Staff writer Kace Schermerhorn
The coronavirus has made life very hard; I’ve tried to keep my distance from other people because you never know who is actually infected. I’m stuck in my house all day with nothing to do besides… well nothing. People, like me, stay up until 5 in the morning, and sleep in until about 1 in the afternoon. That’s been my schedule since the first week off of school. And I find that many of my other friends are following that same schedule, because there’s nothing that we have to wake up for, like school.
Northside ISD announced on March 13, 2020, that they would close all schools within the district until March 23. Then, on March 17, they announced all schools would be closed until April 6. The most recent update was Governor Abbott closing all schools until May 4, 2020. All UIL and sporting events have been closed or postponed until further notice; people are forced to stay in their homes; as of March 24th, 2020, at 11:59 P.M., the San Antonio Mayor ordered a “Stay home, work safe” decree. Along with that, the supply of toilet paper and hand sanitizer is decreasing as the demand for them increases. It’s a crazy time to be alive.
The “Stay home, work safe” order added an amendment to include people age 10 and older are required to wear masks in public including grocery stores effective April 20 in Bexar County.
Americans are beginning to get their Covid-19 stimulus checks this week. The house voted passed a 2 trillion dollar relief plan, according to The New York Times. The Senate has already passed this bill with a 96-0 vote, according to CBS News. President Donald Trump has said that the relief plan will provide health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak and for American families and businesses. Since then, two house members have tested positive for the coronavirus. This plan, the largest in U.S. history, would grant each American $1,200 or $2,400 to each couple. For every child, the amount given to each individual or couple would increase by $500. However, the amount will decrease if the individual’s income is greater than $75,000. $367 billion goes to loans for small businesses. $150 billion goes to state and local governments, and $130 billion goes to hospitals. $500 billion will go in loans to larger industries, and the rest will go towards things such as passenger airlines, aviation contractors, and election security grants.
The Coronavirus (or more formally known as COVID-19) is a branch of a typical coronavirus which comes from animals. It began in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China. According to WorldOMeter, as of April 15, 2020, the total number of coronavirus cases stands at 2,083,432, with a total of 510,451 recoveries and 134,619 deaths within that total. Also according to WorldOMeter, the United States passed China and Italy with the most coronavirus cases; the U.S. currently has 644,000 total cases, 48,708 recoveries, and 28,529 deaths.
INFO GATHERED BEFORE SPRING BREAK
According to CNN, on Monday, March 2nd, 2019, a woman, who had previously tested negative, twice, for the virus had been released from quarantine. She was later tested, after visiting North Star Mall, as tested positive. In an interview, Mayor Nirenberg said, “I find it totally unacceptable that CDC would release a patient prior to releasing all test results and potentially expose the public to this harm,” he said. “Local health professionals, in whom I have the utmost confidence, are working very hard to prevent the spread of this virus here in San Antonio, and we simply cannot have a screw-up like this from our federal partners.” The woman, who was an evacuee from Wuhan, along with 91 others, had reportedly sat by herself at a food court. North Star Mall will be deeply cleansed to remove any germs left from the woman. She came into contact with at least sixteen people. Two of them were ruled at medium-risk of contracting the virus, and the other fourteen were listed at low risk. Very scary news for the city of San Antonio. According to The Texas Tribune, as of March 5th, 2020, 12 people in Texas have tested positive for COVID-19; 1 in Houston and 11 in San Antonio.
There are new coronavirus cases daily in the United States; according to U.S. and World Report News, as of March 5th, 2020, a total of 149 cases in the U.S. According to that same source, Mike Pence, the United States Vice President, announced the 10th death due to the Coronavirus. Pence later said at a meeting with diagnostic labs at the White House, “We all grieve the loss of American lives,” he said. “Word this morning from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] is that one more American has expired and their family has our condolences.” CNN announced earlier on March 5th that the Senate voted to pay billions of dollars to the U.S. government’s response to the Coronavirus. The vote read 96-1, with Senator Rand Paul the only one to not agree. 7.8 billion will go to address the outbreak and 500 million will go to manual spending to fund a telegraph program to try to expand access to health services for seniors.
In news around the world, Italy’s death total has now reached 148. According to Aljazeera, 41 deaths were reported by Italy on March 5th. 22 regions of Italy have been infected. Also in Europe, the United Kingdom reported their first death from the Coronavirus on the 5th as well. The Palestinian government confirmed the seventh case. WorldOMeter has reported 98,051 cases, 3,356 deaths, and 54,135 recoveries. Of those cases, 80,430 are in China, 6,088 are in South Korea, 3,858 are in Italy, 3,513 are Iran, and the rest of the cases are spread throughout the rest of the world.
