Module 7

Aya Moussa

World History II, Andrews

Research Paper

15 April 2020

A Historical Context and My Reflections on the Current COVID-19 Situation

We are certainly living in unprecedented times for our generation. The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting almost every aspect of life all over the world. I am personally doing well and thanking God for being healthy and fine. However, it is a very hard time. I feel pretty worried about my family who all live thousands of miles away in Egypt, where I am originally from. The situation there so far is better than our situation here in the United States, but I know it might get worse than now; that's why I'm afraid of it. I feel the world has changed. I know this is temporary or at least I really hope and pray for so. No one really knows what the future holds, but I still have a big hope it will get better. Meanwhile, I am doing my best to think positively and feel the blessings around me. For example, I really enjoy and am grateful for staying at home with my husband, spending more time together, relaxing, focusing on my studies, and cooking as well. The current pandemic certainly helped a lot of us focus more on family values and feel that blessing. Nevertheless, I really have those who struggle in the current situation in my mind, thoughts, and prayers. I am referring to people who lost their jobs and those who have no income because of the current situation where we are all staying home. I wish I can help all of them and wish them all the best. Lastly, I feel I have mixed emotions that I cannot fully interpret. I am doing my best to stay strong and positive because anxiety can lead to dark mental spaces and a lot of unhealthy panic, but meanwhile I worry about my loved ones and about those who suffer in these days. We need to help them both financially and mentally. I pray and I am confident that this all end and life gets back to normal very soon.

But let’s take a step back and discuss what the definition of the pandemic is. According to the International Epidemiological Association, a pandemic can be defined formally as “An epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries, and usually affecting a large number of people.” (Last 131). So, the pandemic does not have to be totally worldwide in order for it to be considered as such. It can be widely spread in an area/region and still be considered as a pandemic. For instance, the smallpox in the Americas that happened after Columbus’ arrival is considered as a pandemic. It was severe. For example, in Central Mexico, “a great many died from this plague, and many others died of hunger. They could not get up to search for food, and everyone else was too sick to care for them, so they starved to death in their beds.” (Strayer & Nelson 559).

Now, let’s talk more about pandemic outbreak we are facing nowadays, the novel coronavirus. According to the world health organization, this virus, known, scientifically as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and thus, the pandemic is now widely referred to as COVID-19. It appeared in the U.S. on March 12, 2020, but it first appeared and outbroke in China. At the time of writing this, there have been almost a couple million humans who contracted the virus globally. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that can spread from a human to another. It can spread also through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes and through touching floors and surfaces that have it (i.e., that had an infected person touch them). What makes it even more problematic is that those who have it but are asymptotic could still transfer it to others, and it could take anywhere from 2 to 14 days from when a person contracts it until she shows symptoms (and sometimes an infected person does not show symptoms at all or shows very mild symptoms). Add to this the fact that its symptoms are very similar to the seasonal flu and that those at highest risk are the elderly and people with chronic diseases, and  that the mortality rate of it is quite high (sometimes up to 5% in some countries) and one can see how severely critical this has been! Everyone got in the mode of washing their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds every few hours since this is known to kill the virus. Disinfecting surfaces became a normal attitude, though it is hard to find the scarce disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers. The whole world went into a lock-down and people started practicing social distancing to help slow the spread of the virus. Very severe negative economic impact has obviously started happening. Businesses, most of which were forced to shut down, are experiencing huge disruption and monetary troubles. Take for example the airline industry. Most countries stopped air travel especially international one, let alone domestic business or luxury travel that is non-existent nowadays. Unemployment rates are rising to scary values. Some experts even compare the recession we are getting into to the great depression of the 1930s, saying that it is certainly already higher than the 2008-2009 recession and is even close to be worse than the aforementioned great depression! 

Our recent world indeed faced many pandemics such as the Spanish Flu, which is an influenza that lasted from Jan 1918 to Dec 1920. It infected 500 million people. The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. It was caused by the so-called H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. It was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools and all businesses were shut down, and severe pain occurred. A person who touches something with the virus on it and then touches her mouth, eyes, or nose can become infected the same that we face nowadays. What caused it is still unknown. They called it the “Spanish” flu because Spain was hit hard by that virus.

Finally, I will talk about the situation now in Egypt because it is my home country and I have my whole family still living there. I am quite worried about them, specially my mother. The number of infected cases and deaths started to climb now. There were many cases in the beginning from foreign tourists, but then domestic cases started to increase. One problem in Egypt is that there is no transparency within the government agencies. A lot of people, including myself, do not really trust the Egyptian government and their numbers, given their history of lies and dictatorship. They claim to not have a lot of cases nor deaths, but this might not be quite accurate. They now required a curfew all over the country from 7 pm to 8 am every day. Most businesses still perform their jobs in a normal manner though. For example, my sister in law has a baby girl to care for since day cares are now closed (which is obviously a hard job by itself) and yet, she goes to her banking job every day, though she works in the insurance department which, I believe and she also does, is not that essential and could, at the very least, be done from home. Egypt also has a huge number of daily-paid employees, which are now suffering badly from the situation. They are the kind of people who must go to their work every day, in normal times, to afford feeding their kids. There are no powerful plans for the government to support them unfortunately; they made plans to give each eligible citizen 500 Egyptian pounds, which can merely be a livable amount for a week or two. 

The other part of the picture that worries me a lot as well about Egypt is that the healthcare infrastructure there is not ready at all had a large outbreak occur. Though the government’s numbers cannot be trusted as I stated earlier, the situation is probably not as severe as that in the US, Italy, or Spain, as can be seen with the not-so-packed hospitals so far. However, if a large outbreak is to occur, it could get catastrophic with the unready hospitals and healthcare system. To add to my worries, given how things seem to still be under control, a lot of Egyptians started to get too bored of staying at home (let alone those who are so concerned about their finances and the economy). They started going out almost as normal at times different from the curfew hours, which could be deadly in the next few weeks! For instance, the Eastern Easter was last week and many of my friends and family have gone on vacation spots during the daytime to celebrate, which makes me very nervous. Hopefully, one of the theories trying to explain why COVID-19 has not spread as much in Egypt will hold true. One of these theories has to do with the weather (that perhaps the virus has the behavior of spreading way less in a warmer/hotter weather like the one in Egypt). I sincerely hope the whole world get out of this crisis as soon as possible and as safest as possible!

References

Last, John M., et al. A dictionary of epidemiology. International Epidemiological Association, Inc., 2001.

Strayer, Robert W., and Eric Nelson. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources. Bedford/St. Martin's, A Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016.

World Health Organization, WHO. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it. Accessed on 04-14-2020.