Covid-19 is notoriously known as the disease that took the lives of many. The pandemic shut down businesses and schools, and the tragedy caused the world to go into lockdown. No one was ready for the pandemic to happen, and it’s safe to say America wasn’t ready either. Many weren’t expecting a deadly virus to suddenly appear out of thin air. It wasn’t until a few months into 2020 that people started to realize what the disease was capable of. Quarantine was a time filled with hardships and many struggled to get used to the isolated life.
The U.S was significantly affected by the pandemic and was forced to go into lockdown. Within the 50 states that were affected, California is one of the few that suffered the most. As of March 10, 2023, Californians have had more than 12 million cases. Making it the number one state that suffered the most.
However, as the years progressed many new Covid-19 variations began to surface. The most prominent variation is the Omicron variant which has made the most appearances in cases. The reasoning of this conclusion can be seen in its sub variants. As of September, 29.6% of cases were caused by the EG.5 sub variant, 14.3% by XBB.2.3, 18.0% by XBB.1.16, and 11.1% by XBB1.5. Making Omicron 73% of Covid-19 California cases.
By the year of 2023, the U.S got back on their feet and they were able to go back to the way things were. The world’s been recovering from the beast that was Covid-19. Wearing masks is now socially acceptable and it was no longer mandatory in many places. Establishments such as schools, restaurants and business start to reopen but it doesn’t mean Covid-19 is fully gone. In fact, once a disease is discovered it can never be fully gone. Once that occurs, our only option is to contain and control said disease.
It was January 2020, and it started out with just 1 or 2 cases, soon enough the numbers started to multiply. It wasn’t until November where statistics showed hundreds of thousands of people getting infected on a daily basis (100,000-180,000 cases on average). As for the year of 2021, there were plenty of ups and downs. January, August, and September were some of the worst months, with hundreds of thousands infected; on the other hand there was May, June and July with a surprisingly low quantity of cases. Fast forward to the early days of January 2022 is when Covid-19 was at its peak, with an average of 400,000-800,000 cases per day. Midway through January, Covid-19 cases began to decrease in a promising amount. The final week of January had an estimate of about 400,000-500,000 cases. Luckily, that January was the last time the U.S would see such concerning numbers. Between March and April is where Covid-19 cases would decrease in a 30,000-50,000 estimate which is a drastic difference compared to January.
Time passes and the number of Covid-19 cases lessens (depending on how populated each state is). It may sound as if California has had the short end of the stick but recent statistics show a decrease in cases. With numbers barely making it into the 2,000’s. And total deaths resulting in no bigger than 20 on a seven-day average. This is a big difference compared to last year’s data which ranged from 30,000-40,000.
Still, big states, such as California, Texas, Florida, and New York, can be seen as easy targets for Covid-19 to spread faster. Since they are easy targets, the number of cases would rise dramatically and it would be harder to contain a large population to avoid contact with each other.
Going back on previous data, a question is brought up: Have cases risen in California? No, they have not, but the possibility is still real. It’s important to acknowledge the rise of Omicron sub variant cases, which have taken a large percentage of total Covid-19 cases. Certain measures also need to be taken into account, whether it’s putting on a mask in crowded areas or taking your vaccine shots. Necessary means have to be done in order to consistently keep the number of cases low.
