REBECA BRITNEY

Okay, so it is March 21st, 2020. My last day of spring break but instead of going back to class first thing Monday morning I will be finishing off the semester online along with my other classmates. Apparently, the virus that started in China called COVID-19 or better known as “Coronavirus” has literally spread around the whole world like a wildfire. This disease is everywhere but Antarctica and it is highly contagious. Because it’s a new disease there is no vaccine against it yet. From what I have read on medical articles, the way that I would describe COVID-19 would be, close to an extreme case of pneumonia. That sounds painful in and of itself. European countries are getting hit with it pretty hard right now especially Italy. It’s killing a lot of people in Italy at the moment. They have ran out of room in their intensive care units and are trying to find space anywhere around the hospitals for patients. Their number of deaths has surpassed China’s. Thankfully, in China, the number of deaths and cases is going down. That means that it is possible that the numbers could go down in other places as well.

The disease started to scare me in early March, one Sunday morning at church. This was also my last day at Mass, coincidentally. Right before Mass started we had announcements. The Deacon had explained that because of the coronavirus we were going to make a few changes at mass to prevent the spread of the disease. We would wave to each other instead of shaking hands during the sign of the peace, we couldn’t use holy water and my least favorite rule was that we had to take communion by the hand. That really bummed me out because I personally really do not like doing that. Anyway, I digress, this announcement sparked the panic in me because I couldn’t believe that it was enough to affect my Sunday routine. Since March 14th now all public masses have been suspended until God knows when. Our Bishop of Salt Lake City, Oscar Solis made the decision along with other Bishops/Archbishops around the world. The Pope has instructed all parishes to not have Public Mass in Italy as well. I don’t know why that literally brings me to tears. I just love going to Mass so much. I straight up really miss it. I feel not “whole” lately. I know that there is online Mass and whatnot but honestly, it’s just not the same. Anyway, it really breaks my heart not being able to go to Mass but I understand behind the reasoning. Better to be safe than sorry. I trust Pope Francis and I support his decision. I know that there are other Catholics that don’t agree with this decision at all. I can see why though. There is a highly contagious and powerful disease going around the world, shouldn’t we be going to mass more? Shouldn’t we be praying more together in these desperate times? They argue that they wouldn’t get the virus because they would be protected by grace. And honestly, I’m not making fun of it, I actually believe that we would be protected by grace but I would rather be on the safe side on this issue. It’s an interesting argument of faith. I also find it fascinating that all of this is happening during Lent but that is just my two cents. Something to think about. Anyway, I can’t wait to be back when this is over lord willing.

Who would’ve thought that this would only be the beginning? Literally, everything is online or canceled.

The only people that are still working are heroes. I won’t list them all because I probably don’t know all of the different types of professions that are still working through this. All I know is that they are heroes.

When the WHO (World Health Organization) declared the disease to be a Pandemic I felt as if I was living in a dystopian novel or something. Well, I still feel like it.

This is affecting everyone’s life. I honestly never thought I would ever live through something like this. I never thought it would get to this point. I’m sorry but out of all the changes, online school is something I haven’t wrapped my head around yet.

The cases in Utah just keep rising and rising because of the testing that is been done. Of course, this is happening all over the world too, except for China, not just Utah. Doctors say that the number is only going to go up as we do more testing. We need to do more testing to figure out exactly who does and does not have the virus.

Lately, I’ve been staying at my house to help flatten the curve. I’m not panicked anymore about the virus but I would say that I’m taking social distancing and staying at home seriously. As everyone should be by the way. I didn’t think I would have this much to say about what has been going on. Stay safe everyone.

Thanks for reading,

RC