Pandemics
The word pandemic is not to people because of its characteristics. They have become part of the long human history, yet the medical texts have not adequately defined the word. Throughout the history of the human race, there have been several noted pandemics whereby their presence can never be forgotten. The pandemics have been characterized by all the negative effects on health, social, political, and economics. Their widespread across a wide geographical area and the death trail most of them cause is also another characteristic that makes them unforgettable. Human majorly contributes to the outbreak that later becomes a widespread human infection. Some of the pandemics known in the history of the human race include; Zika, Spanish flu, SARS, and recently COVID 19. However, the list is wrong with each pandemic characterized by its unique behavior. Despite the word pandemic not getting a clear definition from the medical text, it has some identifying features, which include geographical area it spreads, uniqueness, seriousness, high attack rates, low immunity, among other characteristics. It is logical to argue that extensive study of the pandemics is necessary since they are expensive, they cause fear and panic as well as impact change.
Pandemics that have occurred in the past have caused fear and panic among people. This is mainly contributed to by their experience. The pandemics shape the psyche of people since the past. What is the fear? And why do people fear? Fear is one of the significant seven emotions people experience across the universe. It is aroused when a person is faced with a threat, which could be expressive, psychological, imaginary, or physical. Fear has an important role in humans, as it helps people cope with any possible threat. Any person can be subjected to fear (3). When the outbreak happens massively, people tend to fear. In the beginning, little is always known concerning the pandemic outbreak concerning the cure, immunity, and severity. Pandemics make people develop the fear of uncertainty since nobody has a clue as to what will happen to them in case of infection. Fear further causes people to be inactive and, most of the time, would prefer to look themselves only to move when dimmed necessary. This behavior brings the economy into a halt, as seen in the recent Coronavirus pandemic.
Prevention is better than cure is a slogan that, for a long time, been emphasized by people. However, prevention has become difficult, especially with pandemics, because they inevitably break out. Pandemics have proved to be very expensive to deal with them. When a pandemic breaks out, a lot of money is allocated to the medical facilities to enhance their ability to cope up with a new outbreak. For instance, when there is an outbreak of a pandemic, most of the time, the disease is always fresh, and therefore there is no ready medical equipment for it. A lot of money is first allocated to the innovation and mass production of equipment that can be used to test the infection. Secondly, there is also a significant amount of money channeled in medical research to find a solution during a desperate time. Treatment of a pandemic in health facilities becomes expensive and limited because of a high number of sick people within a specified time. The medical facilities are also upgraded to accommodate the new disease, a process that requires huge capital.
When pandemics occur, they bring about change in the way people live and conduct their businesses. The changes brought about by the pandemics can either be positive or negative. Change is inevitable, yet something that is not welcomed by many people. For instance, most people fear change because they feel that their control over their territory is threatened(site). People also fear change because they are unable to determine the impact it will have on their lives. However, no matter how many people a resistance to change, sometimes it becomes necessary and not a matter of choice. Looking at the various pandemic in the past, starting with the Black Death, changes in people’s behaviors were witnessed. During this pandemic, some cities’ social distancing was seen. The churches had changed how they conducted their religious activities. For instance, due to the high death rate and many infected people, it was overwhelming for the priests to perform the last rites, which forced them to allow people to bedside confessors. Recently, Coronavirus has also brought about some changes. People have changed their lifestyles, such as social gatherings. Social gathering has been prohibited, and people are being encouraged to keep distance to stop the spread of this infectious disease. The prices of most commodities have risen, and this has changed people’s expenditure habits. Another change is how people work, whereby most of the companies have allowed their workers to work from home. However, the control of the disease, which involves frequent washing of hands, maintaining a high level of hygiene, among other practices, are positive changes brought by the pandemic.
In conclusion, pandemics are expensive; they instill fear and panic among people; they bring about positive and negative changes. Therefore, it is logical to argue that over some time, the human race has been able to learn an important lesson from the pandemics, which offers a sight of the impacts of a possible pandemic in the future.