The corona virus has shaken the world and has touched the lives of nearly everyone on this earth in some form or another. While this virus started as a far away problem in China, it has become a personal problem for most. Unfortunately for most learning about corona has not been difficult as it is in the backgrounds of most homes. Whether it be ABC News, Fox news, or CBS, we all seem to be constantly waiting around to stay up to date but also with the lingering hope that they will share positive news. The news being our main source of information fosters infatuation and stress but also informs the public. I started this assignment by trying to mimic the production, end user, and Designer structure. After working my way through my thoughts I came to the conclusion that in this scenario those titles are less fitting and decided to make my four main criteria, government, resources, money and health. COVID-19 has caused constraints in each of these areas in more ways than we even know yet as it is ongoing.
As I was researching prior pandemics I was met with an interesting realization. In so many ways we have come so far from these historical pandemics that occurred decades ago but in many ways we haven’t moved an inch. For instance, the 1918 Influenza, “The Spanish Flu”, was the most deadly pandemic and swept through complete towns and cities. Given the time period and lack of technological advancements, their reactions were the best they could have had for the time. However, when Bucknell decided to close school I immediately began to say how more should have been done earlier and that it should have never gotten to this point. While I realize the difficulty in controlling a virus of this sort I couldn’t believe that with so many advancements in technology we are still so far from even beginning to control the virus. In many ways I hope that a positive that can come from this are strides in this field to avoid this from occurring again. I also think we as a country need to realize our potential when we work together for a common goal.
Social distancing has been difficult on everyone but it is something we are all doing in hopes that it will squash the virus more quickly. “Everyone” is unfortunately the wrong term as many young adults believe they are immune and therefore are not social distancing. While it is disheartening to see those peoples selfish actions, the positive ways that people have come together have been far more impactful. As my constraint map shows, people are losing their jobs, brick and mortar shops are going out of business, people can’t find basic needs like food and shelter because they can’t pay the bills without work, peoples mental health is degrading from the isolation and people’s physical health is obviously tremendously impacted by the virus. To each of these negative things, people have come back in positive ways. Businesses are going out of their way to switch over production to make ventilators, people are spreading happiness on social media, food banks are getting huge donations and so on. It is in these moments that I think we all need to pay careful attention and remember how much can be accomplished if we act together even when we have so many constraints on us.
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