Jun 13
Covid is the 4th fastest-spreading virus in all of history
It is always helpful to have a reference when dealing with numbers. It has always helped me to create a graph when I need to compare things, something I learned in elementary math and was actually able to grasp. I think having a more creative mind, visuals just make way more sense to me.
When Covid first came on the scene in 2020, I like many other people on the planet got pretty shaken up. Although I don’t have young children, I have elderly parents and I run my own business which got completely shut down. Life as I knew morphed completely and I longed to feel a sense of understanding. I spent a lot of time online researching which may have not been for the best. I would post graphs to reddit that I made about the percentages of Covid through out the US and update it weekly. My husband finally had to step in one night. I was drooling like a zombie at 2 am, one eye open with my head on the pillow, scrolling r/covid. ‘YOU NEED TO RELAX AND GO TO BED’ he said annoyed. He was right, my brain was mush and I had to learn to feel uncomfortable during the uncomfortable. I didn’t have all the answers for this, no one did.
It was reading medical journals and arguing with strangers on the internet citing the WHO like they personally had my back. I had no clue who I turned into. What helped though was doing research on past pandemics and other viruses. This graph for example, shows the fastest-spreading viruses on the planet. It is wild to see how many people have been affected by Covid which is on here 3 times with different strains.
Comparing it to other viruses shows just how serious these last two plus years have been. You can look at other serious diseases like the measles, which we have a very effective vaccine for, and find hope that we will one day win the battle in making Covid a non issue.
