Changes due to coronavirus has made our society come together and become unified despite the many social restrictions and increasing fringe group rhetoric.

With the still rising cases of COVID-19 and the racial tensions shaking America to its very core, one would be reluctant to say we have come a long way since the beginning of the pandemic. Although, we have definitely progressed and we are beginning to see progress, reform, and most of all, unity.

In President Biden’s inaugural speech, he said, “I ask every American to join me in this cause. Uniting to fight the common foes we face: Anger, resentment, hatred. Extremism, lawlessness, violence. Disease, joblessness, hopelessness. With unity we can do great things. Important things.”  

The government speaking on a common cause and a common goal for Americans helps to reinforce that unity. We can’t get rid of fringe groups who will never join in unity, but having a common cause brings the rest of the country together. With that, and as President Biden said we can do important things as a common people.

The common people, whether Republican or Democrat, must come together to stop coronavirus. They cannot remain idle while the radical leftists, alt-right members and Qanon followers slowly take away the unity and progress of the whole. 

 The U.S. and it is citizens must prevent the demonization and polarization of political parties and meet in the middle. As unity cannot be one sided, the country must realize that they must love and respect their neighbor, regardless of political leanings. This would be an easy step towards unity, and if you cared for your community like family, you would want to prevent the spread of coronavirus in that same community.

Although, the American people, long before Biden was inaugurated, seemed to come together in order to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19. In a study by the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, researchers found that before state mandates, 93% of Americans wore a mask correctly. The majority of Americans understand the threat to our lives and the lives around them, and want a speedy return to normal.

The 7% that refuses to wear a mask are not only endangering themselves, but the people around them too. No argument is good enough to not help stop the spread of this disease. Thankfully, the majority of Americans are thoughtful, and want the pandemic to end in the U.S., and want to see fewer and fewer deaths due to COVID-19.

The statistics cannot show how unified we might be, how different groups reacted to the pandemic, but it shows the progress of the American people as a whole to rid the country of coronavirus. America has always come together to beat insurmountable odds and help the country heal, whether it be World War II, the terrorist attack on 9/11, or a pandemic that has now killed over half a million U.S. citizens as reported by the CDC.

In the end, it is not individuals nor the government that single handedly solve the problems we are currently facing. It is the common people, uniting to do their duty as citizens, who can push forward this country into a restriction and pandemic free future. The evidence is clear, the average citizen is doing their part, so I ask you, regardless of political leanings, to do your part in restoring the U.S. and uniting the people under one goal, to defeat COVID-19.