It was a normal day of school that began at the very start of 2020. A lot of people were celebrating the beginning of a new decade with high hopes for the year.  Sitting at my desk at school, in a class full of students. No students online, and every work done solely on thin paper. Every student went in and out of these classes with no change of the entire world around us, without the threat of a virus that loomed over us. For me, it was just another normal day that continued on like all the others.
Sitting at home after a long day of school, I read rumors of a third World War at the first month of 2020. People on the internet were discussing how tensions between the U.S. and Iran were not doing well. It was a scary thought to be in the middle of a war right after a new decade began, but thankfully the illusion of continuity was upheld in the world.
Not too long after that, people began talking about the Australian bushfires that raged on, originally in 2019, but continuing to 2020. For a lot of people, 2020 seemed like it was gonna be a like a domino effect; one disastrous event after another.
While I sat comfortably in my house, China had seen the first cases of an unusual disease on December 2019. One that they probably never discovered before. It was named COVID-19.
Before COVID became a massive problem, I remember one thing distinctly. I had looked at a joke one person made that detailed how every 20th year of every century contained a massive disease that’d kill many victims. Like any unsuspecting person, I smiled at the joke, thinking it was nothing but a joke. Never would I imagined that that one joke foresaw a world changing event.
When COVID was made public to the world, most of us weren’t bothered. Perhaps it was just going to be like Ebola; a virus that sounded scary, but realistically wouldn’t be a threat to countries like the U.S.. Most of classes ignored the virus, as if nothing in the world was changing. However, once COVID began spreading to more countries, then the fear began building up like snow piling up in a blizzard. It was spreading and spreading faster than any disease we’ve witnessed. By now, my school realized that this disease may reach the U.S. eventually if it isn’t stopped, so teachers began discussing about a 2 week period where all students will work from home.  Of course, the U.S. eventually caught COVID, beginning the the 2-week quarantine that would last for almost 2 years for us.
The war on COVID had just begun.