GPHC 2019-2020

Sarah Laskin Corona Blog Specifically: The global cease fire The concept of a global cease fire to put more relief for the virus is great in idea: the world unifying against a common enemy. However, in reality, this isn’t a fully effective plan. Even if all of the countries in the UN stopped fighting, there is no guarantee that our enemies would stop. In fact, they might take advantage of the cease fire to push their forces forward. Unfortunately, the guarantee of all war stopping is improbable because of the virus, as there are forces who do not care about casualties, just victory.  Luckily, the UN has way more firepower and military intelligence than any other force in the world, so even if our enemies don’t stop, we can still counter them (with relative ease hopefully).  With war and the pandemic in my mind, I wonder about biological warfare. We have all seen how effective corona has been about shutting down our society and turning our worlds upside down. Co...

Covid 19, or coronavirus, is a virus that is like a common cold and spreads extremely quickly. It was first found in China and from there has spread across the world. I thnk that most people thought it to be a joke and like World War 3, there were memes and jokes that people made. In just the last month alone, there has been many nationwide and global responses to Covid-19. On March 1, there was 15 millions dollars that got released from the United Nations in order to help fight Covid-19. Later on March 23, there was a global ceasefire to be effective immediately. And in the last week, there was a COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Responce Plan that was created and launched by the Secretary of the United Nations. Covid is a disease that while it has a low death rate, will impact a lot of people and because of it's ability to spread throughout the world in just under three months, it will impact the future and how our lives. Covid closed our schools and caused so many people to get fired...

The article "Why Rich Countries must Protect Developing Nations from Coronavirus Pandemic" was a very interesting read, since it said almost nothing in a lot of words. It has a very weak central argument, arguing on some vague moral imperative to provide aid for developing nations. The line about the virus continuing to spread in developing nations and coming back to developed ones rings rather hollow, and the rest of the article was mostly empty language. It did raise an interesting question, though: would it be within the advantage of developed nations to assist developing ones? I'm not asking this question on moral grounds, morality and ethics will be thrown out the window for this discussion, I'm talking about whether or not it would be advantageous in a purely cynical capitalist sense. As a people, we have derived much of our wealth from exploitation. The East India Company may no longer exist, but the essence of its colonial profiteering makes up much of our eco...

COVID-19 is a pandemic that has spread like wildfire over the past few months. The pandemic will effect many things as it continues as well as effect the future financially. The pandemic was tied to a city in China, Wuhan and it COVID-19 was declared by WHO as a global pandemic outbreak. At first news of Corona virus many people believed it wouldn't escalate so rapidly. I think that many Americans and other large countries didn't see it as a threat. I believe that people did not take news seriously and it caught up to people. However, there was fake news that was presented to watchers which was not good because people took that information and didn't really care. In the article about more developed countries helping less developed countries, I agree with that statement to an extent. I think that right now with America being the most rapidly affected country we need to focus on ourselves. We need to make it clear to people (especially younger people) that staying inside and ...

When reading “Why Rich Countries must Protect Developing Nations from Coronavirus Pandemic” an article by Ed Holt for the Inter Press service, I wondered what factors could effect the severity of the Coronavirus outbreak, other than healthcare strength. The two factors I want to talk about are population age and population density. Population Age: As we learned in “The Accidental Superpower” by Peter Ziehan, developing countries tend to have younger populations on average. The knowledge combined with the fact that Covid-19 tends to be more lethal more older people could mean the lethality is less in developing countries. While the younger population may be an advantage in tackling the spread of Covid-19, I do not think it will counteract weak healthcare systems and access to treatment. Population Density: Cities in developing countries often have densely packed neighborhoods. While I recognize this is a generalization and the population layout of all countries is varied, the...

       Covid-19 has become the largest threat in our global world over just the past few months. Despite the original unconcerned reaction many people had when the virus was first found, this situation has turned into a pandemic due to covid's high infection rate and ability to quickly cause difficult health problems in its hosts. It's understandable that officials would seem to not have worried about this virus when Chinese doctors first noticed it as it closely resembles pneumonia, however, after the SARs epidemic in the early 2000's, it would be expected that they would watch more closely for situations such as these. Because of lucky (for the virus) timing, Covid-19 hit a densely populated area of China, which is the most populated country in the world. The largest annual migration happens around every January in China when everyone travels back to their hometowns, sometimes taking weeks to get to their parents, to celebrate Chinese New Year. The coincidence of t...

"Why Rich Countries must Protect Developing Nations from Coronavirus Pandemic," the title of an article by Ed Holt, is a little bit ambiguous in its meaning because the word "must," (which isn't capitalized for some reason) could refer to an ethical obligation or a practical obligation. It could mean "rich countries must protect developing nations because it would be immoral not to," or "rich countries must protect developing countries if they want to survive". The second issue is what the article mostly deals with. The argument is mainly that if developed countries don't help developed countries fight corona, then they will not be able to fight it within their own borders either. That said, the article never outright states that. Although it quotes experts who say that, it only goes so far as to claim it is probably true. That's an odd thing to not definitevely state seeing as it is the claim made by the title, but at least it seems ...

At first, I thought CoronaVirus was a joke. I would scroll through twitter and instagram laughing at the memes made, knowing very little of what was to come. I had no idea the US would shut down, travel to Europe would be banned, and I would have to face time into my classes in order to receive an education. My feeds have turned from light hearted jokes to emergency warnings about worldwide shortages. After starting in Wuhan, China, it seemed as if America was safe, but quickly after we saw the rapid spread that has left all of us in mandatory quarantine until April 27th. One big issue we are seeing now is the availability of resources. Going to grocery stores nowadays is scary with the shortage of resources we have. America is one of, if not the most well developed country. So obviously, we should be able to help lesser developed or economically stable countries, right? Well, looking past the fact we are running short on resources ourselves, hospitals are actually having to withhold ...

Emily Wilburn Mr. Roddy GPHC 29 March 2020 COVID-19 Well developed countries play a very important role in tackling the coronavirus, without their full dedication to the issue it would be impossible to control. The World Health Organization has reported that due to our worldwide healthcare systems the virus will not only take a toll on population health but also push many into poverty. The role well-developed countries are to play in this situation is to provide what the less-developed countries' health care systems are lacking. While it is important for our governments in the United States to take care of its citizens we also need to care for other countries as well. The reason for it is because as the virus is brought under control in the well-developed countries, it will eventually spread back to the less-developed countries which allow for the cycle to continue and for the virus to continue to spread. In my opinion, countries need to continue to keep their borders clo...

The coronavirus pandemic. Something we all know about, and something we’re almost all tired of talking about. This global pandemic started months ago in Wuhan, China, due to the irresponsible actions within the seafood/meat/poultry markets within China. From what I understand, this virus started the same way the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) started. These street markets aren’t clean to say the least, and the bacteria and diseases that collect in these markets then get passed on to people, who then fall ill and in some cases it is fatal. In the case of COVID-19, the disease being fatal depends on the recipients prior health condition. In most cases as of right now, the fatality numbers are coming from people who are either older, or have some kind of previous immune deficiencies. Obviously there are cases which act as exceptions, with younger people, or supposedly “healthy” people dying of this disease.  No matter the severity of contra...

     The Coronavirus epidemic is a worldwide problem that will, directly and indirectly, affect every country. This epidemic is forcing countries to come together in agreement to work towards a solution and to help each other. However, I believe that countries must first take care of themselves. The article “Why Rich Countries must Protect Developing Nations from Coronavirus Pandemic” argues that affluent countries should be providing money and medical resources to impoverished countries. While I think that partnerships among countries are key to beating the virus and reaching global economic stability, affluent countries cannot and should not give away resources that they are running low on. America, for example, should not provide other countries with masks, ventilators, and Coronavirus tests right now because America is running low on these items, as well. However, I believe that once a country has controlled the outbreak and recovered, it should provide aid to those w...

During the coronavirus pandemic, I think that the most important thing for countries to do is share their medical developments in relation to the disease with one another so that we stop the pandemic as soon as possible. Since countries like China and Israel were affected much earlier than the US and Africa, at this point they have done more research on the disease, developed more tests, and are probably closer to a vaccine/cure than many other countries. Once countries get their own coronavirus spread down, I think it is crucial, as the first article talks about, to help others so that the worldwide spread stops. Since this disease spread outwards from China, it is not necessarily about developed vs. developing countries, but more about who has already hit their peak number of cases, and who is still on the rise. The more time a country has had to study the disease, the more they will know about it. Rather than make each country make the discoveries and developments for themselves t...

At the end of December 2019, cases of what was initially believed to be pneumonia were detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. In early January those cases were confirmed to be the new virus that would be later named the coronavirus and COVID-19. A few months later, the coronavirus has spread to Europe, America, and now Africa and been declared a global pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020. As the rest of the world begins to experience the same issues that China is just starting to recover from, the gravity of the virus is becoming more understood and governments and individuals are taking actions. The UN has most recently released US$15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), called for an immediate global ceasefire, and launched a Global Humanitarian response plan all in an attempt to mitigate the virus. In addition, non-essential businesses, schools, and travels have ceased their normal routine and social distancing has been enforced across the globe. I think ...

Tyler Block Mr. Roddy GPHC 28 March 2020The first article I read was about rich countries and poor countries and the spread of viruses. The author is saying that it is the rich countries duty to help the countries with weak healthcare systems. It is saying that the rich countries are so consumed by their own states and keeping their own states in control and well, but we really should be also trying to help and focus on the poorer countries as well. They are saying that if this issue is not controlled in underdeveloped countries, it could come back to bite the developed countries at a later time. The article goes on to talk about the coronavirus and how Europe and Germany are closing borders and the rates at which coronavirus is affecting people. They start talking about how they are afraid that some healthcare systems in Africa could be completely shut down by this outbreak.  In the second article it starts off by saying there were numerous cases of pneumonia of a serie...

Justin Patera Mr. Roddy GPHC 3/29/20 Covid-19 Although I do believe that the more wealthy countries will step in to assist the more impoverished, I’m not confident that greed will not be present in the process. Despite the economic crisis the world is facing at the moment I see the more wealthy countries (France, Germany, United States, China, ect.) as having no issue aiding to some extent the more impoverished countries of the world. As these wealthy countries have poured money into their own citizens and infrastructure to try and stabilize it during this time I see them having no issue finding money to aid countries like Nicaragua or much of Africa of whom lack in infrastructure and the proper resources to fight a pandemic such as this. Despite the fact that the article lists a few advantages these poorer countries may have (such as experience with other deadly diseases) they are still in need of resources to battle these diseases and were in need of those same resources ...

Eleanor Carter David Roddy GPHC 11 March 28, 2020 The Corona Virus on a Global Scale  The corona virus has become a global pandemic in recent months, and the repercussions are being felt all over the world. We have seen closure of borders, a steady decrease in global trade, and both the citizens and local economies of countries are being hit hard by Covid- 19. With the development of this virus, there has been a need to take a look into the healthcare systems all over the world. We are now seeing first hand how different systems with different budgets and plans are handling this pandemic. Many of the first world countries are beginning to get the virus under control: reports of the number of infected are coming down in China and Europe are going down, and ourselves in the US are doing what we can by socially isolating. But what about the countries that do not have the economic backbone that we do?  In talking about recourse devision for the virus, the US is spending, ...

Charlie McGill Mr. Roddy GPHC 3/27/2020 COVID-19--Should Rich Countries Help Developing Countries With Their Fight Against the Pandemic? With COVID-19 shutting down most of Europe, Asia, and the Americas, it's only a matter of time until the virus infects Africa as well. Although Africa doesn't have many confirmed cases, projections show that they will begin seeing an exceptional rise in infected persons right around the time that COVID-19 begins to plateau or decline in Europe and North America. How Africa will fare is still a mystery. On one hand, they have the most experience in dealing with pandemics; Ebola is still ravaging Africa, and many people are predicting that the measures in place to counter Ebola will also reduce the amount of coronavirus infections. However, Africa is a developing continent with poor healthcare infrastructure and impoverished communities, which means many people won't receive treatment. This could lead to further spreading of the d...

As the coronavirus rages on, an important question arises: should western countries aid the so-called "third world," particularly Africa, in combating the pandemic? I believe the answer is no, for two main reasons. My first objection is rather obvious: the United States currently has more confirmed COVID cases than all of Africa combined, and it isn't close. There are several possible explanations, including the warmer weather, but the exact reason isn't necessarily relevant. After a domestic coronavirus response which can only be described as a disaster of earth-shattering proportions, who are we to go on an international health crusade? There are millions of vulnerable Americans who are currently unable to receive adequate care. Our resources need to be going to them first, not abroad, and most certainly not to parasitic, too-big-to-fail corporations. My second objection: when was America's last successful large-scale international intervention, viole...

COVID-19 is one of the major threats of this year and has caused nearly global panic as a mass quarantine has been issued in most major countries. It started out in the Wuhan District of China, and quickly spread across the entire area, though it took almost 2 months for the world to be at risk, with WHO finally raising the threat level to 'very high' in late February, almost one and a half months after it's initial discovery. Over the course of March, the disease would get progressively worse, with the US and Italy being some of the main countries hit outside of China. Both of these countries have responded by issuing a mass quarantine. The countries at the highest risk are those that can't afford for their population to go into quarantine. Those countries that are just barely on the edge of a stable economy. Even worse, these countries are also weak to the virus due to their still-developing healthcare infrastructure. Even so, there are likely to be more risk factor...

It's fascinating to be living in a time in like this in which we are experiencing an unprecedented pandemic, and I think it really speaks to the interconnectedness of the world in the modern age, and how far developed we've come. This really seems to be one of the first truly global challenges (aside from Global warming) and I think that it will be the start of setting an example of how countries will handle large scale dilemmas in the future. Due to the circumstances of it affecting literally everyone I think that we will begin to see states' dependence on international relations. I also believe that the fight against a common enemy also holds the possibility to drastically strengthen or break different relations (and show whether a more liberalist or realist global ideology will prevail). With the international relations, the dynamics between more and less developed countries will also really show during a crisis like this. We see this in the article discussing the import...

In just about four months Covid-19 has gone from a regional epidemic to a full blown global pandemic. It has spread throughout the entire world, and while cases are plateauing in China, things are getting worse in many other places. Just yesterday day (March 26) the United States beat out China for the highest number of cases out of any other country. This is due to a lack of support from president Trump, who has stated that he believes that the disease isn't as bad as people say. He was also resistant to putting social distancing in place due to its potential effects on the economy. However, with social distancing now being put into effect more the situation will likely improve. The main concern at the moment is we don't know how long the quarantine will last, and also how will jobs be affected by this. I personally know several people who have lost their jobs because of the virus, and things might continue to worsen if things don't plateau soon though. People are also wor...

It's no secret that right now the SARS CoV-2 is wreaking havoc across the world. As of today, the United States has surpassed China as the nation with the most cases of the novel coronavirus, with over 86,000 cases in our country to date. This is all pretty crazy, especially considering that this is all because of a pathogen that supposedly started with either bats or pangolins (the only mammal in the world known to have scales) in a small localized region of China. Of course, it's not only the health effects that are wide-reaching; the social effects are also just as prevalent. One of the ways in which the world is rapidly changing in regards to social effects is through panic buying of goods at places such as supermarkets and hypermarkets such as Walmart. However, the good news is that food in general is not going to run out; there may be shortages of certain particular items, nevertheless, as certain nations have curtailed exports. What is bound to change, possibly permanent...

Callista Wilson  Mr. Roddy  Global Politics and Historical Contexts  While COVID-19 increasingly threatens almost all corners of the world, nations should look toward unity as their strength. An article published by  Inter Press Service , highlights that developed countries have the economic power and public services to protect their own people and limit the long-term spread of the virus to an impactful extent; however, many underdeveloped countries would fall into ruin from an outbreak, and could be affected far into the future. For this reason, developed countries need to realize the potential gravity of their decisions, and act in the best interests of both the world and themselves, instead of themselves alone. Put more forwardly, global threats require solutions which consider both the entire world and individual nations. If nations do not consider the futures of developing countries, COVID-19 will only persist. Further, the existence of the virus in ...

As the spread of COVID-19 becomes greater many opinions on how to respond to this global pandemic have surfaced. Just a few months ago much of the population in the United States felt unthreatened by the virus as it spread through China, being concentrated in Wuhan, and later spreading in Europe. It was not until the virus quickly erupted in the United States that we each understood the true severity of this pandemic. Now we are seeing how individuals are being greatly impacted by this virus as we are all being asked to stay home and the everyday parts of our lives have been flipped upside down. In the opinion piece about what responsibility developed countries have for helping less developed countries I both agreed and disagreed. My initial response is that if places, like the United States, are struggling with medical resources how can we even begin to be helpful in less developed countries. Hospitals all throughout the United States are beginning to have to make life or death decisi...

John Mazziotti Mr. Roddy GPHC March 27th, 2020 Coronavirus Response Blog Late last year in December of 2019, another iteration of a ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome’ (SARS-CoV-2) or popularly known as COVID-19, started spreading rapidly among individuals in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province. It was not recognized by the Chinese Government until January 7th, 2020, and wasn’t previously identified in humans until this point. From January and so-forth, the virus had been steadily on the rise and firstly spreading to countries that surrounded south-eastern China, and no more than a month of its origination, it was founded to be on every continent except Antarctica. The WHO has officially announced this outbreak as a ‘Global Pandemic’ and has imposed health recommendations on how to prevent future spread. As of now, the US has completely banned travel to China and Europe in an attempt to control the spread of this virus and is as of March 26th, the US has the highest reported c...

COVID - 19   I thought both of these articles were interesting. I liked how the UN gave a timeline of what was going on in a very concise and easy to understand manner because, to me, it seems like having that resource will reduce a lot of stress because it will allow people to quickly see what is going on with COVID-19. I think that this article also gives people a good general idea of what the UN, WHO, and other IGOs are doing about the virus.    I thought the article about richer countries helping poorer countries was really intriguing, and it had a lot of good points, but I do have some thoughts about it. I think that the first priority of every country should be to fight COVID - 19 within themselves before trying to help other countries. Although developed countries like America have way more medical resources than less developed countries, they still don't have enough. Italy, for example, has so many cases of COVID - 19 that they don't have enough medi...

At the end of december the World Health Organization (WHO) was made aware of a group of  pneumonia cases with an unknown cause in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. In January, Chinese officials announced that they have identified a new virus:  coronavirus (CoV) or COVID-19 and in March it was declared a global pandemic. COVID-19 has had a massive impact on the lives of everyone in the world whether it be in the economy or in social lives with social isolation. The virus will change the face of the world as we know it and already is. Hospitals are filling up and millions of people can't get appropriate care. People are losing jobs and companies are learning what is essential and what isn't. This will have a massive impact on our world moving forward.  What the piece said about underdeveloped countries is serious, because highly developed countries like the U.S. have a responsibility to help its foreign partners, but are already struggling with the stability of thei...

Izabella Curtis  Mr. Roddy  GPHC 26 March 2020 COVID-19 The COVID-19 virus started in China (December 2019) and became a global pandemic by March 2020. In those short 3 months this virus spread to Europe and North America and has greatly affected these countries economic status and has stopped the day to day lives of the citizens. After reading the opinion piece it made me think of all the citizens that are losing health care benefits due to this virus. Independent businesses that can no longer pay their employees and the citizens that are losing their health insurance due to the loss of their job are now suffering greatly due to this pandemic. I feel like although the opinion piece has some great ideas and real concerns for underdeveloped countries such as Africa. Concerns about how underdeveloped countries have health issues with Ebola and HIV/AIDS cases. The lack of money these countries have due to people no longer traveling as well as no longer contributing to ...

Cloud seeding is when planes drop salt into clouds in order to try and stop the rainfall that is causing floods and landslides. Cloud seeding is not only used in desperate situations like the one now, but it is also used to extinguish forest fires. Jakarta, Indonesia, has been hit with devastating climate change that has caused over 40 deaths and misplaced thousands of people. Jakata has over 30 million people living within the city. The reason they are putting salt in the clouds is as an attempt to make the clouds rain before they reach Jakarta. A chief in Indonesia's air force, Hammam Riza, said "We will do cloud seeding every day as needed". Just in 2020 alone, floods have wracked Jakarta and landslides have destroyed homes.The Meterological, Climatological, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that the floods have been one of the most extreme rainfall events since 1866. BMKG also brought up that the increased risk of extreme weather has been caused by climate change and ...

Charlie McGill Mr. Roddy GPHC 3/15/2020 Minimum Wage is on the Rise The article I read for the Hey, Check this Out blog was about Seattle's switch to a $15 minimum wage and the economic repercussions of that change. Analyzing Seattle's economy after their wage increase is incredibly important for two reasons. First, both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden have a $15 minimum wage (a living wage, as Sanders calls it) as a part of their platform, and it's vital we understand the economic effects of that policy before voting for either candidate. Secondly, having case studies is necessary when debating on whether or not to enact policy, and there is much debate surrounding a $15 minimum wage. Although the economic results of Seattle's wage increase don't lead to a conclusive verdict on the debate surrounding a living wage, I think it makes a very good argument in favor of $15 hourly compensation. In 2014, Seattle passed a law that gradually increased the cities m...