The Pandemic's Impact on Politicians and Governments
Written by Hanya Awan October 31th 2021
Ever since COVID-19 has begun, there have been many concerns and tasks for governments to handle, which resulted in many fast-decision making, fast-paced laws, and other regulations that governments needed to provide to ensure the least amount of exposure and contamination to the public. There were many concerns not only regarding people’s health risks, which was the sole purpose of keeping them isolated and inside their homes, but also regarding the interference with people’s schedules with school, work, businesses, and travel which has been banned and still requires restrictive rules in many areas and from that many borders have been closed. However, the main challenge for the nation’s economy to keep increasing and growing is the split between opening public spaces and the safety measures for sick people who have not been vaccinated or have been exposed to the vaccine in any way.
It is a significant fact that from the start of March 2020 to the conflicting and puzzling laws that are still being re-arranged and adjusted, according to many news organizations to place the virus in a slow and restful path were very challenging for governors and any position that had responsibility in protecting their people from provincial levels, national and of course international. In 2020, COVID-19 affected over 50 million people worldwide. With this huge number, there was no choice but to prioritize the need to reduce the spread of the vicious virus. Undeniably, there was a great reset to both society and the economic structures and plans for nations to grow and develop. Businesses experiencing losses, restaurants closing and shutting down, companies going bankrupt from lack of customers, schools being shut down and the education being scampered between each student who is left in a confusing state; everything was deconstructing and not developing in any way. Thus, governments had to find ways so that do not families experience losses in both their lives and their income. With great difficulty, the struggle still continues as almost 2 years have passed since the beginning of the pandemic.
With the pandemic not only putting peer pressure, public pressure, and societal pressure, governments and politicians have tried to react quickly, with no time to process their thoughts and plans. Upon that, according to the OECD, the pandemic is so severe that “it is widely recognized that the pandemic triggered the most serious economic crisis since World War II”. This left many in states of confusion, worry, and urgency; but what was more threatening, was the population itself who believed that freedom would pave its way, has decided to not consider the safety measures and guidelines. Many students, workers, and protestors gathered in many public and crowded areas which left only more failures in hospitals, greater death rates, and low respect for governor officials. The public initiated that the government opened everything up normally, however, the virus has just begun in 2020, and in 2021 the virus became more strong and had 3 new variants that may or may not be blocked from the present-day double vaccinations that were mandatory in some places. Thus, the governments have been trying to maintain and control the severity of the virus, as well as dealing with people’s concerns, complaints, rebellious actions, and low compliance with the measures given. It is a handful to these people who are not only lacking support themselves, but they are attempting to support a whole population, area, city, or even country.
Dealing with death rates around 1 million from May 2020 peaked and still continue to hold concerns for risks and safety, with the decisions of governments, politicians, and positions who hold power in making plans for a specific region in the world. The decisions that the public makes also affect everybody else, whether it be related to business, vaccinations, careless freedom that is being taken away from seniors, and other vulnerable infected people. Not only does the government have to hold responsibility, but often these people do not get held accountable which leaves a state of confusion and controversy on who is doing their job and who isn't. In the end, not only does the government impact our daily life, but the public contributes to how successful they desire to maintain those measures to either worsen the situation or create a more clear path for development.
Works Cited
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