Causes and Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic
The SARS-CoV-2 will go down as a 21st century pandemic that shook the world after an outbreak that’s currently spreading to all corners of the world. The virus is the cause for the coronavirus disease also referred to as COVID-19, a respiratory disease outbreak that begun late last year in Wuhan China and spread across the world in a very short period. Based on the current scientific knowledge on the disease, COVID-19 outbreak was unpreventable although its spread into a global epidemic and the current status as a pandemic was evitable. In this discussion, we develop a cause-effect analysis on factors leading to the global spread of the disease and what implications it poses to the global society.
One major cause for the high spread of the disease is the global unpreparedness for such a pandemic, which was bound to happen based on an historical account. In a 2015 Ted Talk, Bill Gates, co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation addressed his fear on global preparedness for a flu epidemic that would be more contagious than Ebola (Lorenzetti, 2015). When the COVID-19 virus appeared in Wuhan, it took over a month to establish what form of an infection it was and by the time preventive measures were put into place, the virus had spread into many countries and infected medical workers as well. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Another cause for the spread and development of the problem is the global political element that establishes international animosity in dealing with common problems. When the virus begun, many countries considered it as Wuhan virus and failed to dedicate resources into its solution. Similarly, many sections of the media have criticized the WHO for colluding with China in establishing the condition as a global emergency before its spread (Feng & Cheng, 2020). When Italy went into a lockdown, the US president accused the Democratic Party and the media for colluding with its government to pile pressure on the US into shutting down normal activities (Baker & Karni, 2020). The political perspectives of the problem are largely to blame as causative agents that would have prevented the spread of the virus but accelerated it further.
From the start, a lockdown was the most effective approach towards prevention of the spread. The action would implicate socioeconomic effects but the spread seems to cause further damages. Delays in effecting these measures have led to an upsurge from 88, 585 confirmed cases on 1st march to over 800,000 by end of the month. Countries other than China have developed into new global epicenters with the US and Italy reporting over 180,000 and 105,000 cases respectively (Coronavirus updates (live): Worldometer). The numbers themselves develop as key economic and geopolitical effects of the political reluctance to effect preventive measures. The length and costs of controlling the problem are now bigger than if the political leaders instituted these measures earlier.
The main affected areas currently are sustenance of supply chains for crucial products such as foodstuffs and drugs in the current global lockdown, engagement of research and studies on the disease and provision of trusted information on the virus (Scott, 2020). The economic implications of the infection have already affected global financial markets and within the current uncertainties and the fragility of the global economy, the pandemic may affect economies beyond its lifespan. COVID-19 is a different kind of global crisis since the World Wars, and it serves as a reminder of the global threats that require a united approach to safeguard humanity and human civilization.
References
Baker, P., & Karni, A. (2020). Trump Accuses Media and Democrats of Exaggerating Coronavirus Threat. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/us/politics/trump-accuses-media-democrats-coronavirus.html.
Coronavirus Update (Live): 852,420 Cases and 41,890 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Outbreak – Worldometer. Worldometers.info. (2020). Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://www.worldomeBaker, P., & Karni, A. (2020).
Feng, E., & Cheng, A. (2020). Critics Say China Has Suppressed And Censored Information In Coronavirus Outbreak. Npr.org. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/08/803766743/critics-say-china-has-suppressed-and-censored-information-in-coronavirus-outbrea.
Lorenzetti, L. (2015). Bill Gates Thinks This Is the Deadliest Threat to Humankind. Fortune. Retrieved 31 March 2020, from https://fortune.com/2015/05/28/bill-gates-fear/.
Scott, J. (2020). The economic, geopolitical and health impacts of COVID-19. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/the-economic-geopolitical-and-health-consequences-of-covid-19/.