A new chapter in global history – the pandemic era – officially emerged exactly four years ago, on a Wednesday, March 11.
It is very rare to pinpoint a single day that transformed the entire world. But March 11, 2020, is one of those days.
March 11 was the day the World Health Organization announced a global pandemic caused by COVID, marking the beginning of a new way of life.
It was also the day actor Tom Hanks announced that he had contracted the virus – a shocking moment for Americans who had already been unsure for weeks about how scared they should be.
It was the day the NBA canceled the rest of the season. Practically all other events that would gather large numbers of people followed suit shortly after.
It was the day then-President Donald Trump imposed a new travel ban on Europe. Even domestic air travel began to quickly collapse, hitting its lowest point by the end of March.
The city of New York forced the closure of all bars and restaurants a few days later, although many of them had already closed.
Partly due to catastrophic testing failures, there were only 1,135 confirmed cases of COVID in the U.S. on March 11, 2020, and 38 deaths. COVID has since killed more than 7 million people worldwide and over 1 million people in the U.S.
The pandemic destroyed entire industries, gave rise to others, and transformed those that survived.
It briefly united Americans in a moment of shared sacrifice.
It exposed and exacerbated deep inequalities in the healthcare system, the workforce, and the economy at large. For the most part, they persist.
It opened the door to astonishing scientific advancements – extraordinarily effective vaccines developed in record time. But it also made the anti-vaccine movement more popular than ever.
Source: AXIOS