The Coronavirus Outbreak

This is an online only article from the May 2020 issue, and an update to our In the News article about the 2020 Olympics (which are now postponed). Click here to see the rest of the issue.

    Plans for the 2020 Olympic Games were set. In July, thousands of the world’s best athletes would gather in Tokyo, Japan. Huge crowds would cram into arenas to cheer them on. Five million eager fans would fill the streets outside. 

    At the beginning of the year, it was a sports lover’s dream. By the end of March, it sounded like a nightmare. 

    In three short months, the germ known as the coronavirus had spread around the world. In most places, people weren’t going to school. They weren’t going to libraries. They weren’t even having lunch with friends. Who could imagine entire arenas packed full of people?

    So on March 24, the people organizing the Olympics made a big decision. For just the fourth time in history, the Games would not happen as planned this summer. 

    The coronavirus started in China in December 2019. In the city of Wuhan, patients began to arrive at hospitals with high fevers. They struggled to breathe. Some people did not get better, even under the care of doctors.

    Little by little, the virus spread around the world. By the end of March, nearly one million people had gotten sick. More than 40,000 people had died.

    The coronavirus causes an illness called COVID-19. It usually starts with a fever and a cough. Most people recover quickly. But in some cases, the virus causes serious lung disease. It’s especially dangerous for older people.

    COVID-19 spreads easily from person to person. It spreads through handshakes and hugs. When a person who is infected with the virus coughs, the virus can hang in the air for a short time. Mostly, it settles on surfaces—doorknobs or counters or shelves. Healthy people can get the virus by touching those surfaces and then touching their eyes, nose, or mouth.

    At the end of February, the first death in the United States was reported. Over the next month, the virus changed the way we live. It started with simple warnings: Wash your hands often. Avoid shaking hands. 

    To many people, the danger didn’t seem real at first. On March 9, the Utah Jazz basketball player Rudy Gobert joked about the virus. During an interview with reporters, he made sure to touch all the microphones in the room. Two days later, he was sick with COVID-19. He apologized on social media and begged everyone to be careful.

    Before long, most people were getting the message. All the professional sports—from basketball to bowling—canceled their games. One by one, states sent students home from school. Colleges shut down. Restaurants and other businesses were ordered to close. Eventually, people were told to stay home unless they absolutely had to go out.

    By the end of March, the United States had more COVID-19 cases than any other country.

    The coronavirus isn’t just hurting people who get sick. With businesses shut down, many people have lost their jobs. Older people who live alone have been cut off from their families.

    All over the world, people have adjusted. Parents and grandparents have learned how to FaceTime. Friends are getting together on Zoom and Google Hangout. Authors are reading aloud from their books and posting the videos online. Musicians are giving concerts from their homes.

    No one knows exactly when life will return to normal. Companies are working on vaccines to protect people from the coronavirus. (A vaccine is a medicine that is given to people to protect them against a disease.) But these new drugs need to be tested. Experts think they could be ready in a year. Until then, doctors say everyone will need to be careful.

    As for the Olympics, they’ll be held in 2021. Hopefully, by that time, high-fives will be a safe way to celebrate.