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.
Angela g.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we were ready to "fight" this kind of epidemic. Hospitals didn’t have an intensive care facility, supermarkets couldn’t control the impulsive purchase of many people’s basic necessities, there was also a shortage of resources to deal with the emergency such as masks, gloves, clothing for doctors and disinfectants, that disappeared from the trade for long periods of time. None of us had experience but only fear and the first symptoms of covid were not immediately recognized, more similar to a simple flu. Then a system was activated that could study the situation and contain the spread of the virus, then our government published the first rules to respect but it was too late.
Erika S.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion a pandemic is a phenomenon that anyone can predict. Every country was faced with the spread of the Covid 19 that could not be stopped, only slowed down by some extreme measures like the travel limits. Within a few months the governments around the world have had to make important decisions, dictated also by the pre-existing problems in every state, such as the poor public health. The biggest problem is that many people have been infected, and lots of them have gone in the intensive therapies of hospitals, bringing the structures to critical limits. In addition, to combat the virus, people must always come out with masks and perhaps a pair of gloves that initially were very expensive and sometimes rare. It was also difficult to define whether a person had contracted the virus because the symptoms are like those of a normal flu.
Sabrina S.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, no one was ready for this epidemic, it was an unexpected thing for everyone and it can be seen from the first months after the outbreak of covid-19- There was a lot of confusion, fear, poor health and state organization. Doctors found themselves in difficulty not having the right equipment, the right knowledge to understand how to fight this virus. The state was confused, conflicting ideas that led to confusion and fear of the population. Many have lost family, friends and jobs.
By knowing the nature of the virus and equipping themselves with the right ammunition they are managing to fight the virus or at least keep it at bay.
Michela O.
ReplyDeleteI think absolutely not, The greatest fallout occurred in the world of work, where times, rhythms and modes were distorted creating social difficulties and personal disorientation. But, above all, the changes have affected human relations, badly sublimated by a fiction: technological interlocution. Web-based chats, individual messaging, video calls, instead of a handshake, a personal meeting, a face-to-face dialogue. We’re still dealing with the reversal of habits. Before we gave less weight to the things we did during our daily life, instead after the pandemic we enjoyed this type of outings we just needed to go out for a walk and if you went out a little 'more people started to look at you badly. I think after this year I think that people have closed in on themselves have become more shy and submissive which I hope never happens to me or my family.
Less pollution certainly results in a huge change for the environment. To prove it are the images that come from all over Italy: wild boars immortalized in the deserted streets, dolphins and swans that reappropriate Italian waters, the canals of Venice suddenly clear. But what is happening? The Coronavirus emergency is changing our habits, our lives, but also the environment that surrounds us. Despite the tragedy that we are experiencing, the slowdown in daily life is showing us how nature is able to take back its spaces
Virginia P.
ReplyDeleteI believe that no one has ever been ready for any epidemic, much less for that of Covid-19. In fact, at first it was believed to be a simple flu which then quickly turned into a terrible virus that killed an enormous amount of people. Since no one was ready for this, the situation was terrifying: the intensive care units were all full, the secondary goods stores had to immediately close and the government was having difficulty figuring out how to deal with this pandemic. Despite this, after two years we are managing, thanks to the cows, to fight this virus and to reduce its trend. Of course, if it had happened a little earlier, the number of victims would have been lower, but the important thing is that now we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Chiara R.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we were ready for a pandemic. We had already a lot of economic problems that we didn't know how to resolve. With the Covid-19 all the previous problems were amplified and were created new ones. I think that we could oganised better our resources for this kind of emergency. Anyway our government wasn't ready to fought this emergency and either were our ospitals.
Nicola I.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we were ready for the Covid emergency, and we’ve only been able to control it for the last six months. We were unprepared mainly because we did not know what it was and how it could harm the whole society, since many people have important people and relatives. Now after more than two years we know how to behave and thanks to the vaccine we are managing to decrease more and more infections and even deaths.
Alice T.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinin we weren’t ready for the Covid-19 epidemic. There are different things that demonstrate that Italy and each other countries weren’t ready for this virus, such as the choices made by the government to control the pandemic, the absence of masks for the population, the absence of health staff to assist patients in hospitals, but also the lack of medical equipment to treat the sick, or spaces to hospitalize the sick. There was bad organization and the absence of it caused the death of millions of people. In addition, especially at the beginning, not even doctors could say what this virus was and a way to protect themselves from the infection. This pandemic was underestimated from the start. At first it was thought to be just an influence. Another thing that I think was missing a bit is the president’s direct speech to us citizens. It was for everyone something new. We were absolutely not prepared to face a pandemic of this size.
Debora V.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the world and their counties weren't ready for the Corona Virus epidemic. The hospitals didn't have enough intensive care for all the people who needed it. Plus the sudden need of gloves, mask and sanitizing create fear in everyone because we didn't have enough for everyone so the purpose of respect the health regulation was reduce for the lack of resources.
Furthermore, ours governements didn't know how to manage the situation: they adopted the quarantine as a system to reduce contagios but this create more fear in the population.
Ours doctors weren't ready to manage this kind of situation because they never experience this situation.
Elena C.
ReplyDeleteI think that we weren’t ready for a pandemic like Covid-19. We know that nobody can be always ready for a big disease like this, but it is important that the resources for fight the virus are available. In addiction I think that the resources must be organized in the right way. Maybe the problems that were present in 2019 when the virus was appeared were connected with a bad organization or a fault of resources. I also think that the information must be correct in order to inform the people about the real problem, not with fake news because it bring only fear and confusion. Another problem, that wes underestimated, was the consequences of this pandemic. In my opinion this point is very important because when the problem is resolved or “moderate” ( perhaps with vaccines or lockdown ) the consequences on the economy and the population are enormous. So the attention shouldn’t be concentrated only on the virus.
Silvia C.
ReplyDeleteI think that in general no one is ready for an epidemic, because epidemics are always unexpected. This epidemic of Covid-19 became a pandemic very fast, because of several factors. In the first place because it is a viral disease, so it was easier to spread the Covid-19 to a lot of people in a short time. In the second place, hospitals are unprepared to face this emergency due to lack of masks, disinfectants, space and beds for the patients affected by Covid-19. So, in my opinion, also these factors are the cause of the “explosion” of this disease. But I think that hospitals will be more prepared in the future if there will be a new epidemic.
Sofia G.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we were not ready to face the Covid emergency. First of all, hospitals didn’t have the right tools to care for and host people who, affected by the disease, have been worse than they should have been. Secondly, being locked at home in quarantine has been a discomfort for many who have been mentally affected.
Anyway, we were able to adapt to this situation, thanks also to all the services that have been made available to us, such as the home service of primary goods.
Davide A.
ReplyDeleteI think we weren't ready for COVID. because predicting such a large epidemic is very difficult. I believe that in Italy many times we tend to belittle things for fear of facing reality; and therefore in Italy we faced COVID very late and with many difficulties. Hospitals were also initially far behind and did not have the right tools to fight COVID.
Francesco P.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we were not ready for the Covid-19 epidemic.
It's impossible to predict somenthing that can affect the world in such a large scale like a pandemic. We have seen the results and the problems since the start of the first wave, for example the absence of enough intensive care section in the hospitals, the strategies used for slowing down the virus or even the massive absence of personal safety protection devices.
Kevin B.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, as a population we weren’t ready to face the Corona Virus epidemic. There are many reasons why i think this but the real reason is that by the time we discover these viruses it is already too late, so we don't have the time to find a solution quickly.
At the beginning of the epidemic, for example, all people bought the masks but the factories that produced them for a different use weren’t ready to produce them in large quantities in a short time, so this shows that we were not ready for this situation but we tried to adapt.
Rosanna I.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion no, we weren't ready for this epidemic.
For many reasons, for example, hospitals were not equipped for so many patients. Our country had to equip itself very quickly and badly. Something very difficult to predict has happened and since it is a very rare thing no one would have ever thought about it, then it was a very fast epidemic and fighting it was very complicated.
Michelle F.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we were ready to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.
Firstly, because hospitals were not prepared, but also because people were not psychologically ready to deal with this situation
Victoria C.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we were not at all ready for the epidemic and everything that resulted from it. It happened suddenly and too quickly, and the situation got worse and worse, and we obviously didn’t have the resources to deal with this.
So for this reason we found ourselves in a horrendous situation: thousands of dead, many sick, shops and schools closed, people without work and deserted streets. We didn’t even know what we were living, and we were afraid of the future.
After almost two years, it must be said that the situation has improved a little thanks to all the sacrifices we have made, but we must not stop being cautious.
Cristina G.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion, no one was ready for Covid-19 epidemic.
It wasn't possible to predict.
The hospitals weren't ready to assist the people affected by Covid-19. All the economic activities had to change their attitude, but not only this kind of activities.
Covid arrived too quickly and no one could immagine what was going to happen.
Lots of dead, all the shops and schools were closed. The world was dominate by the afraid.
Fabio Baccon
ReplyDeleteI think we weren’t ready for a pandemic emergency. Italian country decreased hospital and all type of sanitary care in the last 50 years. By the way I suppose most of the political people knew that our country, more than other, couldn’t fight sanitary issues. In March 2021, after one year, the result were thousands of death and lockdown; the world economy and the global trade were so down in the last two years, therefore a lot of people lost money and job. I feel so bad for them.
In conclusion I think we are at the end, ONS is doing a so great job, I want thanks everyone how help in some way to fight Covid 19.
Valentina C.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion we were not ready for this pandemic. I also think we did not expect all this. At the beginning of the Covid-19, almost two years ago in 2019, when it all started, we didn't know anything about this virus. There were so many point of view and different opinion about it. We had no idea how the virus was transmitted between people, or maybe we were not sure. We started wearing masks, when we have known it could be transmitted by air. During the first months, there were not enough of them for everyone. When the number of victims suddenly began to increase, there was a shortage of available places in hospitals. It could be we weren't that ready to face this, or maybe it could be that we didn't make the right things to deal with it.
Francesca M
ReplyDeleteI think we weren’t ready for the Covid-19 epidemic because something like this had not happened in years and no one expected it.
I remember very well, that one day, when the positive cases were outside of Italy and a little, that a people of Chinese nationality was in the station with the surgical mask and we guys laughed and saw it as impossible. After 10 days cases began to evolve to many daily patients and then to many deaths, which also led to the lock-down.
It seemed to end very quickly and instead many families have lost their loved ones, many people their work, and young people have stopped amplifying knowledge through school and continue to live their youth.
After almost two years, we still have to keep our distance, wear the mask, sanitize our hands and this will surely last a long time.
The peopulation did not expect this pandemic but surely they continue to expect that something is done to get out of it and start living again.