HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE WORLD AND ME?

Name: Tilly

Date: 13/5/2021

Word count: 1,154 words (not include picture subtitles and bibliography)

 

(Trung Tài, 2020)

Ever since the first wave of Covid-19, our world has had enough witnessing drastic infections and deaths among almost every country, and it not just exacerbates the existing global issues, but also presents an unprecedented trend towards the way we live, either good or bad. In order to delve a little deeper into the topic, my blog post today will elaborate on the motion of HOW COVID-19 HAS CHANGED THE WORLD AND ME?

Covid-19 in fact was not new to us and it was originally discovered quite a long time ago.  According to The Petradict Infectious Diseases Journal, human coronaviruses, which were first identified in the 1960s, are responsible for a large percentage of upper respiratory tract infections in youngsters, and it only caused common cold and nasal discharge. However, researches from WHO has found out, it was up to December 2019 when retrospective studies in China have identified the first human case with onsets of symptoms within its country. When further investigations have been carried out, due to the positive test on environmental samples in Wuhan, a big city in China, it was suggested that the city was the source of this outbreak, and played a major role in initial amplification later on. The market was closed on the 1st, January 2020, but it was too late when the virus leaked out to countries nearby, leading to an ongoing epidemic that still lasts today.

(Levenson, 2020) 

(Secon Holly and Ruobing Su, 2020)

On a global scale, countries in the world have faced severe acute respiratory syndrome cases, and even, the new mutation and variants of Covid, which challenges administrations to reduce transmissibility associated with healthcare propaganda towards citizens, at the same time, accelerating the treatment system for patients. Google Statistics have updated the latest information of the diseases with very unfortunate data: 116 million people being infected, with 3.34 million deaths (recorded on 14/5/2021) with the US 32 million cases, nearly 600 thousand death and India, the country that has been suffering from the third wave of Covid, starting from the 14th May 2020 (taken from the same source). The only good news, after all, is that vaccines are out on an equitable access scale, in order to put an end to Covid, and they are scientifically proved to be effective and safe; for instance, as stated by the Science News, out of 6.8 million people that have been taken America’s Johnson and Johnson vaccine, only six cases have been developing rare brain blood clot symptoms, but its efficacy can reach up to 72%.

(Ramirez, 2021)

Not just affecting the world’s health, COVID-19 was and always will be a big danger to the existing issues that have not been solved or are in process of solving. It has led to a dramatic loss and unprecedented changes towards our economics, human life, and most importantly, its social disruption is catastrophic, as exact from the WHO’s international site, “tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently estimated that nearly 690 million, could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year.” These had created a big barrier in countries’ development, and the economy healing after the pandemic because the lower-class people, or the poorest community in the society that no one ever lobbies. The food aids; in addition, are said to “have exposed its vulnerability” as borders have been closed, trading restrictions, social distancing, and other measures to prevent interactions, which connects to Covid-19 cases. The pandemic also escalates the rate of unemployment, as millions of enterprises are on the brink of bankruptcy, and as stated by the International Labor Organization, “As job losses escalate, nearly half of the global workforce is at risk of losing livelihoods”. Without income during lockdowns, many would be unable to feed themselves and their families and there would be an enormous crisis with unbearable consequences with our humanity (which has happened to several severely- impacted MENA countries). 

(India on the brink of Hunger Crisis during COVID-19 Pandemic, warns ICJ Briefing Paper, 2020)

My home country, fortunately, managed to proactively combat this dangerous virus. Vietnam has been staying out with the speedy daily cases rise such as China, Thailand, or Cambodia with only 3,710 cases total, with 2,675 cases that have been recovered, 1.014 on treatment, and only 35 death cases, taken from the official site of Vietnam Ministry of Health. With effective propaganda methods that could let residents reach out accurate pieces of information and new cases each day, the Vietnamese people have always followed proper steps towards the safety steps: including simple sanitation, social distancing, and face masks wearing every day. When we wake up in the morning, an automatic text message from the Health Ministry and government that reminds us how to be safe and some general information about new cases or new treatments. But like other countries, schools, entertaining destinations, and restaurants are being closed recently. It makes sellers and buyers face lots of difficulties and disadvantages. Our student life is being affected too and we have to study online at all ages.

(N.P, Vietnam Ministry of Health)

Red: Total cases

Yellow: In treatment

Green: Recovered

Gray: Death

In my opinion, for a 13-year-old schoolgirl like me, the life when we wrapped inside our houses to prevent Covid is an unexpected thing, and it brings me lots of memories; for instance, I have never thought my family can spend evenings watching the news, playing chess and cooking with each other because normally they are very busy and rarely spend much time joking around with me and my brother. I have never thought about how careless I have been for my health and my personal hygiene, because now every day, I have formed a routine of exercising 3 times a day indoors and taking a skincare routine every night, never skipping a day. My body also immediately walks to the sink every time I return home or brings my hand sanitizer when my grandma and I go to buy groceries when I am always heading to the fruit station instead of the junk food that used to be my favorite. These anecdotes couldn’t prove that I like COVID-19 lockdowns and homeschooling, but the habits that the pandemic gives me are surprising and should last long as it helps me a lot in taking better care of myself. Nonetheless, the bad sides are I have to learn online, and the amount of homework and projects are stacking up like piles. To add, I have to do more housework than usual, taking care of my naughty brother, which then I must have better time management and schedule.

* self-taken picture*

In conclusion, I am certain to say that the world has learned a lesson from this pandemic, especially in improving the health care system and learning the lesson that a mild outbreak can turn into a long-term and historical pandemic. It’s important to suffer and experience economic vulnerability, which will then help us make a leap in coping with diseases in the future. 

Bibliography:

X. Liu, Ding, et al. “Human Coronavirus-229E, -OC43, -NL63, and -HKU1 (Coronaviridae).” PubMed Central (PMC), 1 May 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7204879 [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

Kahn, Jeffrey S. MD, PhD*; McIntosh, Kenneth MD†. “History and Recent Advances in Coronavirus Discovery : The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.” LWW, Nov. 2005, journals.lww.com/pidj/fulltext/2005/11001/history_and_recent_advances_in_coronavirus.12.aspx. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

WHO. “Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report- 94”. 23 April 2020. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200423-sitrep-94-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=b8304bf0_2#:~:text=Retrospective%20investigations%20by%20Chinese%20authorities,%2C%20some%20did%20not [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

Mike. “U.S. Pauses J&J Vaccine Rollout after 6 People of 6.8 Million Get Rare Blood Clots.” Science News, 15 Apr. 2021, www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-pause-blood-clot#:%7E:text=Out%20of%20more%20than%206.8,13%20in%20a%20news%20release. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

University of California San Francisco. “How Effective Is the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine? Here’s What You Should Know | UC San Francisco.” How Effective Is the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine? Here’s What You Should Know | UC San Francisco, 16 Mar. 2021, www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/03/420071/how-effective-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-heres-what-you-should-know. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

CDC. “Different COVID-19 Vaccines.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 Apr. 2021, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines.html. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

Levenson, Michael. “Scale of China’s Wuhan Shutdown Is Believed to Be Without Precedent.” The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/asia/coronavirus-quarantines-history.html. [Accessed on 14.5.2021] 

N.P. Bộ Y tế, https://ncov.moh.gov.vn/ [Accessed on 14.5.2021] 

Secon Holly, and Ruobing Su. “An animated map tracks the spread of the coronavirus as cases were reported in more than 145 countries.” Business Insider Nederland, 18 Mar. 2020, www.businessinsider.nl/map-tracks-novel-coronavirus-spread-in-countries-around-the-world-2020-3?international=true&r=US. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

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“ILO: As Job Losses Escalate, Nearly Half of Global Workforce at Risk of Losing Livelihoods.” ILO, 29 Apr. 2020, www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_743036/lang--en/index.htm. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

“India on the Brink of Hunger Crisis during COVID-19 Pandemic, Warns ICJ Briefing Paper.” International Commission of Jurists, 1 July 2020, www.icj.org/india-on-the-brink-of-hunger-crisis-during-covid-19-pandemic-warns-icj-briefing-paper. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]

Trung Tài. " Khẩn trương chuẩn bị phương án cho 30.000 người mắc Covid-19". Thư Viện Pháp Luật. 12 May 2020, https://thuvienphapluat.vn/tintuc/vn/thoi-su-phap-luat/thoi-su/35658/khan-truong-chuan-bi-phuong-an-cho-30-000-nguoi-mac-covid-19 [Accessed on 14.5.2021] 

Ramirez Maurice. “How Effective Is the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine? Here’s What You Should Know | UC San Francisco.” How Effective Is the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine? Here's What You Should Know | UC San Francisco, 16 Mar. 2021, www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/03/420071/how-effective-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-heres-what-you-should-know. [Accessed on 14.5.2021]