Three…two…one…happy new year! On January 1st, 2020 the world celebrated another great year complete and a new year coming, a year full of happiness and resolutions. Well, it was supposed to be. While we were in America celebrating the dawn of a new year, in other countries the Coronavirus was spreading, and it was spreading fast. Little did we know that in two short months, we would be stuck at home for weeks maybe even months. Our lives would be changed, forever.

On March 13, 2020, the Coronavirus was declared a National Pandemic and we were told to quarantine in our homes. Schools did not return after spring break, concerts were canceled, flights were canceled, vacation plans put on hold, and strangely enough, toilet paper was selling out. Our lives had flipped completely upside down. Life was utterly abnormal and no one knew what to do. Two weeks turned into two months and uncertainty took over.

The first months of quarantine were filled with “Outer Banks”, “Tiger King”, TikTok, whipped coffee, and lots of time at home with family. We were getting used to staying home, and for the most part, just enjoying the chance to slow down and be with our families. Summer dragged on and nothing was changing. Masks were used everywhere, and with a new school year on the horizon, we knew everything was going to be different. A sense of deep longing took over and everyone just wanted life to go back to normal.

Over the past year, I have done my best to respect and understand the diverse opinions around me regarding COVID-19, but I would like to take some time to share my thoughts.

In the month of December 2020, people all over the world had been barely living for the past 9 months. In my opinion, quarantine and shutting down was not the answer. Suicide will kill faster than corona. Teenagers’ mental health declines every day that they spend cooped up in their homes, not able to fully experience life as a normal teen. Staying inside will also kill our immune systems and make us weaker and more prone to sickness. According to Insider, too much time indoors, and too few social interactions can very much dampen your immune system. The stress and exhaustion known as quarantine fatigue is real, make sure you check on your friends often and make sure they are okay. Although staying at home is more or less an okay solution to slowing the spread, it’s not healthy and will have long-term effects. We will be more prone to infections and sicknesses if our bodies can’t gather the strength to fight off those illnesses and bacteria. How long are we going to cancel plans and reconsider? What if the numbers stay the same? Then we have ultimately made people stop their everyday lives for nothing. What if the number of cases gets worse? We have no idea, and we can’t just keep living like this. We have a limited number of days on this Earth, and I would rather spend my time living every day fully, not worrying about the “what ifs” and the “maybes”, and I bet I’m not the only one.

What is the end game? Zero cases? The only way that is going to happen is if we stop testing people and stop researching. At what point do we realize that we need to get back to our normal lives? The world was stopped more than a year ago, and barely anything has changed. At some point, it is reasonable to assume that everyone would have been exposed or infected with the virus, meaning that more people will possess the antibodies. This would place us in a better position towards finding a way to permanently defeat the virus. Why try to stop the inevitable? So many defining moments of our lives are being taken away, and it’s heartbreaking. There are way too many experiences we are missing out on. Is there a waiver somewhere to sign saying, yes I understand the risks of this virus but I would rather live freely every day rather than living in fear?

January 2021 came and went, the vaccine had arrived and began to be distributed to the elderly and first-line workers. Does it really seem the smartest to give a brand new vaccine that has been barely tested to all our medical heroes? If it fails, they will be the first to fall.

According to the New York Times, 53.1 million people have recovered worldwide from this pandemic so far, and only 2 million have died. I believe it should be a personal choice if you are worried about getting sick or have a family member you need to protect, you should stay home. Let the people who are not worried continue to live their lives instead of taking away their rights. As for the masks, fine, if people are so persistent everyone wears one I’ll wear one, but we’ve been wearing masks for months and there are still cases, so why do people preach about everyone wearing one if they aren’t totally doing the trick? Check out this link to view a debate on a lack of conclusive evidence justifying mandatory masks. It has become common now that people even wear more than one mask, isn’t that just proving that one mask is not enough to stop the spread?

It is now March 2021 we are reminded of what life was like when everything shut down and reflect on our own personal experiences with the start of the pandemic. We’ve come a long way since then, but we can all remember where we were and what we were doing when the world came tumbling down beside us. When the Coronavirus got serious in the U.S., it hit the airline industry especially hard– forcing some airline industries into bankruptcy and even more on the brink. In November 2020, the number of flights in the U.S. dropped around 30% in one week from COVID-related cancellations. The global effects were devastating, but the local effects hit even harder. The Iowa State Fair was canceled for the first time since World War II, beloved local restaurants continue to shut down, and organizations like the Blank Park Zoo– which relies heavily on visitor revenue– struggle month after month to make ends meet. Not to mention, unemployment rates continue to climb in various places across the country, leaving families full of stress about how they are going to feed and protect their children without an income.

It has been a long year, and I hope that when this all ends, we can come together again and celebrate that we got through this crazy pandemic together, I hope for a new sense of unity to be brought into the world when all the craziness ends. I have faith that we will feel the overwhelming sensation of standing in a crowd of people, that we will be able to experience live music and see the smiles on people’s faces when they are together with the people they love. I hope that we are able to gain back everything that was taken from us that we took for granted and that in a few years this pandemic will become a thing of the past.