Throughout the 4 months of sitting around waiting for our country to step up and become the leading nation to defeat COVID-19, I became wary about the direction the United States was going, some of the actions even coming in as questionable. In these same 4 months, we’ve seen countries who are less developed than us hinder the virus or even stop its destructive and deadly path. Many believe that our own failure came from the people, while others believe it is our political leaders. But in my opinion, it is the failure of both the people and the government. Firstly, it is the failure of the people due to the refusal to wear proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and the neglect of simple social distancing guidelines. This failure is shown in the test statistics that came from Florida on July 12, where 15,000+ cases were counted in a span of 24 hours(the highest ever in a state). The responsibility to make the people follow these proper guidelines is in the hands of the government and law enforcement, which have done little or nothing at all to enforce the spread-prevention guidelines set by the CDC. But our government does quite well in one category, which is bragging about their achievements(which is their job) and asking for our thanks. They also do a good job not acknowledging their shortcomings as a government. I fully agree that our nation as a whole needs to improve upon its approach to this virus, but what must we change to achieve a satisfactory result? Do you think that the people of this country should step up and take action themselves? Or should it be the government's job to show more efficacy in enforcement and improve or change their approach? Or a possible mixture of both?
I believe that what brought us to this point is actually our success in making life easier for the citizens of the US. The main reason why both the people and the government refuse to accept and enforce law is because we are too caught up in our success as a nation for not having anything too life threatening in our society. Right now you could walk outside and say hi to your neighbor without getting killed or prosecuted for breaking the law and thats the great thing about the US. But it also means you can go walk outside and say hi to your neighbor without a mask on. because the US laws are so flexible and could be applied to anything, it would be better if the people of this country would just listen to the government without having to be forced to do so. If the government did decide to take a harsher approach, it would just lead to a restriction of our rights that could maybe be enforced even after the pandemic. Im not saying that you should go outside without a mask on because you have the right to, just go outside with your mask on knowing that you have the right to take it off.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that this pandemic is world wide, it’s not only the job of the government to be able to improve what goes wrong but it’s also the job of the people. Similar to what Fabian claimed, it can be easy to enforce rules and make laws however, it also the job of the people to be able to follow them and do their part by trying their best to stay restricted and compliant to what the government tells us. One reason I believe many have a hard time doing so is because we are in the U.S, and as a capitalist and socialist country, many fear that they’re going to loose their freedom and the joys that came from the capitalist traits of our country. Although this may be the case, it’s no excuse to put others at risk at a time like this, and people just need to realize the chaos could only be temporary if everyone was compliant, listened, and followed the little regulations we have to keep our health safe. Things would only then improve once there’s less opposition from the people and the government and more collaboration to trying their best to do what they can to improve our current situations no matter the price, because although it may be a big sacrifice, the purpose is to be able to bring back what we lost for a while in the end.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the covid-19 cases in the U.S. are a result of both the government and the people. Because of the neglect when it came to taking safe precautions, we've now increased our cases and have made the virus harder to beat. Many people's carelessness for proper protective equipment and social distancing guidelines comes off as inconsiderate. While families are making an effort to social distance and effectively quarantine, people are still choosing to risk others for their own "freedom." Now, the families that have chosen to take safe measures feel as if their efforts were wasted because cases are sill climbing. In terms of the governments contributions to lowering cases, I feel like more could have been done to ensure safety. Instead of making protective equipment optional in places as well as opening beaches and entertainment centers, more guidelines should have been made. Both the government and the people are the sole reasons the U.S. is unable to keep the cases under control. Americans tend to believe that safety precautions infringe on their freedom and happiness. It seemed like the government was also valuing wants over needs and "freedom" over safety. All in all, both the government and the people could have done a better job if we really wanted to reduce the covid cases.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of the comments above. The government can only do so much to try and stop the spread of COVID-19. They have made it mandatory for people to wear facial coverings while inside stores or in indoor public areas and they have also closed down non-essential businesses. It is then up to citizens wether they want to actually follow the guidelines that the government has set up. Think of the people who were protesting wearing facial masks...they simply that that it was unjust for the government to 'force' them to follow the safety measures. Now, think of what these people might do if the government did input more measures to ensure that citizens followed these guidelines. For example, if they passed a law that stated that whoever was caught not following social distancing guidelines would be arrested? While I don't agree with those people, I don't think it is entirely the government's fault that this pandemic has gotten larger. It simply has to do with close minded people who think that they don't need to protect themselves. They need to be educated that it's entirely their own decision and need to be aware that the decision that they make doesn't only affect them, but everyone who they will be around them.
ReplyDeleteThe government was not at fault for what is happen because of the situation that they are put in when they have to make a decision on what to do during the pandemic because on the one hand if the government started enforcing marshal law to keep everyone in their homes they would be told that it infringes on everyone's liberty and that they are over stepping their role as government which would result in conflict with the government by those who believe that the government has not right to do that while on the other side of the problem is they don't enforce anything and people don't treat it as a huge threat so they do what they want even though they were told not to. There is also another problem on the state level in which some states might fight with the government because the government's actions might infringe on state's rights on what they are able to do.
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