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January 28, 2020 – Xi and WHO sends the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak:
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When I was only in 8th grade, I had the misfortunate experience of being locked inside my home. I must admit that I was excited at first because it was something new that I haven't experienced before. There were 2 main reasons that I had to stay locked inside my home, one of which was air quality, and the other was a deadly virus.
It all started in January 27th, 2020, it was a normal day until the school announced that starting the next week, we will be proceeding to learn online because of the bad air quality, which was called "PM 2.5." Though before the school even announced anything, we started wearing masks since late 2019 or New Year's. I'm sure everyone cheered and was very happy the first few months of online learning, we even got the chance to go to school for a few weeks and meet our friends, but then things started to go downhill.
Exactly 1 month after, on February 27th, 2020, the school announced that they will shut down the school because of the spreading virus called "Covid-19" and go back to online learning without knowing when we will be back on campus. When I first heard the news of this new virus called "Covid-19," in the morning with my mom, but I didn't really care and headed off to school. Things were still pretty good, I still went out to malls and wasn't really aware of the people around me because there wasn't much covid in Thailand yet, the numbers were pretty low, around 50 in Thailand.
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June 2, 2020 – Wuhan's Health Commission announces that it has completed coronavirus tests on 9.9 million of its residents with no new confirmed cases found:
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I remember before the lockdown happened, I went to Japan with my family and had a really good time playing in the snow while interacting with people normally in close contact, unaware that everything would go downhill in a few weeks.
Before I started to realize that everything wasn't as great as I thought it would be, believe it or not, I was still going out to other provinces like Pattaya on my birthday, which was on June until New Year's. Then around August, 2020, we were back on campus.
During November 26th, 2020, I got my very own personal room for the first time in my life, I was pretty happy about it and wanted to decorate it so, I did the most logical thing and went to Ikea while in a pandemic. Fortunately, I've somehow survived the virus until this very day even though I went out to places with a lot of people pretty frequently even with the rising numbers.
But unfortunately, after celebrating New Year's in my own home for the first time in years, the inevitable had begun. After New Year's, the school has once again emailed us that we will be studying online once again. This pattern of going online then back on campus continued on as the numbers of infected people went up and down throughout the year. For example, during Songkran, we were at school, but we weren't allowed to actually play with the water to avoid crowding, then I went to Satun and played in the water while snorkeling and taking pictures there and overall, just having a lot of fun even though it was risky and scary with all the people on board because we would never know who is infected. We went up high to see the mesmerizing waves of clouds. Right after that, the school announced that we will be switching to online learning again. At that point, I wasn't even surprised anymore, I literally thought, "Oh here we go again."
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February 22, 2021 – The death toll from Covid-19 exceeds 500,000 in the United States:
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The number of deaths were increasing rapidly, my parents started to avoid going to places with a lot of people, especially malls, because there was a case where an entire mall got infected with covid-19. Though that didn't stop us from going to small cafes near our home to keep us from boredom. An unfortunate thing is that, I wear braces, which means that I would have to go to the hospital to change the rubbers every month. Now might I remind you that hospitals are very and I mean very dangerous because it is also a place where people come to test and recover from Covid-19. This means that we would have to be extra careful and try not to interact with anybody at all because we never know who is infected already. The seats has a box in the middle with an 'X' printed on to social distance people. Everyone has to fill out forms on whether they have been in close contact with infected people or not. I am still wearing braces until this very day and am continuing to risk going to the hospital every month.
Even though it is boring to stay at home all day long, there are things like activities to keep me entertained. I went to my uncle's bicycle store and bought a skateboard from him, I've always wanted to try and learn how to use skateboards because they seemed very cool, I struggled at first, but after a while, I got used to it and tried to go really fast. That failed though because there was a small rock in the way and I fell just a short while after that. There are also games that I can play online, but it is really bad for my eyesight, which resulted in me getting a new pair of glasses.
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December 18, 2020 – The FDA authorizes a second coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna for emergency use. "The emergency use authorization allows the vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. for use in individuals 18 years and older," the FDA said in a tweet:
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Viruses are able to mutate, either to become stronger or weaker. During late December, 2020, a new variant of Covid-19 was found, it was called 'Delta' and is believed to spread easier than the original virus. This caused so much concern to everyone around the globe because they have more risk of getting infected now. Because of this, my parents decided that we would not go anywhere and just stay in the house until they think it has died down. This means that my parents had to close their shop and lose some money because they worked every day except Saturdays. Though we were still able to go outside the house and exercise and I get to play my newly bought skateboard.
Delta was certainly much more dangerous than the original virus, causing more people to end up in the hospital, making it full. People who weren't able to get treatments would be found at the sides of the roads lying dead on the ground because all the beds were full in the hospital. It was certainly a scary time for everyone around the globe because it means that you might not be able to get treatment and would have to wait for your inevitable death to come. The numbers of deaths and the infected were rising up even quicker than before, tens of thousands of people were getting infected each day, while vaccines are still being developed.
There were times when we were forced to stay home and quarantine, meaning we would need to be home by 21-22 or else we would be fined, we would have to hurry I really missed my friends and wanted to go out and have fun with them because I've never really been with them outside of school before except for fieldtrips, but that was under the supervision of the school, school fieldtrips and events like week without walls were also canceled because of Covid-19, which is really disappointing since we've already paid for the school experience but it was destroyed. The school did give us some money back though, but I've never asked my mom how many percent.
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August 23, 2021 – The FDA grants full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, making it the first coronavirus vaccine approved by the FDA:
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After the big lockdown happened because of the Delta variant, I had to skip some dentist appointments because it was too risky, so I was behind on schedule. On August 14th, 2021, I came out of my house for the first time in forever, even on Saturdays, I wasn't allowed to go outside because my parents were very worried.
By August 23, 2021, the first coronavirus vaccine was approved, in developed countries like China, USA, etc. Which means that there were still no news of vaccination in Thailand just yet, though the first dozes of vaccines were only for adults, so I had to wait anyways. Still, the first vaccines for adults only arrived in mid-June and each person needs 2 dozes to be safe, this means that only about 13 million adults in all of Thailand will be getting vaccinated. This has caused people to hurry and que up for vaccines, including my parents.
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September 24, 2021 – CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky diverges from the agency's independent vaccine advisers to recommend boosters for a broader group of people:
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October 15th, 2021 was the day that students in my grade was appointed to get the first shot of Pfizer, it was just beside the school so it was convenient. There were also other people there coming to get their vaccines. We had to prepare our ID cards and information about us and give it to the officers there. We were positioned to sit down and social distance while we wait for our turn. It was quite nerve-racking, I haven't had a syringe plunge into me ever since I was just a kid, which was about 9-10 years ago.
My friends were in-front of me, meaning I would be the last one to get the vaccine, so, I texted them and asked how they were feeling. They were really nervous, which is making me more nervous, but the time has finally come. They got up and went into the vaccination room, I was left there with my thoughts about how much it might hurt and any side effects I might have.
Then it was my turn, I went into the stall and met a really nice guy that asked me for my name and prepared me for the shot. He told me not to be nervous and plunged the syringe into me, so I tried to relax, but then, a camera man came and asked if he could take a photo. Might I remind you that the syringe was still in me, and I tried really hard to pose for the photo while I was hurting. I think I'm a pretty actor. I gave them the peace sign and the vaccination was down. It was painful, but it was bearable, I was told to go sit and wait for 30 minutes to see if there were any side effects. I looked around and spotted one of my friends and called the others to come and join us.
After I went into the car, my mom asked if I had any headache or if I felt dizzy or sick, but surprisingly, I felt fine, the spot that the syringe was shot in kind of hurt, but other than that I was fine. Anddddd then I got a haircut. I was trying to change my hairstyle since I’ve had this hairstyle since the bangs I had when I was young grew out. So, I tried to go back to bangs, but unfortunately it was too long and I didn’t really like it; maybe I just wasn’t use to it.
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November 2, 2021 – Walensky says she is endorsing a recommendation to vaccinate children ages 5-11 against Covid-19, clearing the way for immediate vaccination of the youngest age group yet in the US:
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It was really uneventful after I got the first shot, I continued to study online and waited for news about the second shot, which was on November 5th, 2021. Before the day came, I talked with my friends about whether we should go somewhere to celebrate the second doze of our vaccine, since we thought that we would be fine just like the first doze, so we decided to go to Mega Bangna. The steps to getting the vaccine was still the same, so everything went smoothly, we got our vaccines and met up outside. It hurt even less than before for me, so I asked my mom if I could go to Mega Bangna, she hesitated at first because she was scared that I might be sick or dizzy, but eventually let me since I haven't' been out with my friends in so long.
Once we've arrived, we met up and walked around while having fun. We didn’t really play or do any hard activities since the wound was still hurting, so we just hung out. We hung out for about 2-3 hours and then decided to split up since it was getting late. Now this is where things go wrong, when I arrived home, I felt like my body was burning up, I told my mom and gave me some medicine and told me that I should've gone and instead came home to rest. I admit that it was stupid of me to just be carefree, but I was really bored and wanted to spend time with my friends since we've only ever spoken to each other through a screen for the past 3 months of grade 10. I took my medicine and went to sleep, I think my mom came to check up on me once in a while but I was half asleep so I didn't remember much.
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November 19, 2021 – The FDA authorizes boosters of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for all adults. The same day, the CDC also endorses boosters for all adults:
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On November 24th, 2021, a new variant of Covid-19 was found, it was named "Omicron," this variant was spreads very easily, meaning, more people are about to get infected, but, it is not as dangerous as the other variants. It is weaker but spreads faster. I was forced to stay inside again, but luckily, the Delta variant was also fading, meaning, we are only left with the weaker variant. I hope that this would be the last variant that will mutate and emerge into the world, so that Covid can finally end and we can go back to living our normal lives.
This was also the time when the government announces that there will be boosters for vaccines for people who are still worried and want more shots. But other than that, it was endless online learning.
December passed by, I went to Pak Chong to celebrate New Year's and just have fun in the cool breeze with my family and no one else. We went to a really expensive hotel that I might never see again in my life, but we only paid for a cheap amount because there was a discount caused from covid. We were vibing to the bass and sound of this expensive speaker that we can use for free. We looked up into the deep star filled space and stared, amazed by it’s beauty. I was snapped out of my thoughts by people counting down... "6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!" Fireworks filled the sky and I couldn’t feel any happier. I hoped the new year would bring more joy than the last year.
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January 31, 2022 – The FDA grants full approval to Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine for those ages 18 and older. This is the second coronavirus vaccine given full approval by the FDA:
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On January 4, 2022, our break was over and we were surprised with good news! The school was opening back up again and there would be hybrid learning this time. I hope that it would stay like this from then on.
Along this long, long journey of mine, I've learned to appreciate the things around me, even if it isn't like it seems and I might not like it, I can learn to come to like it someday and I would be proud I did. School can a little annoying to attend due to the time I have to wake up at, but it is much better than sitting in front of a screen and distancing yourself away from human interactions society. Being at school is a lot more fun when you get to see people and hang out with them, there are more activities you can do and no distractions to block your path on learning.
Writing this piece of art was like going down the memory lane for me. I had to try and recall the events that happened during past 2 years of covid-19. Either that be by looking through my camera rolls or social media, it was like going back in the past. I realised the feelings I felt changed over time since Covid has started, and this change was in a sort of good way. I started to appreciate going things more like being able to go outside or actually going to school.
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