One year ago tonight on March 11, 2020 President Trump gave an address to the Nation on the coronavirus, actor Tom Hanks announced himself and wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA announced an indefinite suspension for the rest of season, and the World Health Organization declared we were officially in a pandemic.
What a year.
Last year on this date I wrote a blog post documenting how the state of Arizona, where I live, had only tested 100 people for COVID-19. Do you remember how hard it was at that time to get a test? The criteria was so limiting that it was impossible to be tested unless you had recently traveled to Wuhan or been exposed to someone with the virus.
As of today Arizona has administered 4,332,529 tests, there has been 830,465 confirmed cases, and horrifically 16,464 deaths.
It is mind blowing to me looking at the graphs below and seeing what out country has experienced over the last 365 days.
COVID has become part of our daily life and all of us have been impacted. On a personal level my husband Josh has seen many COVID patients on medical calls he has been dispatched to with his ladder truck. Some with oxygen levels in the 70s refusing to go to the hospital because they don’t want to be put on a ventilator. This breaks my heart so much. Recommended Reading: My Husband is a Firefighter, Please Stop Calling COVID-19 the Flu
Josh has worked at fire stations that have had COVID outbreaks. We know so many people who have tested positive and lost loved ones in the last 365 days. And it has just sucked.
Really. Really. Sucked.
I never thought I would experience anything like this in my lifetime.
If you have been a longtime reader you know that I struggle with panic attacks and anxiety. If any year was going to cause me to panic it would be this year and I am just so thankful that God made it possible for me to focus on my mental health years ago. God is so good. And even in the crazy scariness of this year I have still felt God’s protection over my head and heart.
Weird things that I have enjoyed this year include: driveway visits with friends and family, going to the grocery store to pick up my food curbside, homeschooling my kids, cute/comfortable face masks, hand sanitizer, being able to schedule my immediate family to get their vaccines (and yes the scheduling website was awful but I still enjoyed that I was able to help), online fitness studios (shoutout to Fit Women’s Weekly, Apple Fitness, and Dribble Up), watching Star Wars with my oldest son, and saving money by eating at home.
I am thankful to have a roof over my head, the ability to homeschool my children this year, and that my husband has a job. I know so many people in the United States are suffering right now and I am hopeful that the $1.9 trillion relief bill that President Biden signed today will help our country.
529,000 lives have been lost as of today from COVID-19 in the United States. Never did I think our country would reach such a number in a year. Our family will continue to mask up and do our part to help. I am now the only one out of my parents, brother/sister-in-law, grandparents, and husband who has not been vaccinated yet. I am so grateful they were able to get the vaccine and that they will be safe from hospitalization and severe COVID-19 complications. This year has been hard. But I am so hopeful that better days are ahead.
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