Coronavirus has taken a substantial toll on people worldwide, making it an international pandemic. Being only a year after the eruption of the virus from Wuhan, its effects have been felt globally. Undoubtedly, the virus’s impacts have been detrimental to almost every country universally, claiming thousands of lives, especially in Europe. Beyond claiming thousands of lives, fundamental industries and sectors that form the backbone of human existence have been left staggering. They include the health sector, education, businesses, among others. Notably, the US national security sector has been among the adverse effects of trade flows and the supply chain of essential resources like pharmaceuticals. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate on the implications and the anticipated threats posed on US national security affairs by COVID-19.
Although coronavirus has impacted US national security affairs by providing training on diverse security and safety skills to the military, its detrimental effects are still devastating. Coronavirus has led to shortages of pharmaceutical supplies since there has been minimized collaboration in the European countries due to the national lockdown (Boyarsky 2020). The police were at a higher risk of getting infected since they were on the front line ferrying COVID-19 patients and the dead victims to the designated areas. Thus more of the police officers could end up infected or die in the line of duty.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all learning institutions have been closed; hence there has been new amendments in the security forces training fields where the coronavirus prevention protocols should be strictly followed. Other training activities have either been cancelled or postponed (Nasseh 2020). Although it is hard to predict, there will be a stagnated US security growth since fewer people will be released to address security matters, hence putting US national security affairs in jeopardy. Additionally, there will be insufficient, fully equipped federal security workers to sustain a country’s affairs in the future.
International and local lockdown adversely affects US safety and health affairs nationally. Ideally, the US military is in charge of ensuring these patients get proper attention through the medics. The military also ensures the COVID-19 prevention protocols are followed by placing people who refrain from the rules under quarantine isolation (Atkeson 2020). Also, by ensuring that US residents observe total lockdown, there are limited individual movements; hence one can control the infection’s spread.
Navy has been the most hit and about a third per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the US. Marines operational readiness is affected when one officer is infected with the virus. Since it’s a respiratory disease, there can be changes in the line of duty and some hardships experienced. In June, the navy called for submarine repair work at four ports to replace its members deemed at higher risk of infection, reducing the national security in submarines (Hartnett 2020). Indisputably, COVID-19 is becoming a threat to US national affairs. Reduced state growth has been evident since the virus’s erupted, causing a significant loss that will be felt economically in the future. Though the pandemic is giving surveillance for the unseen challenges, it adversely affects the economy, food security, employment metrics and public health, which are essential branches in promoting US national security. Therefore, proper pro-active implementation plans on the COVID 19 menace will ensure safer national security in the US and other nations globally.
References
Atkeson, Andrew. What will be the economic impact of COVID-19 in the US? Rough estimates of disease scenarios. No. w26867. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020.
Nasseh, Kamyar, and Marko Vujicic. “Modeling the impact of COVID-19 on US dental spending.” Health Policy Institute Research Brief. American dental association (2020).
Hartnett, Kathleen P., Aaron Kite-Powell, Jourdan DeVies, Michael A. Coletta, Tegan K. Boehmer, Jennifer Adjemian, and Adi V. Gundlapalli. “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department visits—United States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69, no. 23 (2020): 699.
Boyarsky, Brian J., Teresa Po‐Yu Chiang, William A. Werbel, Christine M. Durand, Robin K. Avery, Samantha N. Getsin, Kyle R. Jackson et al. “Early impact of COVID‐19 on transplant centre practices and policies in the United States.” American Journal of Transplantation 20, no. 7 (2020): 1809-1818.