Items

• 2020

  A year of recovery

  Our adult son died of cancer at the end of 2018. We were devastated. Our lives were disrupted and upended, while everyone else went on as if everything was normal. Anyone who has lost a family member or friend knows what this is like. Way too many people found out in 2020 what that is like. In 2020, other people were inconvenienced. A lot. I’ll acknowledge that it was tough on everyone, but it’s nothing compared to losing a loved one. When we realized that the pandemic disruption really didn’t faze us, we realized that we were going to be OK. We had faced the unbearable; this was trivial by comparison. So was losing my job. We were privileged that 2020 and 2021 gave us a chance to reset, to recharge, to reboot. To make ends meet, I now work and live on another continent, away from my wife. It’s incredibly difficult. We’ve dealt with worse situations. We’ll be OK.
• 
  2022-07-08

  Covid was the US leading cause of deaths for 45 to 54 year-olds in 2021

  This is a news story from Quartz by Annalisa Merelli. This news story says that within the deaths that occurred between March 2020 and October 2021, the middle-aged were disproportionately affected. In the 45 to 54 age group, COVID killed more than any other leading causes of death within that time period, including heard disease and cancer.
• 
  2022-07-02

  Taking Care of My Grandma During COVID

  This is a story of taking care of my grandma during COVID. A lot of the time I was employed as a caretaker for my grandma overlapped with the height of COVID.
• 
  2022-06-25

  COVID deaths and abortion numbers

  This is a tweet from eevee. This person is saying that those who refuse to wear masks are helping create as many COVID deaths as there are abortions per year. It is meant to point out the hypocrisy of people claiming "life is sacred" while being flagrant about wearing masks, which they argue is not pro-life.
• 
  2022-06-25

  "Pro-life" and COVID death

  This is a tweet from BillHMcCarty. This person is criticizing the amount of COVID deaths that are happening is states that are looking to outlaw or heavily restrict abortion.
• 
  2022-05-22

  People in counties backed by Trump were twice as likely to die from COVID: Study

  This is an Instagram post by coach.fun.2. The study is not linked in the description, but I did find the article the title is referencing. The story come from the Huffington Post. It says that political affiliation is linked to vaccination rates, which some claim are what is making the difference between living and dying from COVID. Wealth and access to certain care are also taken into account. The study was from Brown and the study claims that states that went heavily for Trump had more cases of COVID deaths.
• 
  2022-05-26

  From COVID-19 to shootings: Is mass death now tolerated in America?

  This is a news story from The Associated Press. Just recently, there have been over one million COVID deaths recorded in the United States. The author of this piece asks if Americans have just begun to tolerate mass death. Racial and social inequalities are also cited, where the author claims that those of certain backgrounds are more likely to die sooner or more violently. The COVID deaths are then related to the recent shooting deaths, such as in Buffalo and in Texas. While the gun violence deaths are lower than the COVID deaths, the author uses this to show that little is being done for either to help lessen the amount of deaths. I don't agree with the author completely on this due to dying from COVID being very different from dying from a mass shooter. With COVID, people could pass it along unknowingly and get someone infected, as it is an asymptomatic spread. With a mass shooter, it is much less predictable and far more sudden. From what I have seen on my social media, I did not see anyone I follow really mark the 1,000,000 COVID death milestone, but many have expressed outrage over both the Buffalo and Texas shootings. I don't think the question should be whether Americans accept mass death or not, but of methods of prevention. Obviously, gun ownership won't solve all problems. The police that had guns were waiting outside the school as the shooter was slaughtering kids and adults. Though, one man with a gun, a border patrol agent, is who finally shot the mass shooter and killed him. This is more of a question of character, as well as how competent police forces are in these scenarios. I do not think the author made a fair comparison because protecting yourself from COVID to prevent death would be an entirely different process than protecting yourself from a mass shooter. While the goal of preserving life is the same, the methods differ. Outrage isn't an issue because I have seen people upset over death from COVID and mass shootings. The main problem I see is that people have trouble coming together on a solution.
• 
  2022-05-12

  Covid-19 narrows long-standing Latino mortality advantage, study finds

  This is a news story from NBC News by Nicole Acevedo. Latinos have been shown to have lower mortality rates compared to non-Hispanic whites, where they live an average of three extra years. This changed with the virus. In a study published by the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, COVID-19 has been shown to kill Latinos 65 or older at 2.1 times the rate of whites in 2020. This number decreased slightly in 2021, which was at 1.6 times the rate of whites. So far this year, it has been at 1.2 times the rate of death. In total, COVID has killed 124,000 Latinos since the start of the pandemic in the United States, which accounts for 17% of deaths. The reason the Latino death rate is high is debated, but some say it is because Latinos in the United States are less likely to have access to quality healthcare or have jobs that would expose them to the virus more often.
• 
  2022-05-10

  Pandemic Skeptics

  The attached screenshot is from the pandemic skeptic website https://evidencenotfear.com/. In this image, the site states a fact that adults are more likely to be killed in a car accident than from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This fact is true, unless you are an adult over the age of 49. Sites like this twist and spin facts to produce a narrative that sounds convincing enough to make you not have to look the information up. Oh and if you click the hyperlink "car accident" in that fact, it just takes you to more articles on their site that talk about automotive accidents on their site. This site is trying to use "science" and "medical" facts to push the narrative that COVID fears are unreasonable and scare tactics. My reaction when I see any article full of hyperlinks is to check them out as well as to fact check the main ideas separately. Sites like this assume that people will not take the time to look information up and take it at face value.
• 
  2021-04-22

  Hospice and hospitals during a pandemic

  This is a photo of my grandfather's glasses and a blanket given to him by one of the hospice nurses. He passed in April of 2021, not due to Covid. There were still a lot of Covid restrictions put in place by the hospital, and the hospice center. Everyone had to be checked in at the front desk, temps were taken, questionnaires filled out, and the number of guests at a time was limited. He was moved to a hospice facility down the road from the hospital that he had been in. I was spending 10-12 hours a day with him at this time. He passed very late in the night and the next morning I went to pick up his remaining items. Most I gave to my dad, but I kept the blanket and his glasses. This, I believe, shows a broader picture of the pandemic in relation to healthcare during this time. Everyday healthcare still was taking place, it couldn’t just stop, but they had to adapt. I’ve heard stories from social media and directly from healthcare workers about being exhausted due to the pandemic and Covid guidelines. All I can say is that even after being tired and working through horrible conditions for over a year, every person I talked to for the week that he was there was kind and caring. Healthcare for the last two years has focused a lot of Covid healthcare, which makes sense, but this, in my mind at least, serves as a reminder of the continuous healthcare that has always been happening. I am so grateful for the team of professionals that helped and cared for him that last week.
• 
  2022-04-13

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #22

  This is the twentieth-second report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of April 13, 2022, positive cases have risen to 5457 from 5254 on April 08, 2022. A total of four individuals are hospitalized, and nineteen recorded deaths related to COVID-19 have been documented. American Samo's vaccination coverage of individuals who are fully vaccinated currently stands at 83.7%.
• 
  2022-04-08

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #21

  This is the twentieth-first report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of April 08, 2022, positive cases have risen to 5254 from 4957 on April 05, 2022. A total of two individuals are hospitalized, and eleven recorded deaths related to COVID-19 have been documented. American Samo's vaccination coverage of individuals who are fully vaccinated currently stands at 83.4%.
• 
  2022-04-05

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #20

  This is the twentieth report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of April 05, 2022, positive cases have risen to 4957 from 3756 on March 29, 2022. A total of five individuals are hospitalized, and eight recorded deaths related to COVID-19 have been documented.
• 
  2022-03-29

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #19

  This is the nineteenth report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of March 29, 2022, positive cases have risen to 3756 from 3381 on March 27, 2022. A total of five individuals are hospitalized and 4 recorded deaths related to COVID-19 have been documented.
• 
  2022-03-27

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #18

  This is the eighteenth report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of March 27, 2022, positive cases have risen to 3381 from 2953 on March 25, 2022.
• 
  2022-03-25

  American Samoa COVID Cases Situational Report #17

  This is the seventeenth report released by the American Samoa Department of Public Health regarding the rise of covid cases in American Samoa. As of March 25, 2022, positive cases have risen to 2953 from 1932 on March 22, 2022. On this report, a number of 7 individuals are hospitalized to covid and there is 1 death related to COVID-19.
• 
  0022-04-12

  The Year the World Went Crazy

  I was not directly affected by the Coronavirus, but I knew several who were, some got over it like a cold, others did not survive. There was a devastating number of deaths resulting from the virus, yet so many people adamantly believed it was fake, it was something created by the American government to control citizens. Talking to people from other countries, it was actually embarrassing because the events that transpired in 2020, well, not so much the events, but the reactions to these events, became quite a joke to other countries. 2020 was a year of total divide in many ways: mask wearers vs. mask refusers, pro-vaccination vs anti-vaccination, democrats vs. republicans, races and racism, hoarders vs. "just buy what you need" shoppers, partiers and clubbers vs. stay-at-homers, the list goes on. The thing that affected my life the most in 2020 was not COVID, but the society I live in being in a constant state of chaos and aggression and judgement. This was not the first time a virus spread to other countries from one origin country, it was not the first time that origin country was China, and it was not created by the American government to control the people....I guess 2020 was also a year of conspiracy theories. It's disgusting to think of all those who perished in the pandemic from the virus who are forgotten about or disregarded due to the conspiracy theories against the virus. It was just a horrible year all around, huge step back from mankind in its morals and ethics.
• 
  2022-03-07

  Maternity wards are shuttering across the US during the pandemic

  This is a news story from Vox, written by Dylan Scott. Across the nation, maternity wards have been shutting down, making things more dangerous for new mothers. Due to these closures, there has been an increased number in deaths of both infants and pregnant women. These losses of maternity wards have been harshest on those of low income, as well as Black and Hispanic women. Part of these closures have happened due to shortages of doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff during the pandemic. The closure of more maternity wards also means women having to travel further to get the care they need. The timing makes this even more difficult during labor, as complications can happen during that, increasing chances of death. Overall, this article shows the ways that the ripple effects from COVID not only affect the mortality rates of mothers and babies, but disproportionately hurt poor, Black, and Hispanic women.
• 
  2022-03-31

  COVID-19 and pregnancy: More new mothers dying, increasing women's fears during tense time

  This is a news story from The Columbus Dispatch by Megan Henry. This story is about the rising fears of new mothers as COVID has increased their chances of dying. In 2020, motherhood mortality rate increased by 20% in the United States. There were also large disparities in who died, with Black women dying three times the rate of White women during pregnancy. Dr. Jason Melillo, an OB-GYN for OhioHealth claims that COVID is the main culprit for the rise in pregnancy related deaths. Pregnant women are more prone to complications from COVID, with things such as blood clots, stillbirth, and preeclampsia happening more often. This concern has made some couples only deciding on pregnancy until they have both been vaccinated. Dr. Melillo hopes that over time, mortality rates associated with pregnant women will go down.
• 
  2021-04-21

  Grieving a non-covid death

  My grandfather on my dad’s side passed in April 2021. It’s coming close to a year mark at my time of writing this. I think that being in a time surrounded by so much death and loss that we have forgotten about those who have died during this time unrelated to Covid. He had suffered kidney failure in late 2013/early 2014, that part of my life is blurry in memory so I don’t recall exactly, but he had been on dialysis ever since. It’s been hard to talk about his passing, everyone assumes that death in the last two years always has to do with Covid. Death is never easy to talk about, but it is inevitable for every living creature. My grandfather was old and had been sick for a long time, he lived a long and happy life. I don’t mean that in some cheesy way, he truly did. I carry a tremendous amount of guilt surrounding his death. Due to Covid restrictions, I didn’t get to see him for a year leading up to the week that I spent with him while he was in the hospital, then hospice. I still think about him all the time and the last days that I got to spend with him. I don't think I'll ever get to have that closure I want due to this. It’s almost as if we had expected death due to illness, accident, age, anything else, expected to stop. Yet, death of all causes never stops.
• 
  2021-09-30

  Mobile Morgue

  Eastern Washington and other small towns in Washington are having so many extra deaths from Covid, they are having to bring in refrigerator trucks to store the bodies before they can be buried. This information is still not enough for some people to get vaccinated and try to stop the spread of Covid. Many areas, like in Wenatchee where this article originated, are struggling to keep up with the influx of unvaccinated sick people and are having an even harder time trying to find a place to put their bodies.
• 
  2021-09-06

  Erika Claspille Oral History, 2021/09/06

  This is my recollection of discovering my uncle's death due to COVID-19 during genealogical research.
• 
  2020-03-10

  Goodbye Grandma

  This text I wrote is in memory of my grandma, and the horrible and traumatic flashbacks of Covid 19. This experience took a huge toll on me and my family.
• 
  2021-09-22

  Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theories are Getting Worse

  A friend shared this public Facebook post with me. An anti-vaxxer theorizes about a conspiracy (by whom it’s unclear) to “kill” anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers WITH COVID because so many anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have died of COVID. My mind is blown that they wouldn’t consider the possibility that their inability to protect themselves and others from the virus has made them particularly vulnerable.
• 
  2021-08-16

  from the eyes of a teacher

  A friend of mine is a teacher for the Los Angeles School District. She shared on social media how Covid has impacted her school and its students.
• 
  2021-03-29

  Her pet chickens were a source of emotional support during the pandemic. Then, the predators came.

  Though research in this area is often qualitative and findings have at times been disputed, studies suggest that interacting and forming bonds with animals, such as dogs, might have a positive effect on a person’s well-being. During the past year, in particular, many people have reported that pets played an important role in helping them cope with the physical and psychological tolls of pandemic life. Animals provide companionship and can offer unconditional affection, which people don’t always get from other humans, said Lori Kogan, chair of the Human-Animal Interaction Section of the American Psychological Association and a professor at Colorado State University. Owning pets can also help people maintain a schedule and feel a sense of responsibility, Kogan said. Although existing research has largely focused on more traditional pets, she said, “raising chickens can provide an incredible amount of emotional support.” Plus: “Chickens have their own little personalities. They’re very funny. They’re very cute.” For Kelly Rutkowski, 38, of Ashland, Va., her chickens are her “therapy.” “Just going out with them and just caring for them, interacting with them, it makes me happy,” said Rutkowski, founder of the Adopt a Bird Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of adoptable birds in animal shelters and rescues nationwide. In addition to hens, Rutkowski also keeps a “bachelor flock” of roosters. “I know we’re missing out on being able to go out and do things and stuff, but being with the chickens is just an experience which makes it easier,” she said. “I’d say they’re just as fulfilling as a dog or cat.”
• 
  2020-09-01

  Sahrawi refugees in COVID-19 lockdown hit by livestock epidemic

  Refugees from Western Sahara in camps in Algeria’s Tindouf province lose animals to livestock epidemic, while coronavirus restrictions wipe out other means of income.
• 2019-03-07

  My Covid Experience

  It all happened at the end of my freshman year. a teenager failing classes until what I thought was my savior sent me home for the longest summer I've experienced. It was after summer I realized the horrific effects of the disease. I would have rather stayed in school than lose loved ones to a virus that swept the world by surprise. This is important to me because I have sympathy for people who lost loved ones due to a virus that shouldn't have spread like it did.
• 
  2021-08-06

  Death of a Beloved Pet

  This item is an update to item 45606 - "Diminished Quality of Veterinary Care During the Pandemic." My darling, beloved dog, Evie, passed away Sunday, August 1st, 2021. My family's hearts and mine are broken. Evie was with us for 10 amazing years. We got her the week my husband and I moved into our first home (we were unmarried at the time). She was a part of the marriage proposal. My husband literally said, "Evie and I would like to know if you would marry us." She was in our engagement photos. When I was pregnant and on bed rest for 6 months, she laid with me, her head on my belly. When our daughter was born and we came home from the hospital, she leapt the baby gate to come meet her and check on me (the only time she ever leapt that gate). During the pandemic, she was always at our sides from every Zoom meeting, for every missed holiday, for every tear of frustration and loneliness. We were blessed to have that extra time with her. When she was diagnosed with cancer, we were terrified we would lose her, but she made it through. Not this time. On July 11th, I noticed she seemed a little underweight. That night she started having diarrhoea. None of the usual remedies would stop it. I called the vet on the 13th. Due to the pandemic, they couldn't see her until the 17th. At that point that did a fecal and blood work and gave us metrinidozole for the diarrhea. That helped initially, but success was short lived. More blood work was needed, which was done a few days later. It took nearly a week to get results. They narrowed the problem down to the small intestine, but were not entirely sure what was causing it. They suggested perhaps it was IBS and all we had to do was find a food she could digest better. Meanwhile, her health continued to decline. The evening of July 31st, Evie looked terrible. I took her to the emergency vet the following morning. I had to call around because the wait times were hours long to be seen. I got her into one relatively close to our house, but due to the pandemic I was not allowed in. The vet who I never got to even see wanted to keep Evie over night, rerun a bunch of tests, and charge us $2,660. I had a feeling she would not make it through all that, so we settled on giving her IV fluids and antiemetics and sending her home with me. I intended to contact the vet immediately monday morning, but that was not to be. As soon as we got home from the emergency vet, Evie could no longer walk or hold her head up. I sat with her all day. After dinner, I picked her up and carried her over to the couch where we always snuggled. We had just laid down together, she took 3 deep shuttering breaths, and stopped breathing. Her eyes were shaking like she was having a seizure, but her body was still. Her heart was pounding, then it slowed, and two minutes later it stopped. My baby was gone. I will always wonder if it had not been the pandemic if we could have identified the problem faster. I will never know. Life will never be the same.
• 
  2021-08-01

  Get Vaccinated

  "A Las Vegas father who contracted COVID-19 while on vacation texted his finance from the hospital, "I should have gotten the damn vaccine" This sad story came across my social media feed, I took a screenshot and then found an article which I attached to this item for the full story.
• 
  2021-07-24

  Janine Brown. Oral History, July 24, 2021

  In this two-part interview, Ashley Tibollo interviews Janine Brown on how her life was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first part of the interview, Brown discusses how her last year of college was impacted and about her transition to remote teaching. She discusses her fears of the Delta variant, what sources she uses to get her information and what her feelings are regarding government action. She also discusses family life and how she was affected by the quarantine. She ends this part with her hopes for the future. In the second part of this interview, Brown discusses her decision to move in with her boyfriend right before quarantine and what it was life navigating a new relationship amidst a pandemic. She also discusses her pets and how their moods changed as her life changed. She discusses the difficulties of house hunting and the ways that the pandemic has affected the market.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Grieving Rituals Lost to COVID-19

  Rituals are an important way to celebrate special occasions and victories as well as to deal with the stresses of life. This article discusses the grieving process people have gone through because of the loss of rituals (graduations, funerals, weddings) during the pandemic and the importance of creating new rituals.
• 
  2020-04-28

  The effect of suppressing funeral rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic on bereaved families*

  This documental study was intended to understand the meanings individuals who have lost loved ones in this context assign to the phenomenon of suppressed funeral rituals.
• 
  2020-12-22

  The Virus Is Showing Black People What They Knew All Along

  In this article, author Patrice Peck discusses how black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at 1.7 times the rate of whites. In her words "19,000 Black people would still be alive if not for systemic racism."
• 
  2021-03-07

  The COVID Racial Data Tracker

  This data tracker showed how Covid-19 disproportionately affected black, Latinx, and indigenous communities.
• 
  2020-09-19

  PHOTOS: How The World Is Reinventing Rituals

  This article captures images of the continuations of and changes in rituals around the globe during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-07-21

  2,551 cases in one day.

  The Los Angeles Times reports "L.A County health officials say the number of cases has increased twentyfold over the last month." Clear evidence that we are not out of the woods, COVID is still around and people are still dying. I wonder if anyone is still paying attention.
• 
  2021-07-07

  Hosts break down after quarantined man’s mother passes away | Today Show Australia

  This is a heartbreaking story from Australia about a man who flew around the world to try to get to his dying mother, only to have the Queensland government block his way. So many people across the globe had to die alone without their loved ones because of this pandemic. Hospitals and governments need to come up with a safe system to allow for visitation of dying relatives during pandemics because, sadly, this will likely happen again in the future.
• 
  2021-07-14

  Pandemia ha dejado 498 mil 164 muertes más de las esperadas en México [Pandemic has left 498,164 more deaths than expected in Mexico]

  México registra un exceso de mortalidad de 498 mil 164 personas fallecidas a lo largo de la pandemia de coronavirus. Del total, 71 por ciento, es decir, 353 mil 858 se asocian a la enfermedad de COVID-19 y el resto a otro tipo de causas. De acuerdo con el reporte “Exceso de mortalidad en México” de la Secretaría de Salud, señala que, entre diciembre de 2019 y la semana epidemiológica 22 (que va del 30 de mayo al 5 de junio de 2021), se esperaba un millón 70 mil 79 muertes por distintas causas, pero el registro es de un millón 568 mil 243, es decir, 46.6% más. Con respecto al género, el exceso de mortalidad se ha presentado principalmente en hombre con 319 mil 967 decesos, de los cuales 144 mil 703 tienen confirmación de muerte por SARS-CoV-2. Mexico has an excess mortality of 498,164 people killed during the coronavirus pandemic. Of the total, 71 percent, or 353,858 are associated with COVID-19 disease and the rest are associated with other causes. According to the report “Excessive mortality in Mexico” of the Ministry of Health, notes that between December 2019 and the 22nd epidemiological week (from May 30 to June 5, 2021), 70,079 deaths from different causes were expected. but the record is 568,243, that is, 46.6% more. With regard to gender, excess mortality has occurred mainly in men with 319,967 deaths, of which 144,703 have confirmed death by SARS-CoV-2.
• 
  2021-07-13

  Indonesia’s Daily Cases Surpass India, Marking New Epicenter

  Indonesia surpassed India’s daily Covid-19 case numbers, marking a new Asian virus epicenter as the spread of the highly-contagious delta variant drives up infections in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The country has seen its daily case count cross 40,000 for three straight days -- including a record high of 54,517 on Wednesday -- up from less than 10,000 a month ago. Officials are concerned that the more transmissible new variant is now spreading outside of the country’s main island, Java, and could exhaust hospital workers and supplies of oxygen and medication. Indonesia’s current numbers are still far from India’s peak of 400,000 daily cases in May, and its total outbreak of 2.7 million is barely a tenth of the Asian giant’s 30.9 million. India, with a population roughly five times the size of Indonesia’s 270 million people, saw daily infections drop below 39,000 on Wednesday as its devastating outbreak wanes. The Southeast Asian country reported about 900 deaths daily on average in the past seven days -- compared to just 181 a month ago -- while India reported an average of 1,027 daily fatalities.
• 
  2021-07-14

  En sólo un día contagios de covid-19 aumentan de 20 a 108 en Coahuila [In just one day covid-19 infections increase from 20 to 108 in Coahuila]

  La tercera ola de contagios de covid-19 parece haber llegado a Coahuila, toda vez que de golpe los nuevos casos subieron en las últimas 24 horas de 20 a 108, según el reporte diario de la Secretaría de Salud estatal. En estos nuevos casos se incluyen 9 defunciones, ocurridas en 4 municipios del estado, que son liderados por Torreón en donde se registraron 5 de los decesos; en tanto que Saltillo reportó 2 y los municipios de Nava y Piedras Negras, uno en cada lugar; de ellos, sólo uno no estaba reportado como persona enferma. The third wave of covid-19 infections appears to have reached Coahuila, as new cases suddenly rose in the last 24 hours from 20 to 108, according to the daily report of the state health department. These new cases include 9 deaths, occurring in 4 municipalities of the state, that are led by Torreón where 5 of the deaths were recorded; while Saltillo reported 2 and the municipalities of Nava and Piedras Negras, one in each place; of them, only one was not reported as a sick person.
• 
  2021-07-14

  US Overdose Deaths Hit Record 93,000 in Pandemic Last Year

  Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase. "This is a staggering loss of human life," said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends. The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly "COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis," he added. Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.
• 
  2021-07-14

  Las muertes globales por covid aumentaron un 3 % en la última semana [Global covid deaths up 3% in the last week}

  ras nueve semanas consecutivas de descensos en el número de muertes globales por covid-19, del 5 al 11 de julio se registró un aumento del 3 % con respecto a la semana anterior, con más de 55.000 fallecimientos, según el informe epidemiológico semanal de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). After nine consecutive weeks of declines in the number of global deaths from COVID-19, there has been an increase of 3% from 5 to 11 July compared to the previous week, with more than 55,000 deaths. According to the World Health Organizations' (WHO) weekly epidemiological report.
• 
  2021-07-14

  Summer setback: COVID deaths and cases rising again globally

  As life goes back to normal (whatever that means) here in the United States I fear that we are all turning a blind eye to the truth, COVID is not gone. Hand sanitizing stations are no longer being refilled in most places and we can go grocery shopping without masks, restaurants are busy and people are getting back to work. This would all be good news if globally our numbers continued to decline. The truth is that growing variants, like the Delta variant, are causing numbers to rapidly rise. Here in the US we have become so comfortable with life back to "normal" that we have become complacent. We are not yet safe, people are still dying.
• 
  2021-06-24

  Philippines president threatens to arrest refusers of COVID-19 vaccine

  MANILA, Philippines - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday threatened to imprison citizens who refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine as the nation continues to be a hotspot for the novel coronavirus in Asia. The country has recorded more than 1.3 million COVID-19 cases and over 23,000 deaths.
• 
  2021-06-28

  My Pandemic Experience

  When the pandemic was coming, I was initially relieved. I was supposed to fly to Chicago to visit my sister and go to our favorite band’s (Keane) concert, but as a person with anxiety and panic disorder who is terrified of airplanes and crowds it allowed me to back out. The concert was cancelled. It was the excuse I needed to back out without shame or blame. It seems silly now, but at the time covid seemed more like a bad cold or flu to me. It seemed like another Swine Flu or Avian Flu or other scare in recent memory which hadn’t amounted to a plague style pandemic. Lockdown was even kind of nice at first. My husband, daughter, and I got to spend a lot of family time together. I had taught ESL online for a number of years previously, so converting my in school classes to online was easy. I had no problems teaching over Zoom. I’m a homebody anyway, by habit and by anxiety, so this was great… until the body count started. I was horrified and sickened to hear about the freezer containers being used in New York City to store the overflow of bodies. The germaphobia that had plagued me in childhood, that I had gone to years of therapy to overcome, came roaring back with a vengeance. Like everyone else, I went to the grocery store to stock up so I wouldn’t have to leave me house for awhile, only to find shelf after shelf empty. As a super health conscious, organic, vegan my choices were extremely limited. My husband and daughter aren’t vegan, but they do eat only organic, which became impossible. Soap, disinfectant, cleaners, and hand sanitizers were nowhere to be found. At a time when it was so important to be as clean and healthy as possible all those modern conveniences were utterly gone. I felt helpless. I imagined that people living during pandemics like the bubonic plague and Spanish flu must have felt similarly. After a couple of weeks, quarantine started to feel more like a claustrophobic prison sentence than a family vacation. I missed my sister, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, and my students. On my birthday and Easter I just had to wave at my parents through the glass door. My favorite hobby- taekwondo, which I had started in order to relieve stress and help with my anxiety was taken from me. I had to do the classes online from my living room, which was nearly impossible. I felt trapped. A raging epidemic across the planet from which there was no escape. If I spent too much time thinking about it, I would start to feel the claw of panic. By the time summer arrived I was at breaking point. Luckily with summer we had some reprieve. Case loads declined, and I started meeting my best friend outside. We socially distanced ourselves and wore masks, but we were together and that was a start. By the end of summer she and her boyfriend were on our “quaranteam” that is we decided we could see each other since we weren’t seeing anyone else. In the fall school started. Since I teach at a Catholic school we were able to have school in person full time, though we had students in every grade who opted to go remote. But my bestie and I were back in the building with most of the kids, and I started to feel less trapped. I was going to stores masked and my daughter was also in school. But as soon as Thanksgiving hit everything changed again. So many people ignored all of the recommendations and restrictions and got together with family and friends. It made me so angry that people were so careless. A friend of mine had a large family in Pennsylvania who all got together for Thanksgiving. She didn’t go because she thought it was reckless. 8 out of 14 people at the family dinner got covid and 2 of them died. Then at Christmas, my great uncle passed. No funeral. No wake. Nothing. Schools shut down again. We were trapped. Then the vaccines came. It was nearly impossible to get one for a long time even if you were eligible. Slots filled as fast as they were posted. You needed to present a lot of proof of eligibility in order to get one. As a teacher, I was able to get mine earlier than many others. I got the Moderna. The first shot made me feel a little sick for a few hours, but with the second I had a fever of 103.5, aches, chills, nausea for 12 hours and a general malaise for 3 days. A friend of mine in taekwondo, who has some autoimmune problems, had a severe reaction after her first Moderna vaccine. She has had side effects for a few months now that are not going away. She has dizzy spells and heart palpitations regularly. She is undergoing testing and being monitored by the CDC. Despite some horror stories, the vaccine is still the absolute best thing that we could have hoped for. I would like my daughter to get it as soon as they open it to the under 12 population. A lot of people won’t get the vaccine because they are in the “Science is fake, I’m a Trump supporter” camp. In my opinion, Trump’s misinformation and mishandling of the pandemic cost tens of thousands of American lives, and his diversive legacy is going to cost us dearly for many years to come. It is now June again. School just finished. New York State is allowing people to enter buildings unmasked if they are vaccinated, but few people are actually requiring any proof. Given that the people with a cavalier attitude toward wearing masks are many of the same people who are against getting vaccinated, an honors system policy towards wearing masks is really just a no-mask policy. It is very frustrating to me that people can’t just deal with masks for a while longer to fully insure this disease’s eradication before we have another relapse and find ourselves back in quarantine again.
• 
  2021-06-01

  Peru

  As the US relaxes its COVID restrictions and business goes back to "normal" we quickly forgot that we were dealing with a global pandemic. Around the world countries are still suffering, people are still dying, COVID is not gone. CNN- "Peru has more than doubled its official death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic following a government review of the figures, leaving the country with the highest coronavirus-related death rate per capita in the world."
• 
  2020-04-04

  Diary of Azazel by Jessica Diaz

  I will be submitting a fiction diary that consists of a collection of poetry. These poems are chosen with azazel in mind. He worships misfortune and only loves one woman. Who later passes away due to the coronavirus. The corona virus he once praised because it killed off his enemies. The poetry found in his diary are from famous poets all around and the writing expresses his feelings of hate and despair.
• 
  2021-04-23

  The First Weeks

  I remember when covid-19 was a far away danger, some natural calamity removed from my normal routine: waking up, doing yoga, meditating, working, and so on. Every day just like the others. China was in lock-down and we mindlessly scrolled past news stories from there of inventive ways people were relieving their boredom. But just like other tragedies that were affecting the unfortunate of other lands, the stories faded into the background of repetition. I remember when the first case was found in Washington, the surreal fear that hung like a thick cloud over my city, first forming as a gentle mist then accumulating into heavy dread. Once that first case was identified, things multiplied very quickly. Within a week, we were in lockdown with cases rising in an incredibly frightening exponential manner. I remember the last time I was in the room with someone without a mask on... that was.. 13 months or so ago. I was going into an interview for a funeral service assistant's position. It was raining. I was asked to accompany her to an home funeral the next morning, assist her in transporting the body of a family's child who had recently died. This frightened me, I didn't know if I could do it. And even then, the threat of a global pandemic seemed far off, even the lady blew it off, saying that the solution lie in an healthy immune system. "Healthy people don't need to worry about it." I drove home in the rain and picked up tacos for lunch. Everything was normal. But by the morning we were in a national lockdown as a result of the discovery of how widespread the virus was and just how deadly it could be. I never went to that child's funeral and I haven't talked to that lady since. Every day in those few long weeks in March of 2020 built on the growing panic and grief that was building in the depths of my heart, radiating out into my limbs, making it hard to think, or write, or sing. Every moment was spent obsessing over the potentialities of each moment. "What was going to happen? What were we going to do? How many people were going to die? How many of my friends and family members were going to do? " Going on and on and on. My mind revolved around the fear as a maypole where my body and emotions danced wildly around. Even in the bath, while taking long morning walks, while eating meals, everything centered around the pandemic. Doom-scrolling terrifying news articles telling of the devastation that would likely occur in the next months, criticizing the narcissistic, science-fearing president, who only increased the velocity of widespread horror, watching the rising death count with enrapt panicked attention. All of these things contributed to the slowing of time, which passed by moment by moment in a long exhale of a nation struggling to catch its breath after being engulfed by a wave that came on too fast and hard. Going into the grocery stores to find that most food and toilet paper were gone... that the supply chain might be limited, the reality of my city home's lack of food security becoming too real. I never thought I'd face this kind of global disaster in my lifetime. It was hard to accept. Even now, it is hard to fully accept. Approximately 3,000,000 people have died from this disease to this day, and many more will. Even though vaccinations are underway, the death rate now is at 42,847 on this day (April 4, 2021) as compared to the meager 5,989 on April 15th of last year. Then, we were horrified at that number. But now, we have grown so accustomed to daily deaths that were a numb from feeling any grief. It is hard to say what kind of effect this will have in the future years. All I know is, those first weeks have been burned into memory. I have been changed, for better or worse, by the year 2020.
• 
  2021-03

  How to Survive a Plague with a Disability

  As I’m writing this, it is March 2021 and it’s been a year since I’ve updated this blog. Although I don’t only write about travel here, it’s been depressing to look back on my past trips and have to wonder when I could be in the world again. But I’ve been far from silent during this time. You can read many of my reflections on the pandemic and other topics over at The Mighty, where I have been an editor for the past five years. One year ago, when the pandemic was just beginning in the United States, one of my good friends posted a social media message about supporting each other during what most people thought would be a strange, scary, but ultimately short period of our lives. Part of it went something like this: My mask protects you. Your mask protects me. It’s a nice sentiment. Wearing a few layers of cloth over your face may not help you much, but it helps to prevent other people from getting sick. It’s a kind, visible act we can all do to show we care during a difficult time, to protect others who are at risk even if we may think we would not become seriously ill. It seems so simple, right? How could people not do this? But we all know what happened. “My mask protects you. Your mask protects me,” only works if the other person values your life enough to consider it worth protecting. I’ve been horrified by the number of government officials and online commenters who have viewed the deaths of elderly and disabled people as “acceptable losses” in exchange for keeping non-essential gathering spaces open. My life, and the lives of people with high-risk conditions, are more important than your trip to Disneyland. Don’t you think we want to go to Disneyland too? I’ve also noticed that able-bodied people often assume disabled people will be provided for in emergencies, and in general. They believe there are a lot of government programs and charities to help us, and that such programs are run well and meet our needs. This widespread — but utterly false — belief in a functioning safety net for “the vulnerable” gives people an excuse to behave selfishly while convincing themselves they’re not doing anything wrong. “Of course, there will be a plan to protect nursing home residents, and immune-suppressed people can stay home, so we can throw parties and go without masks if we don’t like them.” In reality, the needs of people with disabilities are often disregarded, misunderstood, ignored, and even actively opposed. We have to fight for access to everything, and sometimes end up on multi-year waiting lists for housing assistance, in-home care, and other essential programs and services. We must battle with government and private insurance to get the mobility equipment we need. We are GPS tracked like criminals if we need personal care assistants, with “fraud prevention” used as an excuse. We often depend on programs with ridiculously complicated requirements, and one missed deadline, one paperwork error, one month where we made “too much money” can cost us everything.