Hello, everyone,
Semester 22-1 finished and my English Composition I class
and I took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to develop our writing skills. I
hope you enjoy Edily Villar and Arnaldo Rodriguez’s papers. Many people behave
as if the pandemic came to an end. Do you agree? We will be very happy to read
your comments.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH COVID-19
By Edily Villar
Having COVID-19 changed the course of my life
forever. This is a virus that came to transform the world; therefore, it’s an
issue that affects everybody. However, its impact and consequences are felt
differently depending on every individual. Each case is different, so it would
be useful to take my experience as an example to see how it can help others and
give strength to get out of this disease if someone get to suffer from it.
My
experience with COVID-19 started with the appearance of the first symptoms. A
high fever and lower back pain were the symptoms I developed, which became
present on December 23rd in the afternoon. That day in the morning,
I felt perfectly fine, but as
time went on the symptoms got worse. There was a point
where I couldn’t stand or breathe properly, and the fever began to rise. Due to
my parent’s concern, they took me to the emergency room to find out what was
happening to me. After the nurses medicated me and took a blood test, the
doctor there deduced that it was just the flu that everyone had at that time but
to make sure, the next day on Christmas Eve morning, I went back to the
hospital to take a COVID test, and unfortunately it came out positive. Therefore,
the first symptoms I had were not from a flu, but from COVID-19.
Right
after testing positive, my period of isolation began at home. I spent about fifteen
days locked inside my room, taking pills and syrups every day. During this
phase, I started to have minor problems in my lungs, throat infection and
muscle aches. Also, I had the responsibility to clean and disinfect everything
I touched, so the virus would not propagate. In addition, I couldn’t get close
to any member of my family for a while, which hurt me a lot since I couldn’t
spend Christmas with them like I was used to. It was frustrating not being able
to go outside and continue my normal life until the results came back negative.
I felt very discouraged during the whole process for having to be away from
everything I love. Undoubtedly, this was the most difficult and exasperating
stage of the virus for me.
Fortunately,
after two weeks of isolation at home, my journey with COVID-19 had ended. I
took the test again and this time it came out negative. This terrible stage was
finally over. I was feeling perfectly fine now that all the symptoms were gone.
I started to go out again after being locked for so long. I finally got to see
my family, and I returned to my daily routines. Everything felt normal again. This
is definitely the part where you realize the importance of the little things
that you normally don’t consider important. Thus, after this process that
affected my life, I was full of joy to say that I was finally COVID free.
In summary, the virus of COVID-19 changed my
life in the most unexpected moment. There were different stages I had to go
through and different ways of how this disease affected me. In my case, the
first symptoms, such as fever and a lower back pain, were the initial part of
the virus and when these were detected after taking a test, the frustrating
period of isolation began at home. Also, the time of healing was long and exhausting,
but after that, there was more good than bad. The virus transformed the course
of my life, but the way I coped with it made me change the way of seeing life
forever.
Tenares 2022
Statistics for the First Six Months of Covid-19 in the Dominican Republic
By Arnaldo Rodríguez
The statistics
during the first six months of Covid-19 pandemic were alarming. Statistics are
so important in daily life. They give information that can be used for decision
making, and played a huge role during the first six months of the Covid-19.
They told people how fast the virus was spreading, kept people informed about
its lethality, showed how full the hospitals were during the difficult times,
what areas were the most affected in the country, and how many people were
isolated. Many people were dying. The infections didn’t stop, and the number of
hospital admissions was increasing rapidly.
First, the
number of deaths during the first six months of the pandemic was frightening.
Two people died in the first month. By March 23rd the average age of
dead people was added to the statistics and it was 64 by that time. The next
day, the male vs female percentage was added and it was found that more men
were dying than women. The male percentage was 70% vs 30% female. In other
words, 7 out of 10 deaths were men. In March 26th, the mortality
rate was added and it was at 3%. Everyone was scared because that was a high
rate considering the amount of people infected and given that not much was
known about the virus. At the end of March, which was the first month, 57 had
died in total and the mortality rate was 4%, which was alarming. The average
age for March was 62 with 77% of dead people being men and 23% women. By the
end of April, the total number of people who died was 313. There were 256 new
cases compared to March. This was a tough month because the mortality rate
reached its peak at 4.29% and older people were dying, especially those with
other problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and respiratory diseases.
Everyone was worried about their senior relatives by this time. 75% were men
and 25% were women this month. May came with more deaths. The good thing was
the mortality rate went down. There were 189 new deaths and 502 in total. The
average age of people who died was 65. The mortality rate was 2.86%. The male
vs female ratio was 69.72% vs 30.28%. In June, many deaths continued, 252 new
deaths to be exact. There were 754 deaths in total with a mortality rate of
2.26% and the average age was 65. In July there were 416 new deaths and 1,170
deaths in total. The mortality rate went down to 1.64% and the average age was
65. August was the 6th month of the pandemic. It ended up with 1,738
dead people in total and 568 new deaths for August. This was the highest number
of deaths per month since the pandemic started. The average age of the people
who died during the first six months was 68, 65.71% of these were men vs 34.29%
being women. The mortality rate was not as high as it used to be but the most
concerning statistic was the amount of people that was dying and how on the 6th
month the pandemic still hadn’t been controlled.
Furthermore,
the total of infections during the first six months of the pandemic was very
concerning. Since there was this unknown virus which very little was known
about but just the fact that people were dying and it was a scary thought
knowing anyone could get infected and knowing there weren’t any previous
treatments but only the doctors’ recommendations. This is why the measures were
so drastic at the beginning. Such measures were very hard to follow, especially
for the poor and low-class people. However, they were necessary. The virus had
to be stopped at all costs. 373,001 tests were taken in total. The overall
number of infections was 94,979 with a positivity rate of 28.09%. Going to the
hospital during this time was alarming because many people were kept there for
many days, weeks or months without being able to see their relatives. One good
statistic was that 68,736 recovered from the disease during this period. Even
though the average age of people infected was 38, statistics showed older
people were the ones dying. By taking a look at the numbers, there comes the
realization of how alarming it could be to get infected during the first six
months.
Lastly, the
amount of people being isolated in the hospital during the first six months of
the pandemic was unsettling. Being taken to the hospital and getting isolated
there was a scary thought, especially knowing that in the country, the lack of
resources makes it very difficult for patients to be treated properly. Many
people didn’t get to see their family members again and no visits were allowed
due to the virus being highly contagious. In March, being the first month,
there were 147 people in hospital isolation. By April that number increased
rapidly by 1,185 more in isolation, for a total of 1,332 and 108 people were in
intensive care units (ICU). May ended up with 1,988 people isolating in the
hospital and 117 in ICU. The number of people in ICU didn’t increase significantly
but the only choice was to fight the virus. June came with shocking numbers as
3,323 people were in hospital isolation; this was 1,335 more than the previous
month and 200 were in ICU. For July, the numbers kept going up. There were
5,871 in hospital isolation, 2,548 more than June and 325 people in ICU. August
was the last month of the period and although the number of people in isolation
increased by 1,573 (7,444 in total), the positive news was that 207 ended up in
ICU, a drop of 118 compared to the previous month. Even though the measures
kept increasing, so were the numbers and this hospital isolation process had to
be as effective as possible.
In brief, the
statistics showed that there was a lot going on during the first six months of
the pandemic. People could empathize with all the ones dying and their
relatives, the struggles of the ones getting infected and then overcoming the
virus, and those at the hospitals fighting for their lives. The good thing was
that everyone learned how to treat and live with the virus, and that can be
seen by looking at those numbers today.
Santiago
2022
