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Jose Velasquez

Professor Keshishyan

English 103

08 April 2020

Adaptation and Crisis

Humanity have a unique ability to adapted and change to situations. This is a unique

ability human have, as not many animals have the complex though as humans do. This has given

humanity an advantage because we are able to build and invent tools, structures, or methods that

make life a bit easier to live. To demonstrate human innovation, will be looking at other

government response to Covid-19, hospitals solution to shortages of equipment, epidemics in the

past and how they were overcome with human creativity and innovation; these will show how

humans adapt and overcome crisis from past to the present.

Before Covid-19, in 2002 there was SARS and in 2012 there was MERS, both can be

transmitted easily but didn't spread out of control like Covid-19. To understand why Covid-19

spread out of control, we need to talk about where it began and according to an CBNA article,

“China didn’t warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days,” it states “In the six days after top

Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new

coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of

thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations”

(CBNA). What this means is that when the China government finally determined that Covid-19

was a serious issue, they didn’t tell the public for six day and during that time in Wuhan millions

of people began to travel there to celebrate the Lunar New Year which allowed the virus to

spread out of control. Another big reason is that covid-19 is far more infectious than any of the
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previous viruses, unfortunately, the exact reason for the its easy transmission is unknown due to

it being new, what people do know is that it can be transmitted by through the air and can live in

any surface.

Once covid-19 cases started to appear in different countries, every government around

the world responded differently, some went to a mandatory lock down when confirmed cases

started to appear, not allowing anybody to go out unless if it is for essential needs, while others

had a slow response but also did lock down. In the U.S. the CDC, a branch of the Department of

Helth and Human Services, have given important advice to the public in a webpage named “How

to Protect Yourself & Others.” In the webpage, the advice given is to wash your hands, social

distancing, wear face masks, cover your mouth while coughing or sneezing, and disinfect any

surfaces (CDC). Some governments have gotten help from engineers to, one such case is in

Mexican. According to a video called “Coronavirus isolation pods made by Mexican engineers,”

by South China Morning Post, Mexican engineers have developed an isolation pod to treat and to

prevent anybody form being infected, although not new, in the video they stated that it they

started to produce these pods in large quantities as many countries are in short supply and this

forces them to be self-sufficient with the supplies they have. In another video, “Mexico prepares

ambulance to transfer coronavirus patients,” from ASP News Agency says that Mexican health

officials have made ambulances specifically designed to treat people with covid-19 and as such it

can be disinfected between 30 to 40 minutes in order to be converted in use again. The CDC

advice and the Mexican ambulance and isolation pod designed to reduce the spread of covid-19

are the different response to the outbreak showing that every government have a unique was of

facing the issue.

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Beside the governments help, there are many companies helping the hospitals for the

shortages of equipment and protective gear. According to Hilary George-Parkin, a freelance

writer, in an online article, named “Factories that used to make perfume, T-shirts, and cars are

now making supplies to fight the coronavirus,” she gives detail on how different companies are

helping.

George-Parkin talks about how the fashion, hemp, 3D printing, and sport industries are

producing protective gear. George-Parkin talks about a fashion designer, Christian Siriano, who

sent a message to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo offering help to make face masks for

health care workers. Within a week, he delivered 1,000 washable masks to a temporary medical

center at Javits Center in Manhattan. Science that day, he and his team have made masks in the

thousands, however, their masks are not medical grade but it can be used by other people to save

supplies or can be combined with medical-grade N95 masks to extend their life. Uncle Bud’s, a

hemp-based personal case line, were in process of producing their own hand sanitizer however

once covid-19 outbreak occurred, there was a shortage of hand sanitizer, made the team to

launch their product on March instead of October as they originally planned and caused

production to shift into produce hand sanitizer in the millions. 3D printers and sportswear

companies are producing face shields. She mentions that Bauer Hockey have started to develop

face shields; factories located in New York, and Quebec, Canada began to manufacture 20,000 to

25,000 every week in late March; Bauer Hockey plans to scale up its operation to meet the order

for 2.5 million by the end of May. Smile Direct Club, they have 3D printing and manufacturing

facility, has produced face shields in the thousands for buyers such as St. Luke’s Boise Medical

Center in Idaho and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The company are also

working on a prototype respirator mask. These Companies that George-Parkin mention are
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helping hospital with the shortages of protective gear because Covid-19 can be easily transmitted

to another person and medical professionals need to protect themselves in order to help those in

need.

George-Parkin also car companies developing ventilators, these help patient's breath in

oxygen. Ford announced on March 30 that they have partnered with General Electric’s health

care division to produce ventilators with an essay design licensed from Florida-based Airon

Corp. Ford will reopen one factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan on April 20 to begin production. They

predict to make 1,500 ventilators at the end of April and 12,000 by end of May. Tesla has even

donated 1,200 ventilators and donated more to New York City, despite Elon Musk thoughts of

downplaying the severity of Covid-19.

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Works Cited:

George-Parkin, Hilary. “Factories That Used to Make Perfume, T-Shirts, and Cars Are Now

Making Supplies to Fight the Coronavirus.” Vox, Vox, 6 Apr. 2020, www.vox.com/the-

goods/2020/4/6/21207135/factories-face-masks-ventilators-hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-

manufacturing.

Frost, Melinda, et al. “Progress in Public Health Risk Communication in China: Lessons Learned

from SARS to H7N9.” BMC Public Health, vol. 19, no. 3, May 2019, p. N.PAG.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/s12889-019-6778-1.

“Coronavirus isolation pods made by Mexican engineers.” YouTube, uploaded by South China

Moring Post, 18 March 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Np6XK-iIs.

“Mexico prepares ambulance to transfer coronavirus patients.” YouTube, uploaded by ASP New

Agency, 03 March 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwUqoq3VqWs

“How to Protect Yourself & Others.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Apr. 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-

ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html.

“China Didn't Warn Public of Likely Pandemic for 6 Key Days.” CNBC, CNBC, 15 Apr. 2020,

www.cnbc.com/2020/04/15/china-didnt-warn-public-of-likely-pandemic-for-6-key-

days.html.