The Echo
Student Newspaper | October Issue
Coronavirus Today
Mary Courtney Finn Before March of this year, wearing a face-covering in public, keeping a six-foot distance from strangers, and spiraling into an unbridled panic whenever a sore throat or cough appeared seemed like something from a dystopian novel; however, seven months later, these things are all a part of normal life. All of this makes one thing very clear: the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world forever. On the macro level, nearly 40 million people have contracted the virus, and over 1 million have lost their lives due to it, yet there is still no cure or vaccine for COVID-19. In March, China, Italy, and Iran saw the highest infection rates; now, the US has far surpassed any country in the number of current infections. Even though the US has the most current infections, India and Brazil closely follow behind. Unlike unified responses to global terrorism or world hunger, every country seems to be responding differently to the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering India’s massive population, it is no surprise that their infection rate is as high as it is, but their national response to the virus has been lackluster at best. The Brookings Institution reports India’s most significant weaknesses in responding to the virus include low testing rates, deteriorating healthcare, and insufficient social protection. While India was one of the first countries to enforce country-wide shutdowns in the early stages of the pandemic, their ongoing efforts have not proved as effective. As the lockdown continued, India realized its impact on low wage workers and began reopening the economy in hopes of restoring some order back into these individuals’ lives. Even though India erred on the side of caution initially, they must reform their healthcare system and testing centers to ensure a more targeted response to COVID-19. Additionally, Brazil has also seen mixed responses to the pandemic, causing extremely high infection rates. Similar to the United States, which began as a health crisis, has now turned into a political issue. The New York Times states that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro referred
to COVID-19 as a “little flu” and has repeatedly failed to follow pandemic regulations put in place by the World Health Organization. While Bolsonaro is trying to lessen the impacts of COVID-19, opposing politicians such as Luiz Henrique Mandetta are advocating for strict social distancing and shutdowns. Due to the intergovernmental conflicts regarding the virus, it does not seem that Brazil will get their infection rates under control any time soon. Although the original countries with high infection rates seem to have their health crises under control, other countries have quickly taken their places as global hotspots. On a more micro level looking at the United States and Tennessee, COVID-19 is still causing infections and deaths for millions. Over 8 million Americans have contracted the virus, and 200 thousand have died, showing the stronghold COVID-19 still has over the US. While the United States is leaps and bounds ahead of many other countries in terms of healthcare and testing access, they are still falling behind to respond to the virus. Like Brazil, political divides due to the virus have left millions in precarious financial and health positions. Despite ample warning both from China in the World Health Organization, US politicians failed to communicate the magnitude of the virus, leading to ballooning infection rates. Even though the US saw a fair number of economic shutdowns and mask requirements, many have dissolved and left the American people vulnerable to infection. Luckily, many businesses,