With countries including the U.S. fighting off the coronavirus, does America have a chance to keep the virus at bay?

With more than 640,000 known cases and upwards of 28,000 deaths reported by statsnews.com, America is one of the leaders in the world with confirmed cases of COVID-19. With the coronavirus hitting the U.S. at an insane rate, you have to ask the question: is America prepared for the coronavirus?

The U.S. is not prepared. No one is. The American people are the living embodiment of being unprepared. They are scrambling for simple household items. There are plenty of videos of people fighting over toilet paper and people stocking up on water and cleaning supplies. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t get out in front of the issue.

The government has issued plenty of precautions in order to “flatten the curve.” With no real way to stop the virus, everyone has been advised to practice “social distancing.” This means you have to stay away from people. 

To me, that doesn’t sound like a very well-prepared plan for a global pandemic, but it is very effective. This is why quarantine in some places has been advised. You can’t put all the blame on the government, though. The American people have kind of made a joke out of the coronavirus.

With something this large sweeping the nation, there is always gonna be a group of people looking at the situation with some skepticism. A lot of people just chalk it up to an overreaction. The NBA shutting down made me see how serious this was. Before that, I thought that things would just blow over. Even with most schools closed across the country, people don’t understand how serious things are and how serious they can get.

With all of these confirmed cases, most people with COVID-19 don’t realize they have it. People may be sick with the virus for one to 14 days before developing symptoms according to cdc.gov. This is why social distancing and quarantine are so important. It is crucial to get tested.

According to The NewYork Times, some states have implemented drive-through test centers. These centers would provide a great service. They can help test a lot of people in a short amount of time, while still following social distancing. With more great ideas like this and more to come, the government has shown that they might be able to prevent things from getting worse.

Until then all we can do is continue to go with the flow and endure the quarantine as best as we can. 

Photo credit: statista.com