As the US is on top of the list for COVID cases, people tend to have a misleading thought that ventilators, beds, and masks are the most important limited resources. However, the truth is the nurses. They are the professionals working 16 hr shifts with multiple patients in the ICU. While there is the ability to buy massive qualities of these necessary products from overseas, there isn’t the same flexibility in nurses. Also, there have been cases, specifically in Texas where there was an influx of cases near the Independence case, where nurses have been catching COVID from patients and further damaging the already limited amount of nurses. Overall, people in Texas have been calm. Some people are unwilling to stay indoors or social distance, the numbers for COVID are going to increase. The virus does not spare anyone. And it will force Texas back into lockdown, seen by Texas during July.

Society, ever since COVID-19, has been on a pause. From the economy to social life to education, people’s lives were put on a halt. The greatest impact individual choices impact society during the time of a pandemic is that it is obvious in society who suffers the most. For example, in NY where many wealthy families have a summer house in Long Island. When the virus blew up in NY, they all fled to their suburban homes. They didn’t care about the price of buying medical grade protection that hospitals are running out of, or stocking up on canned goods that elders and the lower working class buy with their food stamps and social security benefit. The poor and elder are more susceptible to the virus due to the lack of resources and body conditions, respectively. But at the same time, they can’t afford the inflated prices of masks, hand sanitizers, and toilet paper. Because of the pandemic, the decisions people make emphasize the economic difference between the wealthy and everyone else.

During a time of crisis, the whole country is united. Everyone is going through the same issue. In Hotel Corona, there are Jews, Arabs, ultra-Orthodox, and sector individuals. While at the beginning of the hotel opening for COVID- patients, everyone was separated into their familiar groups. However, at some point when they realize that they’re all going through the same issue, just with different backgrounds, they united themselves, learning about each other’s culture and making COVID jokes.

It is the idea of having an open mind. From the podcast, you can tell that it’s human nature to hang out and communicate better with people like you, with similar backgrounds and beliefs. However, like most of the residents at the hotel, they saw it as an opportunity to learn. Hotel Corona had its people quarantine within the building, this was a gift that no one else around the world had. They could meet new people and learn more about different conflicting cultures. With the abundance of backgrounds of individuals in Israel.  They celebrated Passover together, drank together, and laughed together. It makes us sort of question our regrets of not putting effort and stepping out of the box to interact with strangers. You begin to realize that even with quarantine, there are still opportunities to have an eye-opening experience. We have the internet and rather wasting and slothing over quarantine, use the time to build relationships.