Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Turning Coronavirus into a Political Issue
An Example of China
Paid Sick Leave
Making the COVID-19 Tests Widely Available
Updating Preparedness Plans from Previous Epidemics
Opposing Point of View
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Four months ago, no one could imagine that SARS-CoV-2, known as coronavirus, exists and poses a great danger to the whole world. Nowadays, the virus has spread to almost all countries and has infected at least three and a half million people. The virus destroys modern society and the world familiar to people on a scale that most people have never seen and could not imagine. People are forbidden to walk, have contact with others, and be outside without medical masks. Most of the world’s population has been locked at home for more than a month, and so far, the quarantine has no end in sight (Scott). Though coronavirus poses a great danger, the current situation would have been better if the government had immediately taken the necessary measures, learning from the mistakes of those countries that were hit first.

Turning Coronavirus into a Political Issue

The government should have solely seen coronavirus as a medical issue. Viruses are not related to the government; they will infect people, no matter what political problem they are attributed to. The main danger is that when politics intervened, many people mistakenly started to think that the virus was an invention, part of a political game. If there is no virus, then there is no danger of becoming infected, which means that one does not need to follow safety measures. According to Geggel, “if it becomes a political issue, people may exclude useful information because they’ll say it’s coming from a partisan point of view.” Hence, turning coronavirus into a political problem was one of the biggest mistakes made by the government.

An Example of China

The authorities should have reacted faster and taken the necessary measures when the number of infected people was rather low. China is a good example of how to stop the spread of the virus. Hunt notes that “six weeks after the first cases were discovered, Wuhan and three other cities – with a combined population of 58 million – were put into lockdown and movement out of the area barred.” The government was controlling movements within the quarantine area and acted to trace and isolate all the infected people. These and several other measures helped China to stop the virus and reduce the number of infected people. This is a good example for all other countries. Most of them follow it; however, it should have been done much earlier in the US.

Paid Sick Leave

The government should have taken care of the working people. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are no federal sick leave requirements in America (Geggel). Thousands of people cannot afford missing work even when they are ill. Since no additional measures were taken to provide workers with paid sick leaves, instead of staying home, infected people continued going to work and spreading the virus (McNeil). The government did not organize supportive conditions for those who could not afford to quarantine themselves at home, and they have multiplied the number of infected people.

Making the COVID-19 Tests Widely Available

US authorities should have made coronavirus tests widely available from the beginning. At first, in the US, there was just one place that could test for the virus, and this has created an enormous lag in finding and isolating infected people. Furthermore, there were strict criteria for those who could be tested, which means that unobvious cases and those who did not travel but got infected were overlooked and continued spreading the disease (Geggel). Fortunately, the situation improved, and now there are more places for people to be tested, and anyone who wants to is accepted. The only drawback is that a mere 15000 people may be tested per day, which is a rather low number (Geggel). Nevertheless, this is a success, and the government should have done this faster and predicted that there would be people getting infected in the country.

Updating Preparedness Plans from Previous Epidemics

The government should have used and updated preparedness plans left from previous epidemics. This is not the first time when the world and the US, in particular, have to face a new infectious disease that has no cure and kills people rapidly. During previous pandemics, several healthcare institutions created instructions for handling an unexpected disease and a massive patient flow into their intensive care units and emergency departments (Yong). These plans should have been used immediately so that they could help with the situation.

Opposing Point of View

Some people think that the government has done everything possible to prevent the spread of the virus. The situation was rather severe, countries were not ready for this catastrophe, and there was a lack of necessary resources. Keeping in mind these circumstances, one may agree that the government succeeded and did not let the situation become worse. However, such situations have happened before, and the government had several examples like China – a country that stopped the pandemic rather rapidly. Hence, the authorities did not do enough and should have made several steps earlier and differently.

Conclusion

Coronavirus is a serious challenge for the whole world. It is a war, and all the countries are taking part in it and fighting against a strong enemy who is currently winning. The main mistake that was made by the government was to do nothing when the pandemic just started and to lose valuable days. If only government officials were not skeptical of the coronavirus threat and started making serious steps much earlier, the current situation would be more hopeful. People need to remember that it is always better to overcompensate than to waste precious time.

Works Cited

Geggel, Laura. “6 Ways the US Government Could Help Contain the New Coronavirus.” Live Science, 2020. Web.
Hunt, Mia. “Lessons from the Frontline: How to Stop the Spread of COVID-19.” Global Government Forum, 2020. Web.
McNeil, Donald G. “The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only with Harsh Steps, Experts Say.” The New York Times, 2020. Web.
Scott, Dylan. “4 Lessons the US Should Learn from Italy’s Coronavirus Mistakes.” Vox, 2020. Web.
Yong, Ed. “How the Pandemic Will End.” The Atlantic, 2020. Web.

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