EBOLA OUTBREAK AND EPIDEMIC IN 2014
Take your notes in your English notebook in the section dedicated to globalization.
1) Surf the Web and do some research into the Ebola outbreak and epidemic in 2014.
- What sort of disease is the Ebola Virus Disease?
- How is the Ebola Virus Disease transmitted?
- Where was the first suspected victim of Ebola Virus Disease located in 2014?
- What countries did the Ebola Virus Disease reach in 2014?
- How many people were infected and how many people died in 2014?
2) In March 2015, Bill Gates gave a TED Talk on preventing the next Ebola or similar outbreak. Watch the video and put the topics he discussed in order.
[ ] one positive thing that could come out of the Ebola epidemic
[ ] the most likely causes of a global catastrophe
[ ] the progression of Ebola Virus Disease during 2014
[ ] the key missing pieces in the healthcare system during the Ebola epidemic in 2014
[ ] a possible response system to deal with a future infectious disease
[ ] the main problem during the Ebola outbreak in 2014
[ ] the progression of a virus which spread through the air in 1918
[ ] the main problem during the Ebola outbreak in 2014
[ ] the progression of a virus which spread through the air in 1918
3) Answer the following 10 questions.
According to Bill Gates,
1. what is the most likely cause of a global catastrophe?
1. what is the most likely cause of a global catastrophe?
2. why are not we ready for a future epidemic?
3. what was the main problem during the Ebola outbreak in 2014?
4. what were the key missing pieces in the healthcare system during the Ebola epidemic in 2014?
5. what evidences does he mention to support his statements?
6. what is one of the limits of the World Health Organization (WHO)?
7. what are the three reasons why the Ebola Virus Disease did not spread more?
8. what are the advantages we have today in terms of science and technology?
9. what are the kinds of things we need in order to deal with an epidemic?
10. what are the main benefits of such investments?
Watch the video again and check.
4) Bill Gates stated that the World Bank estimated that if we had a worldwide flu epidemic, global wealth would go down by over three trillion dollars and we would have millions and millions of deaths. What are the current data about losses and deaths caused by Covid-19 epidemic so far?
5) Check all your answers here.
6) In your opinion, were we ready for the Covid-19 epidemic? Why? Why not? Leave your personal comment in the comment box. Remember to choose "anonymous" as an identity, but write your name and the initial of your surname before starting to write.
Roberta T
ReplyDeleteI think Covid-19 was a surprise for everyone, since we did not expect a virus to hit the entire world.
Some countries were a bit more prepared for it, but some others weren't at all.
Most of the countries waited too long before setting some restrictions on the population.
In my opinion the Italian government waited too long so that there were not enough places in hospitals where to cure infected people, and hundreds of people started to die.
I know more about the Covid-19 situation in Canada than the situation here in Italy since I had to go in lockdown there. But I know for sure that the Nova Scotian Government didn't wait as long as Italy or other countries did, since Canada started closing everything up with just few cases around.
ELISA B
ReplyDeleteI think COVID-19 took us by surprise and caused us several problems because of the underestimation that certain countries have had about. It was not thought that this virus could spread to almost the whole word. When we realized its rapid spread, people were already dying. The virus was very powerful, the infections did not stop and there was no place in hospital to treat the sick. Now, the first goal is to find a vaccin, but meanwhile we try to protect ouselves in the best way possible.
NOUHAILA Z
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the idea that an unknown virus might spill out of some wild animal into humans, achieving person-to-person transmission and causing a global pandemic, was not expected by anybody.
That's why most of the countries were not ready to deal with it, and started to try to solve the problem only when it was too late.
Currently, the only hope we have left is to find a cure as soon as possible.
Elisa G.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think we weren’t ready for the COVID-19 epidemic, nothing and no one
would have thought that a virus like that would have change completely our lives.
There are many reasons why we weren’t ready, like the health system, hospitals weren’t so
spacious to contain that number of patients; they hadn’t enough equipment to treat sick
people; scientists and doctors didn’t know the virus and weren’t able to cure it.
Also the school system wasn’t ready, schools created a platform were you could start online
meetings and in turn different teachers tried to connect themselves to move forward with the
program.
In conclusion, our lives were based on relationships between people, but Covid-19 and look
down led us to isolate ourselves with the rest of people. We will never be ready to face a
pandemic.
Sara L.
ReplyDeleteI think that Covid-19 has upset the whole world by catching him unprepared in every fields, this could be seen from the numerous negative consequences that caused this epidemic. First of all the millions of deaths caused in some cases by the lack of experience and disorganisation of hospitals that weren't ready to face this situation.
In addition this virus has caused a great crisis in many countries that are not strong enough to be able to face this situation, in fact many people have lost their jobs and are in a situation of poverty.
In conclusion this virus made us realize how fragile we are and we hope that this experience will help us in the future.
Eleonora N.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, after few years, no one was ready to collide with a new global virus which is able to take the life of so many people.
Most of the countries, weren’t ready so they have reacted too much later, and that has led to an increase of infections.
This situation has had, also, caused a lot of social and economic problems.
The only solution that we have to face COVID-19, is the vaccine. Before that we must respect the rules for protecting ourselves and the others.
Rita B.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we were at all ready for the Covid 19 epidemic.
First of all we didn't have the scientific knowledge and the financial funds to deal with it and even today after a year we haven’t a real cure for this infection, in fact it is treated with HIV drugs. Treatments are under study and will be tested during clinical trials. From the economic point of view lockdown has impoverished even more the social classes in difficulty and those who owned companies who have rightly had to close and stop their work. The funds allocated by the state aren't sufficient and also our public debt has increased.
Furthermore we’ve recorded a number of shocking losses even of doctors who lost their lives doing their job fighting an enemy they didn't know and against whom they didn't have the means to fight.
Marianna D.M.
ReplyDeleteI think no one in their life would ever expect to live in the middle of a pandemic. Nobody expected that, including doctors, politicians...We weren't ready to fight a new virus that lives in the air, and a single physical contact was enough to get infected. COVID-19 was a disaster for everybody. We have seen a lot of people dying, our hospital weren't bigger enough in order to treat all those affected, politicians no longer knew how to behave and what rules to adapt.
In this pandemic we have seen countries helping each other, we have seen solidarity, we have seen aid, but it has shown us that the world is not yet ready to rebel against nature, we are too superficial to be ready for disasters and subsequent crises.
Stefania G.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the world was not prepared and ready to face a pandemic like covid 19. I think Italy is one of the countries that has managed to cope with this pandemic. Italy is the country where the quarantine lasted the longest but thanks to this quarantine it has managed to drastically decrease the number of infects and deaths.
In spite of some countries managing to reduce infects, as long as there is no vaccine, the virus will continue to spread.
Finally, even though there are still many infected in many countries, the economy is slowly coming back thanks to the reopening of shops, hotels etc.
Gabriele D.
ReplyDeleteCovid-19 was a Big surprise for each of us, we would have never thought that something like this would have happen.
we were not ready , our health system was not enough avant-garde to face such a huge issue and in general Italians are well-known for not being the best organized people but our medical staff was amazing during this hard time. During this pandemic i think our country acted very good , we were one of the first country in Europe who declared the lockdown and at least our first minister didn’t told us to get ready to leave our loved ones .
Erika C.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we were not ready for Covid-19 epidemic. I think that no one in the world would ever expect to live in this situation. Nobody were ready to leave their every habits and all friends because the virus is transmitted with physical contact and saliva so each of us must put the mask and maintain the social distance. The epidemic was a dramatic situation because it caused many deaths. Now the first goal is to find a vaccine and everybody try to protected themselves in the best way as possibile.
Elisa M
ReplyDeleteCovid 19 has arrived unexpectedly and especially none of us thought that our lives change so at any moment.
As well as changing our lives and has also caused problems both to people and to things, such as enterprises.
If each of us contributed the situation would improve.
The best solution at this time would be find a vaccine to protect us.
Berra Marianna 5ARIM
ReplyDeletepersonally I did not expect all this, hearing the news seemed to be only an influence but with the evolution of things it has become a very serious thing; many people have underestimated it and thanks to their ignorance the closure of everything has occurred.
the cases had decreased thanks to the laws that were in force but unfortunately they are now increasing again, I believe that even the reopening of schools and therefore the massing of the children is contributing in large part to worsening the situation.
I hope it all ends very soon to return to normal which seemed to be monotonous and boring when in reality we did not know how to appreciate it.
SVEVA B.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we are not ready for covid 19. Our sanitary system has never faced an epidemic so great, and obviously anyone knew how to deal with it. Doctors done a very great job, doing very long shifts in the hospitals, and bearing all the emotional weight. Intensive therapies weren’t enough for all the patient, and this was a very huge problem during covid epidemic. Economy has been put to the test with the closure of all the activity for a long time and this have caused a deep crisis in the system. Because of lock-down, a lot of people suffered of depression caused to the missing of all the relationship.
In conclusion, I think that a pandemic is like an invisible war, and even if we will make us more organized and equipped, we will not be mentally prepared.
Barbara S.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we weren't ready for covid19 because it has been a totally new and unhespected situation. Our health system was not sufficiently prepared and equipped to cope with an epidemic,therefore we have found several serious issues: there weren’t enough intensive care rooms, hospital beds and respiratory equipment.
We also failed to counter the economic consequences that caused the virus, such as the closure of several companies, and the resulting loss of work of many employees.
Finally I thik that the italian authorities must invest much more on health and on the various emergency measures that have to be taken in the event of new pandemics.
Fabrizio Combina
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we weren't ready for the Covid-19 epidemic. No one could think anything changed the world so quickly.
We weren't ready for a lot of reasons: first of all we underestimated the problem when it arose in China, because we thought that was too far to reach us.
After that our hospital weren't ready to have an high concentration of hospitalization like that and no one was ready to leave our daily routine, to leave our school or our work.
I think we need a prevention activity against these viruses because nobody wants to find themselves in such a situation again but it is possible that it will happen.
Alessia GIn my opinion nobody was ready for the Covid-19 epidemic. I didn’t expect it, I’ve never thought in my life to find myself in the middle of a pandemic. It was like the things you see only on the TV, and then Covid-19 came into our lives. But the biggest problem was that no country was ready to face it, no country has a plan, and they had to improvise, so every country is trying to do the best to protect his people, and the only thing we can do is to respect the rules that our country dictated to us, and wait for a vaccine.
ReplyDeleteSusan R.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we weren't ready to deal with a virus like Covid19 because it is such a spreadable virus that reached the whole world in such a short amount of time. There were countries, like south Korea, that reacted very quickly in order to contain the virus, but at the same time lots of countries underestimated the virus, and found themselves in critic situations. For example I think the Italian government made good decisions about how to act, but they could've reacted in a quicker way, in order not to have so many sick people in hospitals.
I think in the future the government should keep on invest money on health because it is important to assure to the people good treatments.
Biondo A.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the world wasn’t ready for a pandemic, both in medical and political terms with all precautionary measures.
Surely we hope to find a vaccine for covid-19 as soon as possible because this virus, in my opinion, has already done too much damage, there have been a lot of deaths since March and the economy has worsened drastically in a short time.
I believe that this pandemic will change many things in the world in social, health, cultural, educational and economic terms.
At the moment the situation in the world is changing radically, for example the economy is focusing on new market sectors, the school is adopting new teaching methods through different media.
In conclusion, I hope that this pandemic will bring positive results to humanity, such as the importance of the small gestures that we previously considered trivial and normal.
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Martina T.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion no one was prepared for a pandemic; the point was, who reacted better and faster. There have been some states that have waited too long and others who didn’t have the possibility to react satisfactorily.
I think that Italy has waited too long to give restrictions but fortunately it had the means to be able to react well enough.
Some states, poorer than ours, unfortunately had to face this situation in a more difficult way and they didn’t have the financial means to offer a cure for the sick.
In my opinion Italy has managed the situation quite well, it is halfway between the most affected and the least affected.
Finally, I think (and hope) that now, if ever there should be another wave of infections, Italy will be more ready; in evil, we must always look for something positive.
Alex K
ReplyDeletein my opinion no one was ready for covid 19.because at the beginning everyone thought it was a light thing, without consequences but as we have unfortunately seen it is a serious thing. in fact all people thought it was a passing thing and few people respected the rules.
the point of all people was to solve the problem as soon as possible, but as we have seen it is not easy.
It was difficult for everyone but I think that all together, by respecting the rules, we can avoid being infected with covid 19, waiting for the doctors to find a vaccine that treats covid 19 to defeat this pandemic
Gabriele M.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that we were not at all ready to fight the covid-19 epidemic, the first reason is the low level of cooperation between states, for example China did not immediately communicate the danger of the virus, the second reason is the inefficiency of the health system, that she had no places in the intensive therapies and didn’t find a cure quickly, in addition, a vaccine has not yet been found.