By Andrin Bar, Editor
PLAGUE: How do we finally rid ourselves of Covid-19?
It is Friday the 13th of March 2020. Rain is pouring down, and has been all day. But despite the cool air outside, the classroom is tense, the air so thick you can cut it with a knife. All eyes are fixed on the projector, where for the past hours, the Riverside Unified School District board has been tensely discussing the possibility of schools switching to online format. As the school bell rings, announcing the end of the day, the school board makes their decision. Schools will close. The students cheer as they leave the campus. Despite the rain, spirits are high. Students are happy that the school year is essentially over.
And it was. All classwork became optional and essentially served as extra credit, the Advanced Placement (AP) tests were shortened to one or two questions, and everything was done online, but was optional, without regular meetings. Most were happy. But now, for those like me, who have spent over 220 days on our property, without going out except late at night when no one is around, to bask in orange street lights whilst our masks stick to our faces, that day seems like years ago. This pandemic has fundamentally changed everything. It has led us to take classes at home and online, it has led us to have to reexamine our politics, and the true meaning of equality, our relationships, and so much more. 7.95 million cases in the USA and counting, 221,000+ Americans are dead and those numbers increase daily. California has returned to the restrictive “ purple tier” of Covid cases, meaning there is not even hope of returning to school anytime soon. Most agree that we cannot live like this for much longer. But numbers continue to rise, and so this new life is becoming far more permanent than we would like. So the question is, how do we end it? How does this virus finally cease existing?
First and foremost, it won’t just disappear. This virus is not going to suddenly decide not to exist, mostly because it is a virus, and isn’t capable of thought. In fact, the virus will probably last far longer than this pandemic. Now, that being said, just because the virus continues to exist does not mean that our lives will continue to be this way. It just means that we need to find a way to either treat or become immune to the virus, thereby preventing the virus from spreading with such rapidity as it does now, and stop it killing as many people as it currently does. The obvious answer is a vaccine, and yes that is in the works. Worldwide, there are around 90 vaccines in development. Now, though a vaccine will be the final blow to covid, as with herd immunity, and with single-person immunity, the virus won’t be able to spread and kill as freely as it does now, due to health and safety protocols, that vaccine is taking a while, as it requires extensive testing. But even without a vaccine, Covid can be slowed.
To look at ways that covid has been stopped without a vaccine, let’s look at some other countries that are handling the pandemic rather well. First on our list is Australia, which is doing extremely well. Australia, as of October 15th, had 904 deaths from covid, and 27,362 cases. Western Australia specifically had only 19 cases of Covid IN TOTAL, and this after 2 separate outbursts, one of which was caused by tourists in a hotel sleeping with staff. So how did they do it? Well, to begin with, Australia is a very isolated country, allowing them to close off travel and trade very rapidly. When Covid-19 inevitably did arrive, Australia reacted quickly, and as it turned out, effectively, closing schools and enforcing stay at home orders. But the most important part of it was that the Australian people listened. It took a few weeks until numbers were so low that they could go out again.
Another country that has handled the pandemic rather well is South Korea, whose numbers increase by only around 50-70 per day. Though perhaps not as effective as Australia’s Covid response, it is important to remember that South Korea is far closer to epicenters of Coronavirus than Australia is. But despite not having the isolation that gave Australia its low numbers, South Korea has managed to impose strict regulations, including mandatory facemask wearing and social distancing, keeping their numbers to 25,836 as of October 21.
Some will argue that the above methods are not possible in America. Others still will argue that the above strategies would be damaging for the economy of the country employing them, as is evidenced by Australia’s economy, which is not doing well during this pandemic, to say the least. But if these responses are bad for the economy, and America’s response is based on being better for the economy, then how do we explain the response? Unemployment is at 7.9%, with Los Angeles havinga 15.9% unemployment rate. 22 million Americans are jobless. If this is a good economic response to covid, then the people who made it may need to sit down in Mr Rivera’s economics class for a lesson.
It doesn’t take a politician or a doctor to see that 30 days is less than 230 days. The thought of quarantine lasting one month before life went back to relative normalcy is tantalizing, if impossible at this stage. But there is still hope. Even though on October 15 the US topped 62,000 cases confirmed in one day, we can still bring this virus to an end. It will take longer now, that is for sure. The 30 day quarantine is far out of our reach. It may take a hundred more days, but we need to understand that for every day that the whole United States quarantines, it saves a week, and every time that a so-called “Covidiot” refuses to wear a mask, or has a social gathering, they are potentially taking away weeks from people staying at home. Your ancestors fought two world wars, one of which lasted 6 years and a day, all so you could live free. All you have to do so your children may live in a free world is stay at home a few months, wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay 6 feet apart. Is that really too much to ask?
To learn more about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html