ESSAY

NAME: FETALVERO, DIANE FAE M. DATE: 2/2/21

COURSE & YEAR: BS ARCH 2
UNIT 2: A WORLD OF REGIONS

INSTRUCTION:
In a short bond paper, answer the question: As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all parts of the world last 2020,
elaborate and evaluate how Asia became the (1) subject (site or agent) of the global pandemic and (2) object of (impacted by)
the said global pandemic according to Kimura’s trajectories.

True enough, the future is unpredictable. When the pandemic came, the whole world just stopped. No one knew
it was coming. No one knew fully well how to respond to it. It affected every one of us from our businesses, education,
relationships, and lifestyles. It even changed how globalization regularly works. And all of it started right here on our
continent- Asia.

Asia became the subject of this pandemic due to the unfortunate cause of its discovery right here. The world first
discovered COVID-19 from its first human cases in China last year (Liu, Kuo, & Shih, 2020). Unbeknownst to us, we were
ignorant of its deadly infection and its fast transmission from one person to another. Reports all over the world came
flooding about its alarming discovery as it has already affected China severely. It was then that China's government need
to take action against the virus. They initially started their lockdown systems to prevent the infection from spreading. They
suspended modes of transportation such as trains and flights and also blocked roads. The Chinese authorities soon gave
people caution to stay home and only venture out to get food or medical help. As the virus spread from one country to
another, more national administrations came to seek direction from China's COVID protocols and new interventions
(Cyranoski, 2020). The initial research for the virus's vaccine also came from this country. Their vaccine was the first vaccine
to be ever approved for public use and is now being distributed worldwide (Welle, 2021). Even Asian morals such as
community responsibility hugely helped in the process of eradicating the virus. Asians have the notion of collectivist in the
orientation of thought (Jennings, 2020), meaning they consider other people's well-being as much as they care about
theirs. They mostly follow their countries' rules of wearing a face mask and staying at home more than the westerners do.
This cultural difference set the standard for most countries to do the same, just as it is proven to help lessen the COVID
cases.

Asia may have pioneered new advancements to counter-attack the pandemic, but it has also received many
criticisms due to the fact the virus started there. Asia also became the object of the global pandemic. Apart from the
infectious disease affecting the health and lifestyle of millions of people all over Asia, discrimination against Asian people
rose recently (Washington State University, 2020).There were reports of how non-Asian people attack Asians mostly on
social media. There were also proofs in the form of videos, showing how discriminators verbally abuse mostly white-
skinned Asians in public. There were extreme cases in which one Asian was threatened with a knife. These discriminators
accuse these Asians of why this pandemic happened. Conflicts like these, therefore, caused increased negative mental
and physical health symptoms for Asians.

Yes, the future is always unpredictable. That's the scary part. We are unaware of how this world could change and
function in the coming years. We might not know, but maybe the worst is yet to come tomorrow. However, to cower in
fear is not what we are made to do. Facing these challenges head-on is how we are built. Year after year, we continue to
persist in propelling the human race forward. We continue to seek, learn, innovate and create until we understand our
purposes of living. We are not built to simply survive through this pandemic. We are built to thrive.
Works Cited
Liu, Y.-C., Kuo, R.-L., & Shih, S.-R. (2020). COVID-19: The first documented coronavirus pandemic in history. Biomedical
Journal, 328-333.

Cyranoski, D. (2020, March 17). What China’s coronavirus response can teach the rest of the world. Retrieved from
NEWS EXPLAINER: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00741-x

Welle, D. (2021). Coronavirus digest: China approves first COVID-19 vaccine. Retrieved from DW:
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-china-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine/a-56101955

Jennings, R. (2020, July 22). How Cultural Differences Help Asian Countries Beat COVID-19, While US Struggles. Retrieved
from VOA News: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/how-cultural-differences-help-asian-countries-
beat-covid-19-while-us-struggles

Washington State University. (2020, November 2). Discrimination increases against Asian and Asian American
population, affecting health. Retrieved from ScienceDaily:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201102155412.htm