Koronawirus dotrze do Lęborka?

A popular topic the last few months has been the Coronavirus. In the last week the threat of this sickness has reached closer to home. There has been an outbreak in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. On February 27, 2020 at 3:45 pm there were 650 confirmed cases and 17 people had died. The total number of cases doubled in only 24 hours. Italy is one of the hardest hit regions outside of China, where the virus was first seen in December. While talks of the Coronavirus were beginning to die down in my area, the close proximity of the most recent outbreak has revitalized the fears of many. 

Many students are quick to share their fear of the most recent news articles, others are more vague. One student simply said he joked about the Coronavirus yesterday, but he won’t be joking anymore. Another student, her husband is currently skiing in this area of Italy. She is planning to stay in a hotel when he arrives home until she is sure he doesn’t have the virus. Many others, including myself have made plans to travel into other areas of Europe for the Easter holidays. But because of how quickly the situation changes everyday, we are stuck not knowing if we should keep our plans or change them now. In five weeks the virus may no longer be in Europe or it could have spread across the greater part of Europe.

The unknown future of the virus is putting the 2020 Olympics into question. Everyday the news is reporting contradictory information about whether or not it will go forward. But on February 27, the Japanese government has asked that all of the elementary, middle and high schools close for a month in an effort to eliminate the virus and to ease the growing fears of a large outbreak within the country. As of February 28, there have been 83 876 cases worldwide.