The COVID-19 Pandemic - Sydney Y.

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 contracting the disease (which is different for each person because of how
new this virus is) the rapid infection rate of this virus is what caused it to be called a global pandemic. In
more developed countries like China, Italy, Spain and the United States, COVID-19 has spread and/or is
continuing to spread quickly due to the amount of human contact and interaction that occurred before these
countries went on “lockdown.” In the U.S, the infection rate is still rising, (unlike China’s which is slowly
lowering) due to how recently the country went on lockdown, and due to each state having different ways of
approaching this pandemic. However with the lockdowns now in place the infection rate will begin to
decrease. 
This shines on the issue for lesser developed countries is that while they currently have less cases, they
also have less resources and potentially more people who are susceptible to contracting the disease. The U.S
even is currently struggling to find enough resources to treat people, imagine how hard it will be for certain
countries in Africa for example to gain medical assistance. The UN is trying to help as much as they can as
we can see with their timeline, but like many pandemics in the past, the infection rates start slow, then they
shoot up, and then they will slowly begin to trickle down. That trickle only happens when enough people
begin to receive treatment, or if enough people just die to the point where the virus has no one left to infect. 
It sounds a little bit ridiculous and extreme, but it seems to be the unfortunate reality of the situation.
There are many people and organizations who are trying to help in whatever way they can, but people
honestly just need to try and decrease their risk of exposure as much as possible. The other solution would
be to find the source of these problems occurring, which many happen to lead back to the meat markets in
China, and make a change there so these pandemics do not keep happening. From what I have seen,
thousands of people are either losing their jobs or having to fire people, the U.S economy is changing like
never before, and most of us have never lived through a global pandemic like this, so it is extremely
important that we educate ourselves as much as we can in order to do not add to the problem. With work,
time, and the climate changing, infection rates will go down, however if further action is not taken or a
solution is not found, they could go back up. Right now there is no clear solution, however we can use
history in order to hopefully prevent less developed countries from going through what we in the U.S are
currently going through.

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