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COVID US News One Year Ago Flashback
March 12, 2020
HINDSIGHT
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Kansas announces first coronavirus death. This death is the state’s fifth confirmed case of coronavirus. This is the 41st death in the US.

“The first confirmed coronavirus death in either Kansas or Missouri is a major development because it’s the first case of community spread for the KC metro and either state. The Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said they believe someone brought COVID-19 into the skilled nursing facility where the man who died was a resident.”

The Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment wants the public to know that young people who may not feel any effects of COVID-19 could be carriers and put the most vulnerable at risk.

The 2020 Big 12 Men's Basketball conference announced it had cancelled the tournament completely.

Wall Street ends 11-year 'bull market'. Global markets continue to come under huge pressure from the coronavirus. News of Trump's travel ban sent markets in Asia plunging today.

National Rifle Association cancels annual meeting.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints suspends all public gatherings worldwide.

After weeks of downplaying the outbreak, US President Donald Trump addressed the nation last night, announcing a suspension of travel from Europe. He described the disease as a "foreign virus" and blamed Europe for its spread to the US -- brought more confusion to an already rattled nation. Trump's administration was later forced to clarify that the ban would apply to "people, not goods," and only to foreign nationals, not Americans who had been screened before entering the country.

Airlines are scrambling to understand and implement the restrictions, as travelers race back to the US before the deadline or weigh canceling trips. The 30-day ban, which starts at 11:59 p.m. Friday, applies to 26 European countries; it doesn't apply to the UK, despite a spike in cases there. Americans and US permanent residents will still be allowed to fly to Europe and return to the US.

Cruise line executive says the industry doesn't need a bailout over the coronavirus crisis

New study details first known person-to-person coronavirus transmission in the US.

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Forward to the Present Time US COVID News
March 12, 2021
CURRENT EVENTS
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TOTAL CASES: 29,113,651 +60,678 New Cases
CASES IN LAST 7 DAYS: +464,152
TOTAL DEATHS: 529,301 +1,572 New Deaths

“‘Given what we know now about the pandemic, the US should have shut down earlier,’ Fauci says.

“Report: AstraZeneca will seek US authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine in March or early April.”

“US tops 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered.”

“Biden and Harris celebrate passage of Covid-19 relief package at White House event: ‘Help has arrived’"

“The US has received requests from ‘around the world’ for doses of Covid-19 vaccine but so far has not fulfilled any of them, the White House says. That is because President Biden's ‘priority and focus is on ensuring the American people are vaccinated’ before delivering vaccines to other countries, according to press secretary Jen Psaki.”

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About the Photograph:
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On the evening World News tonight, the anchor asked his viewing audience if each one of us could remember the very last photo that we took before yesterday March 11, 2020: the day when the WHO declared COVID-19 as a world pandemic.

The news anchor’s question was what was the very last photo that the ubiquitous “you” shot that would indicate how life “used to be” during a time of “the old normal” before the March 11, 2020. Supposedly, the WHO announcement of a pandemic marked a change to the “new normal” in everyone’s lives.

Frankly, IMO, the old normal had actually been disappearing long before formally declared the pandemic was a pandemic. Things first started to change slightly back in January as the US watched what was happening in other parts of the world. Concerns (but not yet a big change in the way we behaved) started to grow. Then, as February progressed, more and more COVID news dominated the US news cycle until I finally surrendered in mid February & cancelled my upcoming, 6 week, February/March Australia/New Zealand trip. If I didn’t feel that the old normal was already gone, I wouldn’t have cancelled my trip. By March 6, 2020, my husband’s company then said that on the following Monday all non front line health workers would start to tele commute because of the dangers from coronavirus. That weekend was the last before he joined in with my already voluntary, stay-at-home choice to remain “safe” from a deadly virus we really understood little about.

So I’d say February 5th and this photo https://pbase.com/britestar/image/170403529
was really the last time I shot a photo from a time that I view as the "Old Normal". The Kansas City Chiefs had won the Super Bowl & the city had a big party. Following that highlight in the Metro, our lives then started to gradually change. Unfortunately, following all of the events of this past year, I don’t know if I will ever again feel fully comfortable in a situation like that photo; not even when the pandemic is just history. This past year has definitely changed my psyche. How much? I don’t yet know.

However to go along with the question that the news broadcaster had really asked, the above photo (taken 3 days before the WHO declared COVID as a world pandemic) was the actual last photo that I shot before the WHO the made the COVID-19 pandemic official. Interestingly, the above “old normal” image still represents our current “normal” and will remain our future “normal”. Some things in life are timeless: with or without the influence of a world pandemic.