1720 was a year of plague for France. 1820 brought a terrible cholera pandemic, and 1920 hosted a massive Spanish flu outbreak. Now it's 2020, and a coronavirus epidemic in China has recently caught the news. But is it really a serious plague?
There are over 71,000 global cases, but most of them are in China. As of 7:00, there were 1,770 deaths. That makes a death percentage of about two percent. But is that actually extremely lethal? The horrid Spanish flu pandemic killed between four and ten percent of its victims. In comparison to coronavirus, it's much more deadly. The Black Death ravaged Europe and killed around a third of its population in the middle ages. The death rate was at least 33 percent, which is a lot worse than today's coronavirus. So far this year in the state of Connecticut, there have been 1,705 hospitalizations related to the flu, resulting in 40 deaths. That makes a death percentage of around two percent, but keep in mind that many more people are infected with the flu. However, the 2019-20 flu season has been exponentially more widespread than previous years. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I had a fever with flu-like symptoms. Does this mean that the flu will actually become more dangerous than coronavirus? Probably not. The flu generally kills very young unvaccinated children and very old adults. The coronavirus also does, meaning that it likely isn't an existential threat to human existence. Stay safe and healthy knowing that coronavirus isn't the new Black Death. Remember to wash your hands, don't cough into your hands, and stay home if you're sick. Summary
“Influenza Surveillance and Statistics.” CT.gov, portal.ct.gov/DPH/Epidemiology-and-Emerging-Infections/Influenza-Surveillance-and-Statistics. “Coronavirus News and Live Updates: More than 68,000 Cases Globally.” CNN, Cable News Network, 16 Feb. 2020, www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-16-20-intl-hnk/index.html.
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Valentine's Day, coming up this week, is a widely celebrated holiday about love and romance. But how the heck did it start?
There is no definite start of Valentine's Day, but Ancient Rome celebrated a love-centered holiday during the month of February. From February 13th to 15th, Romans would drink lots of wine, sacrifice goats and dogs, and whip women with the skins of the sacrificed animals. This festival, called Lupercalia, featured a lot of nakedness and was thought to help people improve fertility. The name of our winter holiday may also be derived from Rome. Twice, Emperor Claudius II executed a man named Valentine on February 14th. The Catholic Church deemed them saints and began celebration of St. Valentine's Day. In the 400s AD, Pope Gelasius I combined Lupercalia and St. Valentine's Day, thus erasing much of the wildness of the Roman festival. Valentine's Day did have more wine than usual, but none of the nakedness followed. However, Lupercalia's focus on love continued. Another romance-oriented holiday was celebrated by the Normans in February. Called Galatin's Day, it was probably confused with Valentine's Day. Now, Galatin's Day is no more. William Shakespeare played a major role in making Valentine's Day more romantic via playwriting. During the middle ages, people gave each other paper cards to celebrate the holiday. Since 1913, Hallmark Cards started producing its own Valentine's Day cards. Now it has become a 17 billion dollar industry, and people everywhere buy their loved ones cards, cookies, chocolate, and flowers on February 14th. Summary
Seipel, Arnie. “The Dark Origins Of Valentine's Day.” NPR, NPR, 13 Feb. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day. |
AuthorHI! I'm a 12th grader and on this page, I will blog about me and what I'm going through, both in Game Design class and in life. There are a mix of required blog posts and personal reflections, which you can sort, among other things, below the disclaimer and archives. DISCLAIMER
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