It's been a year. A literal year since the COVID-19 pandemic shut the entire world down. A year ago today, no one knew what was happening. Everything shut down, everyone was scared and huddled inside for months. Let's remember just how far we've come since then.
Tom Hanks Got Sick
It’s March 11. The world turned upside-down a year ago today. The WHO declared a pandemic, schools were shuttering,… https://t.co/wKCTAw5VCp— Lauren Pelley (@Lauren Pelley) 1615465296
Perhaps more alarming than the WHO declaring a global pandemic and the entire economy grinding to a standstill was the abrupt news that America's fun uncle, Tom Hanks, had the coronavirus.
As we all sat in fear of what the world would become, perhaps our most wholesome hero was struck down with illness.
The NBA Shut Down
About a year ago today, NBA player Rudy Gobert accomplished one of the most impressive things ever: he had the fastest turnaround from joke to joke that didn't age well in human history.
As it turns out, his joke that revolved around touching everything and coughing on people was a tad alarming, since he was positive for the coronavirus.
A day later, the entire NBA season was suspended, and countless players, including Kevin Durant, had the virus.
Yikes.
The WHO Declared a Pandemic
And, definitely the biggest thing that happened a year ago, the WHO officially declared the novel coronavirus to be a global pandemic, which triggered the shutdown of businesses, schools, bars, clubs, restaurants, movie theaters, airlines, and countries.
A year later, 118 million people have contracted the virus, we've been inside for the last year, countless people have lost family members and friends, including half a million in the US alone, and we're still waiting for this nightmare to be over.
But Look at How Far We've Come
Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealth https://t.co/38kJrDzLqC— Dolly Parton (@Dolly Parton) 1614721274
While this has been, arguably, the worst year of all of our lives, with things ripped from us that we never even imagined being ripped away.
But we're almost out of it. For real, this long haul journey we've been on is nearing its end. First, we had masks, then we had testing, and now we've got vaccines. Finally, we have vaccines. And while it may still take a few months for the world to adjust, we've been through the worst this pandemic has to offer.
We saw everything from talk shows to airlines to restaurants adapt to survive, and we all adapted to survive too.
While this year has been hard, troubling, and at times inescapable, never forget that this year has been nothing short of a testament to how strong the human spirit is. We're almost there.
