COVID-19 impacts businesses, lives on local and international scale
Global economic recession, shutting down the world basically and social distancing are all terms society is getting all too familiar with. The COVID-19 response has caused a change in life, the economy and how the world works.
Dow Jones has lost about 10,000 points over this pandemic. The markets have not seen a drop like this since 2008 and 2009, but now it is more severe. Businesses are shutting down temporarily to prevent the spread. That means a loss of profits for a majority of companies. It also puts many workers out of work due to business being put to a halt. Takeout and delivery is the new way that restaurants may only do business to prevent the community spread of COVID-19.
Franklin County Commissioner Tim Brinker announced on Saturday that an amendment was being worked on to ban hair stylists, movie theaters, golf courses, concert halls, gyms and massage establishments from practicing business until at least April 17. This proves the halt of even more types of businesses are on the way. Life is changing for not only this county, but for most of the world. This response from the county came after the first COVID-19 case in Washington, Mo. It was not community spread, but from travel. This person was an employee for Mercy Hospital in Washington, but lives outside of the county. Even if this case was isolated, the coronavirus has struck close to home, which is striking more local fear.
Adding to this, Missouri has at least 128 reported cases of the virus as of Monday, March 23. The stats are not clear due to the lack of testing kits available. Washington’s Mercy Hospital is preparing to test patients for COVID-19 on the Washington Town and Country Fairgrounds. To be tested, patients must call ahead of time before arriving to see if they are eligible under CDC guidelines.
With a town, county, country and world on edge, COVID-19 is not slowing down. Places hit by the virus earlier like South Korea and China are seeing improved conditions after their isolation and quarantine success. Italy has been hit the hardest of all of the world with the most deaths. The fear is that the U.S. will end up with this fate of being hit this hard by the virus, but that is unknown as it has taken longer for the outbreak to become widespread here.
The coronavirus has shown the world that everyone can come together to get over an international crisis. However, the last thing people should literally do is come together. Instead, social distance, wash your hands and stay inside to contribute to the victory over the virus.
Ben Tobben is the senior who is in his third year on the Advocate Staff. He is the Sports Editor and has a passion for writing. In his free time, he likes...
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