Pandemic Essay
Ana Jaquez
P. Andrews
World History II
16 April 2020
Pandemic
In our world today we are going through a global pandemic and it is so crazy for all of us. A lot of people are scared and worried that the world will never be the same. It is crazy how one virus can spread so fast and be so deadly. Thanks to the Corona Virus also known as COVID-19 our world has forever changed and is going through a lot. We are all hoping for this nightmare to end. We have had pandemics before but this one came without notice everywhere in the world.
A pandemic is a global outbreak of disease. Pandemics happen when a new virus emerges to infect people and can spread between people sustainably. Because there is little to no pre-existing immunity against the new virus, it spreads worldwide. COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. This is due to the rapid increase in the number of cases outside China over the past couple months that has affected a growing number of countries. This virus has spread so fast in the month of April the U.S. has the most death cases than any other country which supported us being under quarantine for a longer period of time.
Some people can confuse a pandemic with an epidemic. Epidemic is used to describe a disease that got out of control to others and that is focused in a region. Pandemic is usually used when it affects the entire country or the whole world and it is geographically spread. Also it can be used when a disease is actively spreading out to others. For a disease to be considered a pandemic it does not need to spread around the globe it can also be regional as in the cases below. Regional can mean countries and it can still be considered being a pandemic. COVID-19 is considered a pandemic because it is global and it spreads so fast to others and it is now also considered a national emergency to our country.
Our global pandemic today is very serious but there have been many others in the past for our world. I was doing some research on the Great Plague Of London and those were from the years of 1665-1666. This fight against the pandemic was led by King Charles II and the pandemic struck in Great Britain in London. The plague started in April 1665 and spread quickly through the hot summer months. Fleas from plague-infected rodents were one of the main causes of transmission and it spread so fast because they were so tiny and it was in hot weather which caused it to be harder to control. By the time the plague ended, about 100,000 people, including 15% of the population of London, had died. After the plague there were several precautions and vaccines made to protect the people to feel more safe. London has not seen a plague or an incident like that except the COVID-19 virus that is happening all over the world right now.
One other pandemic we had in the recent past that was going on was the 1918-1919 pandemic involving the H1N1 virus. That pandemic was pretty severe and we just had a scare in the year of 2009 involving H1N1, but 100 years ago they never knew how this virus started but it spread in the United States. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. This was a lot of deaths for being back in the past. Since there was no cure or vaccine to the virus it went through similar things like we are going through now in the U.S such as isolating, quarantine, good hygiene but should be practiced frequently and the use of disinfectants.
My experience living through this global pandemic of COVID-19 has me being surprised and I can not believe it is true but sadly it is. A lot of my plans got ruined and my school year ended quicker than expected. But I just hope our country can get through this global pandemic as quickly as possible because I am sure everyone wants to get back to their normal life. But, it is also frustrating to me that some people are not following the rules and it could also be why our quarantine keeps on growing. We want this pandemic to go away and go back to the way things were. I also feel like things will never be the same but maybe we will change for the better by being more clean and respectful towards others and not rage out.
Works Cited
“1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Mar. 2019, www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html.
Strayer, Robert W., and Eric Nelson. Thinking through Sources for Ways of the World: a Brief Global History, Fourth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2019.
P. Andrews
World History II
16 April 2020
Pandemic
In our world today we are going through a global pandemic and it is so crazy for all of us. A lot of people are scared and worried that the world will never be the same. It is crazy how one virus can spread so fast and be so deadly. Thanks to the Corona Virus also known as COVID-19 our world has forever changed and is going through a lot. We are all hoping for this nightmare to end. We have had pandemics before but this one came without notice everywhere in the world.
A pandemic is a global outbreak of disease. Pandemics happen when a new virus emerges to infect people and can spread between people sustainably. Because there is little to no pre-existing immunity against the new virus, it spreads worldwide. COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. This is due to the rapid increase in the number of cases outside China over the past couple months that has affected a growing number of countries. This virus has spread so fast in the month of April the U.S. has the most death cases than any other country which supported us being under quarantine for a longer period of time.
Some people can confuse a pandemic with an epidemic. Epidemic is used to describe a disease that got out of control to others and that is focused in a region. Pandemic is usually used when it affects the entire country or the whole world and it is geographically spread. Also it can be used when a disease is actively spreading out to others. For a disease to be considered a pandemic it does not need to spread around the globe it can also be regional as in the cases below. Regional can mean countries and it can still be considered being a pandemic. COVID-19 is considered a pandemic because it is global and it spreads so fast to others and it is now also considered a national emergency to our country.
Our global pandemic today is very serious but there have been many others in the past for our world. I was doing some research on the Great Plague Of London and those were from the years of 1665-1666. This fight against the pandemic was led by King Charles II and the pandemic struck in Great Britain in London. The plague started in April 1665 and spread quickly through the hot summer months. Fleas from plague-infected rodents were one of the main causes of transmission and it spread so fast because they were so tiny and it was in hot weather which caused it to be harder to control. By the time the plague ended, about 100,000 people, including 15% of the population of London, had died. After the plague there were several precautions and vaccines made to protect the people to feel more safe. London has not seen a plague or an incident like that except the COVID-19 virus that is happening all over the world right now.
One other pandemic we had in the recent past that was going on was the 1918-1919 pandemic involving the H1N1 virus. That pandemic was pretty severe and we just had a scare in the year of 2009 involving H1N1, but 100 years ago they never knew how this virus started but it spread in the United States. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. This was a lot of deaths for being back in the past. Since there was no cure or vaccine to the virus it went through similar things like we are going through now in the U.S such as isolating, quarantine, good hygiene but should be practiced frequently and the use of disinfectants.
My experience living through this global pandemic of COVID-19 has me being surprised and I can not believe it is true but sadly it is. A lot of my plans got ruined and my school year ended quicker than expected. But I just hope our country can get through this global pandemic as quickly as possible because I am sure everyone wants to get back to their normal life. But, it is also frustrating to me that some people are not following the rules and it could also be why our quarantine keeps on growing. We want this pandemic to go away and go back to the way things were. I also feel like things will never be the same but maybe we will change for the better by being more clean and respectful towards others and not rage out.
Works Cited
“1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Mar. 2019, www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html.
Strayer, Robert W., and Eric Nelson. Thinking through Sources for Ways of the World: a Brief Global History, Fourth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2019.
It's the first time the WHO has called an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1 "swine flu" in 2009.
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