Letter to San Carlos School District : The Coronavirus Pandemic and a problem that it raised for me.

I chose as my topic the Coronavirus pandemic and a problem that it raised for me. I have a 10 year old son, and I am very worried about the possibility of him getting infected. His school is planning a partial opening of in person education, so I wrote a letter to the school board about this.

I found all three of my sources useful and quite concerning. Unfortunately, the United States is doing very poorly in terms of controlling this new pandemic, and it is very similar to the problems we had 100 years ago with the flu pandemic in which 675,000 Americans died and 50-100 million people died throughout the world. Countries like China that controlled the pandemic well had a centralized response, while our country both now and 100 years ago was first in denial and later had a decentralized response that failed to put out the fire. We know from past pandemics of plague in Europe and multiple infectious diseases in the Americas that diseases can overwhelm and destroy whole societies.

I am very concerned about how we can respond to future pandemics. Our military has been quite aware of this as a. threat to our national security. Unfortunately, our current worship of market solutions has prevented us from taking the appropriate actions to control this pandemic and to prepare for future ones. As an example, no private health care provider can afford to store backup masks, personal protective equipment, or ventilators. The Federal government has to do this. Just in time procurement does not work in a pandemic.

Bellow are my letter and the link of the video presentation for all of you to Enjoy!!! 

Have a nice and healthy Summer!!!!


https://spark.adobe.com/video/EWhETgC3D4LkQ

Claudia Akel

NDNU ID# 662367

HST 2020- World History

11 July 2020

San Carlos School District

1200 Industrial Rd,

San Carlos, CA 94070

Dear San Carlos School District,

I am writing this letter because of my concern about the Corona Virus Pandemic currently ravaging the world. Cases in the United States and California are surging. The school District is planning to open classes partially to in person education, and I fear my 10 year old son will thereby be put at risk. Given the existence of the Pandemic and the current surge in cases plus the fact that a relative of mine died from Corona Virus, I feel this decision needs to be reconsidered. We know that asymptomatic carriers can infect others and spread infection widely throughout the community. It will be difficult for children to follow the CDC recommendations about frequent hand washing, social distancing, and use of masks anywhere near 100% compliance. Unfortunately, the response of our national government, mirroring its similar response to the 1918 influenza pandemic, has put us in this situation.

In part my concern is based on a World History Class I have been taking. I was taken aback at the role of infectious disease pandemics in history. The 14^th Century plague, like Corona virus, originated in China. Like Corona Virus human to human transmission occurs by respiratory droplets. Like Corona Virus there is an animal reservoir, in this case rats. Fleas then transmit the disease to humans. According to text book Ways of the World Chapter 11, “about half of Europe’s people perished during the initial outbreak of 1348-1350” (Strayer , p.484). The mortality rate of plague in the 14^th Century was 30-100%. While the mortality rate of Corona Virus is low, the virus could mutate and become more deadly. A physician I know has told me that it seems that Corona virus on the West Coast  came directly from China while virus in the East Coast came from Europe by way of China. The East Coast virus seems to be deadlier.

 During the Influenza epidemic of 1918 we saw an inadequate response at all levels of government. An additional contributing factor back then was that we were at war, and the US government did not want to hurt public morale.  As in the current pandemic, early and aggressive measures to contain the virus were very important. Saint Louis took action within 2 days of its first reported cases while Philadelphia waited 14 days and had a much greater outbreak. As we have seen during the current pandemic, early relaxation of social distancing and large gatherings produced new waves of infection. As in the current pandemic, there was no nationally coordinated response, and states and local governments were left to approach the pandemic on their own.  675,000 Americans died during the pandemic, and 50 to 100 million people died worldwide. There was no vaccine then and no antibiotics and no intensive care units then. In that pandemic more young people died than usual for influenza.

The current pandemic began in Wuhan, China. At the end of December, 2019 China informed the World Health Organization of a Novel Virus that was causing Pneumonia.  By January 7, 2020 the Chinese had published the full genome of the virus which enabled a German company to create a polymerase chain reaction test for the virus 10 days later. While the Chinese government was slow in informing its citizens of this threat, by January 22 the government closed down the epicenter of the epidemic, the city of Wuhan and its 11 million inhabitants. Soon thereafter it closed down Hubei Provence with its 60 million plus population. Much of the rest of the country also had various travel restrictions. There was massive testing and contact tracing as well as massive marshaling of medical resources.

The response of our government was totally inadequate if not incompetent.  The head of the Chinese CDC informed the head of US CDC of this outbreak in January 3.  The CDC established an incident management system on January 7 and an emergency response structure on January 21. A Corona virus task force was inaugurated on January 29. Unfortunately, President Trump was in denial about the danger this virus represented to the country for 2 ½ months. It was only on March 13 that President Trump declared a national emergency. There was no nationally directedplan to stop the spread of the virus and to marshal medical resources where needed. Despite the fact that there was a Corona virus test available in mid-January there was no test kit available in the US until the end of February, and contact tracing was virtually nonexistent.  As a result our epidemic continues with a death rate of 340 per million compared to the Chinese death rate of 3 per million.

As documented in Strayer, Ways of the World, pages 483 to 485, pandemics like the plague can dramatically affect history. The influenza pandemic of 1918 was similar in its effects. We don’t know how the Corona virus pandemic will play out. It is not impossible that it will mutate and become more lethal. We are currently seeing a surge of infections, particularly where states reopened early and where masks and social distancing are not followed.

In conclusion, given the above facts I would urgently implore the San Carlos School District to continue 100% distance learning.

Sincerely,

Claudia Akel

 Annotated Bibliography

Brockell, G. (2020, February 29). The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/29/1918-flu-coronavirus-trump/

This article was from online post of The Washington Post, a prominent US newspaper considered a paper of record like The New York Times. It finds similarities between the national and local responses to the Spanish Flue and the Covid-19 Pandemic. The author has an MS in journalism and has worked for The Washington Post for seven years. The search term was Corona Virus, Spanish Flu, US response. The search engine used was google and the source is a secondary source. It also contrasts the rapid response of Saint Louis with the slower response of Philadelphia and the significantly higher death rate in Philadelphia. As The Washington Post is own by Jeff Bezos and there is antagonism between Bezos and Trump there is a possibility of bias.

Newman, T. (2020, April 19). COVID-19 vs. previous pandemics. Health News %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/comparing-covid-19-with-previous-pandemics

This site is part of Healthline Media UK which has 70 million visits to its site every month. Its medical affairs team all have advanced degrees in the health care field. The article presents a brief discourse on several prior pandemics across history including the plague and the Flu Pandemic of 1918. The search term was Corona Virus, Spanish Flu, US response. The search engine used was google and the source is a secondary source. The article compares the US response to the Spanish Flu and our current Corona Virus pandemic. It also looks at the Swine Flu epidemic of 2009 to 2010. As a scientific site, one would expect it to be impartial.

Yamey, G., & Jamison, D. (2020, June 10). U.S. response to COVID-19 is worse than China’s. 100 times worse. Time. https://time.com/5850680/u-s-response-covid-19-worse-than-chinas/

This article, appearing in a well-known center right mass circulation magazine, appeared two months after The Nation article. It updates the results of the pandemic in the United States and the failure of the US response. It further lays blame and contrasts the US response with that of China and other Nations that more successfully dealt with the pandemic. This source was found on the same search engine and utilizing the same search terms as the first source. It is also a secondary source. The authors are academic professors in global health. Yamey is on the faculty at Duke University, and Jamison is professor emeritus at UCSF. This article, written by two specialists in global health appearing in the center right journal, should help limit the possibility of bias in the first article. The relevance of this article is that it confirms and extends the findings of The Nation article. In contrast to the journalist author of The Nation article, these two authors are academic experts in global health, presumably with no axe to grind.

My computer speaker didn't  work, and a friend lent me her computer but her computer was not accepting my wireless , so I finished my presentation in the parking lot of San Carlos Library so I could use their internet.