Colin Beach and Zeke Wang
Coronavirus, a.k.a COVID-19, is a RNA virus that first started showing up in the city of Wuhan China. Because coronavirus is a RNA virus, it bypasses many of the cell's safety measures when making proteins. But since it is RNA, that means the strand of its genetic code goes straight into the ribosome which makes protein. So the genetic code of the virus does not get checked during transcription. The ribosome will then start cranking out tons of the coronavirus protein, and it will be sent out in vacuoles throughout the body and into other cells which just makes it worse.
Just this week, the amount of Coronavirus cases have passed 4 million worldwide and more than 250 thousand people have died to COVID-19. Countries all over the world are having small patches of the virus pop up here and there. Near the border of Russia, a small Province in China, Jilin Province Shulan, recorded 11 cases this past Saturday and South Korea has had 34 new cases this past Saturday too. Tensions in other nations due to the Coronavirus is very high because of the quarantine. Hundreds of protests in Hong Kong protest anti-government chants because of the quarantine which caused police officers to fire pepper balls to stop the protest. This ties into the course theme of what is the difference between hard power and soft power and what mix of policies best advances the interests of a state in a given situation. I chose this theme because during this coronavirus pandemic and quarantine that pretty much the whole entire world is doing. Many nations are having to use force to keep people inside just like the riots in Hong Kong, and in the U.S. there are many people that are going out onto the street in their cars and on the streets that are saying that the quarantine is fake and is just propaganda. The U.S. isn’t forcefully stopping these protestors because it would just feed into the people’s views of the quarantine. But, like most of the world, many people are doing what their country is telling them to do to help combat the coronavirus.
Many experts are saying that the coronavirus is not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. An infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard's Chan School of Public Health said, “It’s going to be a matter of managing it over months to a couple of years. It’s not a matter of getting past the peak, as some people seem to believe”. There have been 3 scenarios of which the coronavirus could lead into. The one that we need to be worried about the most is the Fall Peak. This Scenario depicts a massive spike of cases during the fall of 2020. This would be very bad because people will have to stay inside a lot longer and many more people will get infected and many more will die. The authors of the scenarios are saying, “We must be prepared for at least another 18 to 24 months of significant Covid-19 activity, with hot spots popping up periodically in diverse geographic areas”. This link to the course theme, the dilemma between a nation-state’s immediate self interest and a longer term enlightened self interest that considers the welfare of other nations and of future generations. This fits very well with this because many people are theorizing of what will happen to the world until this virus settles down. The children and people growing up during this time, will be very different to others, and will most likely influence them into doing things differently in the future. This will also cause many new laws and rules to be implemented and things will change for the better or the worse. But every nation in which the coronavirus is in, is trying everything they can to make sure the people are safe and away from the virus and making sure that they are ok.
Coronavirus is not only a deadly disease, it also has other effects as well. The Coronavirus has been having significant impacts on the economy, a lot of money is lost due to Coronavirus. According to the Bureau Labor Statistics, the GDP of 2020 is down almost 5 percent, the most since 2008.
According to this Guardian article, Donald Trump has reported a billion-dollar loss during the past month. It's estimated that 20 million Amerians lost their job in April, and the unemployment rate goes up to 14%, the highest since the Great Depression (Bureau Labor Statistics). This was because in late march, business closed because of the new stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of Coronavirus. The impacts are also evident in the stock market; the stock markets saw the biggest declines in a single week since the economic crisis in 2008, the market has also been halted many times because S&P 500, or a stock of the 500 biggest stocks in America, was down so much. The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, recently threatened to move Tesla headquarters out of California because Alameda country refused to let the factory in Fremont operate. The airlines are also getting hit hard. As countries close their borders and go into lockdown, there is much less demand for flights and travels. This means a disaster for airlines and the tourism industry, and some have already collapsed. Coronavirus means a disaster for the economy.
Coronavirus may be a terrible thing that leads to many disappointing things, such as restricted travel, staying at home for quarantine, and distant social life. But good things are also happening. According to NASA, During the lockdown in China the air pollution decreased by 30%. This was because of all the coal powered power plants and industrial factories closed, employees stayed home, and there were no cars in the streets. Nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant produced from burning fossil fuels, was down by as much as 30%. More than one million premature deaths was caused by air pollution, and if it's for a short period of time, better air quality makes a huge difference. This also shows that a healthier planet is possible as long as the people in charge are willing to make certain sacrifices. That’s not the only thing, we also see strong bonds build. China and Japan did not have the best relationship because of what happened during WW2, the Rape of Nanking brought their relations to a low point. But recently, Japan sent medical supplies to China for free, with a poem on it that said, "Even though we live in different places, we live under the same sky." It’s said that the Japanese emperor sent this poem to China over a thousand years ago, which inspired a high ranking Chinese monk to travel to Japan to spread Buddhism. This went on social media and touched many Chinese, and it increased the positive views of Japan. Also recently in New York, firefighters gathered to applause for doctors, who are working tirelessly to save lives. This took place outside of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, Mount Sinai Morningside, and New York Presbyterian Hospital. What happened was very touching and it shows people coming together to overcome something difficult.
Because of the Coronavirus, the whole world is in a mess. This connects to the course theme of economic and political development including ‘globalization.’ Even when the Coronavirus was only in China and didn’t spread to other countries, it was a global issue. An impact on China’s economy would mean an impact on the world’s economy. We live in a mutually interdependent world and other countries matter. It also connects to the theme of individual’s relationships with mass society. Social media has become more popular than ever and it has become a way to get help and attention. Although the Coronavirus is a huge problem right now and causes lots of unfortunate things, it proves that humans come together and solve issues together, and together we can come back, as we always do.
Questions:
1. Should people start working again because of the economic losses? Or should public health be a priority and not work until the disaster is over?
2. Do you think that the corona virus will get worse or not depending on the information available?
To be honest, in this situation, there is no easy answer. If people started to work again, that would increase the chances of getting the virus. If more people get the virus, businesses would have to close and we'd be stuck in the same mess again. However, there is no way we can know when the virus will. fully stop. That means there is no definite date to when businesses should open. This would continue to affect the economy.
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