Introduction
The current Covid-19 response has been a slow, painful process, and the lack of information from officials only makes it worse. The spread of COVID-19 has affected all facets of life for people, whether they are in their homes or crowded shelters. The universal character of the problem and the fact that COVID-19 affects millions of people worldwide explains the need to discuss this topic. The main reason is that the discussion of the issue increases public awareness of the essence of the pandemic, its causes, consequences, and ways to protect own self. The lack of information has created a state of panic for many people, especially those most vulnerable to disease and injury, as well as those who are elderly or young children. Low public awareness about the virus contributed to a sense of helplessness among people, especially those who do not have reliable Internet connections or cannot read in English. It is possible to hypothesize that the most adequate and effective human response to COVID-19 is launching public information campaigns that contribute to most individuals’ understanding of the situation.
Discussion
Avoiding Panic
In “No Man’s Land Facing Disaster,” part 4, chap 17, the authors shared several guidelines and practices that could be used to respond to disasters. One of these guidelines was to avoid panic. It is possible to find similar recommendations in scholarly articles on the same topic, which makes it a versatile piece of advice. James writes that this practice can be difficult for many people to follow without constant reminders (James, 2013). Many people are at risk of being overly anxious and overreacting in response to the virus. Le et al. explain this situation with the prevalence of misinformation about what it means for someone to contract COVID-19 or how long it will take to recover from it (Le et al., 2019). Many believe they have little time before becoming infected and must prepare for death. It can cause them to be more fearful than they should be, making it more difficult for them to focus on taking care of themselves and their family members.
It is possible to find parallels between the discussed chapter and the academic articles on the same topic. Shi et al. (2020) claim that panic happens due to parents’ lack of awareness on how to protect their kids from being infected with the COVID-19 virus, especially if they do not know how to vaccinate against the COVID-19 virus. The authors acknowledge panic as the side-effect of the pandemic, which makes it similar to the chapter by James. It happens because they never received any information on how to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus until now even though there. The human response to COVID-19 is complex: on the one hand, some want to take action, while others want to stay home, which is valid for both individuals and governments.
Inequality and COVID-19
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has impacted the lives of millions of people. One of the key concepts shared in “No Man’s Land Facing Disaster” is that not all people are equal (James, 2013). It is often true that some people have more privilege than others do. This concept is relevant to COVID-19 as it relates to people’s responses to the pandemic. For example, some people may access medication and other healthcare services while others do not. It means that some people will be able to respond better than others when trying to deal with COVID-19. One way this could play out during COVID-19 is how people respond to their health and well-being during the pandemic. Suppose someone has been able to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In that case, they can continue doing so even when they face obstacles like power outages or limited transportation options due to traffic jams caused by closed roads due to heavy snowfall during winter months in some areas.
In the current situation, people are still facing the consequences of Covid-19. Le et al. emphasize the same hypothesis in their article, stating that people need more access to facilities and services than they usually do. It is shown in their reactions and thoughts about this event. For instance, they have been tested in many ways for the virus, but the contamination rate is still high, and the most vulnerable categories of people suffer from it. They have to learn how to live with it and cope with tithe central government has put out much information regarding how they would handle this situation (Le et al., 2020). However, we have seen that they need to be able to provide more assistance to the people affected by COVID-19 (Le et al., 2020). They need to provide more information regarding what they could do for the people still suffering from this disaster. Their lack of knowledge about what is happening around them, especially in remote areas with no electricity or running water, has caused many problems for those who need help most urgently.
Understanding Human Responses
“No Man’s Land Facing Disaster” describes people’s responses to disasters and the theories behind human behaviors. The situations in the books and those people are facing in the current times are similar. For example, in times of the COVID pandemic, people often resort to their default behaviors, the behavior they fall back on when faced with a situation they are unfamiliar with or unable to deal with effectively. It is also true for group dynamics and organizational dynamics. It is one reason people do not make good leaders in times of crisis; because they are not flexible, adaptive, or resilient enough to deal with the situation at hand effectively (James, 2013). In order to better understand human response patterns and underlying assumptions concerning them, we need to understand some of the basic concepts behind them and the terminology used by behavioral scientists.
This shift in human behavior can be explained from the rational perspective of the fear of the unknown. Similar information is presented in the article by Moriarty et al., who writes that people are very concerned about their health and well-being because they are not vaccinated yet (Moriarty et al., 2020). They are afraid of getting infected with COVID-19 disease, and they do not feel safe at home because of the virus infection because they cannot go out to work or school (Moriarty et al., 2020). They are worried about their children getting infected with COVID-19, especially if they have no protection against this virus. It can be fatal for children, especially those under five years old, including infants and children below five years old who were not vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
Personal Reflection
The most important thing learned is that people will do whatever it takes to protect themselves and their families. It is much work, but keeping safe can be done. People are taking more precautions than they have been in the past. The most significant change seen is that people spend more time in the open than in their homes. It is surprising because there are still some areas where it is dangerous to be outside, and people still feel uncomfortable going outside at all times unless they have to do so for work or school. Another shift in behavior noticed is that people are now looking for ways to stay connected with family members who live far away and might not have heard from them in a while. They are also using social media platforms more frequently than before COVID-19 hit; maybe this will help them keep up with each other when they cannot talk on the phone or Facetime-time each other as often as they used to. The human response has been challenging at times, but overall, it is encouraging that so many people are working together towards common goals like staying safe and staying.
“No Man’s Land Facing Disaster” raised many questions about how people should respond to a crisis like COVID and whether or not they should be prepared for it. One of the exciting things is how people are so worried about their health at this Time (Shi et al., 2020). It seems like they are worried about getting sick and dying, but they also seem affected by the fact that they cannot access healthcare when they need it most. People have adapted their lifestyles and routines to survive during Covid-19. For example, many people have started farming to grow their food and do their cooking instead of relying on fast food restaurants. Others have changed their diets to eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables, which help protect against diseases that may be spread through food production or consumption during Covid-19.
Conclusion
Therefore, taking action is the best way to deal with this disaster. In this paper, three sub-topics were discussed, including the need to avoid panic triggered by COVID-19, reducing inequality of people in the face of the pandemic, and discussion of human reactions to this situation. People need to ensure that they are not just dealing with this in isolation; instead, they need to take steps toward recovery as a whole. It is essential to increase public awareness of the virus and how to cope with it to change human reactions for the better.
References
James, R. K. (2013). Chapter 4. In Crisis intervention strategies. Essay, Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Le, T. T., Andreadakis, Z., Kumar, A., Román, R. G., Tollefsen, S., Saville, M., & Mayhew, S. (2020). The COVID-19 vaccine development landscape. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 19(5), 305–306. Web.
Moriarty, L. F., Plucinski, M. M., Marston, B. J., Kurbatova, E. V., Knust, B., Murray, E. L., & Richards, J. (2020). Public health responses to COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships—worldwide, February–March 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(12), 347. Web.
Shi, Y., Wang, G., Cai, X. P., Deng, J. W., Zheng, L., Zhu, H. H., Zheng, M., Yang, B., & Chen, Z. (2020). An overview of COVID-19. Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE B, 21(5), 343-360. Web.