Essay Example on COVID-19: Deadly Virus Spread by Droplets & Aerosol Transmission

Introduction

COVID-19 belongs to the genus B of the coronavirus. Its particles are close to that of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus(SARs). (Abroug et al.,2014) COVID-19 has been closely associated with the coronavirus found in bats.

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The infection is transmitted when a respiratory organ comes into contact with the droplets infected with the deadly virus.it is also possible to be transmitted through aerosol transmission, especially in a closed room where the particles of the virus are highly concentrated. The symptoms of the new corona are mild in children. Symptoms of coronavirus include fever, dry cough, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea, and a feeling of tiredness. Coronavirus has closely been associated with pneumonia. Out of the total number of patients admitted, only a small amount of them are in critical condition. The males have had a higher mortality rate compared to females. The incubation period for the virus is between 1 to 14 days.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) more than two million have tested positive for coronavirus, with 141,454 people killed by the deadly infection. The United States has the biggest number of confirmed cases. The infection has more than 600000 confirmed cases,53588 cases of those who have recovered, and more than 33000 deaths in the USA. New York City has been overwhelmed the most with a reported number of more than 11,000 faculties. The other countries that have been affected by this infection are the European countries like Italy, Germany, France, and England. The death rate in us is at 4.1%, which is low, considering the fact that the country has a very high population within the virus affecting only seven out of every 100,000 people.

Social View Point of Corona Virus

Governments all over the world have enforced measures to control the coronavirus epidemic. Reducing the movement of people is the best way to contain the spread of this virus. Governments are imposing lockdowns, and people are required to practice social distancing. When the virus people had a myth that people with black skin could not be affected by this infection. To be specific, people believed that the virus did not infect Africans. Although the virus took time before reaching Africa, it got there and proved to be no difference between the black race and the other races.

Coronavirus has changed the simple things that people used to do, like shaking hands, using public transport, going to work, and people now wash their hands more than they used to do before. Countries that have been hardest hit by this epidemic no longer value money as much as they value their lives. The economies of countries from all over the world are weakening each, and every day the coronavirus continues killing more people. For the first time, the skies are now free from the pollution from the numerous industries from all over the world. People prefer to sit back in their houses rather than risk getting infected with infection.

Coronavirus has strengthened family bonds by preventing people from going to work. Coronavirus has made it possible for some family members to finally interact with their relatives because they are usually ever working. Streets are now clear of the cars and the people who are ever busy in their daily activities. Towns all over the world are clear of noise from vehicles and industries. On weekends instead of people engaging in their usual leisure activities like attending football matches or parties, people are now forced to hide from this epidemic. Home is now the only place to be for everyone. All the important meetings that were organized had to be postponed. Most people are unemployed due to the virus, while others are forced to work from home. Governments have been forced to order the closure of schools to keep the situation in control.

Sociological Concepts

Functionalist concept

In functionalism, society has to work together to maintain a social balance and equilibrium in society. Each institution in society plays a role that it is supposed to play in society, and this way, the whole of society becomes interconnected (Little, 2014). The connection is because the role played by one institution influences the other institutions in society. For example, as the number of single parents increases, children perform more poorly in school. The poor performance is because the parent available is busy with work, and thus the parent lacks time to guide the child. Elements that help the society are known as functional, while those that do not have any benefit to the society are known as dysfunctional. In this case, the coronavirus is dysfunctional because it has disrupted the balance of society. Coronavirus has caused instability in the world, with most people fearing for their lives to the extent that people lock themselves in their houses. Although the infection has led to the death of many people, it has also brought people together. The doctors have played their social role in society by helping the sick recovery.

Conflict Concept

The conflict concept views society as a place with groups with different interests; thus, they need to compete for the resources available. Unlike the functionalism concept, which encouraged unity, which mainly is concerned with survival, the conflict concept is were groups in the society are concerned with what benefits them more. Here the society id divided into two, those who own the production factors and the people who work for them. The ones in charge of the resources will always make sure that they manipulate the institutions of the society for them to benefit. The presence of epidemics like the coronavirus shifts the mind of people from their normal daily activities, and people are now more concerned with how they are going to survive the outbreak. Since the infection kills both the rich and the poor, then both parties will not conflict.

Symbolic Interactionist Concept

The conflict concept and the functionalism concepts investigate how significant aspects of society like the institutions affect the social world. However, the symbolic interactionist concept looks at the small picture at the individual level of interaction. It looks at the face to face interactions of individuals mostly in small groups. The concept emphasizes that humans respond to the definition and meaning interpreted from interaction with other humans. People are most definitely to react to a situation according to how they define the situation rather than responding due to the objective of the case. This perception suggests that social interactions determine how people view themselves. To see how they are perceived in society, people observe how other people judge their actions.

Sociological Viewpoint and Medical View Point

Society defines which environment in which diseases are to be stigmatized or the ones not to be stigmatized. The community also qualifies a condition to be a disability or not. If a virus is stigmatized, those suffering from the disease will hide from the other people due to tip stigma. The stigma around corona is because it is a new infection, and people do not know a lot about the disease. Inadequate information leads to a lot of speculation about the condition (Chappell & Penning,2009). Having much unknown information may cause people to adopt unhealthy behavior about the disease. For example, it was believed that black skin is not affected by the coronavirus. Such a misconception may misguide someone with black skin to expose themselves to the coronavirus because they will not be affected.

Countries all over the world are working in solidarity to defeat the coronavirus. The developed countries like the united states are have put much effort into trying to find ways of dealing with this epidemic through the use of technology and scientific innovation. Women are known to respond to health cases more than men are likely to respond to these cases. Women are reported to have taken the travel restriction advice more severely than men did. Out of the total number of confirmed cases, about 60% of these number are men. In Italy, the mortality rate in males was more than about twice that of the females. The cultural fragmentation has surrounded, led to a low response to the disease. The people in the government are more concerned with the struggles of power more than they are concerned with the seriousness that is needed in fighting this epidemic. Due to the government being decentralized, the country cannot enact a lockdown fast enough.

The virus has killed both rich and poor people. It has found its way into developed and developing countries. The rich are donating millions of money to aid the less privileged in the society. Coronavirus is killing people from all races and social classes Humanity has realized that the only way to handle this epidemic is by working together. To defeat the coronavirus, involved parties need to support public health with social solidarity. Medical experts should provide the necessary information about the epidemic, and that way, unconfirmed information that people believe to be true will not be generated.

References

Abroug, F., Slim, A., Ouanes-Besbes, L., Hadj Kacem, M. A., Dachraoui, F., Ouanes, I., Lu, X., Tao, Y., Paden, C., Caidi, H., Miao, C., Al-Hajri, M. M., Zorraga, M., Ghaouar, W., BenSalah, A., Gerber, S. I., & World Health Organization Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus International Investigation Team (2014). Family cluster of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections, Tunisia, 2013. Emerging infectious diseases, 20(9), 1527-1530. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2009.140378

Chappell, N., & Penning, M. (2009). Understanding health, health care, and health policy in Canada: Sociological perspectives. Oxford University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-14711-000

Little, W. (2014) Introduction to Sociology-1st Canadian Edition, Health and Medicine, 580-600 https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter19-health-and-medicine/

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Coronavirus disease 2019. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwim_pr__PDoAhWuDWMBHcDcD5cQFjABegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Femergencies%2Fdiseases%2Fnovel-coronavirus-2019&usg=AOvVaw2bqm1AADArANglLPqDC5aW