Case Study: Pandemic (SL IB Geography)

Covid-19 Pandemic 

Causes

• Covid-19 is a novel coronavirus, caused by SARS_CoV-2
  • Novel viruses are new diseases 
  • Other examples of coronavirus in the past include:
    • SARS coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
    • MERS coronavirus (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)
• Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, China in 2019
  • It was traced back to a market in the city and the animals sold there
  • This supports a zoonotic outbreak theory
  • Others theorise it may have come from the Wuhan Institue of Virology
• The World Health Organisation named Covid-19 a global pandemic in March 2020

Impacts

• It is still an ongoing pandemic
• Over 700,000,000 cases have been recorded
• Nearly 7 million people have died
• As it was a novel coronavirus, there was very little prior local and global awareness about it
• Symptoms include:
  • Fever
  • Dry cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Exhaustion
  • Cold symptoms
  • Loss of smell or taste
• Whilst many have recovered, lots of people suffer from Long Covid:
  • Brain fog
  • Insomnia
  • Exhaustion or chronic fatigue
  • Can also affect heart function, stomach issues, muscle pains
• School closures across the world, resulting in missed education 
• Businesses closed and many people became unemployed
• Hospitality and retail closed
• Borders closed, hitting the travel and tourist industries
• More deaths occurred in areas of poverty, exacerbating inequalities 
• Extreme poverty rates rose
• It affected the global economy, leaving many countries in recession
• Large gatherings and important events were banned or cancelled e.g. marathons, the 2020 Olympics and festivals

Management

• Many strategies were adopted across the world to combat the pandemic 
• Management solutions differed between different countries
• Lockdowns were enforced, and people could not leave their homes
  • Wuhan enforced a lockdown in January 2020
  • The UK was criticised for enforcing a lockdown too late
  • Some countries were incredibly strict with their lockdowns, with very little freedom for the public 
    • China adopted a Zero-Covid Policy, which resulted in protests and a severe hit to the public’s mental health
• Initial border closures, followed by mandatory quarantining for travellers 
  • Some countries kept their borders firmly shut, for example, New Zealand closed their borders for 2 years
  • Once vaccines arrived, travel rules eased, as long as you had evidence of vaccination or recent infection
• International action was a vital part of the pandemic management:
  • The global vaccine rollout was an important moment in 2021
  • The most vulnerable had high priority e.g. the elderly, people in healthcare and people with illnesses
  • The World Health Organisation aimed to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population by 2022
  • In many countries, vaccination was an official requirement for certain people
• Contact tracing and testing were a vital part of tracking the spread
  • Many countries had apps that would notify you of being in the presence of a positive case
  • Encouragement of regular testing
  • Encouragement to keep distance from people outside their household
• After the lifting of major lockdowns, other restrictions remained in place
  • Some countries enforced nighttime curfews 
  • Some countries adopted rules for hospitality and other events
    • Germany had a ‘2G’ rule, where people were only allowed to take part in certain activities if they were ‘geimpft’ (vaccinated) and ‘genesen’ (recovered) 
  • Encouragement or mandates for masking in public spaces in many countries
• The media played a vital role:
  • TV, social media and other media outlets spread information and educated people about the pandemic
  • However, misinformation and ‘fake news’ became a problem
  • The media labelled Covid-19 as ‘Wuhan Virus’ or ‘China Virus’, which increased xenophobia and racism-fuelled violence
• There was economic support for people in many countries where people faced unemployment
  • Many governments offered more than half of people’s salaries
  • International debt relief e.g. paying off loans and stopping evictions