How Covid is Affecting the Election

     Because of the recent pandemic, many people are concerned about the large gatherings that will occur from voting in the upcoming election. The general trends that we are seeing is that democratic are more in favor of mail-in ballots, while republicans are more in favor of in-person voting. According to a New York Times article about mail-in ballots, President Trump claims that mail-in ballots are more risky because people will tamper with the votes. However, the article states that "Voting fraud in the United States is rare, less rare is fraud using mail ballots." Democrats asked for a delayed election to account for the mail in ballots, but these demands were denied by Republican-led legislators. In the end, both sides think the other party may have an advantage over them due to the way they choose to vote. This has caused a lot of controversy surrounding the topic. In response to this, some states have allowed for 'no excuse absentee voting' while others are sticking to in person voting unless there are "extenuating circumstances". Not wanting to contract covid 19 is not accepted as one of these circumstances. Regardless, however you choose to vote, make sure you do!! 

Covid Vaccines and Global Cooperation

     Everyone knows that developing a safe and effective vaccine for the recent Covid virus has been THE question. How will it be produced? How quickly can it be produced? Is it safe? And if so, will people even get vaccinated? But there are other major questions that need to be asked too. Producing the vaccine is not the only thing we need in order to get it out to the public. The glass vials and syringes the vaccine is in need to be mass produced and able to withstand the needs of the vaccine at such extremely low temperatures. There also needs to be a way to store and transport these vaccines at these low temperatures. The most promising vaccines entering the final stages of testing use mRNA, with will denature unless it is kept at low temperatures as low as -80º C and -20ºC. The first question is what kind of glass can this be stored in that will not crack. A glass company in New York, Corning, can produce a new type of pharmaceutical grade glass that can withstand these temperatures. But this one company will not be enough to support the world, so they need to teach other companies in other countries how they are doing this. The next step is transporting these vials. Warehouses with large freezers are able to store these vaccines and transportation companies such as Fedex are using trucks with build in freezers to transport them. However airfare is more difficult because large amounts of dry ice are needed to keep the vials cold, which can be dangerous if seeped out at such high altitudes. This leaves poorer counties without the availability of large scale freezers and without imports from airfare out of the loop. And as we said, this pandemic will not get fixed until we all can get vaccinated. Another inequality is that according to the New York Times, at least 69 countries have banned or restricted the export of medical devices in order to conserve them for their own countries needs. This is leaving poorer countries without the availability to produce or buy these materials to fend for themselves.  There needs to be stations set up in these counties like Elon Musks "micro-factories", which could be set up in countries around the world to produce billions of doses of the vaccines. Of course these micro-factories would need to be accompanied with the materials, storage, transportation freezers, and professionals to go with them. The main point of all of this is that not only is this going to take time and money, but it will take global cooperation as well. Not only by sharing potential vaccines, but all of the materials that come with it, especially to the countries who don't have the ability to get these things on their own. Because the world is so integrated now, this pandemic will not end until every county has access to these things. That is the question we need to be asking, how are we going to help every country get vaccinated? That is the most important factor to ending this pandemic all together. 

Why Is The US Taking Longer To Recover From The Pandemic Than Other Countries?

     There are many factors that come in to play when answering the question, "why is the US taking longer to recover from the pandemic than other countries?" One of the possibilities is the way our government has handled the crisis. President Trump admitted to downplaying the severity of the pandemic and heckled those politicians who wore masks. This caused social distancing rules to be mandated late, as well as leading some Americans to think masks were unnecessary and refuse to wear them which has contributed to the spread. Other countries who took the pandemic more seriously early on such as the Germany, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Taiwan are doing well now. Another thing that these countries have in common, is that they are all lead by women, which may also be a contributing factor. An article that we read for our Geo class said that many women got to the position they are in by listening to others opinions and not letting their ego get in the way. They also place a large emphasis on science and health, making that a first priority for them. These women have also taken the safe route instead of making risker decisions such as opening up the country or relaxing covid regulations before the country is ready. While this may not be the only reason for these countries success, it is definitely something to account for. Another possibility could be prideful Americans refusing to wear masks because they are "exercising their rights." Americans have been known for being rebellious and fighting for what they believe in. But in this case, its making things worse. Scientists say that wearing a mask will help prevent the spread of Covid, and many Americans simply refuse to do that. Because of the nature of this virus, the fast spread and asymptomatic carriers, this virus has been especially hard to contain. Until people following regulations or there is a vaccine, the virus will continue to spread. Even a vaccine may be contraversial. According to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS only about half of Americans said they would try the vaccine when it came out, and that number seems to have dropped since May. In addition to the already existing distrust of the medical system, many are also worried about the legitimacy of the vaccine because it was rushed. These factors along with others, all contribute to why the US is doing worse than other countries during this pandemic. 

Has Education Provided Equal Opportunity During the Pandemic?

     A recent blog post I made answers this questions, which is clearly no. Many people do not have access to the materials they need, such as internet and laptops, to be successful during online school. Another issue that we have seen is some kids do not do as well learning on their own, as opposed to being in class and having access to a teacher. College students also don't have full access to the resources available to them on campus such as tutors and study groups. This can affect learning in a negative way. This can also be frustrating for college students who pay a lot of money to have access to those resources. The material we are actually learning is also decreasing for many students because it is easier to cheat in online courses. Students will do this in order to help their GPA, however we are not learning as much as we used to because we aren't having to study for tests we usually would have to because we can just access our notes or look it up online. This will affect our majors and future professions because although we may graduate with a degree, we may not really be qualified. 

    The answer to this may seem simple- Why don't we just do face to face classes like in Europe and Asia? The reality is that we have not handled the Covid situation as well as other countries, and are just not in a position to do that safely right now. We have seen this at UK, where the virus is spreading like crazy even with students classes being mostly online. I have been contact traced twice from the safety of my apartment. The virus is not controlled enough here to add face-to-face classes, which at UK would be large groups of people, to the mix. Until people start wearing masks, social distancing, and taking this virus seriously, I have a feeling that it wont be over any time soon.