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Solution Project: Futile Pandemic

Solution Project: Futile Pandemic

Jacob Hsieh

Maryknoll High School

6 April 2021
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Futile Pandemic

In late 2019, the worldwide pandemic was introduced to the world, almost 3 million

people worldwide has died from the COVID-19 pandemic because of the lack of knowledge,

preparation, and the underestimation of what a pandemic can cause; many of these deaths were

preventable so what should have been done? What can be done in the future? The government

must move fast in regulations and restrictions without any hesitations. Regulations across the

country should be uniformed and affective, sometimes strict regulations and advice from science

are for the better. A country needs to be able to prepare and supply its own equipment to the

citizens and employees at times of need; regulations regarding safety and equipment usage must

be followed by citizens. The people and government must work together to protect not only our

health but also our economy and what is important to us.

The government has to move fast in regulations and restrictions without any hesitations.

Covid-19 testing and tracking of travelers and citizens are essential to prevent the spread of a

pandemic. In an article about how Taiwan manages to control the pandemic affectively stated:

“Before the coronavirus even registered on the radars of other governments, Taiwan was testing

and quarantining travelers from Wuhan, China” (Howell). Through observation and times, we

could tell how early actions prevent the chance for a pandemic to even get big enough to cause

catastrophic harm to a nation. Of course, there are also other examples to this like Singapore and

Vietnam, notice how these countries are all close to the origin of the pandemic but still manage

to stay safe with minimal effect, some of these countries even grew economically during this

period. Even though this solution is affective, it is not all that is needed to prevent a pandemic

from spreading.
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Early on mask mandates, social distancing, and quarantine procedures can also help

controlling the pandemic. Asian countries have long been wearing masks even before the

pandemic, it was acceptable for them to wear masks on a daily basis. Quarantines have also been

used early on. An BBC article wrote about the success that Taiwan had in controlling the

pandemic:

The island's 23 million people have also proactively been wearing face masks, even

before they were required to do so. The protective measures have not only helped to keep

the virus in check but also have driven down cases of the regular flu and has reduced

cases of stomach flu by 90%.”

Quarantine also helps in containment, a lot as experts state that “Quarantine is one of the

oldest and most effective tools of controlling communicable disease outbreaks” (Guner). The

cooperation and early actions of all these prevention methods allowed Taiwan to grow even

through this time that is ever so hard for other countries with only an astonishing 10 deaths

throughout the year and a half. A very big difference can be seen in countries with early actions

and other countries who didn’t take the pandemic seriously. Early actions are beneficial but

keeping up with them and not letting your guards down is also important until people are safe.

Basic regulations across the country should be uniformed and affective, sometimes strict

regulations and advice from science are for the better. Mask mandates across the country at least

until the pandemic calms down is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading. Other

regulations like quarantine time should also be kept uniformed. By comparing countries wearing

masks and countries that don’t have mask mandates, we can clearly see the difference between

the cases and deaths. Although different parts of a country can have different seriousness in the
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pandemic, some basic regulations should be kept the same as mask mandates and social

distancing. When to stop these regulations should also be put into great consideration.

To see the country starting to do better in a pandemic is one thing, but to actually control

the pandemic and stop the spread is another. Many articles online have been publishing news on

the spike in cases, Infectious disease expert Ravina Kullar stated, “Many states are experiencing

spikes in COVID-19 cases after reopening businesses and loosening social distancing restrictions

that were put in place to help prevent the spread of the virus.” This evidence tells us that as the

pandemic gets easier to control, countries shouldn’t let down their guards and hurry up to reopen,

worried about the economy. This brings us to another important point that counters this action of

early reopening.

"Responses to the pandemic have often been framed in terms of striking a balance

between protecting people’s health and protecting the economy” (Hasell), a valid point made

after observing the effects of the pandemic. There is however, as people start finding out, no

collisions between protecting the economy as well as the health of the citizens. Comparing the

COVID-19 death rate with the latest GDP data, we in fact see the opposite: countries that have

managed to protect their population’s health in the pandemic have generally also protected their

economy too. There is in fact no collisions between protecting health and our economy, this

should give an alarm to policymakers that rushing to reopen will only cause an increase in harm

on both health and economy. Even after knowing this, there are still some states that rush to

reopen, have not installed mask mandates, and officials that take the pandemic lightly.

Scientist of the United States have had different opinions on how to go about the issues of

the pandemic compared to politicians. And to say boldly, you listen to the experts, there is the

reason they are the experts. Still, some politicians refuse to listen and continue to make decisions
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that lead to the deaths of thousands. “We, the scientist, knew what to do for the pandemic

response. The plan was in front of us, but leadership would not do it,” Dr. Rick Bright, a key

government scientist stated after disagreeing with former president Donald Trump. “The truth is

that political leaders caused avoidable deaths and destruction…the US government was doing

nothing,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the CDC. A scientist interviewed in the

documentary “Totally Under Control” said this about Trump after hearing how Trump thinks the

pandemic will just miraculously disappear: “He has no idea what he is talking about.” Indeed,

politicians make the calls for policies in countries, but those calls should be made on the basis of

the advice of experts in the field. A President telling lies about the pandemic with no scientific

evidence also don’t help the current situation. People might say that the officials also try to listen

to economic experts about the situation so at least in the future, we should know from this

experience that the health of the citizen means the health of the economy.

A country needs to be able to prepare and supply its own equipment to the citizens and

employees at times of need; regulations regarding safety and equipment usage have to be

followed by citizens. During the time of a pandemic when everyone should be wearing a mask,

the demand for masks increases drastically but the supply doesn’t always keep up. Most of the

masks used in the US were produced outside the country. “The country was being left without a

safety net, the government needed to strengthen the supply of PPE and it wasn’t just masks, it

was ventilators too,” warned experts inside and outside the government even before the

pandemic. “This is a huge security issue for this country, they (importers of PPE) can stop it and

say we are not going to ship to you, because we need it…the US risked losing control over its

mask supply,” Dan Reese continued to warn the public, he is one of the few domestic mask

producers left in the US. Evidence shows that the US is running out of masks for frontline
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medical workers who are taking part in even more risk as it is. These frontline workers are also

protesting about this and individuals like officials and the wealthy have had to come in and

donate masks to hospitals through personal relationships and other ways to find the supply for

masks. When the government is in a struggle to keep the pandemic controlled, the people should

really try to understand and follow the regulations set because these regulations are set for the

good of citizens.

It is very important that people understand the importance of the pandemic and therefore

will then follow the regulations. Many people across countries without mask wearing traditions

originally push away the ideas of wearing masks in public. This caused these countries to have

large amounts of cases each day as people don’t yet get the importance of this issue.

Observations from eastern countries like in Asia where mask wearing is a norm usually do better

than western countries in Europe and America on the pandemic. When citizens don’t follow the

regulations and procedures to prevent the spread of COVID, the result is simple, it gets worst.

Part of this ignorance is due to the little knowledge and some misdirection government officials

give.

The government is who the people believe in most, sometimes over the experts in the

certain fields. Therefore, it is important that the government gives out accurate information to the

people, so they know the importance of COVID when it first struck. If false information is

spread, it can cause lives and serious harm. Former President Trump, during his term as president

when the pandemic struck has been feeding the mass media lies that some do end up believing.

Things like wearing masks don’t help and the pandemic isn’t that serious—it will go away—

made some people take the pandemic as a joke. When the president and his party members lead

and don’t wear their masks, people tend to follow. This was not a good sign for those who want
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to be safe. The actions of the former president caused many deaths as it is scientifically proven

that wearing a mask does indeed help prevent the spread of the pandemic. Sometimes however,

words from science can’t be taken just from the cover.

It is already well known that COVID-19 is not so serious to young adults and so while

the pandemic doesn’t affect them as much, they tend to care less about safety precautions. “You

might think you have low risk (of getting infected), and you’re in a younger group, but often you

will be a short step away from someone who is going to get hit really hard by this (pandemic),”

said Adam Kucharski, an interviewee of TED. “You can get infected with relatively few

symptoms, but then you can infect another person, who would then infect another person, who

would then die,” said Dr. Fauci. These statements from experts tell us that our health does not

just affect ourselves, it affects the people around you. It affects the people you walk by every

day, your neighbors, and most importantly, your family members. We shouldn’t wait until

someone close to you has left to be aware of the importance and seriousness of a pandemic.

Spreading the word helps people know just how important the issue is and the biggest platform

and the one that most people rely on is news platforms from the government. Those leaders of

our country set as a role model for the people to follow, this is why it is important that leaders

don’t just talk about the importance but also show them in their actions.

Knowledge is always important for the understanding of certain issues and how to act,

that is why spreading the word across social media, directly, or by action is really important. As

the government moves fast to benefit our country, regulations must be uniformed to some extent

and follow the advice of experts. Most importantly, the people and the government have to be

prepared and willing to follow regulations.

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When people have a lack of knowledge, it is the community’s job to inform them of basic

important issues like global warming, recycling and of course, a global pandemic. That is why

my group has decided to put up posters as well as pass out bags/kits of useful information and

goods that can prevent the spread of the pandemic and keep people safe. This includes masks,

hand sanitizers, wipes, an information sheet, as well as some plastic gloves just in case people

want to be safer. We hope that these kits will help people remember the importance of keeping

safe and encourage them to at least use what is in the kit. A global pandemic is not something

that can be taken lightly about and to be safe is anyone’s first priority!
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Works Cited

"Covid-19: Virus ‘success’ Taiwan to Keep Restrictions Despite Vaccine." BBC News, 11 Dec.
2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55269729. Accessed 29 Mar. 2021.

FRONTLINE PBS. "America's Medical Supply Crisis (full film) | FRONTLINE." 6 Oct. 2020,
YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpwOFdwIwU&feature=emb_logo. Accessed 2
Mar. 2021.

Gibney, Alex. "Totally Under Control." YouTube, 13 Oct. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=F7ktU4WRfzM. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.

Guner, Rahmet. "COVID-19: Prevention and Control Measures in Community." PubMed

Central (PMC), www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7195988/. Accessed 13 Mar.
2021.

Hasell, Joe. "Which Countries Have Protected Both Health and the Economy in the Pandemic?"
Our World in Data, 1 Sept. 2020, ourworldindata.org/covid-health-economy. Accessed
18 Feb. 2021.

Hessedal, Kelly. "Netflix's 'Pandemic' Scientist is Creating a Drug to Treat COVID-19 Patients."
Cbs8.com, 19 Mar. 2020, www.cbs8.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/pandemic-
scientist-is-creating-a-drug-to-treat-covid-19-patients/509-da323da0-ff8b-48e3-b8c3-
aa8874909711. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021.

Howell, Beth. "The Countries Who've Handled COVID-19 the Best and Worst." MoveHub, 3
Feb. 2021, www.movehub.com/blog/best-and-worst-covid-responses/. Accessed 3 Feb.
2021.

Kucharski, Adam. "How Can We Control the Coronavirus Pandemic?" TED: Ideas Worth
Spreading, TED, Mar. 2020,
www.ted.com/talks/adam_kucharski_how_can_we_control_the_coronavirus_pandemic#t
-110200.

Michael, Erin. "Q&A: COVID-19 Cases Spike After States Loosen Restrictions." Healio:
Medical News, Journals, and Free CME, 2 July 2020, www.healio.com/news/primary-
care/20200701/qa-covid19-cases-spike-after-states-loosen-restrictions. Accessed 29 Mar.
2021.

Varshavski, Mike. "Doctor Mike Interviews Dr. Fauci On COVID19." YouTube, 29 Mar. 2020,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfcJecd6jtE. Accessed 8 Mar. 2021.