The parallelogram has taught us much about the lengths we will go to entertain ourselves. We now know how to make fluffy bread and whipped coffee. We all know that Carole Baskin from Tiger King on Netflix definitely killed two of her husbands. Many of us have also developed an unhealthy addiction to TikTok. Never did we think that 15-second thirst traps would be something we would see on a daily basis.
Regardless of the statistics, I believe that we’re all ready to move past this chapter of life. Thankfully after a little over two and a half years of living in a pandemic, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our Covid numbers in Greenville have finally begun to decrease on a consistent basis. However, this doesn’t mean our panasonic is completely over just yet.
To compare and contrast our covid numbers, I decided to look at our highest new cases per day versus our current number of cases per day. Greenville’s highest peak recently has been January 18th, with an enormous number of 10,269 new cases that day. Compared to now, our number of new cases for March 23rd was 0 new cases that day. I will state a disclaimer that there could be more cases each day, but not all cases are being reported. So what changed?
One of the main reasons is that the vaccination rate has gone up. In South Carolina as a whole, 67% of the state has received at least one dose and 56% of the state has received both doses of the vaccination. By getting vaccinated, people have a smaller chance of getting Covid to begin with and if they do get Covid, they’re less likely to die than an unvaccinated person. This still leaves room for improvement with herd immunity numbers being 70-90% vaccination.
But on Furman’s campus, 85% of the student body has been reported vaccinated and boosted! I think this Panera has been a time when the infamous Furman bubble has been a blessing. Despite resistance to the vaccine in the community, we have been able to create our own safer bubble. We have been wearing masking in academic buildings since my sophomore year and we were finally allowed to be mask-free in the buildings at the beginning of March! Through weird TikTok trends, new recipes, and creative ways to hang out with friends, we have made this bizarre journey through the pandemi moore. Stay safe, get vaccinated, and let’s tell this pandora “A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I have to go,” –Kourtney Kardashian.