Thursday March 12, 2020 is a day that goes down as one of the worst for any “average Joe’s” personal well- being. All resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak (a strain of coronavirus), event-by-event, the day went as follows: 9:30 AM E.S.T. and the Dow opens significantly in the red, being down over 700 points, only to drop by over 1,300 points more by its 4PM close. And then later in the morning, upon hearing the increased number of deaths and contraction, colleges, universities and local elementary and high schools make it publicly known that they will close their buildings to clean and disinfect.
By later in the afternoon, it is finally decided that some state colleges and universities will be holding their classes remotely. Therefore, the need to physically appear for class at said schools is immediately taken off the proverbial table. In addition, large gatherings are banned. Then, around 3 PM E.S.T., college’s Atlantic Coast Conference makes a public proclamation that they will remove themselves from any, and all, upcoming sports’ tournaments for the spring and winter seasons.
That means no basketball heavyweights will be participating in the year’s overwhelmingly popular college basketball bracket season. No reigning champs, no team everyone loves to hate, no lovable and fan favorite, no New York state favorite, and no mid-Western favorite to name a few.
But hold up, the fun doesn’t even stop there for what happened on March 12. MLB and NHL pause their seasons indefinitely. MLB—which hasn’t officially started its season—claims to delay its May season opener. Also, Broadway shows are said to have gone dark, so no gathering at those.
And then finally, the world is told that there will be no March Madness either. The fun of filling out brackets every year, at about this time of March, has been completely removed from the traditional office worker’s to- do list.
The joy of the season has been inextricably robbed from every single one of us. And to think, that’s been only one horrific outcome of the treacherous, COVID-19, outbreak.
Life as we know it is no longer life as we want it to be. This is the most tragic sci-fi disaster possible. After all, the coronavirus strain, COVID-19, kills.
