The Impact of COVID 19 On The Life Of Downtown Greensboro

Guilford County, North Carolina like the rest of the world, has seen more than its share of the world’s highly contagious pandemic, Covid-19. Greensboro, the biggest city within the Guilford County lines has seen and been apart setting records of the highest number of infection cases within a twenty-four hour-period. Accelerated rates according to the Guilford County website, are not new here with three days of accelerated spreading having gone on record in the last three months. “Covid-19 is no joke!” spoke Curtis Mc-Duffie a covid-19 survivor. “ I woke to a high fever, body and skin pain. The stuffed me with antibiotics and told to stay in the house and keep moving”.

Mandates in North Carolina were issued by Governor Roy Cooper originally March 10, 2020.This was called a state of emergency, ordering that all non-essential, and some essential workers stay home. These mandates have continued all the way up until, though a lot less severe in nature, and Greensboro has suffered for it.

Downtown Greensboro, a place normally overflowing with life as far as you can see, isn’t so life like these days. Traffic hasn’t been affected as much as many people still have to traverse through downtown in order to access certain parts of the city in a timely manner. Foot-traffic however, has come to an almost grinding halt.

A ride through downtown will sing the sad song of a city once bubbling to the brim with life and activity. The public library once packed and chalked full of both grown up and child alike, is only a shell of it’s former self. The downtown strip, once the most active portion of downtown despite the time of day, is void of its past atmosphere of buzz and thrill. Instead, it has been replaced by feelings of reluctance, anxiety, and necessity.

Greensboro has suffered a social death. And not only has the city suffered socially, it has suffered economically as well. Many of the smaller stores having had to close shop due to lack of business. This is the impact of Covid-19, an airborne-pathogen, making itself home in an urban area.