Preparation could have prevented panic 

Nancy Beston, Photo Editor

The Coronavirus and the reaction to the COVID-19 virus would not have gotten as bad as it is now if people were not so self-centered and foreboding. 

As a country, we have known about this since January. No action was taken until March. Three months of wasted time because we believed it would never affect us. Three months that we could have been researching a cure and preparing for the anxiety and the fear surrounded by it. 

Now we are in what feels like a complete and utter panic in our country. New York has shut down, schools are closed, canned goods and toilet paper are scarce, and yet some people are acting like this is no big deal. They continue to go into public with signs of the virus or even testing positive for COVID-19. 

States have tried quarantines, shutting schools, releasing information to stay home, and even fining people for leaving their house for unnecessary reasons, and yet this is NOT stopping the spread of the virus. 

People are self-centered and believe this would never affect them, and this is why it has gotten so out of hand. As a country we should go into an official quarantine and only necessary employees, such as health care professionals, police, firefighters should be leaving their homes.