When traveling abroad, the CDC either mandates or strongly recommends certain immunizations, depending on where you are going. One set of recommendations to a particular country says that should be vaccinated for: Tdap, MMR, Varicella, Hep A, Hep B, typhoid, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, and yellow fever.
There was no way to be prepared, though, for this one.
Known only as “Patient Zero,” “a 35-year-old man presented to an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington, with a 4-day history of cough and subjective fever. On checking into the clinic, the patient put on a mask in the waiting room. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, he was taken into an examination room and underwent evaluation by a provider.”1 It was the first confirmed case of COVID, happening on this day in 2020.
“Hundreds were ill and six had died in China when a 35-year-old man touched down in Seattle after a three-month trip to visit family in Wuhan. He got sick the next day, a Thursday, saw a doctor Sunday and was admitted to the hospital Monday.
“He traveled alone. He lived alone. He went into isolation. Alone.
“At Providence Regional Medical Center, he spoke to doctors on the other side of the glass window through a telehealth robot and asked for a phone to call family.”2 As Washington state epidemiologist Dr. Scott Lindquist told reporters, “There had to be a first case somewhere.” There had to be a Patient Zero.
As of December 12, 2025, the estimated number of deaths associated with COVID, whether directly or indirectly, total 7,102,614 worldwide.3 To give this a little perspective, the current world population is 8,267,026,900 and increasing rapidly. Only .08% of the world’s population was fatally affected by COVID. I am not downplaying this because if a loved one you know was taken down by COVID, the statistics don’t mean a lot to you. You are suffering the loss, and I am genuinely sorry for that loss.
There’s no doubt that COVID has changed our world. It was demonstrated that many jobs can be accomplished from home. However, this also gave rise to quiet quitting, “describing employees who fulfill their job requirements but refuse to go above and beyond without additional compensation.”4 Motivating those who work from home as well as retaining the employee have been big challenges.
COVID enhanced the divide between political parties as the health crises became weaponized. One side of the equation distrusts the government and the science that plunged us into a world of mandates. The other side seems to think that science and government have all the answers and that their “solutions” should be forced if not readily embraced.
You will still see people walking around with masks, an issue upon which Dr. Anthony Fauci adamantly walked lockstep with the CDC. However, statements he made revealed that even he disagreed with it.
“Fauci wrote: “Masks are really for infected people to prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infection. “The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you.”
“…On March 8, 2020, Fauci said “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” according to Reuters—but this was before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on masks on April 3.”5
COVID certainly changed our views on hygiene and prevention. I have to admit that I feel like I’ve become a bit of a hypochondriac, and I find myself constantly washing my hands or using hand sanitizer. I have no problem shaking hands or having my hands contaminated. But after that, I am super cautious to not touch my face until I’ve had a chance to decontaminate. As soon as I get a cough or sniffle, I’m reaching for the thermometer!
A few thousand years ago, our world became contaminated with sin. Adam was Patient Zero, bringing the boom of sin down on all humanity. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And sin changed everything.
Genesis records the curse that was put upon the world. All things began to die. Adam and Eve were immediately spiritually dead. And in Genesis 3:23-24, we read, “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Thankfully, there is a 100% cure for the pandemic begun by Adam. Romans 5:15 says, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Jesus is the cure for sin and sinners.
COVID may have created a new normal that we might be stuck with all of our lives and a normal we do not like. Jesus creates a new normal within us as well, however, this new normal is the life we’ve always wanted and needed. Let’s rejoice in that new normal in Christ today.
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:5)
1https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001191
2https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2021/01/19/first-covid-case-us-year-anniversary-snohomish-county/4154942001/
3Mathieu, Edouard; Ritchie, Hannah; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Dattani, Saloni; Beltekian, Diana; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Roser, Max (2020–2024). “Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)”. Our World in Data. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
4https://www.countryadventures.net/5-years-later-15-ways-america-has-changed-due-to-the-covid-pandemic/
5https://www.newsweek.com/fauci-said-masks-not-really-effective-keeping-out-virus-email-reveals-1596703
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