3/24/20 Angel Li PD1

3/24/2020
Modern Mythology
Angel Li

Update on Covoid-19

There are 395,753 confirmed coronavirus cases at the time of writing this blog. 17,235 have
died. All of Italy is in lockdown. Wuhan, where the outbreak started, is about to resume public
transportation after a weeklong lockdown and seeing their number of coronavirus cases start to
decrease. The 2020 Olympics are being postponed. The Dow (a stock that is indicative of our
economy) dropped nearly 35%, setting record drops in history.The pandemic has spread to the
United States cancelling all sporting events and public congregations. A 30-day travel ban has
been placed on Europe. Public schools shut down in 46 states, affecting over 55 million students.
Hundreds of millions in lockdown urged to not leave their house, many losing their jobs. New
York State having nearly 50% of all confirmed cases in the US. NYC has an infection rate five
times higher than everywhere else in the US. Compromise on a $2 trillion relief package is close.

What is it like working from home?

Covoid-19 has majorly impacted day-to-day life as most of us are in quarantine. Having to adapt
to these new scenarios, we moved to remote learning for the time-being and so far it has been
rather interesting. Today is only the second day of remote learning and working from home feels
like being an entrepreneur: having my own schedule and dependant on how smart I work to
succeed. Without the need to travel to school, and the first class starting at 9am, the extra sleep is
a beneficial factor. There are 3 sets of 75 minute classes a day with 45 minute interval breaks and
I am able to work at my own pace to my discretion. Although procrastination may be a problem
for some of us who are situated at home and have access to multiple electronic devices, it would
be a great time to try to stop procrastinating given what is happening throughout the rest of the
world and given the privilege of not having to be on the front lines battling this virus. My initial
thoughts about remote learning was that it was going to be just self-teaching myself however it
proved very different. On the first day, I was able to easily ask my teachers through Zoom and
Google Meet questions either about this new system or the classwork we had. Staying in calls
with friends who had the same class as me made collaborating ideas much easier as it filled the
void of a classroom.

Community Response and My Response

For the past 3 months while the pandemic was wreaking havoc on the other side of the world,
most of us in the United States shrugged it off, laughed at it, and made jokes about it. However
when it came time for the virus to spread in the United States, the response was not the same.
Everyone rushed to stock up on food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, water, etc. Retail stores
such as Costco and BJs had their shelves completely erased. Attacks of harassing and physically
hurting Asian-Americans only add to the problems of the virus.
My response to this whole situation is only time will tell. There isn’t anything that can reverse
the effects of the virus and the damage has already been done. Through social distancing and
constantly disinfecting (such as washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap) we can
only hope that it gets better quickly. Being a senior and that this may be how the last few weeks
of school is is pretty heartbreaking. However during a time like this, knowing that my family and
I are safe is more than enough.