Coronavirus has affected communities detrimentally, killing over two hundred thousand people in America. To slow the spread of the virus, governments have urged people to isolate themselves. While many people are loath to give their freedom up—even to help their communities—the numbers of people getting infected has decelerated due to most people abiding by the social distance rules. In America, people have also been filled with panic because of the turmoil of living in a pandemic.

People in Houston have stayed relatively calm despite the hospital being overloaded. Even though the I.C.U. beds were filling up, people acted in an orderly fashion. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of medical workers, not equipment, as the ratio of nurses to patients was one to four. The medical community has been working nonstop to ensure people’s safety and health; many nurses work extra shifts to help the nurse to patient ratio.

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, tried to open up the state, but it did not take long for the numbers of those infected with coronavirus to increase. The reproduction number of the virus in Houston was going down until July Fourth weekend, when people celebrated in large groups with lenient social distancing rules. Since July Fourth represents freedom, it was harder for people to accept that the best way to look out for their communities is to practice social distancing and avoid large gatherings. To fight the virus, we need individuals to prevent the spread of it. That is the most important part of this battle.

While people are being separated from each other and increasingly isolated, coronavirus has contributed to unifying different kinds of people in Israel. In Israel, Arabs and Jews often live separately and go to separate schools, however, in a hotel for recovering coronavirus patients, Jews and Arabs have been getting along and engaging with each other at meals and activities. At first, people stuck with their own kind, but slowly, people started to mix with each other, and different events and activities took place that helped people bond.

There is so much that we can learn from the people that stayed at this hotel that would help our society. At the hotel, people learned a lot from each other. They asked questions about other people’s cultures and learned that they can get along despite their differences. During Passover, there was a barrier separating the Jews from the other sects of Judaism, but they removed the borders and celebrated Passover together. It is important for our societies to learn to remove the borders separating one another and accept that people will get along by human nature.