Happy birthday, COVID. One year. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on November 17th of 2019. To think that the pandemic has been around for a year is scary, but at the same time, completely wild. It’s mid-November, and the year ends in a month and a half. Quarantine began roughly in the middle or March or beginning of April, depending on your school. Just the fact that we’ve made it this far is remarkable in some way, whether it’s that you are still alive or the fact that this is still happening.

No one really expected COVID to go on this long, but it still is a thing. We have to recognize that COVID is a very real part of our lives, and it won’t just go away when you decide you’re done with it. There are some people who think that it’s time for the world to be normal again, but we really can’t do it. If everyone decided to just stop wearing masks and distancing, then the pandemic would worsen severely and this would all go on for a lot longer. Consider this me begging you to continue with the proper procedures for COVID prevention.

Now, Moderna has a vaccine that they tested, and based on the data that they obtained, the vaccine has been deemed about 94.5% effective (NY Times). There were also some other vaccines being tested. This all provides hope for the world that we will come out of this soon, and it’s exciting to think that we might be able to go back to normal.

With all of this in mind, we still need to do our parts. Continue wearing a mask, continue distancing from people, and make sure that you are staying safe. Take personal days and have mental-health check-ins with yourself and your friends. Know that we will be back to normal one day. 

The pandemic has changed everyone’s lives, for better or for worse, and there’s nothing we can do about it except mask and distance. While it has been a wild ride, we don’t need to have it continue on this way. We are the only ones who can prevent a future of isolation. Stay safe and celebrate that you’ve made it through one year of COVID.