Assignment
(Note from me: you have already help with the main part of the assignment. The part that I want you to work on now is to help me responds to two post from to different colleagues. I have attached their post so read it and give a respond to their post. Just a page or less will be fine as long as it meets the discussion)
COVID19 is our first Pandemic of the century. This lethal global pandemic has led to health, societal, individual, familial, and economic changes. Using the surveillance tools available on this ever-changing pandemic, track how this pandemic has changed within a state or country since the start of the pandemic. Compare it to another state or country. Grade (A-F) the response and explain your answer with evidence. Post your answer to the discussion board
- Respond to at least (2) of your colleague’s postings over the course of the week to continue the dialogue.
DISCUSSION POSTER 1
I decided to compare COVID-19 data between the United States and Kazakhstan. According to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine (2022), Kazakhstan has 1,393,904 confirmed cases; 19,012 deaths; and 9,168,000 of its people fully vaccinated, which is approximately 49.52% of the population. Over the past month, there have been 2,091 new cases reported and 45 new deaths as a result of the virus (Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, 2022). In the United States, there are 80,155,397 confirmed cases; 982,565 deaths, and 66.38% of the population fully vaccinated (Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, 2022). Over the past month, there have been 902,685 new cases and 25,980 new deaths recorded (Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, 2022).
I think it is difficult to compare these two countries due to population differences. With a population of approximately 329.5 million in the U.S. and 18.75 million in Kazakhstan (Data Commons, 2020), I think there are many factors that could have affected COVID-19 responses by both of these countries. If I had to “grade” Kazakhstan’s response to the pandemic, I would give them a B. I think it is actually impressive that 49.52% of the population is vaccinated. Although Kazakhstan is a large country, majority of it is rural and the population is largely dispersed throughout its region. Geographically, there are a lot of transit opportunities between shared borders, which include both Russia and China, which is why I also think it is impressive that the number of new cases over the last month is not as high as I would otherwise expect it to be. I do think more of the population could be vaccinated, but I do not think access to vaccines are as readily available as they are in the United States.
I would grade the U.S.’s response to the pandemic as a C+. I think the response was heavily delayed initially, lots of information had to be pieced together and it was unclear whether or not the information was withheld or simply unknown given the circumstances; however, I do think more of the population can and should be vaccinated. I think for the majority, there are many opportunities for individuals to get vaccinated and even boosted, however, we are still seeing a good portion of the population protesting against vaccines and ignoring vital statistical data. I think I may be biased because I lived here and wish we could have led by example in this situation, but we are constantly battling other challenges as a society on top of this pandemic, which I why I think it is difficult to judge the overall response. There are just so many factors at play.
References
Data Commons. (2020). United States of America. Data Commons Place Explorer. https://datacommons.org/place/country/USA?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en
Data Commons. (2020). Kazakhstan. Data Commons Place Explorer. https://datacommons.org/place/country/KAZ?utm_medium=explore&mprop=count&popt=Person&hl=en
John’s Hopkins University & Medicine. (2022). Kazakhstan. Coronavirus Resource Center. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/kazakhstan
John’s Hopkins University & Medicine. (2022). United States. Coronavirus Resource Center. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/united-sta
DISCUSSION POSTER 2
COVID-19 is a pandemic that will linger across countries for many years. It has had a generational impact on child development, mental health, healthcare, and community settings alike. It will take years to recover across the globe, and we can only hope moving forward, that in the future we are better equipped to handle such a treacherous pandemic. Comparing Italy to the United States, they are actually quite similar. The Italian prime minister was ridiculed for not taking the pandemic seriously. For instance, a state of emergency was declared January of 2020, yet allowed the normalcy of life to continue. That was a misconception that unfortunately cost countless lives. As February came about, it became clear that COVID-19 was not contained and red zone regulations were implemented within eleven cities. A failed tactic that shortly lead to a country wide lockdown. By March, it was chaos, yet they had finally secured mask mandates, travel restrictions, and physical distancing in times of essential travel. Information was scant and people yearned for knowledge on the spread, cases, hospitalization, and mortality rate within their cities.
Fulfilling the need for more information, Italian researchers collaborated and created, an interactive web tool to help citizens stay in the know. Italy has a universal health system interwoven between state and government officials. Healthcare workers were deemed the most likely to spread COVID-19 due to a lack of PPE. A crisis call sent out requesting help to address unsafe working conditions for doctors, nurses, and medics was met with complete silence. No grants. No funding. No help. To date, Italy continues to struggle with COVID. Statista is another tool that shows up to date positive cases within the Italian population. As of today there remains 1.2 million positive cases, with 487 individuals in the ICU and 9.5 thousand hospitalized. I give Italy a D for not taking it more seriously, not implementing lockdown precautions sooner for the safety of their communities, and failing to act in appropriate crisis management to equip healthcare workers with adequate PPE. They have yet to utilize survelliance tools to identify the ongoig spread and strategies to reduce it. By not addressing the lack of PPE they have only allowed COVID to remain fluent.
The U.S mimicked Italy at a much slower rate. From January until March of 2020 it was pure chaos. Not much information was known and dread gripped communities. It was not until March that all states began declaring a state of emergency allowing governors to execute policies such as: the closure of non-essential businesses, the introduction of mask mandates for all individuals, and school closures. (Bergquist et al,. 2020). Something that was done differently, was reduce the incarcerated population, execute no visitors policies in health care related facilities, and mandatory symptom monitoring. Similar to Italy, the United States had a travel policy for essential workers to flatten the curve and slow the spread. Financially, the U.S had a crisis management plan that allowed for distribution of money and allocated resources to the socioeconomic struggling families. A few examples being, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act,and Paycheck Protection Program to protect small businesses. At one point, it aided in making mortgage or rent payments. We also had accessibility to technology to, fast track testing strategies and generate a vaccine. Early on in the pandemic tracking apps helped mitigate exposure and positive cases.
Healthcare shifted slightly as telemedicine became more available to treat simple ailments and those with COVID were referred to the hospital for additional evaluation and treatment. The American healthcare system maintained PPE to the best of its ability, unlike Italy. We also had overwhelmed hospitals, ICU beds, and increased fatalities. I feel The United States got lucky in managing COVID-19. With a non-universal healthcare system, grants, and statewide influence from governors, COVID-19 was a trial by error scenario that after two years appeared to have been done well. I would give us a C. The reason being, the guidelines frequently shifted and with news outlets increasing confusion there needed to be better surveillance tools. Italy did not have enough and we had too many unofficial data tools reporting false or inaccurate epidemiological information. Also, in the future it truly needs to not be political. I feel it could have been managed much more efficiently had it been uninvolved in politics. Something I feel elongated the ability to find resolution.
Bergquist, S., Otten, T., & Sarich, N. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Health policy and technology, 9(4), 623–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.08.007
Covid‐19 in Italy: Modelling, communications, and collaborations. (2022). Significance, 19(2), 19–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/1740-9713.01629
Ortenzi, F., Albanese, E., & Fadda, M. (2020). A Transdisciplinary Analysis of COVID-19 in Italy: The Most Affected Country in Europe. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(24), 9488. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249488
