The Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has taken over the world in 2020. As of Sept. 15, COVID-19 has recorded approximately 6.54 million cases worldwide, including people of all ages. Three million people have recovered, and the U.S. alone has recorded 200,000 deaths with numbers increasing everyday.
With millions of cases in the country, this caused many states to go into a lockdown as an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus. The Stay-at-Home order was put into place around the end of March to prevent further spread.
The Stay-at-Home order lasted anywhere from 18 days in some states, to four weeks or more in others. When states began reopening, most states also began a statewide mask mandate. The mask mandate required everyone to wear masks upon entering a building.
Many students left for spring break excited for their vacation, not knowing that the day before spring break would actually be their last day of school. Schools shut down all across the country and students had to finish off their school year online.
There are many countries who have already been free of COVID-19. Every country took different precautions when dealing with the virus. New Zealand, Tanzania, Vatican City, and Fiji are just some of the countries that are, as of now, free of COVID-19.
The countries that are now seeing few to no new cases took action and dealt with COVID-19 a lot earlier than the U.S. did. The U.S. did not begin taking action until toward the end of March. Some states did not begin their Stay-at-Home order until April, and masks were not mandated in Kansas until early July.
It could be argued that the U.S. did not take the virus very seriously until a couple months into the pandemic. Most countries went into a lockdown for six to eight weeks, while the U.S. went into lockdown for only two to three weeks in some areas.
Countries that implemented the lockdown for 6-8 weeks and mandated masks immediately once the virus began spreading no longer struggle with widespread COVID-19. Many countries are taking some precautions to prevent the spread of the virus but it is up to the citizens to follow the guidelines in order for these guidelines to work.