Lesson to be learned from COVID-19

A picture I took on the highway while going home

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that not only affects public health and safety, but it also affects history as it will be an unforgettable event for all of us. Everything we say or do is accounted for in history, even if it is something minor. Most information is easily accessible through the internet and with the growing use and innovation of technology, it becomes much easier to find. For future reference, it is important to be able to analyze historic events such as this pandemic to aid people in any situation they encounter. Just as Kurt Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five to express his experience and feelings towards World War II, articles and responses on the COVID-19 pandemic are outlets for others in the future to understand what we are currently going through as well. I believe that there is a lot that we and the future must learn from this pandemic. A huge issue that we are encountering today is the lack of readiness. My sister and relatives are working in the frontlines in hospitals, risking their lives to protect others. The biggest problem is the lack of resources they need in order to not only protect the patients but also protect their healthcare workers. We live in NYC where it is the epicenter of this pandemic and it has taken a huge toll on neighborhoods such as mine. I live in Elmhurst where they call it “the epicenter of the epicenter”. The reason why my area has been affected badly by the virus is that our local hospital has become a testing and rehabilitation site for COVID-19. With people walking around not knowing whether or not they have the virus after visiting the hospital to get tested, it increases the likelihood for my fellow neighbors to get infected. Elmhurst has one of the highest rates of severely crowded housing in NYC. When someone gets infected here, it infects more than one family and can easily spread to a large group of people. Although the US government was prepared with their stimulus act, they were not prepared with enough resources for a pandemic. There is a shortage of face masks (the ones that actually protect you), ventilators, hospital beds, hospital space, etc. It has almost been 3 months since it has been declared an international concern and the US is still underprepared with resources. Thankfully, China is shipping over its own resources to help control this, and both local and international people are sending aid in some way as well. The whole world is in a war against this virus and we must come together to defeat this, just like how alliances fought together against their enemies in World War II. This blog post that I am typing will hopefully be an outlet for others in the future to help understand the possible severity of situations like this and put more focus on preparation. Life is about trial and error. We must learn from this pandemic to ensure that this type of situation will not become this severe again.  

A picture of my sister wearing 2 masks because she has to reuse her n95 mask due to shortage