Case study: Covid 19 (modern pandemic) Flashcards
Attempts to tackle the pandemic
-Countries like Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan already had sophisticated health systems in place because of the 2003 Sars outbreak. For example, Singapore had a rapid containment system. That would track and trace every new case.
-South Korea pioneered drive-through testing centers that were later adopted by most other countries. GPS data based on movement through mobile phones was integrated into track and trace.
-Attempts slower in other countries: It took European countries many months to build capacity with only a small number of European countries, such as Germany and Belgium establishing rapid track and trace and test systems.
Importance of media in impacting the pandemic
-Fauci and Trump (fake news)
-The media was useful both in terms of holding the government accountable and exposing poor practices as well as celebrating the best practices as shown in the coverage of Asian countries as well as New Zealand’s governance.
-Social media provided good information in an accessible and wide-spread was. However, it also provided lots of misinformation that undermined the management efforts of governments. E.g. vaccine skepticism.
-LICs or countries with conflict had a poorer response in the media as people are not as connected through the internet and social media. For example, Guinea and Afghanistan had no public information campaigns.
Lessons learned from the pandemic
-Neglect of the vulnerable elderly: In the first six months of the pandemic most countries in Europe prioritized protecting the hospitals and neglected care homes where the virus spread rapidly.
-Track and trace are crucial
-Racial and ethnic minorities are worst-hit
Factors influencing the spread of the disease
-Covid-19 is thought to have spread either from wild bats to humans or even from frozen animals imported from outside of China
-Many countries ignored basic measures such as mask-wearing despite being familiar with the Asian practice of mask-wearing.
-One example of mask reluctance can be seen in the UK government’s policy on masks in schools. Teachers and students were not required to wear face masks in UK schools right up to their closure during the second wave in January 2021.
-Urbanization
-Compliance/reluctance to mask-wearing and lockdowns: Lockdown parties were common and in France a number of mass raves took place that were outward signs of public descent.
-Globalization and transport
-Lack of personal protective equipment in LICs. E.g. HICs in North America and Europe conducted a scramble for PPE that left LICs under supplied.
-Political rhetoric (Anthony Fauci and Trump)
Impact of the pandemic on different groups of people
-In the US, 2,900 health workers, disproportionately from Black and ethnic minority groups, died of Covid-19 in the first year of the pandemic.
-Over 29 million people in the USA, many from Black and ethnic minority groups, are without health insurance, so no health care was available to them.
-Low-income groups also work in essential services and so when countries went into lockdown, public transport systems, health workers, food factories, and slaughter houses carried on as normal but without proper access to PPE and so these groups were left greatly exposed to risk.
-Impact of housing e.g. Makoko slums
Statistics
