We live in very peculiar times while we experience the effects of the novel coronavirus. Very rarely is the whole world brought to a screeching halt and all humans are forced to stop interactions with each other. The streets of New York City and Los Angeles which are usually teeming with tourists and locals on the streets are now barren with the exception of the few that venture outside. The canals of Venice are freed of the pollution and churned up mud leaving those lucky enough to see it with clear waters filled with fish, dolphins and swans. These unusual things are not happening because we as humans thought it would be nice to fix the world up but rather we are forced to be in our homes. This virus has caused whole nations to restrict the day to day lifestyle of its citizens in an effort to stop the spread. While quarantined I have came to appreciate the freedom that I take for granted to freely roam around and see people. These social interactions are a major factor in a strong mental health and as result has to be supplemented. As a means of communicating with friends who live five minutes away yet I cannot see or a friend who lives 3,000 miles away platforms like Xbox, Zoom, and social media has allowed me to stay in contact with them.
While making this map I realized the intricacies that go into slowing down a global pandemic. I focus on three large groups that generalized the players in a pandemic: general population, government, and medical professionals. I realized the widespread affect the virus has and how much there is to do to prevent the virus from decimating the world. As I wrote the methods of inhibiting the virus, I thought about the Spring Breakers in Florida completely disregarding it. The selfishness of going to social gatherings at that scale is absurd in time like this. I fear people generally do not realize the implications of their actions and think “It can’t happen to me I’m too young”. These people may not be physically hurt by the virus but they become vectors for it to spread.
On the news I have heard comparisons constantly to the Spanish Flu from 1918. The virus was widespread, infecting over 500 million people, throughout the world. Similar to the 1918 virus the acknowledgment of its existence was put off for some time due to international conflict later to be known as World War I. Only when the neutral Spain identified the virus did the world realize that they were facing a pandemic. Today we faced a similar suppression of identification by the Chinese government who sought to hide the fact that a highly contagious virus was spreading within its borders. Early on the Chinese government suppressed the voices of medical professionals who looked to share what was happening in the infected areas as well as destroy evidence of its existence. Even in these uncertain times I am still hopeful. Our medical knowledge is far superior than it was in 1918 and our ability to communicate research is astronomically better.
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