Coronavirus | The Quill

As we progress into the winter months, and people stay indoors longer, this likely means the Coronavirus will be easier to spread. We are in need of a vaccine and fast. Luckily, the government has received doses of the vaccine. Now it’s just a matter of distributing the vaccine to the rest of the nation. The question is, how is the distribution process going to work?

First of all, it’s important to understand how much each state is being affected by the virus, because that could change how they are distributed. Currently, according to the CDC COVID data tracker, states like California, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee are the states with the most cases in the last seven days. Meanwhile, states like Vermont, Montana, Washington, Minnesota, Wyoming and Oregon have the least amount of cases in the last seven days.

With the knowledge of which states are affected by the virus the most and least, now we can determine how the government is going to distribute the vaccine. It is ultimately up to the state governors to determine how they want to distribute the vaccine. According to the CDC, it is recommended that the vaccine should be distributed in phases. The first phase would include healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents. The second phase includes frontline essential workers and people who are 75 years or older. The final phase includes people who are between 65-74 and people who are 16-64 with underlying medical conditions, along with other essential workers. Following these phases, the vaccines would then be administered to the rest of the population not covered in these tiers.

Despite the CDC’s recommendation on how to distribute the vaccine, not every state will choose to follow the recommendation. For example, Florida is not following the recommendations but is instead using a first come first serve method, while trying to prioritize the elderly and healthcare workers. While some people might agree with this method, others may disagree with this method either because of Florida’s decision to not follow the CDC’s recommendations or because they don’t like the distribution process. According to a CNN article from December 30, 2020, a man named Bruce Scott arrived at the vaccination site at 1:30 a.m. and waited in a line for about 8 or 9 hours to get vaccinated, saying, “Although I’m grateful to get the vaccine, I feel that there’s got to be a better way to distribute this.” He later adds, “For people that really need it, elderly that might be disabled in some way, they can’t endure this process, so there’s got to be a better way to manage this.”

The Trump administration expected to vaccinate about 20 million people by the end of December. However, only about 1 million people were vaccinated in December, that’s about 19 million short of the goal. So far in 2021, as of January 11, approximately 9 million Americans have received at least the first dose of the vaccine, and according to officials, the hope was that 50 million Americans would have been vaccinated by the end of January. It looks pretty unlikely that America will reach that expected goal.

President-elect Joe Biden spoke about his 100 day COVID response plan on December 29th.

On January 20th, Joe Biden will be inaugurated into office as the 46th President of the United States. As he inherits a system that is behind in distribution, it’s going to be interesting to see how well he sticks to his 100 day challenge to turn the tides on the pandemic. It’s expected that Biden will follow the CDC’s recommendations for vaccine distribution, but the question is: Is he going to distribute them as quickly as he says he will?

Sources:

Andrew Gonder is a senior member of the Multimedia Journalism class

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These past six months I have spent a lot of time observing the different ways people have responded to COVID-19, and I noticed that there are two kinds of people: those who care about the fact that we are in the midst of a pandemic, and those who simply do not.

Among those who don’t care are people who refuse to wear face masks. Not only do they neglect to, but some reject the notion entirely.

But why? Wearing a mask seems like such an insignificant thing to have to get used to, right?

Unfortunately, there are many people who don’t see it that way. These “anti-maskers” have a variety of reasons for not wearing a mask. The arguments I have gleaned most often are all easily refutable.

“I don’t care if I get it, my own health is up to me.”

While it’s true your health is ultimately up to you, COVID-19 is spreads easily. If you contract it and continue to go out, you are putting others at risk, not just yourself.

“Wearing a mask won’t even protect me.”

Again, only a small portion of this is true. Face masks will not prevent the spread by 100%, and may not even protect you completely, but it will protect others from you. Furthermore, if the people around you are also wearing masks, they are protecting you from themselves. Neat, now you’re all protected.

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“Having to wear a mask impedes my First Amendment rights.”

No it doesn’t. A mask mandate does not impede your freedom of speech, religion, press, or assembly. Nothing about a mask mandate is inherently unconstitutional.

“I can’t breathe with the mask on.”

In most cases, and situations, yes you can. The masks are designed to allow breathing while preventing droplets from spreading. They do not restrict oxygen. It may be uncomfortable, but it won’t suffocate you.

“The coronavirus isn’t even bad. The media is blowing it out of proportion.”

This argument is dangerous. While “the media” relies on garnering an audience, the numbers and information are handled by health officials. It is objectively true that COVID-19 has killed thousands, over 200,000 in America alone. The World Health Organization were the ones that declared COVID-19 a pandemic, not CNN.

There are various conspiracy theories about the masks and COVID-19, but I don’t feel the need to argue against them.

It is sad that while thousands of people die in the country, there will always be some that refuse to do what is right. I understand why people will be emotionally charged in a time like this, but it is important to recognize the objectives: we are in the midst of a pandemic, and for the greater good of our country, we must do what we can to prevent it.

Moral of the story: wear a mask.