We are living in drastic times. It is hard to believe four weeks ago the nation resided in a state of normalcy that changed abruptly. I watched the crisis go from rumors of the school being closed, then closing for extending weeks, to finally a shut down for the time being. As someone who reads about disease and death as much as I do in both my classes and free time, I believed the situation was under control. In hindsight, this pandemic makes me reflect on how lucky I am. I have been able to grow up under the protection of modern medicine, a middle-class income, and community in both my church and home life who is ultimately willing to help each other. Still, as I place myself in the middle of the aisle being reasonably concerned for myself and others while also remaining calm, I hear a clash between rhetoric over in media.
Day-in-and-day-out I hear two different rhetorics; the one from the media that seems to be describing the end-times, while the other is possibly being too optimistic of when it will end. Is the worst behind or ahead of us? Are we in the thick of this now and will it soon be gone? As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. While President Trump delivers a message of optimism to America, I’m not entirely convinced. While I do believe his intentions are good, I see Immunologist Anthony Fauci having to balance out his claims often. In an NPR interview, Fauci states that President Trump wants Easter as the aspirational date for Americans to get back to work but has warned Trump he will have to be flexible (Noel King 2020). It should be noted that President Trump has an election coming up, and for his own benefit handling this situation well could land him a second term. I appreciate Anthony Fauci’s pragmatism and grounding that he offers to President Trump’s high expectations. This is a dire situation, but the way the media often portrays it I think is a disservice to the public. Hysterics never makes a situation any easier, I cringe as ABC News with David Muir comes on and I hear the presentation of the headlines. The tone and delivery I believe do more harm to viewers than good. Broadcasts are required to get ratings and that is something we often forget to keep in mind, alarmism brings money to media outlets. I see headlines that are meant to implement the rhetoric of fear, one that is just as hurtful as rhetoric lacking urgency. What are we communicating to our citizens if we show the virus this way?
The rhetoric between countries brings to mind books such as Lord of the Flies. The pandemic has formed a tribal mentality amongst us and other countries, and we are more likely to look towards one source as the problem in times of panic. Some are misdirecting this at Asian Americans rather than a corrupt government that resides over the origination point of Wuhan, China (Margolin 2020). Still, if we cut off the head of what we believe is the cause of the pandemic, will another head sprout back in its place? What do we have in our power to do about a government that is not our own, especially when we are quarantining ourselves at the moment? While the disease has a country of origin, I don’t believe that the citizens of that country should suffer for it, rather the irresponsible government. If humanity is what we are protecting I think we have reason to be wary of a government that disregards the humanity of its own people by putting them in harm’s way of the virus originally (Meservy 2020).
As someone interested in public health and bioethics, I have respect for the individuals leading us through this pandemic both in government and in medicine. My generation has never experienced hard times, I grew up hearing stories of the great depression from my grandmother who suffered as a child and had to conserve probably more than I am doing now. We are lucky to have been born in the times we live in for advanced technology and medicine as the tests become more available to the public (no matter how slowly). Despite this, we are seeing hard times in our lives (most of us for the first time) and this should make us value human existence and everyday life more than ever.
Literature Cited
King N. 2020. Dr. Anthony Fauci Discusses The Latest Coronavirus Facts. NPR. 2020 Mar 26 [accessed 2020 Mar 28]. Available from https://www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821842052/dr-anthony-fauci-discusses-the-latest-coronavirus-facts
Margolin J. 2020. FBI warns of potential surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans amid coronavirus. ABC News. [accessed 2020 Mar 28]. Available from https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-warns-potential-surge-hate-crimes-asian-americans/story?id=69831920&cid=clicksource_69335433_2_hero_headlines_headlines_hed
Meservey J. 2020. China Ignores Lessons of the Ebola Outbreak and the World Pays. The Heritage Foundation. [accessed 2020 Mar 28]. Available from https://www.heritage.org/public-health/commentary/china-ignores-lessons-the-ebola-outbreak-and-the-world-pays
Alexa's Blog 
Hi Alexa,
I agree with what you have written here. I think we are all struggling to stay optimistic during this troubling time, and it is definitely hard not knowing the end date of all of this. But, I also agree that we are incredible lucky to have the medicine to even consider fighting such an incredibly contagious disease. This is a crazy time and all of it all seems a little unreal, and it is easy to forget how bad it is when avoiding the news and talk of the virus for our own sanity. Yet, I am very hopeful that we are all doing what we can to fight this the best we know how. If anything this has brought back the sense of community our world has lacked sometimes. This time has all reminded us of the basics, which is hard but maybe for the best. It is crazy to think how much of society has changed in such a short time and it is scary to think about how all of this will change our society as we knew it. I don’t think we are aware of what is yet to come. But I hope the corona virus is almost done with us, because I think we are starting to get a little fed up with staying separated and refraining from doing the many things that we enjoy most in life. I know I am looking forward to shopping, eating out, going back to school and hanging out with friends.
Thank you for your thoughtfulness and hard work.
I hope all is well. Take care.
Sincerely,
Anna
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