ELCS0091: Crisis 2020/21 UG Class Blog

Researchers are learning to grow personalized organs in labs. They’re tapping into the skulls of spinal cord injury patients and giving them back control of their bodies with direct brain stimulation. They developed an entire COVID vaccine (multiple, in fact) in a year.

So why are there still kids in less-developed nations who don’t have access to routine childhood vaccinations that cost a few dollars each? And why are there people in highly-developed nations who are choosing to Uber to the hospital if they break a leg because they can’t afford an ambulance? (Yes USA, I’m talking about you.)

At this level, it seems to come down to an unequal distribution of wealth and resources, combined with a not-insignificant level of political corruption. We have NGOs in place to help redistribute aid where needed, but most of them have developed from a need for extra hands, because states were ill-equipped to provide their citizens with adequate care. This is not always the fault of the state; natural disasters, war, and exploitation by more powerful entities may play a part in the suffering incurred by the people, but a lack of clarity in international treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, means that confusion or state avoidance of responsibility can further complicate matters (2).

Dr James Wilson’s lecture explored the relationship between rights and obligations, and while the relationship is relatively clear in a theoretical context, execution is obviously a little more tricky. How do we make sure every plays their part in a system with so many individual players? Healthcare by nature is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and trying to paint it as such leads to situations like Soobramoney in South Africa and certain Brazilian legal cases (1). While the systems for allocating healthcare stand on polar opposites of the spectrum of treatment for a critically ill individual versus the greatest good for an entire population, we can plainly see the issue of finding a balance.

The balance should be easier to correct in wealthier nations: in the US, sky-high healthcare prices arise not from a lack of resources, but from unfettered corporate greed. The US requires not a change in the approach to human rights in the sense mentioned in the lectures , but a change in the overall political system to make better use of the billions of dollars of medications, supplies, hospital beds, and cutting-edge treatments that people fly from all over the world to receive.

Poorer nations are at the disadvantage set out by all of the treaties and declarations; as long as there is insufficient access to medical care, some individuals will find themselves left to die. The ideal, and certainly idealistic, solution, would be a layered approach, where communities take care of their own. What they can’t handle is dealt with by the state, and what the state can’t afford is aided by the international community. This comes back to a fundamental question of how to allocate obligations, and putting it into practice has proved to be almost impossible. With a growing global population and a rapidly advancing technological sphere, what seems to be holding the process of equitable access to rights is politics and power struggles, which show few signs of ever going away.

References

1. Soobramoney v Minister of Health. [1997] ZACC 17. 1997.
2. United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Paris: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; 1748.

This paper will analyse the AIDS/HIV epidemic by defining a crisis by Edgar Morin, a French philosopher. The definition of the term so used ‘crisis’ varies according to the time in which it is used, the culture that evokes it, or the person who defines it. Thus, I will focus on Morin’s definition of the term to see if this pandemic would be defined as a crisis depending on his description of the term. In his writing ‘Pour une crisologie’ (Morin, 1976), he puts aside two definitions of the word crises at different moments in history that caught my attention: the definition of krisis in Ancient Greece, which means decision “the decisive moment in the evolution of an uncertain process, which allows the diagnosis to be made » (Koselleck, 2006), and today’s definition of a crisis that means indecision, “the moment when, at the same time as a disturbance, uncertainty arises”. By not thinking about the words we use, we end up falling into traps that obscure our vision, prevent us from understanding.  

AIDS is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in recent years. One million people have died of AIDS in 2016 worldwide, and 76.1 million since the beginning of the epidemic. (FRM, 2019). AIDS was officially diagnosed in 1981 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where American researchers published the first significant findings of the disease. The virus was first diagnosed in 5 homosexual men, but it spread rapidly between continents, and scientists soon realised that heterosexuals were equally susceptible to the disease. In 1983 the name AIDS appeared: Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus. 

Morin’s definition of a crisis acknowledges four components related to a crisis in society. Firstly, he discussed the idea of ‘disruption’, which is when fear starts to set in society. Secondly, he describes the following phase when uncertainty enters because the regulatory system is no longer predictable. Thirdly, the philosopher explains that when the systems are disrupted, resources become unblocked. Finally, the last criterion of a crisis is that it triggers research activities. Point by point, this essay will break down these components and apply them to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in order to determine if it would be considered a crisis in accordance with Morin’s understanding of the term.

The first component, ‘disruption’, applies when the usual rules that ensured stability no longer work and do not offer any solution to the problems of the crisis, thus creating unheard situations. It is at this point that fear starts to set in. This can be applied to HIV pandemics. The stability of the 80s was disrupted when an unknown virus killed several people across the world, focusing mainly on the US. By the end of 1981, the CDC linked more than hundreds of deaths to this new virus. They did not understand the causes and linked it to homosexuality, which had severe social consequences: the marginalisation of gay communities. Therefore, in 1981, the first medical name given to the virus was GRIDS (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency). No solution to the crisis was given, and as fear began to seep into society, homosexuals were accused. It was not until 1983 that the name AIDS started being used.

Secondly, another criterion in a crisis is the increase in disorder and uncertainty. When regulation systems work, they create determinisms that easily predict the consequences of actions or events. However, when this regulatory system no longer functions well, it becomes difficult to predict and uncertainty is born. The crisis thus leads to a “progression of uncertainties” and a “regression of determinism”. This could have been seen as a progression of uncertainty since it took years to understand the causes and consequences of the virus. Today, 50 years after the arrival of the virus, in spite of medical advancements, science has still not find a cure. Back then, with even less understanding, it became a political and social issue that increased uncertainty, fear, and disorder. Fortunately, in 1987, the World Health Organisation (WHO) established an AIDS program, which aimed to raise awareness about the pandemic; formulated evidence-based policies; provided technical and financial support to countries (mainly Uganda and Thailand as the most affected populations); initiated relevant social, behavioural, and biomedical research; promoted participation by non-governmental organisations; and championed the rights of those living with HIV. (Merson, 2006). In 1996, the Joint United Nations Programme replaced the program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), which 10 UN agencies now sponsor.

Finally, in the case of AIDS/HIV, in my understanding, the two last criteria work together. For the third component of a crisis, the author talks about a process of blocking-unblocking. Indeed, the usual regulatory systems are blocked or disrupted. Becoming unable to offer solutions, unexploited resources are unblocked, and new potentials are fully revealed. The last component of a crisis is the triggering of research activities: as rules and ideas are destroyed, members of society engage in a movement of creativity in action, looking for solutions to “get out of the crisis”.

The scientific program created to find a cure to this epidemic, started in 1987 when the WHO started to raise awareness to limit the spread. Then a scientific panel was created in the UN, and in the mid-2000s, the global response accelerated rapidly, with universal access to treatment becoming a significant priority. We can see in the graph, it had an impact:

There has been a significant increase in the virus between 1980 and 2005; 2005 marked a peak for the virus, and new diagnoses have since declined, suggesting that the programs initiated in the early 2000’s positively impacted the curve by lowering the rate of growth of the virus release.

Later on in 2016, the UNAIDS program announced their plan to prioritise the disease, aiming to end AIDS by 2030. By 2025, more than 90% of countries will have decriminalised sex work, possession of small amounts of drugs, and same-sex sexual behaviour. (The Guardian, 2020)

This is for the medical response; as for creativity, the subject has been addressed in all kinds of art, mainly to raise awareness, spread information, and destigmatise the disease linked to homosexuals.

For instance, poster campaigns were launched in the United States in the mid 1980s to encourage people to protect themselves. The campaigns started with images of gay men and quickly added heterosexual couples and people of other ethnicities to remind populations that ‘everyone is at risk’ (Geiling, 2013)

As an example, this image published in 1985. 

This need to raise awareness and governments to take action is also well expressed in the French movie 120BPM from Robin Campillo released in 2017, retracing the life of an AIDS activist, where he emphasizes the state’s inaction against the disease and the critical role associations have played.

This art tool provides contextual information to understand more deeply what was occurring at the moment, the fear and emotions felt by the populations during this crisis. It reflects the reaction of men to this reversal of society to give a point of view and bear witness to an era.

We have seen that by cutting to the precise definition of the term ‘crisis’ by Edgar Morin, we can consider HIV/AIDS as a crisis. Today the word crisis is often overused, reducing the significance of the real meaning. As this word can provoke fear or anxiety in populations, in my opinion, it should be used appropriately, carefully, and constructively. If a precise and universal definition was used to employ the term, it would limit its use and make it more meaningful.

When comparing the policy response in the 1980s with today’s, it can give us much food for thought on global crisis management. Coronavirus was officially named a global pandemic two months after its detection in China, researchers from all over the world came together to create a vaccine in ten months, and media have talked only about it for a year now. Indeed, science is more developed today than in 1980, but it prompts a reflection on how politicians have been able to make this a non-priority for such a dangerous virus, while a less-lethal virus has taken on an unimaginable and unprecedented scale in the last year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM). 2020. Tout savoir sur le sida. [online] Available at: <https://www.frm.org/recherches-maladies-infectieuses/sida/focus-sida>

Morin, E. and Béjin, A., 1976. Communcations – La notion de crise. pp.1-5.

Geiling, N., 2013. The Confusing and At-Times Counterproductive 1980s Response to the AIDS Epidemic. [online] Smithsonian Magazine. Available at: <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-confusing-and-at-times-counterproductive-1980s-response-to-the-aids-epidemic-180948611/>

Koselleck, R., 2006. [online] JSTOR. Available at: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/30141882.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A87c13e30e338c00b0bd94455ac7db1ba>

Merson, M., 2006. The HIV–AIDS Pandemic at 25 — The Global Response | NEJM. [online] New England Journal of Medicine. Available at: <https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp068074>

The Guardian. 2020. This World Aids Day the global response to HIV stands on a precipice | Winnie Byanyima and Matthew Kavanagh. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/01/this-world-aids-day-the-global-response-to-hiv-stands-on-a-precipice>

Tht.org.uk. 2020. HIV statistics | Terrence Higgins Trust. [online] Available at: <https://www.tht.org.uk/hiv-and-sexual-health/about-hiv/hiv-statistics>

G.R. Thomas suggests that that “one of the favourite pastimes of critics is trying to identify the symbolic meaning of the colours of the seven rooms” in The Masque of the Red Death (Zimmerman, 2009, p. 60). But when authorial intentions are ambiguous, but we insist on creating meaning out of certain features of a text, are we really doing justice to it? Is literary criticism a truer testament to our own beliefs, values and biases rather than the author’s? How many authorial choices are deliberate and at what point do we draw the line between conscientious lexical choices and mere syntactical coincidences? I’ve dedicated my entire undergraduate career to this discipline, and I love it, but sometimes I truly wonder if l’analyse de texte is a fruitless exercise that has somewhat compromised my ability to look at subject matters objectively.

Looking at extracts in isolation from their context forces you to pay attention to minute details and the effectiveness of certain linguistic and rhetorical features – but it would be wrong to deviate so far from ‘true meanings’ that works are ripped out of their author’s clutches. As an author, if my work resonated with others for reasons apart from what I’d intended to communicate, I’m not sure if it would be appropriate to feel flattered or devastated; especially if the heart of what I was trying to express was overshadowed by the aesthetics of eloquent language and universally relatable images. Recently, I wrote a sonnet as a part of an assessment where I had to reflect upon my own writing. I used the image of an unripe date in the first stanza and depicted its violet nectar. However, in my reflection I had to go out of my way to say: ‘My use of the colour ‘violet’ has no symbolic value – it is the literal colour of the unripe dates in my garden.’ Granted, it’s seldom that authors leave us with intricate roadmaps that guide us through the nuances of every image and technique used in their works – which is what makes decrypting ambiguous literature an enjoyable and stimulating challenge. But there are some days where I really wish they did, Poe with his array of colours being no exception.

Nicholas Ruddick insists that the chromatic imagery has no symbolic meaning whatsoever and that Poe employs to emulate Prospero’s insanity because the colours are discordant (Ibid., p. 60). Edward William Pitcher suggests that the colour scheme is tripartite representation of different aspects of life (blue and purple are associated with ‘divine truths’, green, orange and white for spring and violet with black unveiling the ‘facility in belief’ or death) (Ibid., p. 61). Patrick Cheney correlates the colour scheme with the Catholic liturgy, paralleling it with a ‘reversal of the Christian drama of resurrection’ and a ‘triumph’ over death by subverting theological doctrine (Ibid. p. 61) – which seems quite incongruous with the denouement in my opinion. As of now, I stand firmly behind Ruddick’s interpretation and will abstain from over-analysing the colours in The Masque of the Red Death.

Bibliography

Poe, E. A., 1842. The Masque of the Red Death – The Poe Museum. [Online]
Available at: https://www.poemuseum.org/the-masque-of-the-red-death
[Accessed 2021].

Zimmerman, B., 2009. The Puzzle of the Color Symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death”: Solved at Last?. The Edgar Allan Poe Review, 10(No. 2), pp. 60-73.

 

Health, and in particular, ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’ is a human right. Not all countries have the same opinion on how to manage health for its population.

ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ) has been ratified by 171 states, but not the US which is a global superpower. We wonder why they did not agree with these terms to guarantee a right to health.

The Affordable Care Act had been put in place during Obama’s presidency but there is a lack of affordability that makes the system not efficient enough to help people in need.

Since the United States has not been able to guarantee its people a right to health care, it has been creating huge inequalities for decades. The inequalities in the United States are mainly due to the fact that a very large part of Americans cannot afford health insurance, which is too expensive for them.

These inequalities lead Americans not to go to the doctor: Before the 2010 passage of the ACA, which progressively expanded health insurance coverage, 39% of Americans with below-average income reported not seeing a doctor for a medical problem because of cost, compared with 7% of low-income Canadians and 1% of those in the UK. Therefore Differences in life expectancy have been widening, with the wealthiest Americans now living 10–15 years longer than the poorest.

Medical bills are a major contributor to household debt and bankruptcy, comprising more than half of all unpaid personal debts sent to collection agencies (Dickman, Himmelstein and Woolhandler, 2017). Financing of health care in the USA is regressive, with poor and middle-class individuals paying a larger share of their incomes for care than the affluent, thereby deepening inequalities in disposable income

The united states has several helps for people in need which are Medicare and Medicaid, but these two programs are able to help certain people but it is quite limitied.  Those who did not fit into specific age, employment or income groups had little to no access to health care.

According to an article in the new york times, universal health care rights do not exist in the united states because it is an individualistic society and it is a racial issue (Interlandi, 2019). The title of the article is ‘Why doesn’t the United States have universal health care? The answer has everything to do with race’. Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act have helped shrink those disparities. But no federal health policy yet has eradicated them.

To conclude, the medical costs of the Americans represent a very important cost, and the better the quality of care, the higher the cost will be. This is a source of great inequality in the United States and results in households being left in great poverty. The election of Joe Biden represents hope for Americans because during his presidential term, and arriving in the context of a health crisis, he pledged to expand Medicare and Medicaid. This could represent a huge change to enhance social inequalities in the United States.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dickman, S., Himmelstein, D. and Woolhandler, S., 2017. Inequality and the health-care system in the USA. [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673617303987>

Equalityhumanrights.com. 2021. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) | Equality and Human Rights Commission. [online] Available at: <https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-human-rights-work/monitoring-and-promoting-un-treaties/international-covenant-economic-social>

Interlandi, J., 2019. Why Doesn’t America Have Universal Health Care? One Word: Race. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/universal-health-care-racism.html>

They say time flies when you’re having fun.

I don’t know who “they” are, but let’s assume they’re right, and the opposite is true. Time DOESN’T fly when you’re not having fun. In a general sense, the pandemic has been anything but fun for most of us, with all of the cancelled plans and overall feeling of isolation. So why is it that March 2020 simultaneously feels like it just happened, and like it happened 20 years ago? (This interpretation is based both on my own experience and the consensus of the other UCL students I’m sitting next to right now.) Interestingly enough, research from John Moores University seems to agree: perception of time has been changing for most people during COVID, but the stretching versus compressing seems to occur on an individual basis (3).

Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” deals with time in a layered way (1). There are three clear indicators: the half-hour it takes to die of the disease that the rich are hiding from, the several months of siege that they undergo before they face their fates, and most importantly, the hourly chiming of the ebony clock. To me, it seems like they undergo several states of time that correspond to each symbol. The first five or six months of partying are glossed over. They find fun things to do, presumably, but everything blurs together and in hindsight, the time spent was forgettable. The thirty minutes are reconciled at the end, where the death sweeps the partygoers quickly and effectively, leaving no alternative but to succumb. The hours of the party, marked by the clock, are the reality that they feel in the moment, where every time they take a step towards timelessness, they are jarred sharply back to the hour that they exist in. It is arguably a sort of countdown, maybe not explicitly acknowledged as such, but the discomfort and pauses that follow each chime suggest some sort of awareness of the sheer weirdness of the situation.

I think much of the same could be said for the situation we find ourselves in, though perhaps not universally. The months are pretty obvious, that run into each other but are, at the same time filled with so many discrete events because of 2020’s propensity for world-altering events. I’m not sure how much I can speak for the half-hour time limit on the disease, because luckily, I don’t know anyone who has died of COVID, but reflecting on the soaring numbers of worldwide death, then space of time in which they happened is relatively small.

The hourly chimes are the most personally relatable aspect of the piece. Each time someone forgets the day or the month, which has become more common than ever in the climate of work/study from home, we get a little reality check, which is a far cry from the constant string of events and commitments most of us had to deal with before. It seems like the boredom stretches the time we perceive, interspersed with the miniscule recognitions of where we are in our temporal spaces (2). The time’s individual events that we remember, however, are compressed because there is some much monotonous sameness, and it seems like the only remedy is the escape from our crisis-insulated bubble, either by overcoming the virus, or by succumbing to it in an “incident of half an hour.”

References

1. Poe E. Masque Of The Red Death, The. South Bend: Infomotions, Inc.; 2000.
2. Lindberg S. Perception of Time Has Shifted During COVID-19, New Survey Reports [Internet]. Verywell Mind. 2021 [cited 12 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.verywellmind.com/why-time-is-passing-so-strangely-during-covid-5075438
3. Pardes A. The Coronavirus Has Warped All Sense of Time [Internet]. Wired. 2021 [cited 12 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-time-warp-what-day-is-it/

As soon as we found ourselves in a near-worldwide lockdown when COVID hit, I don’t think there was any doubt in most people’s minds that the virus was a crisis. Because of its ability to affect anyone, especially the elderly, society responded to it on a massive scale. Even the conspiracy theorists saw it as a crisis, though one of freedom rather than epidemiology.

The HIV crisis of the 1980’s moved through a very different series of events in its efforts to be recognised as the destructive disease that it is. The struggle for acknowledgement ultimately seemed to come down to two primary factors, the first being general homophobia (4). The general public’s designation of gay people (especially men) as deviants, meant that a disease that was more common in gay men at the time wasn’t exactly the most effective in garnering sympathy from the wider population (3). While that stigma still exists today, it is greatly diminished, especially in Western nations with more liberal ideologies. Additionally, ongoing education campaigns about the transmission of HIV and its corresponding harm reduction strategies have been incredibly successful over the years, and HIV/AIDS education is now included in most science-based sex education for adolescents (2).

The other factor is the minority status of the group that was considered to be most affected. Being openly “out” was less common than it is today, understandable given the increased risk of falling victim to hate crimes, professional discrimination, and public shame (3). The smaller population of activists may have been working to demonstrate the risks of HIV to everyone, including non-sex-related transmission, but the strength in numbers was lacking. In many people’s minds, it was a problem that did not affect them to a significant degree, and as a result, the HIV-positive community was, in many ways, excluded from the same level of urgency afforded problems that affect a larger population. 

I’m writing this blog post several weeks late, but I feel like it ties into an aspect of the most recent week’s topic: how do we approach public health when there are limited resources? The withholding of life-saving drugs and results by pharmaceutical companies that we see in 120 BPM seems not to be a problem of resources, but rather of corporate greed, but what about in cases where resources are scarce and the affected party does not hold much sway, socially and/or size-wise (1)? It seems like that would vary from a state to state basis and how they interpret their personal commitments to the health of their population. This is an ongoing debate, about whether it should be approached from an individual point of view, or by looking primarily at the benefits to the wider problem. However, regardless of institutional organisation, under no circumstance should access to care be based on whether the individual is part of an accepted group or not, because then it ceases to be a concern of allocation, or obligation, and instead becomes a direct attack on individual freedom and equality.

References

1. Campillo R. 120 BPM. France: Memento Films; 2021.
2. History of HIV and AIDS overview [Internet]. Avert. 2021 [cited 12 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview
3. Anthony A. ‘We were so scared’: Four people who faced the horror of Aids in the 80s [Internet]. the Guardian. 2021 [cited 12 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/31/we-were-so-scared-four-people-who-faced-the-horror-of-aids-in-the-80s
4. Morris B. History of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Social Movements [Internet]. https://www.apa.org. 2021 [cited 12 March 2021]. Available from: https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/history

The Masque of the Red Death published in 1842 by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short story filled with allegories and a fictitious presentation of societal norms during pandemics. Inequality is one of the main themes explored in the text.

Inequality in The Masque of the Red Death is expressed through the character of Prince Prospero and his guests. By illustrating the protagonist of the short story as a prince, Poe was successful in illustrating the superiority and authority of Prospero. This was further enhanced by the descriptions of Prospero as ‘happy and dauntless in the face of the ‘Red Death’ which was ‘so fatal or so hideous’ that ‘No pestilence’ like it has ever occurred. This arrogance and nativity expressed by Prospero are essential in understanding the inequality during a pandemic, where the wealthy or certain groups of individuals can offer better protection for themselves and means of creating fantasies that distract their fear of death. The hubris character of Prospero is illustrated by his fictitious control over the death of the courtiers, where ‘neither of ingress nor egress to the [ the court will create] sudden impulses of despair or frenzy from within'(1) the courtiers. This notion of despair and ecstasy through entering or rejection from Prospero’s court collates with the biblical reference of the last judgment, where supernatural figures decide whether the deceased are sent to ‘eternal fire prepared by the devil’ or ‘inherit the kingdom’ prepared by god（2）. The arrogance of Prospero pretending to be god and the obedience from the courtier’s presents suggests the contrasting position between the wealthy and the poor. Prospero’s thoughts of ‘the external world could take care of itself. In the meantime, it was folly to grieve or to think’ further emphasised the concept of inequality as he and his guests were able to diverge their fear of death by engaging in other activities inside an environment that they deem as safe, while the poor are excluded from the protections.

In the context of the current pandemic, the arrogance, and naivety of figures in authority parallel with the hubris character of Prince Prospero. One of the most evident authority figures in line with Prince Prospero is ex-president of United States, Donald Trump. At the time of the pandemic, Trump was the president of America thus was referred to as President Trump by the media. This parallels with Poe’s illustration of his protagonist Prince Prospero as both prince and president correlate with the notion of power and authority. In April 2020, Trump made a public announcement that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the US population to wear face-covering when entering public spaces, where right after the announcement he indicated that he will not be following the advice(3). Below is a video recording of that time.

 

 

This straight ignorance of advice by scientists and medical experts demonstrates Trump’s hubris and arrogant character during the Covid 19 pandemic. Like the couriers in The Masque of the Red Death, many Americans obeyed and followed Trump’s action in not wearing a mask during the starting month of the pandemic. These anti-mask individuals supported by Trump’s arrogance and naivety enhanced the severity of the pandemic as the researcher suggests a hypothetical scenario where if 80% of the population in Washington or New York state wore a moderately effective mask the projected death rate over two months could decrease by 17 – 45 %(4). Prospero’s thoughts of ‘the external world could take care of itself is also evident during the pandemic through the shutting of borders and evacuation flights worldwide, where each government is only concerned about the citizens of their own countries. In January 2020, evacuation flights were sent by the US, Japan, France, South Korea, etc. to evacuate according to citizens from Wuhan China(5). Inequality arises here as individuals that were allowed to board these evacuation flights are in some sense protected like the couriers that were allowed to enter Prince Prospero’s court, while those who were not allowed to board were left to defend themselves in Wuhan.

 

 

Reference

1.POE, E. A., RATHBONE, B., & SACKLER, H. (1988). The masque of the red death, and other poems and tales of Edgar Allan Poe. New York, NY, Caedmon.

2. Matthew 25:31-46, Holy Bible: King James Version

3. Dwyer, C, Aubrey A (2020), The Coronavirus crisis CDC Now Recommends Americans Consider Wearing Cloth Face Coverings in Public [online] Npr.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/03/826219824/president-trump-says-cdc-now-recommends-americans-wear-cloth-masks-in-public

4. Steffen E. Eikenberry, Marina Mancuso, Enahoro Iboi, Tin Phan, Keenan Eikenberry, Yang Kuang, Eric Kostelich, Abba B. Gumel,(2020), To mask or not to mask: Modeling the potential for face mask use by the general public to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic,Infectious Disease Modelling,Volume 5,Pages 293-308,ISSN 2468-0427, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idm.2020.04.001.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468042720300117)

5. Hancock, T., 2020.‘We see people getting ill around us’: the foreigners trapped in Wuhan. [online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/4ebd0eaa-41c7-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433d