Coronavirus- Database of Things for the Future- Art Project

The first thing that will probably come to mind when I say 2020 is going to be the coronavirus. Sadly. You will probably remember 2020 just because of the coronavirus. Hopefully. Hopefully nothing worse is going to come later in the year. That's why this is going to be a huge part of the time capsule, because this is the topic you are most interested about. In 2020, everyone's life has been connected and influenced by the coronavirus, some worse and some less. But we all have been. I'll write what happened in time order, go look at the date.

First Seen Case & How I Found Out

The first reported case of the coronavirus was in Wuhan, China where it started.

The City of Wuhan

Where the Coronavirus started from

December 31st marked the day when China confirmed that they were treating many unknown cases affecting the lungs. It was probably a few days or even weeks earlier than that when the coronavirus first started because of China's unwillingness to disclose unneccessary information to the world. Italy, one of the countries that was affected greatly by the coronavirus, shut down travel and the border with China much more earlier than any other country, but still it has been affected greatly, so there are rumors that there was a case in Italy before the time when China announced the cases. In Wuhan during the early days of the virus, it was infecting mostly elders and people with previous chronic disease, and it was traced to be from (suspected to be from) Huanan Seafood Market.

The Location of Huanan Seafood Market

The market location in China

How I Found Out
I found out about the coronavirus without realizing it was the coronavirus. So a few days before my MUN (model united nations) conference, which was ironically about preventing disease outbreaks, I was looking on the WHO website for recent outbreaks. I found a WHO website, the link is here which listed all the disease outbreaks in a particular year. That day was on January 8th, and this is what I saw:

WHO Website on January

"Pneumonia of unknown cause – China"

This is the first line in the first coronavirus update, or rather then known as "pneumonia of unknown cause" in the WHO (World Health Organization) website updates. This was posted in 5th January. I remember I glanced across it, then moved on to another website. I did not know how much that virus could affect my life.

First Update - March 23rd

The Early Days of Coronavirus & What I Thought About It Back Then

Dear Future Readers, now let us look at the WHO website (the one I showed you early) during the early days of the outbreak. I would think that it was from the day that it was given a name until when the WHO declared it a health emergency. So about January 12th to 30th was were it was not that severe compared to now. South Korea, Japan, United States, Thailand and Taiwan (where I live in) had a couple cases. First death was reported in January 11th, China, just before the 'early days' of coronavirus start. And to be more specific, I should and will call it COVID-19 from now on.

WHO Provided Explanantion of COVID-19

So in the WHO website, you probably already noticed that they called it 'Pneumonia of unkown cause' at January 5th, but in January 12th they finally released an update calling it 'Novel Coronavirus'.

The Image of WHO Website

As you can see in the image above, the WHO Website highlights what happened in the early days of the coronavirus, but not entirely. In case you might not know, let me just explain and clarify all the words people in the future/you might not know.

I only saw 'COVID-19' as something that was happening somewhere else, like all the other things I see when I look at international news, so I didn't take a lot of precautions during those days, because it was holiday and there was nearly no information on what to do to prevent it. For example, I have seen and heard a lot of people say masks are useless, but when I go on the MRT, everyone is wearing them. And anyways, during the early days of COVID-19, there wasn't much cases in Taiwan. The reason I think Taiwan didn't have so much cases was that it had the very special ability to shut down the borders with China, as for future readers/you might not know Taiwan is a nation itself but China claims it as theirs, as Taiwan (sort of) originated from China. So during the early days nothing in my life had really changed, but it would soon.

Second Update - March 30th

When COVID-19 Rapidly Rose & What Happened to Taiwan

Dear Future Readers, let me first explain on the first part of the title. These below are the statistics on the cases of COVID-19 in different countries, but in February 1st. All the underlined countries are countries that have rapidly rose in COVID-19 cases, they are all in the top 20 countries with the most COVID-19 cases (April 12th Count). As the pattern shows these countries are one of the first countries to have a COVID-19 case.

Cases in the World at February 1st

The COVID-19 Case Count of February 1st
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FYI: I get the past image of the website (I'm writing it a few days after) from that website that was in the index at the homepage, go here where you can search up how a website looked like in a specific date.

The rise in COVID-19 was near February 1st, and so is the image up there. It probably seems like the cases are not high. But the speed of an outbreak is measured by the speed of increase, so let's look at the next week:

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The COVID-19 Case Count of February 8th

In just seven days the amount increased a lot. But it still might seem a little low, but that was what the big role-players (decision makers like politicians) probably thought, and did not take enough prevention efforts. The incubation period (the time it takes for the virus to start affecting you & other people) is commonly 5 days but it can be 7 or more. If a lot more people got it now, then they would show it in the next week. Besides, these are confirmed cases, people that have gone to a hospital and checked. There may be a lot of people out there that can't do that. Now let's fast foward to a month, you'll be surprised by the sudden increase:

Third Update - April 1st

Feb. 5 to Mar. 9.

Before I move onto the statistics next month, this below is a timeline of things related to COVID-19 that have happened in this gap.

On Feb. 5 there was a cruise ship near Japan called Diamond Princess. Do you people in the future still have phones (electronic hand carried devices) that vibrate whenever there's an emergency near where you live? In Taiwan, they were mostly earthquakes and left a big beeping sound. I heard that and thought it was an earthquake, so I hid under the table but in truth it was about the Diamond Princess cruise ship, a ship operated by the British. Here's where they went:

And the most important thing is, there was a person (80 year old man) who had already got the virus, that was on the ship. As viruses spread quickly in small spaces ..... you can guess what happened. Cruise ships have these 'rooms' like hotels, where you stay in until you get off the boat. But, you know, going outside to enjoy the sun; going in line in the cafteria and boarding off the ship; these are all ways that the virus could pass on to other people.

On Feb. 7 there was a doctor that tried to warn people in China, but as China carefully controls its media, he was forced to admit that his statements were rumors. He died on Feb. 7, and he is regarded as a hero to many people. During January, he was working at a hospital with COVID-19 patients (unknown then) and he told people that there was a SARS-like virus (SARS was a previous outbreak which was from the same strain as COVID-19, the coronavirus) capable of an outbreak.

On Feb. 11 the accurate name (COVID-19) I promised to use was invented, instead of a racial combination by including 'Wuhan coronavirus'.

On Feb. 14 the first person dies of COVID-19 in Europe. This was in France, Paris, about an 80 year old man. Maybe we see a pattern here; maybe its just a false lead, but why do deaths I have mentioned include the elderly and men? The first one I can talk about very easily. Elderly people have weaker immune systems, so more chance that they have a previous disease, and the deaths are because that the previous disease was already destroying the body but another disease took over. The second, however, is probably purely based on chance. But no. I searched up the percentage and the death rate in women of confirmed cases is 2.8%, and the death rate of confirmed cases for men is 4.7%. So, men are more likely to die.

On Feb. 19, hundreds of people leave the Diamond Princess. Why? The Diamond Princess has been quarintined in the docks of Japan, and now the uninfected people are free to leave.

On Feb. 19, Iran reports its first 2 cases. Not seemingly odd, but it rises a lot during the time we are covering now. On the same day, Iran reports its first 2 deaths. This may be linked to amny refugees coming into Iran, alreadyy carrying the disease.

On Feb. 21 the South Korean outbreak had a success in its detective work; they linked the mass eruption of cases in Daegu (city in South Korea) to a cult (accused as a cult but clearly different from what you would call 'Christianity') called the Shincheonji (신천지) whos worshippers sit across together tightly, in a confined auditorium (I have seen the footage) and some of the members had gone to China.

On Feb. 26, there was the first COVID-19 case in Brazil and Latin America.

On Feb. 28, there was the first COVID-19 case in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

On Feb. 29, there was the first COVID-19 death in United State, leading to travel restrictions.

Fourth Update - April 4th

Next Month - March 9th

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In a month, 30 days, the increase went from 11,948 confirmed cases to 109,843 cases, you could say that it nearly increased tenfold. A pattern you can notice is that China's confirmed cases are slowing down. How? You can find the ratio of increase from last month. For China it is 80703/34611. Let's compare it to other countries like Italy: 7375/3. / basically means 'divide' so the answer we will get is the percent of growth in one month (use a calculator). Results are: China, 2.33; Italy, 245833.33.

To put that into perspective, we can display them like this: China's cases from then to now increased by x2.33 (more than double). Equally, Italy's cases from then to now increased by x2458.33 (increase was 1229 times more than China). So China in fact did handle the case well than any other country, but by using secrecy and border control. The deaths also have increased, with the percentage last month being 2%, but now it is 6%. There was also a steep rise at February 10th-11th. Right now the fastest gaining country was Italy and Iran, and Iran was not on the list last month.

You can see that Taiwan (where I live) only had 45 cases and no new cases or deaths, something to be thankful for. At this time I probably started using santizer and masks (as the outbreak wasn't that severe).

Fifth Update - April 8th

Precautions We Take To Prevent Coronavirus

This section is going to be entirely about things that everyone knows to do today but probably not in the future. I'll first just list all the precautions people take:

Sixth Update - April 9th

The Situation in Taiwan & Schools Closure

Dear Future Readers, now this is the section where I can be very honest about. Because I am in Taiwan Taipei and I can see what happens.

Fines

First of all one thing to mention is the countless bans and fines that are in place in Taiwan. During April Fool's Day (April 1st), there was a fine to anyone that pranked people, saying that they have gotten COVID-19. Also, if you throw away masks in a public area, you will receive a high fine as that counts as littering. You need to wear masks on the MRT (Taiwan's Transport System by Train) or you will not be let in, starting from last week. And of course, there are travel restrictions: no foreigner tourist can enter the country (except for special occasions), and no foreigner could leave the country until a certain time. The foreigners who have came in before a certain date can have their visas automatically extended to 30 days. Many arilines have already stopped operating, and only the main airlines of Taiwan are operating.

Foreign Support

Taiwan is not in the UN (United Nations), so it is not recognized by the WHO, and so many countries assume Taiwan cannot help. Taiwan is not allowed to have embassies in some countries, only representatives, because they are not part of the UN. The WHO did not invite Taiwan to their World Health Assembly meeting, and Taiwan is generally not included. Taiwan has launched a campaign saying 'Taiwan Can Help' by exporting 10 million masks from surplus to countries like France, Italy, Spain and America, ones that have been affected the most. Later, Taiwan exported another 6 million masks to other countries:

Taiwan Can Help Posters on Mask Box

Closing/Managing Public Places

A lot of public places have been closed in Taiwan like our/my school and my other classes. MRT (train transport) is not closed yet but you have to wear a mask inside. Buses are still going regularly, and the airport's many airlines have stopped operating. Restaurants, stores, airlines, gyms, and any business that makes you go outside is probably losing many, as opposed to things like Foodpanda or Ubereats (food delivery services) which should be gaining money. Almost all restaurant or inside-operating business will have sanitizer, but I've seen restaurants that don't have a visible sanitizer.

Places like Carefour (large supermarket) even have gloves, like those plastic ones you use when you cook. You need to have a temperature of > 38 (38 or less) to go on the MRT (I saw on a poster) and other stores check our temperature too, like banks, but not restaurants. Whenever you go to a clinic or hospital (I went to an eye clinic) you have to sign a statement answering the questions and saying that it is true.

Schools

The first ever prolonged break in our school (Taipei European School) because of the coronavirus was after the Winter Holidays and there was 3 in total (April 13th Count). Just before the school announced the 3rd prolonged break, they sent us a form regarding if our family had travelled anywhere, and 32% who answered said they did, so without any warning, the school closed. Before the Easter Break, they at least should've sent us something like a warning not to travel. The reason for our first break is because "the Taiwanese government has recommened it" - (direct quote) or in simpler terms, "Taiwanese schools did it".

I guess this is perfectly acceptable, as other schools soon followed suit, but Taiwanese schools had their holidays shortened. Now, I'm not saying I want to go to school more, but its logical to. The education online can't be compared to education in real life! The school shoudl at least lower the cost (less cost for online) but instead our school fees increased, and who knows how many more breaks are going to come? For example, we cannot use the resources the school bought from our payments, then they decrease in value as noone is there to use it.

When we returned from our "prolonged winter break", I talked to some of my friends, and they said that they were happier because of online learning, I guess they view it as a holiday, but I view it as a thing that all teachers can improve on. No offense, but most of the video calls could not even go close to the quality in the classroom. Back to when we returned. There was a system where all students passed through a thermal camera to check our temperature, and those with moderate temperature got a green sticker indicating that we are safe. Another big change was that we weren't allowed to play basketball in the morning, as the basketball court was next to the checking area.

I also realized that all classrooms had 2 sanitizers: for-external-use one and one for spraying on our hands. It was mandatory to spray our hands and the classrooms were ventilated. All classrooms also had a box of masks, and I think the government supplied all this. Besides that, life continued like normal when we were phsically at our school. But that's going to be old news when we go back to school this time (its April 13th when I'm writing this) as the cafeteria meal system will change by giving out meal lunchboxes.


Taipei European School
Seventh Update - April 13th

Useful Links for the Coronavirus

Last Note: Stay safe and stay indoors! Today might be the best time to start making a time capsule?

Eighth Update - April 14th
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