
The covid-19 virus has disrupted our everyday lives in unfortunate ways. Many believe the pandemic is a blessing in disguise while for the most part, most can collectively agree it has caused many setbacks whether that be physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally. Whatever you believe, it doesn’t take away from the fact that what was once fun, is now burdensome due to the various mandates on masks and gatherings. I think about life before the pandemic and if we could have done something to prevent it. What do you think?
The World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on January 30th, 2020, that there would be a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, and PHEIC, signaling that a pandemic might be imminent. PHEIC stands for Public Health Emergency of International Concern. World health officials have been evaluating potential improvements to the system on better preparing for a global crisis. The discussion will continue to occur throughout May and proposals to modify PHEIC, creating color-coded warning levels, and counties agreeing about strategy plans with preparing for pandemics. The issue that WHO faces is persuading counties to follow in their footsteps and to take warnings more seriously.
Blatant Neglect
Neglect is a form of abuse that occurs when things fail to be taken care of properly. Former President Donald Trump has been accused of just that when it comes to the warning signs of covid. The Washington Post’s report shows the coronavirus had been mentioned at least a dozen times between January and February. During this time, the Trump administration didn’t have a call to action and very little preparation if a pandemic could potentially break out. Trump would constantly downplay the virus and its severity with statements such as “This is a flu. This is like the flu.” or “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” and better yet “No, I’m not concerned at all.” Here you can find a concise timeline of events that illustrate the warning signs.
Recovering from the flaws
To improve upon the system, the international consortium of researchers argued in November, that reform and more transparency are necessary for regard to global public health regulations. The reason, they say, is so that scholars can better evaluate how these decisions are made by weighing scientific evidence, as well as social, political, and economic concerns. The United States isn’t excluded from these circumstances seeing as though covid testing did roll out until February as well as having strict rules in place regarding large gatherings until March.
What now?
Well… even though we are still living in a pandemic, things are progressing in the right direction. Mask mandates have been lifted to those fully vaccinated and more people are gaining access to vaccines. There’s no doubt that we could have been more prepared for the pandemic, but the damage isn’t irreversible. The main focus now should be to work on fixing what we couldn’t before.
Source (s): Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). (n.d.). Countries “ignored” early warnings for COVID-19. DW.COM. https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-countries-ignored-early-warnings-for-covid-19/a-5327732
Nature Editorial, & Maxmen, A. (2021, January 23). Why did the world’s pandemic warning system fail when COVID hit?Nature? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00162-4?error=cookies_not_supported&code=b15a6f53-d828-46e4-aeb5-f93a637e459f
Poznansky, M. (2020, March 23). Apparently, Trump ignored early coronavirus warnings. That has consequences.Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/23/apparently-trump-ignored-early-coronavirus-warnings-that-has-consequences/
Timeline of Trump’s Coronavirus Responses. (2021, April 6). Congressman Lloyd Doggett. https://doggett.house.gov/media-center/blog-posts/timeline-trump-s-coronavirus-responses