The Degree of Impact of COVID-19 Treatment (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

MGA Checklist—ENGLISH 1301

Because the MGA is a non-traditional research project, you need to be very careful to follow this

checklist so you don’t miss something important. The evaluation criteria, the multiple

requirements, and a reminder of the overall sense of what I’m looking for are included below.

EVALUATION

Your project is graded on three things. Here they are:

1. Format—Organization and Coherence
   1. How easy is your project to read and understand?
   2. Do you follow MLA format?
   3. Do you use the correct headings? (number your sections)
2. Argumentative coherence—is an argument actually present?
   1. Is the background of the project obvious towards the beginning?
   2. Do you offer all sides of the argument throughout the project?
   3. Is it completely evident what side you are arguing for by the end?
   4. Do you MEET THE SOURCE REQUIREMENTS?
   5. Does your research ACTUALLY SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT?
3. Overall use of genres—how the genres add to the overall argument
   1. Do your genres successfully recreate the context of the situation?
   2. Do you have two creative genres that you wrote?
   3. Is the reader engaged by the genres you use?

CHECKLIST

Most importantly, do you meet the source requirements?

___ 6 sources

___ 3 academic (peer-reviewed, academic journal articles or books)

___ 3 other reliable sources from library databases (newspapers, magazines, etc.)

___ Do you cite your sources in MLA format throughout your project?

___ Did you email me your Works Cited page weeks ago when I requested it?

___ Did you add your Works Cited to the end of your paper?

Next, do you have two different genres that recreate the context of your issue?

___ 2 genres (See list on the prompt or invent your own. Be creative!)

___ Did you write these genres yourself instead of pasting in someone else’s words?

Have you created enough content to meet the word count minimum?

___ 2,400 words (minimum—does NOT include Works Cited and headings)

REMINDER

It is important to narrow your project down to specific (fictional) individuals in your genres. Your reader should be able to feel the emotions and struggle that the people in your controversy are experiencing. Also, is your project academic and research-oriented? Is the research pertinent and powerful? Do these two things, and you’re set!

ANSWER

Is It More Than Just a virus?

Introduction of the Conflict

Science denial can kill, especially when in the hands of a national government. Denialists’ beliefs are usually deadly. Indeed, this is what we are seeing today with coronavirus worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest example of science denial. It grew from nothing at the beginning of 2020 and achieved full-blown denial status within months. It provides a real-time test of the hypotheses that all science denial is the same. We see the several tropes of science denial on full display in our newspapers and televisions every day. The emphasis and character of denialist claims may change from day to day, but the overall effect is apparent fear and death. The common statements among denialists are like, “it is just like the flu, most people recover, it is all just a lot of alarmism.” COVID-19 deniers downplay the risk of severe complications and death, which have led to a fatal delay in creating an effective plan to fight the virus by encouraging selective focus on relatively mild cases.

There were mixed feelings of fear on the onset of COVID-19 as of March 2020. The shock of the pandemic confused people to the extent of now getting their work done and sticking to new and search of information from the internet on the things they had little knowledge on them. The majority of people globally absorbed every material about what epidemiologists wrote about, acting as amateurs trying to be cautious regarding their understanding. The contention here is that, at their heart, a pandemic such as COVID-19 is an information problem. To defeat the virus typically requires the need to solve the information problem. The confusion meant that people had to risk interacting with others since they had to gauss whether the person was infected.  It was also about evaluating the risk on whether you might pass that infection to others. Despite the contemplations across the world, the fact remains that COVID-19 is more than just a virus; it is real and not a hoax; in fact, it is more than a virus having brought come to a complete halt.

Facts about COVID-19 Disease

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus. It was first discovered in Wuhan province, China, in December 2019 (Stevenson 3). It is the reason the disease was named the Novel Coronavirus, NCoV. COVID-19 is unsegmented single-stranded positive-strand RNA viruses that belong to the order Nidovirales, the family of Coronaviridae. COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory illness that has not appeared previously in our world population. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to a large family of coronaviruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, such as SARS and MERS.

Infection with this coronavirus can cause symptoms ranging anywhere from mild to severe. It affects people in different ways, with the most common symptoms being tiredness, fever, and dry cough. People infected have symptoms, such as sore throat, pains and aches, loss of smell or test, and headache. Reports by WHO suggest that people infected with the virus experiences often experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment (WHO 3). However, aged people, including those with underlying medical problems such as chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, are more likely to develop serious problems which may lead to death.

Ever since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the world has been thrown into chaos and confusion. Lockdowns were mandated, and citizens sheltered at home, no travel, attendance to religious assemblies, education was brought to a halt. Businesses were closed, shops shuttered, and city streets became eerily quiet. It was a suggestion that COVID-19 is more than a virus. According to Williams et al., unemployment rose, along with mental health impacts, as the economy collapsed and descended into recession (1). Stress, fear, and anxiety have swept the world like a wildfire, robbing people of a joyful life.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it was predicted that people would be dying like flies, with the remainder living in fear of being infected or infecting others. Fear triggers a paralysis in rational thinking, and citizens surrender to the dictates of authoritarian institutions and governments, believing that science and those in positions of power know best. Time has proven that fear of the disease is unfounded mainly because much of what medical and political authorities have told us is not grounded in sound science. We had everything before us until COVID-19 landed on our doorstep, along with the dire consequences it imposed. Statistical modeling predicted that millions of people worldwide would die in a catastrophe similar to the Spanish Flue in 198-1919.

The initial medical advice based on modeling at the beginning of the pandemic, given Neil Ferguson of the Imperial College London, projected 500,000 deaths for Britain (Kuznetsova 470). The move prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to immediately lock down his people and the economy. People worldwide had similar behaviors, became fearful, and submitted to mandatory lockdowns, social distancing, and testing, generally with high obedience. As time moved on, compliance has waned, and more people are flouting the rules. They are getting tired of the restrictive lockdowns, frustrated with the escalating unemployment, and mental health issues are of grave concern.

Conspiracies of COVID-19 Pandemic

There are numerous conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that range from its ‘real cause’ or purpose to who benefits from it to the idea that it simply does not exist. The fact is that the complete halt brought by the pandemic is unprecedented. Its impacts were felt by everyone across the globe, making the diseases a reality and not a hoax. According to Williams et al., examples of conspiracies are like; SARS-CoV-2 was invented in a government lab as part of a biowarfare campaign against the US; it is part of the ‘deep state’ scheme to kill the economy just in time for Trump’s reelection; it is part of Bill Gate’s plan to depopulate the Earth and implant us with chips to track our movements; it was created by big pharma so they could profit off vaccine; doctors and scientists are exaggerating the COVID crisis to get more attention for their work; 5G cell phone towers cause it; the CDC is manipulating the death statistics; and, the whole thing is made up, and there are no patients in the hospital (1).

Latter led to the creation of the hashtag #FilmYourHospital, which resulted in numerous instances of citizen “researchers” storming the waiting rooms of their local hospitals with cell phone cameras, then pronouncing the whole thing a hoax since they did not see any sick people. However, it is a fact that sick people are not treated in the waiting area. There are many other conspiracy theories about COVID-19, some of which contradict one another, and many people believe more than one. Of course, conspiracy theories tend to pop up during times of crisis when people are desperate. Conspiracy theories are not unknown during previous pandemics, which means that although they are not unique to a pandemic, they are characteristics of it.

During an April 23, 2020, news briefing, President Trump relied on the ultimate fake medical expert, himself, to suggest that perhaps COVID could be cured or treated by bringing light or heat “inside the body,” or by injection of bleach or other disinfectants (Gans 102). Before this, he had promoted the idea that hydroxychloroquine was a possible cure, even though the drug has been shown to have no clinical benefit. Later, Trump praised the work of Dr. Stella Immanuel as very impressive and spectacular” for her claim that hydroxychloroquine is a potential treatment for the disease (Gans 102). Numerous fake experts gave their views regarding the solution of the pandemic, which would ultimately add confusion and fear among the population. The confusion led others to deny the efforts that WHO were putting in place to develop vaccines. Countries were following WHO guidelines trying to establish vaccines to mitigate the disease worldwide.

As of August 2020, Russia had announced that it had moved forward with the vaccine program; however, there was no phase III trials (Gans 103). Trump pressed to have a vaccine in the US before elections. In the spring of 2020, an AP poll showed that only 50 percent of Americans said they would take the vaccine if it were available (Gans 103). The numbers were worse for Republicans; only 43 percent said they would get the vaccine, whereas 62 percent of Democrats said they would. In ABC News and Washington Post poll, the numbers were similar, with 27 percent of adults saying they do not trust vaccines in general (Gans 103). If there are enough defectors, COVID-19 may linger as we fail to reach the level required for herd immunity.

However, COVID-19 denial has been influenced by other ideologies as well. There have been reports that those with far-right views have turned up at anti-lockdown rallies. When identity is at stake and rebellion is in the air, it can attract strange allies. Indeed, in some ways, COVID-19 denial is the ultimate example of what might happen in the future if we cannot stop the politicization of science. Everyone with a grievance will hang it whatever empirical dispute is handy. Distrust is contagious. Much left-right politics has been the driving force behind COVID-19 denial and assumption as a hoax. The division between maskers and anti-maskers across America has broken down sharply along partisan lines.

Another way that COVID-19 has been politicized is through foreign influence. From previous research, Russia has been responsible for a steady stream of denialist propaganda on climate change, vaccines, and GMOs. The same has been confirmed for COVID-19. According to Gans, nearly half of the Twitter accounts spreading misinformation about coronavirus are likely bots (104). Approximately 82 percent of the fifty most influential retweets on ending the lockdowns and various COVID-19 conspiracies have been potted. It fits entirely with Russian disinformation efforts to exploit existing fault lines in America to sow more discord and division.

The Degree of Impact of COVID-19 during the Treatment Efforts

After the several deaths witnessed globally, countries established common efforts to contain the virus. Denial had no space anymore. Before COVID-19 erupted into the world stage, very few people were concerned about bioterrorism and its effects on national security, including health. A large portion of the general population had not heard of the coronavirus, and most likely, no one was harboring any faces of a looming pandemic. Global populations were going about their daily lives, and things were predictable. People may have complained about unemployment, taxes, government action or inaction, and climate change, among others, but these contingencies were considered to be somewhat manageable, depending on who you spoke to.

Death among loved ones almost unified the world to think otherwise about the pandemic. Religious leaders played a significant role in comforting the bereaved ones. They gave hope to the world population at the time of the pandemic, citing that COVID-19 is not a death sentence. According to Mercola, Joseph, and Ronnie, businesses were forced to close and may never reopen due to financial hardship (3).  Service industries such as hotels and the tourism sector were the most affected areas hit by the pandemic. The restriction to travel to contain the disease led to the closure of tourism, thus affecting billions of people globally. Employees find themselves out of work and are forced to file for unemployment as a means of support. People who never before have been unemployed suddenly find themselves filing for unemployment insurance. Everywhere across the globe, everything is ruined. Friends and family members are dying at an early age. People who got sick before being rushed to the emergency room and put into ICU beds. Young people and babies are being put on ventilators. Some people have lost loved ones to the coronavirus, and some struggle to stay alive.

Deaths from the disease led many to grieve. According to Milman, grieving has no standard way of doing so; however, healthy habits have been formulated to help grieving individuals recover and cope quickly, especially during the loss of someone like in the pandemic (340). Arguably, grief is considered a natural way to respond to a loss. People do so to express their emotional suffering when they lose someone. Typically, the pain of loss during death can be unprecedented, and individuals have to experience all kinds of difficulties and unexpected emotions emanating from anger or shock to disbelief, profound sadness, and guilt in them. Arguably, during grieving, the pain inside affects their physical health, compelling them to difficulties in eating, sleeping, or even sober thinking.  However, they are considered usual ways to react to losses, and often, the more significant the loss, the more intense your grief will be. The pandemic thought people the worst part of grieve, and they had to learn the viable ways to respond to it.

During the pandemic, the world descended into chaos; things seemed to have changed almost overnight. People are pinning their hopes on a vaccine to save the day, believing this is the only way we will be able to return to normal. Others are still adamant and not confident that any vaccine produced will be safe and effective and are relying on measures such as optimizing their vitamin D levels to manage this disease and learning to live with it if we have to. Typically, the crisis has highlighted the weaknesses in our system. There needs to be a greater emphasis on health care and boosting our immune system, rather than on sick and treating symptoms. Prevention is better than cure; there is little to be gained from closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Possible Change of People’s Minds

Overall, the pandemic had a significant impact on the world population. The denial of the virus among people had shifted significantly when the pandemic was optimal. The happenings witnessed in countries ultimately have changed denialists’ thinking, implying that the virus has typically been looked at as more than just a virus. The world was already in a state of change before the COVID-19 came along (Largent, Emily A., and Franklin 836). New developments in technology such as automation and casualization meant that many businesses had already shifted to contracting employees, outsourcing, and offshoring many of their tasks. The mass of unemployment, grieve due to loss of loved ones, restriction of movement, closure of schools and businesses created by the pandemic have resulted in how people view the world. Working from home and practicing social distancing in the workplace has also changed the way organizations function, impacting the technology required to undertake all aspects of running a business in today’s economy.

However, the insecurity of many businesses and the corresponding changes in approach to hiring staff have meant that everyone has to be aware of the new rules of being and staying employed after the coronavirus. Many of us have experienced a shift in values due to working from home, such as spending more time around our families and not spending hours commuting to and from work each week. For many, the desire to find a more flexible working environment and enjoy a better balance between things we value has grown more potent as a result. Today, to understand and resolve the unprecedented crisis, we have no choice but to investigate, with a critical eye, the origins, nature, virulence, impacts, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19. We need to examine both the official story of the pandemic, force-fed 24/7 to the public by the mass media, Big Tech, and the global public health establishment, and the genuine health threats posed by COVID-19, as a highly transmissible biological trigger that magnifies and intensifies preexisting chronic diseases and comorbidities. From the analysis, the significant insights change the reasoning of most denials, making them learn that COVID-19 is real and not a hoax.

REFERENCES

Gans, Joshua. The Pandemic Information Gap: The Brutal Economics of COVID-19. MIT Press, 2020.

Kuznetsova, Lidia. “COVID-19: The world community expects the World Health Organization to play a stronger leadership and coordination role in pandemics control.” Frontiers in Public Health 8 (2020): 470.

Largent, Emily A., and Franklin G. Miller. “The Legality and Ethics of Mandating COVID-19 Vaccination.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 64.4 (2021): 479-493.

Mercola, Joseph, and Ronnie Cummins. The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, lock downs, vaccine passports, and the new normal. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2021.

Milman, Evgenia. “Harris, DL (Ed.).(2019). Non-Death Loss and Grief: Context and Clinical Implications.” (2021): 340-343.

Stevenson, Betsey. “The initial impact of COVID-19 on labor market outcomes across groups and the potential for permanent scarring.” The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC (2020).

Williams, Nigel L., Philipp Wassler, and Nicole Ferdinand. “Tourism and the COVID-(MIS) infodemic.” Journal of Travel Research (2020): 0047287520981135.

World Health Organization. Mental health and phsychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak, March 18, 2020. No. WHO/2019-nCoV/Mental Health/2020.1. World Health Organization, 2020.

To get your original copy of this completed paper, please Order Now

Related Questions