be a vaccine ready by fall, and we will probably have to continue online learning until there is one.
Well, I think the most obvious way of how the pandemic has affected my life is the way that I now have to take school online, which I absolutely hate since it’s hard to stay focused and motivated, but at the same time am extremely grateful for since, for one example, the APUSH exam was super less stressful than it would have been. One way it has affected my family is similar to mine; my sister also has school online. However, my mom does attend work still, but only for two days of the week, which is probably the strangest thing for my pandemic experience because I see her more now than ever. As for home, we sanitize a lot of things in the house, so that’s probably the only thing that has affected the house, along with the excessive additions of plants and flowers.
I don’t think I’m on board about the state opening up. A lot of COVID cases that I’ve heard about have been caused by one person spreading it to another, and that is caused from a lack of social distancing. One of my neighbors is a nurse and her daughter caught it. She had said that it was probably because she was a nurse working with COVID patients, and since they live together, in that instance it’s hard to social distance, but I guess I’m just using that story to show how important it is to social distance. Social distancing is something I strongly believe is effective. However, even with that explanation, I wouldn’t say to open up is unreasonable, I just think it’s a dangerous idea that has to be executed in the right way. I also think it depends on the extent as to how much the protestors want the state to open up. Assuming that they mean all the way, I definitely don’t agree with that. Overall, if the state opens up, I really think things need to be limited and strict. I can’t think of any examples on how to do that, but I do want to say that other countries are doing better because of earlier and smarter steps taken at the start of the spread. We’re deep in it now, so for states to open up, it’s just not a good idea.
I think limited seating, mask requirements, and temperature checks are all good things. I mean, if anything’s gonna open up, I would only wish that they at least take those actions when doing so. On whether or not this will prevent a second, I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards saying no. No one ever really knows how much a person is really following these rules, and clearly, it’s hard to really enforce it upon people. Honestly though, I can’t say this is enough to prevent a 2nd wave because I don’t know enough and I still think that re-opening is dangerous period.
Again, this is another that I just can’t determine, but if school did open in the fall, I would hope that it continues online, as much as I hate online learning. If school were to continue online, I think it should be carried differently than how was carried these last few months. This could maybe include required google or zoom meets, or somethings like that. If school were to open up in the fall, it should follow the “More Risk” guideline principles listed on the CDC, but everything should be super strict. I think maybe having classes in the auditorium along with classes in the cafeteria or gym, outside and regular classrooms will help lower the amount of students in one space and allow more distancing. I think teachers should be the only ones who move from class to class, and even having one class at a time dismiss is something I think is good too. I also think having a half day, reversed or not, will help social distancing for lunch-time.
The Pandemic for me hasn’t been a huge change. One big thing that has affected my family is that we started walking the dogs a lot more. Normally I walk my dogs at least once a day and then play with them to get them really tired. Now during the pandemic I can take my dogs for a walk two or three times per day. I also spend a lot more time outside doing yard work then before. I am not a huge fan of yard work but I am not bothered by it. It can be kind of relaxing just doing a mindless task for thirty minutes and then moving on to the next mindless task. I think that people are being stupid for protesting the state closure. After the protests the number of cases seemed to increase and it felt like all the protesters did was hurt themselves. If the governor thinks that it isn’t safe for our state to be opened up then I respect her decision and follow her orders. This pandemic is not something to be taken lightly and i think that what we are doing now is the right thing to do. The sooner we open the greater the consequences might be. I think that what the new york governor has done has been one of the best plans of all of the fifty states. I think that Georgia being completely open already is not a very smart idea. I also think that anyone who is upset that the government is requiring us to wear masks need to realize that it is for their own protection. I think when we reopen we need to take it very slowly and go by what the numbers are telling us. I want the state to reopen but i think it needs to be done the safest way possible.I think if and when school reopens we will most likely still have to do some kind of online schooling. If school were to reopen in September most likely half of the school would be in the building on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half would be online. Then there would be some kind of cleaning on Wednesday where no one was in the building. Then on Thursdays and Fridays the other half of the school would be in the building and then the first half would be doing school online. It will be interesting to see how the district handles the situation, but whatever happens I plan on going along with it.