COVID-19: Health, Economic, and Political Impact Explained

Introduction

Almost a year ago, COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, first emerged as a major health epidemic in China; now, it has spread around the globe, not only killing people but also bringing economies to a halt.

While most people are aware that there is a global COVID-19 pandemic currently impacting people, there has been a sufficient amount of intentional and unintentional misinformation about this strain of the coronavirus that many people do not understand the extent of the problem. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most significant epidemic or pandemic event to hit the world since the Spanish Flu of 1918 and 1919. By the end of that pandemic, between three and five percent of the world's population had died as a result of a particularly virulent strain of influenza (Roos, 2020). It also led to a massive economic struggle for people around the globe, including thrusting the United States into a two-year depression.

This pandemic event shares many similarities with the Spanish Flu, but also some significant differences. Ways that it is similar include the health impacts of the disease, some of the risk factors, and containment efforts. Ways that it is different include overall mortality rates, the economic impact of the disease, and how COVID-19 influences politics.

Thesis: Although a smaller percentage of people around the globe are likely to die from COVID-19 than died from the Spanish Flu, it is likely that COVID-19 will have a more dramatic and long-lasting effect on global politics, the economy, and long-term health than the Spanish Flu pandemic did.

What Is COVID-19?

The coronavirus known as COVID-19 is one of many coronaviruses. It is often called a novel virus because it was first identified in humans in 2019. The term "coronavirus" refers to zoonotic viruses that cause illnesses in animals and can be transmitted from animals to humans. There are several types of coronaviruses, but most of them cause mild illnesses in people. However, there have been some other significant coronaviruses that have caused local epidemics and demonstrated pandemic potential, such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). Although the term refers to a range of illnesses, coronaviruses generally target the respiratory system and produce symptoms ranging from mild to severe pneumonia and death.

COVID-19 has a more dramatic impact on many people's health than prior coronavirus infections, and it also has a wider range of effects. In some people, it can be asymptomatic. In others, it can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal problems. For those most severely impacted, it can impair breathing and cause organ failure, resulting in death. COVID-19 is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, where the initial point of animal-to-human transmission likely occurred in a market selling both live and dead animals for human consumption. The genetics of the virus suggest that it originally began in a bat, though it may have passed through other types of animals before reaching humans. The disease appears to have the ability to evolve rapidly, with different strains impacting different areas of the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020).

References

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "People at Increased Risk." CDC. 11 September 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/index.html. Accessed 17 October 2020.

Cucinotta, D. and Vanelli, M. "WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic." Acta Biomed, 91(1):157–160. 19 March 2020. doi 10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397.

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Roos, D. "When WWI, Pandemic, and Slump Ended, Americans Sprung into the Roaring Twenties." History. 24 April 2020. Accessed 17 October 2020.

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