The  Covid-19 Pandemic is still continuing to grow with no end in sight. People are tired of being confined in their homes, so the economy has opened up. Restaurants, salons, parks, and bars are seeing business once again. Such areas are also aligning with coronavirus protocol to meet their customers’ safety needs. 

 

    In spite of the country opening up, the number of cases has not decreased. Instead, the number of cases are surging in places like Florida and Arizona.The spikes are only logical; if communities open up, people are going to go out and in turn the virus is going to spread. So is reopening the economy and resuming our pre-coronavirus lifestyle okay? In short, the answer is no,

 

    Just wearing masks isn’t enough for us to go back to our old habits. Social distancing is equally if not more important than wearing face masks. However, the concept of social-distancing is disregarded. In fact it is so important that the lockdown was issued primarily to reinforce it. Wearing masks and social distancing are an integral part of ending the pandemic and the sooner the pandemic is over, the sooner we can open up the economy without risk. 

 

    Most people think that the chances of contracting a virus is low; so it’s not necessary to social distance because the people we come in contact with probably don’t have coronavirus anyways. However, look at where this mentality has taken us today. According to the CDC 60,000 people contract Covid-19 on a daily basis in the U.S. The virus will be readily available in spring, so it is crucial we try to minimize the spread until then by social distancing and wearing masks. 

 

    Vaccines generally take fifteen to twenty  years to make, produce, and distribute to the public, but in the midst of a pandemic the process speeds up. This is due to larger research efforts from increased funding. In spite of the increased efforts it still takes at least a year or two. 

There are three steps in the process of making a virus: research, testing, and manufacturing. In the research phase scientists experiment to find safe vaccine designs. Research labs work simultaneously to find different vaccine designs.  Once a vaccine design is created it is taken into the testing phase, which is considerably the longest phase, the vaccines are put into clinical trials to measure its safety. Finally, manufacturing, the shortest phase, can begin after a vaccine model passes the testing phase and meets all the safety requirements. It is not hard to understand why making a vaccine for a novel virus  is rigorous work, some steps like the testing phase can’t be sped up because we need the vaccine to align with safety standards. 

 

    As of today, according to the World Health Organization, more than 100 possible vaccines are in various stages of development around the world right now. Additionally, Russia is expected to approve a Coronavirus vaccine by August 10. So we know that progress is being made.

 

    To reiterate, scientists are working as hard as they can to make the virus, but it is also important for us to do our  part. We can do our part by staying home as much as possible and by wearing masks and social distancing whenever we are outside.