The Emergence of a Vaccine and Global Politics

It is no secret that the race for the Coronavirus vaccine goes way beyond the medical field. As my parents like to say, we are living through World War III, and whoever gets the most effective vaccine first will win this "war." It is not only a matter of money, but a matter of allies and countries one vaccine can reach faster. 

Resembling what China has managed to do by offering billions of dollar loans, and fast access to a promised vaccine in order to get their friends closer and "repair damaged ties" as this New York Times article explains it.  Repairing these ties and bringing more countries closer to the Chinese would skyrocket its economical and political power worldwide. 

China being the first one to develop a vaccine would have a massive impact on global politics, because since the past World Wars it has been proven that the most powerful country is the one with more allies, more tight-knit connections that can serve not only relationship-wise but help countries grow massively economic-wise. There would also be a lot of denial or rejection towards the vaccine by countries who do not consider themselves China's allies and would rather keep risking millions of people's lives instead of enriching the "enemy." 

Image taken from: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/chinese-labs

Covid vaccines and Global Cooperation

Everything in this world requires global cooperation and globalization patterns to be available everywhere. From shoes and clothes to electronics like computers, phones, and electro domestics. 

When it comes to a global pandemic, everyone is involved in a way, and everyone's life is impacted somehow. And when the emergence of a vaccine that will make life a little bit more normal is in play, pharmaceutical industries and governments worldwide need to unite in order to get the so-long-awaited vaccine to as many people as possible. 

Here, I am going to give some examples of global cooperation that is needed in order to achieve this goal. 

First, the vaccine itself. During the last few months, the world has witnessed the biggest race for a vaccine in history. Hundreds of laboratories in multiple countries working -some working together- to accelerate this scientific process. But laboratories alone never could've done this; millions of volunteers cooperating to prove the vaccine's efficiency and billionaires all over the world funding these trials and investigations. For me, this is the first and biggest proof of global cooperation: when civilians decide to get involved in research. 

Second, after the long-awaited cure is found, mass production must start. From syringe manufacturing to other medical tools' production, all of these can be considered almost as important as the vaccine itself, as stated by the New York Times article "Find a Vaccine. Next: Produce 300 Million Vials of It." The extraordinary demand on manufacturing that will come after the vaccine is found will be huge, and global cooperation will be needed because of all the syringes and raw materials that will need to be produced on a global scale. Once again, the solution for a very feared shortage problem goes beyond labs, involving many more industries all around the globe. 

Finally, distribution. At this point, global trade will skyrocket regardless of how many countries decide to accept the vaccine found by one of the pharmaceutical giants. The whole transportation industry will be involved not only to get the vaccine everywhere, but also to transport it with the required safety measures (for instance, the need for shipping it at -80 degrees Celsius ) Extremely rigorous planning will be required for successful massive shipping, involving each and every one of the countries that will receive the vaccine from abroad. 

Image retrieved from: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/shipping

Trying to Immigrate During A Pandemic

 The world has been paralyzed for more than six months now, and you might be wondering, how have people gone back home, to school abroad, or even to a new country to start a new post-pandemic life? Well, the answer to the first one is humanitarian flights. Something that sounds pretty apocalyptic, people trapped in countries that they do not consider their home, far away from family and scared. Well, one would think that those people were the first ones to be rescued, which is true to a certain extent and heavily depends on the country. I have family members that are still waiting for their spot on a humanitarian flight. 

But what about the rest? What about people who want to immigrate to another country and start a new life? Or even move to study? Well, the rest of us have had to pretty much accommodate to the idea of impossible immigration for the last 6-7 months, but after waiting for the longest time, our time has come. From my experience in Colombia, as someone who is wanting to immigrate to the United States as a student, the process has been long and tedious. For starters, the embassy was closed until not long ago, so they are packed. All the appointments I could get were given for December or January a bit close to my expected trip, but I'm sure it will all work out. 

Also, thanks to COVID, all the legal papers that needed to be sent by the university (I-20) in order to get a student visa (F1) were originally sent by mail, as a physical paper. But the pandemic didn't fail to turn all policies around. Something historical has happened, for the first time digitally signed, important papers are being accepted by the embassy. 

Image retrieved from:  https://unsplash.com/s/photos/passport

Coronavirus is Akin to The Lottery

 My mom came up with this strange but extremely accurate term to describe COVID. In the beginning, young people thought they were immune to the virus, it was seen only as a threat to older people with "weaker lungs." Then, the tables turned and 18,19, 20-year-olds started dying and young adults started questioning their "immunity" to the virus. 

In my family, this term originated when one of my dad's uncles who is 79, a smoker, and had Dengue (a tropical disease) at the same time as he was infected with COVID, survived; and one of my mother's friends, 30, a doctor and a runner died. Then we realized that COVID-19 is definitely like the lottery, you might "lose" aka survive, or you can be that one "ballot" that "wins" and dies of coronavirus even if you were the healthiest human in the world. 

It has been very interesting to see people gain conscience and shift from seeing coronavirus as a disease meant to wipe out the elderly, the "useless" (as many people see them), to it being deadly to absolutely everyone. The moral of the story is that there is no way we can know if we are part of those who are gonna win or lose this lottery.

Image taken from: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/lottery

Virtual Souls and Black Squares

Human interactions are the grassroots for sanity -at least for mine- and this pandemic has definitely pushed us all to the verge of insanity. 

When you meet a person, your bodies exchange physical energy or "vibes", you can identify their smell, their way of walking, and even their mannerisms while speaking. But when you're forced to meeting the people you might spend the next 4 years with through a screen, everything changes, and long story short, they do not feel real. 

Social media and online dating or making friends have been some of the things that have skyrocketed the most during the pandemic, as for the last 7 months we haven't been able to be more than 6 feet close to someone else. When you meet someone on Tinder, there are no strings attached and no responsibilities involved, which is great; the lack of pressure makes everything less stressful. But when you find yourself in a "virtual classroom" full of not people, but black squares with a name on them, things get pretty depressing (and awkward).

Personally, I enjoy being put in small breakout rooms (something I like to call a parallel multiverse to the big class) and getting some sort of human interaction, even if it's a black square speaking. Thinking what it could have been, how much more different this first college experience was supposed to be can be very saddening and frustrating, as of now I'm just grateful for those black squares that have given me the opportunity to meet a small part of them during a five-minute discussion, even if they don't feel real. 

Image retrieved from: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/zoom

Covid, Class and College

 If one year ago anyone would've asked me if there was any possibility of me staying in this country longer than June 2020, I would have said "there is not a single chance." But life is full of surprises, and now I'm here, in my room in Colombia taking my first semester of what totally does not feel like college. 

When I think about my personal life in my country, and my college classes colliding, the possibilities of that happening seem very small, but Dr. Tony Stallins proved me wrong when in one of his classes I saw a video of a Colombian woman's story that had previously been very popular in my country. Hearing this story in one of my college classes was not only very weird, but it also made me realize Kentucky and UK might not be as far as I think they are; I might not be as alienated from other students as I think I am, and most importantly, heartbreaking stories like Mrs. Toro's seem so close to home do in fact have an impact in the rest of the world. 

Seein my two worlds collide during a 50-minute lecture was shocking at first, I felt like I wasn't a complete stranger anymore, and I honestly cannot wait for it to happen again. 

Image taken from the NY Times article about Mrs. Toro's story.

UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines? (A Second Possibility)

During this pandemic, we often find ourselves worried about people in our families with pre-COVID diagnosed life-threatening diseases. Many people justify the distribution of a possible vaccine in need rather than "functionality".

Following this logic, if the government was obligated to provide a vaccine for only 1/3 of the population of Fayette County, Ky, they could consider running a survey and collecting personal data of the ill and the healthy, this way they could determine who needs the vaccine with more urgency according to who would is more threatened by COVID. 

Even though I do not fully agree with this idea, one of my classmates from this Geography class came up with it and I think it is a very interesting solution and point of view that should definitely be taken into account if it came to down to only give the vaccine to a restricted amount of people. 

UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines?

Fayette County, KY. 

What would happen if a COVID 19 vaccine was finally developed but only 1/3 out of the 323,152 civilians could receive it? I will attempt to structure a plan for the vaccine distribution based on careers, importance for the economy, and risk.

In the first place, it is important to acknowledge that Fayette County is home to some of the most important and advanced hospitals in the area. Thus, these hospitals have been frontline combating COVID cases since the outbreak. Because of this, physicians and health care workers should be at the top of the list to receive the vaccine. 

After healthcare workers have been vaccinated, another important thing is to keep the economy going, reason why essential workers (beyond medical staff) that depend on in-person tasks in order to have a stable income. These people not only need to work in-person to keep the economy going, but they also come in contact with tons of people every day, and as a result, they are more prone to getting infected.  

In my opinion, after healthcare and the economy have been secured, the vaccine should be given to people in communal living facilities, such as apartment complexes, very clogged neighborhoods, etc. Mostly because these places can be contagious hotspots due to the number of people that come in contact with each other on a daily basis. Also, some of the "clogged" neighborhoods might be home to low-income populations that usually don't have good access to health care and are more prone to die of coronavirus. 

After these populations have been secured -and if vaccines are still available- the elderly, kids, and people with known dangerous health conditions should be next in line, because they are the most prone to die from COVID but they are "last" in line because they are not essential to the economy or healthcare.

 

COVID in Pop Culture - British Edition

 Locate and present two examples of how pop culture has found Covid-19 and become part of the pandemic. Give the folks of the future something that conveys what our internet culture is like, as it is playing a large role in not only how we perceive the pandemic but also how we are managing to find humor and pathos in it.

As I mentioned in the last entry, pop culture has managed to shape around COVID 19. In England, Coronavirus memes have been taking over social media since the start of what they call "lockdown" and my british friend Will has done nothing but send me memes posted by british magazines/meme accounts. This has been my favorite:

This meme, was posted by @cosmopolitanuk, and even though it represents British pop culture, I think everyone around the world can relate to the fact that this has been the longest yet shortest year ever. It shows that no matter where people are, we are all experiencing lockdown in a somewhat similar way, where days are longer but months seem to go by in the blink of an eye. 

COVID in Pop Culture - American Edition

I'd like to say the COVID pandemic has been extremely different regarding social interactions (even if they are virtual) to any other the world has seen, why? Well, during other pandemics such as The Black Death (1346-1353) or the Spanish Flu (1918-1920) people were probably confined at home and scared, just like we are, but how did they spend their time? Well, Isaac Newton sat under a tree and discovered gravity during the Great Plague of London, which says a lot. Contrary to this, people in 2020 are not discovering physics laws, they're on their phones, on their laptops, watching Netflix, Youtube and Tiktok. 

I dare to say there has been a huge social media "boom" and pop culture influence during this pandemic; since everyone is one screen away, knowing how others are living through this is very easy and being connected to the rest of the world has become normal to many of us, which is what makes the COVID pandemic so special. Nobody during the 1918s would've known how people in the other side of the world were experiencing confinement during, but now we do. This has also caused pop culture and entertainment industries to shift their usual content to COVID content. 

One example of this in the United States is how Grey's Anatomy, the worldwide recognized medical show, that has been on the screens for more than 15 years is dedicating it's 17th season entirely to tackling COVID 19. Seeing how huge shows are being shaped around the sanitary emergency is very interesting, and we can witness how COVID has managed to affect every single human being and industry in the planet, and how pop culture has adopted it as a way to grow and come up with new content ideas. 

Grey's Anatomy actors Kim Raver (Teddy Altman) and Kevin McKidd (Owen Hunt) during their first days back on set shooting season 17 during the COVID 19 pandemic. 

Politicizing a Pandemic?

Instead of sticking together during times of crisis, people have decided to politice a pandemic. We all have witnessed how people have linked politics and a public health issue, but how? Well, according to the article by One Young World called Stop Politicizing COVID 19. Brace for Existential Risks Instead, the ideological spectrum has taken ownership of the COVID 19 pandemic, and people from the left have been able to link the pandemic to an "opportunity to advance" in healthcare, non-capitalist economic models and an immense opportunity to mitigate climate change. In contrast, on the right, the pandemic is being used to combat immigration, democracy, and the idea of each individual fending for themselves has emerged. 

I think we all have witnessed some of that, plus an issue I mentioned in a past entry, of how people (mostly from the extreme conservative side) refuse to wear masks because it goes against their "rights". The real question here is why us as humans would rather polarize ourselves into two very different views of the pandemic instead of sticking together while battling one of the worst crisis our world has ever seen? The answer is simple; politics are everywhere and people cannot help their urge to make assumptions -just like assuming the pandemic is meant to help combat immigration-

The Danger of Fake News During a Pandemic

Fake news have been circulating through social media since it was created, people have always tried to spread fear or damage someone's reputation, but during times of crisis, fake news are everywhere. In the beginning, everything was very confusing. Since nobody knew anything about the virus, here in Colombia even the news channels became questionable. 

As time went by, news channels seemed to have more accurate information and "trolls" really enjoyed misinterpreting truthful information and causing panic, in many occasions text messages went viral in my city, saying there was going to be a curfew, obligatory testing for everyone, celebrities being ill or dying and even a vaccine. Sadly, in this country many people lack proper education in order to easily differentiate between fake news and legitimate ones. 

This is mainly why the government decided to create a website (www.coronaviruscolombia.gov.co) in order to create consciousness and battle fake news. I have learned to only trust big news channels, their instagram accounts, and the government's website, everything else is prone to being fake. 

As the idea of a vaccine became more and more approachable, even news channels have posted fake information, even unintentionally. Countless headers along the lines of "A COVID 19 Vaccine was developed by ___" have been posted and countless apologies for posting fake news have followed them. Misinformation in times of coronavirus is more common than it should be, and it should be taken as a serious problem. 

This is one of the absurd text messages that went viral, it said there was a mandatory curfew and demanded everyone to stay inside closing all doors and windows because after 11:00pm Air Force helicopters were going to spray disinfectant all over the city. It sounds and is completely absurd, but it caused a lot of panic. 

There's Always that One Person...

There will always be people that do not agree with anything, whether it's an idea or a safety measure, like masks, for instance. Even though I'm not on campus, I have been able to somehow witness some of my close friends ignoring the mask policy and partying, walking around or even hanging out with other people without using one. 

But why? As a foreigner, I can tell that the whole world has been wondering why some americans refuse to wear a mask to the point they're willing to protest over it. I was able to find a very interesting video (the one at the beginning of this entry) that attempts to explain why people refuse to wear a mask and how it has sparked a huge debate and multiple incidents. In Colombia people have been doing a great job with wearing a mask while being outside their homes, but, we also have "those people". I live in a apartment complex, we have a big park that can be seen from my window. Thanks to this, I have been able to witness how some of my neighbors -at the beginning of the pandemic- refused to wear a mask, because technically they weren't going "outside" since the apartment complex's park counts as private property. However, one day there was a group of adults (around their 50s) reunited at the park without their masks, and I decided to approach them and ask them why was I, an 18 year old, who would probably not be affected very bad by the virus, wearing a mask and they weren't? I asked them, have you thought about the risk you are in if you get infected? Well, from that day on, they haven't stopped reuniting at the park, but they have definitely started wearing their masks. 

Believe it or not, masks are fully necessary if we want to mitigate the virus, I am worried people refusing to wear a mask on campus will escalate and spike the number of cases. Hopefully, students and staff will be more aware of the benefits and not ignore this safety measure. 

The University of Kentucky and COVID

Since I was a kid, my dream had always been to study abroad. For some reason, I never felt comfortable enough in my city and my house to stay after high school. I have always envisioned myself living somewhere else, expanding my horizons, meeting new people, exploring new places and cultures. On December 2019 this dream started to become a reality, after receiving my acceptance letter to the University of Kentucky I thought everything was set, I just had to take a flight with no return ticket and begin the rest of my life. Simple, right? But then COVID came around. 

When they first canceled international flights due to the pandemic I was devastated. The promise of reactivating them before August kept a little sparkle of faith in me, faith in making it to my long-desired dream. But that promise was not fulfilled. Five weeks before my scheduled flight, the airport was shut down and international flights were banned.  I don't think I can type out the deep sadness I felt; I felt impotent, powerless. Angry, FURIOUS with the president for how he managed the situation since the beginning. After lots of nights of crying myself to sleep, I finally came to terms with it and finally was able to tell my UK friends. 

Friends? How? You live in another country. Yes, friends. From thousands of miles away I was able to meet some of the most amazing people I have ever met, people I was very excited to meet in person, but I didn't. The same people who had my back and cried with me on FaceTime after the news. 

But these friends have been my way to experience UK through their eyes. Even if I can't be there, they are making everything they can to share their experiences with me and make me feel less alienated. From my (their) perspective, the university has done an amazing job at trying to control the uncontrollable, making sure their students are safe and can remain on campus for what's left of the semester. I have been able to see a tremendous compromise from everyone, and I do believe that if people on campus keep up the good work they will be able to stay there until late November, and even better, allow the campus to reopen in January so I can be there myself. 

This is my window. I drew this the day flights were canceled while sobbing, it has stayed intact ever since. Every day I feel one step closer to seeing "y'all". 

Fear is our Worst Enemy

 When humans are obligated to stay in a 170 square ft apartment, many things start crossing their minds, personally I started reevaluating everything I had done, wondering if I had taken advantage of my last days outside, because I knew this was not going to be over any time soon. I also started thinking about my relationship with my family, the people whom I was stuck inside with from now on. The last day of my senior year was nothing like what I had imagined for the last 14 years, one of my biggest longings was walking down the aisle, shaking hands and receiving that long desired diploma.

August 13, 2020. What seemed like a normal day of school, turned out to be the last day I would see many of my friends, teachers, and special people that worked at my school.

11:15am - all seniors were called to an emergency assembly.

1:00pm - our last school lunch.

1:05pm -  saying goodbye to my friends for the last time in what we all thought was gonna be only a period of 15 days.

1:30pm - everyone on their buses, ready to go home.

 

At the beginning there was panic, lots of panic. Fortunately, our president made very clear that we were indeed allowed to go grocery shopping, or else people would've gone crazy stocking up for months, like it happened in other countries. But panic persisted, maybe not in the streets but definitely inside our 170 sq ft apartment, where someone with OCD, a depressed high school senior and two frustrated musicians where trapped for the next six months.

 

What makes my experience with COVID unique is the fact that I have lived through the longest quarantine in the world. 170 days governed by fear. Why? Because both of my parents classify as vulnerable population to COVID, the fear of them dying in front of our eyes flooded our home since day one. 

One thing I learned from this experience is that fear can lead people to do the unthinkable to survive.

This is my mother, one of the people I have shared this 170 sq ft with. She won the spotlight on the fear entry because when I asked her what feeling described her experience during the pandemic, she said fear. Fear of her kids getting sick, fear of losing her parents to coronavirus, fear of dying herself. 

The Voice Behind the Blog

 

My name is Mariana Mesa Castillo, I am from Bogotá, Colombia and I have been quarantined for almost 200 days. 

I am currently a freshman at the University of Kentucky, which means I was part of the class of 2020, the ones who were born around 9/11 and graduated high school in the middle of a pandemic through zoom.

 

Maybe saying my situation with the pandemic has been worse than other people's is selfish, due to the fact that I have an apartment where to sleep, food and my family has managed to stay together. But these months have been significantly hard for my family and our mental health.

But let's go back to where it all started; our president declared mandatory lockdown on March 14, 2020, when the country had around 10 cases. At the beginning, everyone thought it was the best call, but as days became weeks and weeks became months we realized the virus wasn't going away and being locked up was only prolonging the pandemic's peak. The only thing we accomplished by being on lockdown since March, other than causing our economy to almost fully collapse, was beating the record for the longest quarantine in the world.

This is Bogotá, the city I was born and raised in. It also happens to be Colombia's capital. With around eleven million people. we have had the most COVID cases in the entire country.