All students remember the moment they heard the news that schools would be closing because of the dangers the corona virus presented.  

   After the initial shock and rush of excitement, everyone had to take a step back and wonder “What happens now?”

   At first every teenager thought this would be like an extended spring break, but then the reality of our current situation hit us. 

   The Corona jokes and punchlines about hand sanitizer couldn’t have prepared us for all the problems we were soon to face.

   The borders are shut down, establishments are closed, and shelves are completely bare. The state told students in Florida that online school or repeating grades may now be an option. 

   Through this chaos, I’ve been affected in many ways but this pandemic has truly changed my view on society. 

   I never thought I would find myself in a social climate where things like hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and disinfectant wipes were being bought in bulk by a few while the rest of the population worried and scrambled to find these items. 

   I was never expecting to see the local students sent home from school, my place of worship closed, and the relaxing social events that fill my weekend now considered a hazard.

  What concerns me most is the way we shifted our values as a society. 

   People are getting in fights at grocery stores and reselling sanitary products at extreme prices. I’m disappointed in the way the government is handling this crisis but I’m more concerned in the way our panic has led to all around hysteria.

   It is clear that, when public health authorities have to face outbreaks, our issue is a proper understanding and representation of “real” human behavor in policies and interventions. 

   Getting people to cooperate towards the goal of containment (self-imposed quarantines, washing hands, limiting travel and gatherings), reducing number of free-riders (hand-sneezers, employees going to work even if sick) to a minimum and avoiding extreme risk perceptions (panic and dismissal) is as important as closing schools and increasing the number of beds in intensive care.

   This is a realization I hoped I would never have to come to but it has been something I’ve been confronted with because of the Coronavirus.