Life With COVID-19 Pandemic
Communities all across the nation are on lockdown since President Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, urging the public to stay at home in an effort to halt the global pandemic, which began in China three months ago and has killed a growing number of people worldwide.
“Our immediate goal is to stop the spread of the virus and to help all Americans who have been impacted by this,” Trump said during a televised news conference at the White House.
Locally, some shopping plazas have become deserted, while government buildings and city halls have closed, moving services online.
Meanwhile, metro-Atlanta area schools have implemented online learning for students, as houses of worship close their doors and encourage their congregations to worship online.
The mandate for “social distancing”—avoiding crowds, hugging and shaking hands– also has forced people to hunker down for the long haul. With customers stocking up on groceries, toilet paper and hand sanitizer, some supermarkets and stores are limiting quantities on certain products such as frozen vegetables, canned fruit and loaves of bread. These are some of the ways that COVID-19 has changed our way of life.
For more on the impact of COVID-19 locally, see Photo Essay by Glenn L. Morgan, page 4.