Outlook December Digital Magazine

GOVERNMENT DISEASE
Government effect on the spread of Covid 19
2020 has been a difficult year for students
across the world. For the entirety
of students’ school careers,
they have been going to school every day
of the week for several weeks on end, patiently
waiting for the summer to finally roll
around so they could catch a break. However,
summer came early this year and posed
a lot more challenges than usual with the
arrival of covid 19. Virtually no one has experienced
a pandemic of this magnitude in
their lifetime which led to an increasingly
large panic throughout the world. Covid-19
brought several new challenges, such as
closed borders, small businesses shutting
down, and a large portion of the population
left with no way to continue their studies.
In this time of crisis, many countries looked
towards their leaders for information and
how to handle the situation, however,
America’s current federal staff left many
fearful for the months to come.
When considering government effectiveness
relating to the pandemic, separation of
powers must be considered. Although the
federal government has authority over the
states, the state governments rule their
states directly and should be given more
credit for the effectiveness or ineffectiveness
of the states’ containment of the virus.
“Many states have done well - with limited
resources and unclear guidance from the
better-funded federal government - with
Governors having regular, informative,
fact-based briefings,” Explains Mr. Clark,
an AP U.S. History teacher at Oakton. “The
states have been limited in their effectiveness
by the near abandonment of the federal
government, which normally coordinates
national emergencies. They were left in a
sort of “Hunger Games” to fight for PPE
(personal protective equipment) for their
states’ citizens on the open market, which
led to inefficiencies and price-gouging.”
On a state level, many governments did as
much as they could to keep their case numbers
from rising and have provided effective
mandates of their own, such as the face
mask mandate in Virginia. For most of July
through September, the effectiveness of the
states began to prove themselves with lower
cases nationwide.
However, with events like the election, the
cases began to rise again and eventually
surpass the original spike over the summer
- this can be attributed to the example set
by the federal government and the political
and social division of America created
by the president. “The President seems to
have pressured many of the heretofore science-based
agencies (Centers for Disease
Control) to promote policies that downplayed
the virus, in an attempt to ‘open up
the economy’” states Mr. Clark. Trump’s
main focus during his presidency has been
on bettering and maintaining the economy,
so it came as no surprise when his attitudes
towards handling the pandemic were heavily
influenced by his economic motives.
During his presidential campaign the president
set many examples that promoted
the spread of the virus. The president held
many rallies and at most of these rallies,
proper covid 19 protocols were blatantly
ignored such as the wearing of masks.
Many thought that the president would start
taking the virus more seriously after he contracted
it in early October, but unfortunately,
the president brushed it off and continued
his campaigning, tweeting out, “Totally
10
Negative China Virus Reports. Hit it early
and hard. Fake News is devastated. They
are very bad (and sick!) people!” Not only
does this demonstrate to his followers that
the virus is no big deal, but it also promotes
a sense of racism towards those of Chinese
backgrounds, indirectly blaming them for
the virus. Overall, Trump’s attitudes and set
examples towards the virus have influenced
a portion of the population to believe that
the virus isn’t as serious as the health officials
are making it out to be, causing neglect
of covid 19 protocols and furthering
the spread of the disease.
With a vaccine on the way, many Americans
are hopeful that this pandemic will
finally come to an end. However, although
the case numbers may begin to finally go
down, the pandemic will surely influence
everyday interactions. “The effects, outside
of any poor federal response, will lead to at
least a year of reduced economic activity
(i.e. flying less, dining out less, attending
fewer mass events) and ongoing psychological
trauma for many people,” resolves
Mr. Clark. Additionally, people may continue
to wear masks in public long after the
pandemic is over and forms of greeting,
such as handshakes, and in other countries
kisses on the cheek, may start to become
less popular. “Sadly though, the politicization
of the virus by President Trump has led
to people not voting via mail ballots; not
wearing masks (which led to further cases/deaths);
doubting the legitimacy of the
news coming from our scientific community,
which will lead to less vaccine usage
and more damage,” all of which have the
potential to divide our country even more.
But political views aside, it is in the best interest
of everyone to follow these protocols
put in place by the state and local governments
to bring an end to the rising cases of
this virus, regardless of whether or not the
virus will have a personal effect.
claudia messina | staff writer
photo courtesy of the FDA