Introduction
The source is a podcast from The American Public Health Association. The podcast’s title is “Katrina, Flint, COVID-19, the root changes public health needs.” The date of the podcast episode is October 2020, and the speakers were Joe Kanter, Bob Kim-Farley, Wendy Parmet, and Alfredo Morabia. The three issues addressed by the podcast include the effectiveness of the US in response COVID- 19 pandemic, the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the CDC played its role as expected.
Discussion
During the entry of COVID–19 into the US, there was less effectiveness in response to the pandemic by the federal Administration. During the first spike, it was every individual for himself or every state for itself and a lack of coordination precisely for vital materials. “… we really felt that it was every person for themselves…” (Flint, 2020, 2). There was a poor organization in effective control and response to the pandemic leading to a drain of resources.
The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic included that the federal government ought to come into work and back states in obtainment and impartially to those most out of luck (Flint, 2020). Another lesson is that a robust effort has been put in place to develop vaccines quickly to combat pandemics before causing much harm. The United States failed to learn from Hurricane Katrina’s issue in preparedness for pandemics, which is why the nation was unprepared for COVID-19 (Raker, Zacher, & Lowe, 2020). CDC did not play its role well as expected by the public and the states. The institution lacked credibility, starting from failing tests to inferior coordination of significant research during pandemics “…the test CDC distributed was ineffective…” (Flint, 2020). Hence, not only the federal government was ineffective in fighting COVID-19, but also the CDC.
Covid-19 is important to discuss because it is an international disaster. Additionally, COVID the daily routines of the world, affecting almost every aspect of life. Interestingly, the pandemic took the whole world unawares, and its effects were immense. More specifically, everyday activities that people engaged in, for instance, schooling, work, and traveling, were halted temporarily as people started to look for ways to survive. The powerful nations of the Globe lacked the best coordination to control the virus, and it took them months to develop vaccines. The episode relates to my life experience due to the side effects the pandemic caused. During the pandemic, I lost a couple of friends due to the US hospitals having fewer ventilators and PPEs. The episode aroused sad and fearful emotions in me due to many close friends and relatives who had perished during the pandemic and the fear of a strong wave re-emerging.
Conclusion
The podcast episode has elaborated on many points I learned in class discussions, textbooks, and lectures. Among the points are how the federal government is expected to respond during pandemics, the role of the CDC in fighting diseases, and the impacts of COVID-19 on the entire world. The episode increased my understanding of COVID-19 and why it persisted so long, even in first-world countries. I came to an understanding that poor coordination by the federal government of the US contributed to an ineffective response to the pandemic. I would recommend the podcast to others as it is rich with information about COVID-19 and where we failed as a state in fighting the pandemic. The podcast is also educative and contains concerns and ideas we learn in class.
References
Flint, K. (2020). COVID- 19 the root changes public health needs. Web.
Raker, E. J., Zacher, M., & Lowe, S. R. (2020). Lessons from Hurricane Katrina for predicting the indirect health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(23), 12595–12597. Web.