By Raegan Kleppe
The Coronavirus started in December of 2019 in Wuhan, China and it eventually started spreading to other countries in January of 2020. It reached the United States in February of 2020 and has rapidly spread since then and it only seems to be getting worse. That is why there has now been a government-issued quarantine across the United States and many other countries. The quarantine has been proven in many ways as helpful in preventing the spread of Coronavirus.
One reason for staying at home is that it helps the elderly and immunocompromised people who are more susceptible to getting the disease. If those people get it, then they are less likely to recover from it. So, by staying home you are helping out grandparents, parent’s other family members and friends from getting sick. Even if you don’t show symptoms, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t carrying the virus in your system. If you are carrying the virus and you go to the store, you expose every person in that store to the virus. Exposing People in that store can then lead to them taking it home to someone that is elderly or immunocompromised, so that’s why it’s important to only go outside or to a store if it’s dire. By following the quarantine instructions, you help protect your grandparents and friends.
Another reason to stay home during the quarantine is that it helps the virus go away at a quicker pace. This has been proven through the outbreak in China. They went into a country-wide lockdown and even put up barriers between cities that had a lot of cases. They were able to get cases down to zero new cases a day. That’s why it’s so important to follow the quarantine guidelines. Another country that proved quarantine is the solution, is the United Kingdom. They decided not to apply a quarantine until many people started getting sick and they realized quarantine was the best option. The statistics show that after the quarantine started in the United States, the rate at which people were getting sick dropped slightly. Doctors have said that if we continue to follow this quarantine, we will see a better decline in the rate at which people are getting sick.
The last reason to follow the quarantine guidelines is that it helps front line workers because they are running low on ventilators. So, the less people that get sick, the more supply they have to help people that can’t really fight the virus themselves. Shannon Lorance is a Respiratory Therapist, so she is a frontline worker. Another way quarantine helps them is that “the less patients that present with the Coronavirus, the less PPE or, personal protective equipment, they have to use. They are running low on PPE which are masks, gloves, gowns and goggles.” This is why we should help our frontline workers by staying inside our homes unless it’s an emergency.
Overall, quarantine is the best solution for the Coronavirus outbreak. The quarantine helps the elderly and immunocompromised, stops the virus quicker and helps the front line workers.
