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WELCOME TO COVID-19: INFOGRAPHIC
COVID 19: The facts and information about the virus, combined with an even more elusive pathogen: prejudice.
A BRIEF BACKSTORY
By Robert Gao
The history of pandemics can be traced all the way back to agrarian life 10,000 years ago; from malaria and tuberculosis to leprosy and influenza, the development of civilization and the forging of vast, efficient trade routes became catalysts to outbreaks of disease that pervaded civilizations and killed thousands of civilians. In 1889, the first modern pandemic known as the Russian influenza outbreak first struck St. Petersburg, then raged swiftly across Europe in cities such as Berlin, Brussels, Prague, and Vienna, with the continent’s most prominent leaders falling ill: the czar of Russia, the king of Belgium, and the emperor of Germany. Since then, immigration restrictions and attempts to control the health of the general public have run simultaneously, and over the course of American modernization and international affairs, locations that have become synonymous with worldwide travel such as Ellis Island and Liberty Island have undergone procedures to become “quarantine stations”. According to a 2007 bulletin from the World Health Organization, “international mobility is central to the globalization of infectious and chronic diseases.” This correlation is evident in the COVID-19 pandemic; through irresponsible international travel and low adherence to health guidelines, the small-scale epidemic which originated in the Hubei province has mutated into one of the deadliest pandemics in history.
Throughout this website, we'll be taking a look at the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing virus which has claimed over 500,000 lives. We'll discuss how to avoid infection, deep scientific roots of the virus, and prejudice and xenophobia linked with the sickness. We'll discuss mortality rates, coronavirus backstories, and racism. We'll talk science, data, and morals.
Enjoy the presentation!
COVID: SIMPLIFIED
BY ROY WANG
What is COVID-19?
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus, a newly discovered airborne virus that targets the heart and blood vessels. It is named COVID-19 based on the naming protocol that “CO” stands for corona, “VI” for virus, and “D” for disease, and 19 is for the year when the virus appeared.
How does COVID-19 affect us?
When infected by the COVID-19 virus, most people will experience mild to moderate respiratory symptoms and recover without hospitalization. However, elder people, and those with existing health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes are more likely to develop serious illness, in some cases deadly.
The reason COVID-19 can be serious is because the coronavirus deceives the body in the early stages of infection. The virus then runs around in lungs and airways without the immune system treating it as a threat. When the human body finally realizes, the cells will fight back by releasing chemicals that send warning signals to the body that there is a virus attack. Depending on when the immunization system wakes up and people’s existing health conditions, COVID-19 affects different people in different ways.
How do you avoid contracting the virus?
Coronavirus most commonly spreads between people in close contact. It spreads through respiratory droplets, either from breathing them in or touching them and then touching your face. As a result, the best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus. Everyone should
Wash hands or use alcohol based hand sanitizer frequently;
Avoid touching face;
Wear face masks in public settings to reduce exposure to respiratory droplets;
Avoid close human interaction and practice social distancing by staying home and away from others as much as possible.
AN OVERVIEW OF IMPORTANT VIRAL INFECTIONS AND COVID-19
By Daniel Liu
OVERVIEW
Viruses are microscopic particles that are composed of nucleic acid surrounded by a protein coat. They need a host to survive and replicate, therefore they are not considered true living organisms. However, they are able to cause diseases by invading normal cells. Viruses can be spread if swallowed, inhaled, and/or bitten by mosquitos, flies, and ticks. They can also be spread sexually and through the transfusion of contaminated blood.
There are ways to treat and prevent viral infections. The human body already has defenses against unwanted visitors, i.e., physical barriers like the skin and the immune system. There are also methods of treatment/prevention:
Vaccines - stimulate the body’s defense mechanisms.
Antiviral drugs – chemical molecules designed to target viral replication
Immune globulins - sterilized solution of antibodies from either a healthy individual or an individual with a greater number of antibodies against a certain infectious organism
General measures
Washing your hands
Consuming properly treated foods and water
Avoiding contact with infected people
Completely covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing
Using safe-sex practices
Using insect repellent to prevent insect bites
BALTIMORE CLASSIFICATION OF VIRUSES
The Baltimore classification is a system that categorizes viruses into seven different classes. The first class consisting of double-stranded DNA viruses, the second single-stranded DNA, the third double-stranded RNA, the fourth positive-sense single-stranded RNA, the fifth negative-sense single-stranded RNA, the sixth single-stranded RNA with a DNA intermediate, and the seventh double-stranded DNA with an RNA intermediate.
The fourth categorization, positive-sense single-stranded RNA, is arguably one of the more important ones, especially during this historical COVID-19 Pandemic, as pathogens such as Hepacivirus C (hepatitis C), West Nile virus, dengue virus, MERS, SARS, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) are all positive-strand RNA viruses.
IMPORTANT VIRAL INFECTIONS
Viruses cause many diseases today, including Influenza, HIV, Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E, Zika virus, West Nile virus, Ebola, SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19, and more.
The Influenza virus is a negative sense RNA virus that causes the Flu. It has been around human beings for thousands of years. Influenza causes respiratory infections and is transmitted through droplet, air, or by contact. In the 20th century it has caused multiple epidemics and/or pandemics. The deadliest pandemic was the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu pandemic when a third of people of the world were infected with 10% of mortality. Fortunately, we have vaccines every year for the Flu and antiviral treatment nowadays, for example, Tamiflu.
Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), weakens the human body’s immune system by destroying certain parts that fight infection and disease. It is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) but can also be transmitted through body fluid, such as during the sharing of needles with contaminated blood. The first HIV/AIDS cases were reported in 1981, and in 2019, there were approximately 38 million people infected with it. There are effective treatments, however a vaccine has not been developed yet.
Each type of hepatitis disease is caused by a different virus, each with its respective name (i.e. hepatitis A virus, hepatitis B virus, etc.). The hepatitis A and E viruses are transmitted through the contact of infected feces, while the hepatitis B, C, and D viruses are transmitted through the direct contact of body fluids. Approximately 350 million people worldwide have hepatitis B, making it the one of the most common infectious diseases. Hepatitis B, C D have been related to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. There are some antiviral drugs for hepatitis and vaccines for hep A and B, but no vaccines for C D have been developed yet.
Zika and West Nile virus are two of the many mosquito-transmitted diseases. Most people who contract Zika do not show symptoms. The ones who do may experience mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, or headache. The importance of this virus is that it can interfere with childbirth, often causing infants to be born with microcephaly, or a smaller than normal head, or other malformations. West Nile virus can cause a fatal neurological disease in humans. Just like Zika victims, most West Nile victims do not show any symptoms. There is no human vaccine or treatment for either of these viruses.
Ebola is a rare but deadly disease (90% mortality rate) caused by viruses in the genus Ebolavirus. It is spread by contact with skin or body fluids of an infected person/animal. It cannot be spread through air, water, or food though, making it less contagious as other viral diseases. People who do not show symptoms cannot spread the disease either. Symptoms can show up to three weeks after infection, and these include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, weakness, stomach pain, and lack of appetite. Pharmaceutical companies and researchers are still trying to find treatments and vaccines for this deadly virus.
CORONAVIRUSES
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, seven of which are currently known to infect human beings: 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-1, and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Coronaviruses are not new, as the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all coronaviruses is estimated to have existed around 8000 BC. MERS and SARS, however, were both discovered in the early 2000s. While the first four listed lead to minor infections like the common cold and do not pose much threat to humans, the last three can cause severe respiratory issues and have had significant outbreaks leading to epidemics.
Coronaviruses are just like other viruses: they invade host cells. They do this by binding to a certain receptor (which one depends on the strain) and then fusing its own membrane with the host’s. All coronaviruses have the potential to cause respiratory illnesses like the common cold, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 1, or SARS-CoV-1, or just SARS, was first discovered in Asia in 2003. It was thought to have evolved from a bat coronavirus. During the outbreak, 8,098 people were infected, and 774 of them died. Symptoms of SARS include fever, headache, overall discomfort, and body aches. Most patients also develop pneumonia. Many have significant sequelae after the acute infection, such as scarring of the lungs.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is very different when compared to other human coronaviruses. It is a zoonotic disease, meaning that it is transmitted between humans and animals, specifically dromedary camels. Symptoms can range from no symptoms at all to acute respiratory disease and even death. Typical symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath, similar to other respiratory diseases. The first case was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and ever since, twenty-seven countries have reported cases of MERS. This led to 858 deaths from infection.
SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, is a positive-sense, single-strand RNA virus which was first discovered in 2019 in Wuhan, China. It is the cause of the 2020 pandemic, affecting everyone’s daily life worldwide, with a total of 83.4 million total cases as of January 1, 2021. Modes of transmission include physical contact, droplet, airborne, fomite, fecal-oral, blood-borne, mother-to-child, and animal-to-human transmission. COVID-19 causes respiratory diseases, with symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough, congestion short of breath etc. The original strains in Wuhan, Italy, and some other big cities have caused about 10% of the people who contracted it to die. Part of the reason for high mortality rate is that there were so many cases of infections to the extent that the health care systems were overloaded and overwhelmed. For this reason, many countries and/or states have initiated lockdown and stay home orders and encouraged people to social distance, wash their hands, and wear face coverings to help contain the spread of the virus. Pharmaceuticals and researchers have been racing to find a cure and vaccine against this virus. Time is life. The COVID-19 vaccines developed by Biotech/Pfizer and Moderna use messenger RNA (mRNA) encapsulated by lipids, a completely new technique. When injected, the mRNA instructs the cells to make a spike protein. The immune system recognizes that this spike protein does not belong to the body, thus creating antibodies to fight it. At the end, the immune system has learned how to fight against COVID-19 infection. Remdesivir, a drug developed by Gilead, is an FDA approved treatment. It works by binding to viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase, thus inhibiting the transcription of the virus’s RNA. The definite effect of the new vaccines and drugs on COVID19 infection and the Pandemic are yet to be tested in the true world.
AN EVEN MORE ELUSIVE VIRUS
By Robert Gao
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many distinct cases where racism and xenophobia towards large numbers of Asian migrants have emerged. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo coined the term “Wuhan Virus”, possibly encouraging a wave of hate crime and speech. In March 2020, a Vietnamese art curator by the name An Nguyen had his participation revoked in an upcoming craft event after being the target of harsh coronavirus rumors centered toward him and his Asian colleagues. Nguyen had scheduled to unveil an installation for Affordable Arts Fair Battersea when a collector and museum curator emailed to say: “The coronavirus is causing much anxiety everywhere, and fairly or not, Asians are being seen as carriers of the virus”. At the culmination of Asian stereotyping regarding the coronavirus in the US, social and economic panic targeted foreigners, and actions such as violence, exclusion, extermination, internment, and deportation ensued, with thousands of Asian immigrants expelled to China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
These obscene hate crimes have also reached an international level due to widespread publicity and encouragement that these racist actions are the “respectable” thing to do. Brazil’s minister of education tweeted that the Chinese government deliberately used the virus as a means for achieving “world domination.” The governor of the Veneto region in Italy told journalists that the Italians who practiced personal hygiene would be better off than the Chinese, whom he quoted, “have been seen eating mice alive.” After a rapid outbreak that endangered much of Italy’s vulnerable population and put many immunosuppressed victims at risk, several commentators were quick to target that the source of the influx of cases was the Chinese workers that were making their living in Italy’s fashion sector. These oversimplifications and generalizations are frequent around the world, and as a result, Chinese citizens are forced to endure the brutal consequences, facing humiliation and a shattering of one’s own self-esteem in the process.
Asians cannot be solely held responsible for such a tragedy caused by countless other elements. Their ethnicity, background, occupation, or beliefs cannot be used to dictate their vulnerability to a disease and their feasibility of spreading it. Global pandemic or not, we as a whole must play our part to deconstruct these racist stigmas and fight the xenophobia that reigns so powerfully in our communities. We must place health equity and justice at the forefront of our beliefs, and work together to identify and address the implicit bias that hinders human-to-human interaction and communication today. The fire of prejudice is one that is ignited by unjust beliefs, kindled by escalating biases, sustained by constant oppression, and extinguished by moral conceptions. When asked to speak at the UN about the future of prejudice, Ghanian diplomat Kofi Annan set forth a comment on how to conquer the future of such intolerance: “Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA – HOW DOES COVID-19 AFFECT IT?
By DJ Wang
Racism is regarding people based purely on their race or class and concluding that one race is superior. Though many cases spark discrimination, one of the most prevalent is an ailment. After an illness propagates, most people directly blame those who live in the county where it began. One example is the Coronavirus or Covid-19.
The World Health Organization announced Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, but thousands of Asians have suffered from discrimination and xenophobia by then. Although it is wrong, it has happened many recurring times in history, so that very few were surprised––It's common for racism and xenophobia to trail after a pandemic or outbreak. During the yellow-fever epidemic in the United States in 1853, there was a sudden change against European immigrants because they were more susceptible to the disease and were the possible carriers. Chinese faced discrimination during the SARS epidemic because it originated in their land. When Ebola appeared in 2014, Most people blamed Africans. Becoming a typical pattern, as soon as the news spread about the new possible threat, Asian Americans were instantly suffering from racism. From avoiding talking to them to vandalizing Asian store-owners, the hatred only got worse when the disease spread around the world.
The beginning of racism against Asians was started by nicknaming Covid-19 as the "China Virus," the "Foreign virus," and the "Wuhan Virus," where scientists reported the disease's first case. Not only do those names misinform people, making them think only Asians can carry the disease, but it also causes unrest and slight changes in racism and xenophobia. WHO (The World Health Organization) especially discourages naming diseases from their origin to avoid inequality. That's why, recently, racism has been a crucial topic during this lasting pandemic.
Although racism is a problem, it is also something we can prevent. Helping those who suffer from discrimination can set an example for others. Doing raising-awareness projects like murals and paintings can let people realize the importance of racism. Protesting is another way to warn about the dangers of xenophobia and discrimination. If the world can communicate thoroughly, we might be rid of racism and make the world a better place.
