Shannon Brewi 3/13/20 PD 7

3/13/20

Shannon Brewi PD 7

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Media

The media’s response to the Coronavirus at first seemed to be a bit extreme, causing people to respond with panic. In some cases, people saw it as an apocalyptic scenario. Early on, the disease hadn’t even spread to the United States yet, but people were already ransacking stores and being racist to Chinese-Americans. By providing statistics in poor context, people became worried very quickly. For example, there were previously very few tests being carried out for the Coronavirus in the US, so the number of confirmed cases was extremely low. As tests became more readily available and people were finally tested, the number of confirmed cases increased dramatically. Statistically, this makes the spread of the disease seem catastrophic and terrifying. But in reality, it makes sense in context. This is how the media contributed to the scare. However, as time went on and the situation started to be more serious, as Italy is now practically on lockdown, the news started to be a bit underwhelming. The media has emphasized that the disease is most critical to the old and sickly, which makes young, healthy people calmer than they should be. Although it is true that young people have it better, being sick is not worth being careless. Hospitals are not equipped for everyone to be sick at once, so people still need to be safe. Additionally, young people can be carriers of the disease and spread it to those at risk, which is also very unsafe. Therefore, the media’s inaccurate portrayal of the disease as only harmful to a specific population has also negatively contributed to the spread of the Coronavirus. The media has also managed to find a way to turn the health crisis into a political issue, claiming that news organizations have overhyped the crisis in order to hurt the president politically. All in all, the media has contributed to the crisis in a variety of ways.

The Facts

In November 2019, reports of a new disease in Wuhan, China became worldwide news. At first, the disease was limited to only China, but due to the interconnectedness of the world and the ease of global travel, it quickly spread throughout the world. By the end of January, the World Health Organization had declared it a “public health emergency of international concern” (according to the CDC). The disease itself is similar to the flu, but lasts about 2 weeks and can lead to serious respiratory issues. The symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. It is most harmful to people over the age of 65 and those with preexisting autoimmune and respiratory conditions. However, it can affect pretty much anyone, although it seems younger people experience milder symptoms. Coronaviruses have been around for a while already, including the common cold, SARS, and MERS, but this is a novel Coronavirus, meaning it has never been seen in humans before. It most likely spread from an animal (likely a bat) to a human, then began to spread from human-to-human contact. The disease spreads through respiratory droplets produced by those infected. Sadly, Coronavirus is now considered a pandemic, or a global outbreak. The outbreak is not too severe in the United States yet, although the number of cases has now surpassed 3,000 and the death toll has reached 60, compared to 170,000 cases and 6,500 deaths worldwide (according to CNN).

Community Response

The community response is a bit apocalyptic. People have been hoarding items from the supermarket, such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, paper towels, Clorox wipes, pasta, and rice. I went to the supermarket with my parents yesterday and it was the most crowded I have ever seen it. Shelves were barren and lines were chaotic.

Also, school attendance has decreased dramatically. On Friday, only 54% of SI Tech students went to school. However, the mayor has yet to close public schools, although he has prohibited gatherings of over 500 people and canceled after-school activities. People from Italy have warned that the government and community have actually not been taking this situation seriously enough. Italians are now under lockdown to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, and they believe that Americans should be taking extreme measures like them. Yet, Americans are still going out as this crisis is occurring. Additionally, and most upsetting, people have been responding by attacking Asian-Americans. People all over New York City have been physically and verbally assaulting Asian-Americans due to prejudices based on the origin of the Coronavirus.

My Response

I try very hard to remain logical in situations of crisis, which is why I have been staying informed during this scare. I have been reading plenty of articles on the issue and have researched the situation in Italy. I went to school on Friday but plan to stay home this next week. It’s important to attempt to prevent the further spread of the disease, and I want to be sure to keep my parents and grandparent safe. However, I am also trying to remain calm during this time. People who are hoarding supplies are misinformed, and my family and I are not buying into this practice.

The analysis of this pandemic will be helpful when we reach our unit on the zombie apocalypse. We will be able to compare the fictional response to the zombie “disease” to the real response to the Coronavirus. This is the first pandemic our generation has experienced, so it is interesting to observe its effects.