In early 2020, New York City was hit with a raging virus. Coronavirus, (COVID-19),  dominated all of 2020 leading to be a global pandemic. COVID-19 is an air-borne disease that caused a major shift in our everyday lives after the entire city was under quarantine due to the immediate and widespread of the virus. All schools, many workplaces, and some health facilities, and anything that wasn’t considered an “essential service” were closed. Essential services consisted of permitted work, local shopping, or other permitted errands. Gatherings were not prohibited and if inevitable, you should wear a face mask covering and there is to be a six-foot distance between persons from different households. Though not every state in the U.S. had to follow these guidelines, many of them did have similar locked downs the government issued. COVID-19 is a very strong subject matter to me because this outbreak has affected our everyday lives for a total year since the first person in the United States with a confirmed case in late January of 2020. Being forced from a physical to remote lifestyle within two weeks had a great and depressing impact on thousands of New Yorkers. People lost their jobs and eventually had to file for unemployment assistance, children from every grade and age could no longer attend school (including me). Restaurants and businesses that were closed lost lots of money, some clinics were closed, and hospitals were busy. People even bought out stores thinking the end of the world was near. COVID-19 caused lots of chaos and disruption in today’s society and the government along with our people are going to have a hard time adjusting to the way things were prior to the outbreak. Although we have a vaccination, some people oppose it. On top of that, infection rates are still rising. I definitely feel as though the virus had spread way too fast and that there was not enough political or social awareness until it was far beyond our control.

On March 9th, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that there were 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City. But the coronavirus was nicknamed COVID-19, right? Because the virus was not discovered in 2020 but had only been carried from one place to New York State.  So where is the coronavirus’s origin? And how did the spread occur so fast? The answers actually date back at least seventeen years ago starting with a virus called SARS. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-1. Scientists from the University of Hong Kong narrowed down the search to members of the paramyxovirus and coronavirus families. In the SARS outbreak of 2003, about 9% of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-1 infection died and the mortality rate was much higher for those over 60 years old.

When China first investigated the new form of coronavirus, Dr. Zhong Nanshan, who had relieved people of a previous relieved people of a similar epidemic 17 years ago, was called in an emergency to help bring light to COVID-19. Dr. Nanshan rushed to Beijing and urged officials to sound the alarm to warn China about the rapidly spreading virus. However, by then, approximately 636 lives had been taken by the coronavirus and it was too late to try and enforce containment. The first alarm wasn’t sounded until December 30th, 2019 “yet officials in Wuhan and Beijing concealed the extent of infections or refused to act on warnings.” New York Times, “How COVID-19 Slipped China’s Grasp”.  Did China’s delayed initial response “unleash the virus on the world”? A battle between science, economics, and political leaders arose when it was found that even Chinese scientists private labs, and professors tried to raise alarms before Beijing acknowledged the severity of SARS-CoV-2.

Analyses:  “25 Days That Changed The World: How COVID-19 Slipped China’s Grasp” By Chris Buckley, David D. Kirkpatrick, Amy Qin, and Javier C. Hernández is an informative piece. I believe the authors of this article were trying to paint out for the readers where and how the coronavirus first outbreak was discovered. Their objective was to show their audience how the pandemic unfolded and the cause that led to these current events. Other articles, like this one, also share the same information which proves what Buckley, Kirkpatrick, Qin, and Herandez are trying to educate us on true.

Response: Before reading this article, I was informed that the COVID-19 outbreak was not one of its first and that in fact was not the original virus. However, I didn’t quite understand but it was been proven true after reading “25 Days That Changed The World: How COVID-19 Slipped China’s Grasp”. Buckley’s, Kirkpatrick’s, Qin’s, and Herandez’s article gave grave details on how COVID-19 unraveled so quickly worldwide. “How COVID-19 Slipped China’s Grap” addresses the political issues behind the scenes of COVID. A lot of people did not agree with China’s decision to withhold information that could have helped continents, not just cities. The four authors exposed a lot of secrets that both China’s and the United States’ governments concealed. But the article doesn’t say much about the previous virus SARS because it was as though the virus disappeared for an entire decade.

One of the articles I found that supported Buckley, Kirkpatrick, Qin, and Herandez’s claim is “Whistleblower Doctor Who Sounded Alarm on Coronavirus Dies in China” By Hilary Leung. The very beginning of the article cuts into a message Dr. Li Wenliang forwarded his former medical classmates. Dr. Wenliang was an ophthalmologist in China’s central city of Wuhan, whose attention was caught by the outbreak. The message was sent on December 30th, immediately after the first alarm was sounded, and read “A new coronavirus infection has been confirmed and its type is being identified. Inform all family and relatives to be on guard.” Dr. Wenliang continued to spread the word and share his theory online and with journalists But like other scientists and professors in China at the time, Dr. Wenliang’s warning was disregarded. Wuhan’s health bureau said there was no evidence of spread between humans, which turned out to be false, in January, when Dr. Wenliang was diagnosed with coronavirus after being infected by a patient of his.”

Authors of articles similar to these weren’t able to get to see first-hand the events happening in China during the first outbreak of coronavirus but Dr. Li Wenliang unfortunately did. Dr. Wenliang attempted to warn officials but was shut down every time and “defied a political system that does not tolerate dissent.” After he shared information about the strange infections he was seeing, he was reprimanded by local authorities for “making untrue comments” and “severely disturbing social order.” Wuhan police punished eight people, including Li, for “spreading rumors.” After his death, Li was labeled as an “eternal hero” in his battle against the virus and officials.

It was very unfortunate the treatment these people were given when these people were trying to educate and warn others in their cities. China’s government was merely hurting people in attempts to tuck away the seriousness of coronavirus. I believe it was done out of fear because the government could not control what was occurring. This article was primarily informative but it was hurtful to read the betrayal and suffering Dr. Li Wenliang had to undergo just to be proven right.

The mayor of Wuhan later admitted to “mishandling the crisis”, and not releasing information quickly enough. An early study concluded that China could have reduced the total number of cases by 66 percent had officials acted a week earlier. The coronavirus changed lives for over a year. I began to feel lucky that I wasn’t in any serious trouble emotionally, financially, or mentally. I know people with anxiety and when the lockdown happened, increased their sickness worse. At the very beginning of the lockdown, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio announced a citywide curfew. The curfew began at 11 pm and was lifted at 5 am, the next day. City transportation including buses and trains wasn’t for use during these times either. It became concerning when I thought about the children and teenagers whose school was their safe haven where they can get something to eat and be away from domestic abuse. I am hopeful, however, because after 1.7 million cases and 46 thousand deaths, in New York City alone, and quarantine for almost a year, researchers were able to formulate a vaccine.  All New Yorkers 16 years of age and older are now eligible to be vaccinated. In Queens, there are even buses that will drive you to a location where they give vaccinations for free. Many people who had to virus stated that they felt better after the fourth day of receiving the vaccine.