By Jacob A.
At the start of October the numbers for Covid in the city of Auburn and in King County were looking a lot different then they do now. According to the King County Public health website, as of October 6, there were 455,717 people tested in King County, about 3.8 % of all tests in were tested positive (22,268) and in Auburn City there were 12,654 tested within those test results there was 8.7 % positive with tests (1,453).
As of now a month later, we have almost 10,000 more cases (32,570) which is about 3.4% of all tests taken (583,480). But the bigger issue is what has been happening in the past couple weeks, not just over time. In the past two weeks we have had 5.1 % of all tests taken come out positive which is about 5,200 positive cases. On November 11, King County broke a record for Covid cases in a day with 1,883, according to information from the CDC (Center of Disease Control) and WHO (World Health Organization).
These numbers can affect us as a school in many different ways. One way is if these numbers continue to go up we will not be able to move forward in phases to allow us to do more as a school. It can also affect us playing sports, not only the continuation of sports, but also day by day with practices and what we are permitted to do . And finally the direct effect that we are seeing with our own students being infected causing an early thanksgiving break. With all of this in mind we have to continue to push forward and make sure to stay safe.
There have also been talks about there being a Covid Vaccine. Even though normally a vaccine would take years of research to. This is a special occasion and doctors are trying to do things at a quicker pace. As of now, according to The New York Times, there are about 58 vaccines being tested. This includes the 13 vaccines that are in Phase 3 and the 7 that have been approved for limited use. Although we still don’t know when these vaccines will be available, we already have an outline as to who these vaccines will be given to first. There are four phases to how these vaccines are going to be distributed because there isn't gonna be an unlimited amount of vaccines. You have Phase 1a and 1b which is first responders or people with underlying health conditions and seniors in grouped living. Then people above 65 and high risk critical workers. Phase 4 is then children and young adults which then leads to Phase 5 which is the rest of the citizens.
Even with all this is going on and how quickly things are changing, it is good to try to stay hopeful and keep our trust in God because that's what we need right now. It’s always a good reminder to hear that he is always here with us.
Disclaimer: Because of the everchanging fluidity of this pandemic, some information may have been changed since the time of the writing of this article.
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