Case Study: Pandemic (DP IB Geography)

Case Study: COVID-19

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