COVID-19 has ravaged the United States for almost a year now. The economy took a blow, businesses were shut down, jobs were lost, over 500,000 people died, families were kept apart, schools were closed, and more BUT there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Since the winter surge, cases have been on a steady decline. At the peak of the surge in cases, January 8, 300,619 new cases were reported. The 7-day average on that day was 259,571 new cases. About a month later, the deaths peaked with 5,463 on February 12. Then, the 7-day average was 3,044 deaths. As of the time of writing this article, the last full day, March 3, reported blank cases and blank deaths. The 7-day average was blank.

As a result, things are starting to open up. California was removed from the stay-at-home order. Sports at school started to go back, including football, which is now preparing for competition. Canyon High School’s first game is set to be played on March 11 against El Modena. There is a push for students to go back to in-person school across the country, and with numbers dropping there is a possibility that might come true before the end of the school year.

Some of the reasons why the situation got better were because the surge came to a natural end and vaccines were distributed. The surge was caused by a multitude of factors, but largely was caused by gatherings over the holidays. Once the people started to recover, the curve slowly flattened. The distribution of vaccines has not been proven to slow the spread of COVID-19, but it has shown evidence that it can help prevent serious illness, which leads to less hospitalizations. This can lead to less deaths.

Looking ahead, everyone can help this trend continue by wearing masks, following social distancing guidelines, getting vaccinated and sanitizing regularly. The more society participates in these basic prevention measures, the faster our lives can get back to normal.

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Online graph based on information from The New York Times (see below)
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+covid+cases&rlz=1CAMWDF_enUS938&oq=us+covid+cases&aqs=chrome.0.0i20i131i263i433j0i20i263i433j0i131i433j0i457j0i131i395i433j0i395j0i131i395i433j69i60.3449j1j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8