BC Reacts: US Surpasses 500,000 COVID Deaths

Written By: Kendra Martinez and Gabriela Flores

As the United States’ COVID-death toll peers over 500,000, and while vaccinations are steadily rolling out, many are surprised to see how drastically and swiftly the virus has affected the nation. For some Brooklyn College students and others, the growing figure will surely be one of the many aspects they will remember from their time living in a pandemic. 

   “Back in April when less people were dying, it meant something more. 500,000 is just too big to contemplate, it just makes me feel numb,” said Aida Dinerman Greenspan, a Sociology-major at BC. “I thought it would be over quickly, and I thought there would be a tiny death rate.”

   Earlier on in the pandemic, New York State cases were steadily increasing, with one of the pandemic’s peaks reaching over 10,700 cases in April, according to the New York Times. There are over 1.6 million known cases in NY and 28.7 million nationwide as of press time. Despite cases remaining high and previous vaccine shipment delays, some NYC COVID-restrictions like indoor dining have lifted, however.

   “We’re in a situation where we have access to other people. People are going out and probably spreading the virus,” said Alondra Jimenez, a Journalism and Media Studies major, who did not find the US’s COVID-related death toll surprising. “I do think it is shocking in a sense now that the vaccine is out that the death toll is increasing.” Though she thinks that Governor Cuomo’s recent reopening decisions may have contributed to the COVID death count in NY, Jimenez ultimately thinks it is up to Americans to follow health safety guidelines to stop the spread. 

   “The government could do a lot of things. They could put us on lockdown, they could give us vaccines, but I feel like it really starts with the people actually taking the precaution,” she said.

   Though she hasn’t contracted the virus herself, Jimenez is aware of the immense losses the pandemic has brought onto others and their loved ones who have. 

“I do think it has affected my outlook on life because I do have that perspective that life really is short. You can be gone tomorrow, or the people you love can be gone tomorrow,” Jimenez said. 

    With COVID vaccines making their way across states, some BC students have hope that the COVID contractions and deaths can curb. In NYC, over 2 million doses have been administered. Despite the FDA approving vaccines that have high efficacy against the virus, over 30 percent of Americans say they wouldn’t get it. 

   “I think it would be possible for it to slow down now that they have a vaccine out, but not many people want to get the vaccine, I know I wouldn’t want to get the vaccine,” said Aaliyah Providence-Briggs. “I feel like they should keep things closed and make restrictions about people wearing their masks.” When COVID-19 restrictions were first implemented, Providence-Briggs did not expect the pandemic to last as long as it has – nor did she think that the virus would bring on a high death toll and numerous hospitalizations. 

   “I wouldn’t have thought so because the US is considered to be ‘the best,’ I thought we would have more control than other countries,” said Providence-Briggs, “I didn’t think that so many people would have died in the US.” 

   Similarly, for Michael Anchor, the fact COVID has led to the death of over 500,000 Americans was unexpected. At the beginning of the pandemic, when the college closed on Mar. 11, he expected in-person classes to resume soon. Nearly a year of remote learning later, he did not think the situation would escalate to the heights it has. 

   “I’m really shocked that it got to this level, like to the point that we are more than half of a million, where more than half a million people have been killed due to COVID or complications of COVID-19,” said Anchor, who believes that the federal government could have done more to prepare for the mass losses the pandemic has brought onto the country. Though he believes that there was nothing that could have prepared anyone for all that loss, he thinks that more should’ve been done – by the government and citizens alike. 

   “The main feeling I get from the pandemic itself is not just sadness, but anger and frustration that we let it get this far,” Anchor said. 

     To BC alumna Ivette Solis, who works at Woodhull Hospital’s COVID testing site, she has noticed that another factor may contribute to the growing contractions and subsequent deaths in NY. Solis has noticed that some New Yorkers who do test positive would try to lie about completing their self-quarantine for at least 10 days with the intent of taking another COVID-test. 

     “Thus we have people who are positive, who haven’t finished their quarantine and who are walking around in public, next to other people and coming into the hospital in an attempt to get tested early so they can go back to work,” said Solis. When she looks back at the country’s time in COVID-19, Solis would not only remember the death toll but the “ambiance” of lockdown during the pandemic’s early days. 

     “The streets were quiet throughout the day. My mom and I would always hear just ambulance cars passing by and we would hear them maybe ten times throughout the day,” said Solis. “Every time we heard them we were just like ‘Damn, another person probably having respiration problems due to COVID or somebody dying from COVID.”

       In NY, cases have gone down 9 percent in the last 14 days. Though the death rate has fallen by 24 percent statewide, over 47,000 New Yorkers have died due to COVID-complications. As vaccines continue rolling out in the USA, many BC students hang onto their hope of the pandemic coming to an end. But when some look back, they’ve asked what could’ve been done to prevent such a drastic loss like the death of 500,000 Americans and counting. 

     “It will make me question the factors like why didn’t America handle it so well, I guess that’s what is going to stick out and what is it that we did wrong this time that we can prevent next time,” questioned Jimenez.