Essay Example on Covid-19: A Global Crisis Requiring a Change in Behaviour

Introduction

Since November 2019, the world has witnessed the emergence of a deadly virus, COVID-19, whose management demands a total change in social and health behavior ("BBC News," n.d). World Health Organization (n.d) labels the COVID-19 virus as contiguous, quick to attack the next person who is in a one-meter circumference with an infected person. An evaluation of the current news on BBC, Al Jazeera English, and Voice of America (VOA), among other pieces of literature, indicates the reaction of populations towards the emergence and the management of the spread of COVID-19 and its fatalities. This work discusses the human social and health behaviors relating to the control of the spreading of the virus relative to principles of altruism, conformity, persuasion, and prejudice.

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Discussion of the Human Reaction to COVID-19

A review of videos on the world's main broadcasting stations indicates different types of reactions from the population. A section of people exhibits high levels of altruism. World Health Organization complains of a high level of ignorance in African and Asian countries. Despite the availability of adequate social and behavioral health guidelines from authentic establishments like the World Health Organization (WHO), a section of people ignore the risks of indiscipline social behaviors and dangerously interact with people from regions marked as hotspots. Similarly, the Social And Behavioral Response To Coronavirus (n.d) indicates that some of the population coming from the hotspot areas struggle to dodge self-quarantine procedures emanating from their governments. In health perspectives, the altruistic group ignores the health practices that make one's body strong to fight the Corona Virus. The methods include regular exercise, maintaining a balanced diet, and obtaining the necessary treatment for opportunistic diseases. This group falls into the reckless classification, ignoring the concerns of the potential outburst of the disease possible to arise from cases of social indiscipline.

Another lot is the group of conformity. This section of the population or governments adheres to the guidelines from the frontline organizations like America's Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Britain's National Health Services (NHS), and the WHO. World Health Organization (n.d.) website has videos indicating the efforts of health workers geared in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), citizens in masks, and both the groups adhering to regular hand-washing and sanitizing recommendations. These groups also subscribe to the body exercises, diet, and timely treatment of opportunistic diseases. The conformity group is the rightful minded group. The group focuses on taking their share in the management of the spread of the virus. This group desires to remain safe and keep the next person safe from the virus.

Through VOA broadcast, the Latest on Coronavirus Pandemic around The World (n.d.) indicates a group that only adheres to recommendations after intense persuasion from relevant authorities. All along, the best approach of containing the spread is maintaining safe social distance, the optimum being two meters, and the least a meter. However, to minimize human interactions, WHO, NHS, and CDC advise people staying at home. Implementation of this approach seems impractical except in areas where governments resorted to imposing curfews. Where there is no curfew, the government engages campaigns that aim at persuading their citizens to stay at home. The population that adheres to thorough persuasion works under stringent measures to convince them. Despite the group's understanding of the overlaying health threats, their daily wants derail their adherence to the standards, until after strong persuasive measures ("Al Jazeera English, " n.d). This initiative, together with the rapidly increasing number of infections and subsequent deaths, persuade populations to stay indoors.

COVID-19 spread methodology also incites the emergence of prejudice. Since its eruption in Wuhan, China faced discrimination from most parts of the world. WHO criticized Donald Trump for referring to the disease as 'Chinese Virus' ("The Latest on Coronavirus Pandemic around The World," n.d). BBC News (n.d.) reports frequent complaints from Chinese nationals for being branded the initiators of the virus. In the turn of events, Africans in China have reported of being evicted from their rental houses in China for allegations of spreading the second phase of the disease in the nation ("Al Jazeera English," n.d). Despite the efforts of the victims to adhere to all social distancing and health practice calls from the disease control front runners like the WHO, CDC, and governments, it will still face prejudice from the perpetrators. Groups that harbour prejudice does not employ logic but bases its argument on fallacies.

Conclusion

The emergence of COVID-19 has led to a change in the social and health behaviors among the populations. Due to the nature of the disease, different groups of people exhibit different reactions to the disease and the measures laid by the respective agencies in the efforts to combat the disease. While some groups are altruistic, other groups perfect in ignoring the calls for precaution and recklessly mixing with other people. Also, while some circles of people and establishments conform to the recommendations of public health advisors' guidance, others only comply after thorough persuasions. COVID-19 has also escalated the levels of prejudice among different people and organizations, blaming each for mismanagement of the condition. Effective control management of the disease depends on undivided attention and complete adherence to the guidelines from the health management establishments like the WHO, CDC, and NHS.

References

Al Jazeera English. (n.d.). Coronavirus pandemic. https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/events/coronavirus-outbreak.html

BBC News. (n.d.) Coronavirus. https://www.bbc.com/news/coronavirus

The Latest on Coronavirus Pandemic around The World. (n.d.). https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/latest-coronavirus-pandemic-around-world

The Social And Behavioral Response To Coronavirus . (n.d.). https://www.socialsciencespace.com/coronavirus/

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Coronavirus. www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus