The Threat That is Sweeping the World(Source-Based Essay)

Starting from the east and brushing towards the west; the Coronavirus or/as the WHO likes to call it the “COVID-19” has been infecting people at an alarming rate across countries in Asia and Europe and now finally the U.S. had its first death due to the virus last week. The Coronavirus family consists of viruses ranging from the common cold to much more dangerous diseases such as “ Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV)”(WHO). The virus is airborne and also zoonotic meaning it can be transmitted between animals and people. The common symptoms include a fever, cough, shortness of breath, and in severe cases “Pneumonia…and even death”(WHO). As of right now, there is no cure for the virus, and people are told to just practice good hygiene and stay in if you are sick or be wary of sick people. It is best to stay 6 feet away from sick people and if one thinks they have the coronavirus, one should seek a healthcare professional for the proper guidance. While we brace for the inevitable spread of the virus, we must remain calm and strong during these times, may those who have lost their loved ones to the virus find peace. Now I will examine some articles with regards to the president’s views on the coronavirus, how it is affecting the stock market and just how the general American population is being affected by the introduction of the virus to the U.S. I hope to underline the rhetorical situation in place, uncover the relationship between the audience and author, figure out the tone and purpose, as well as the general stance, genre, medium it is being spread through and the language used. 

In the first article titled “Trump misidentifies first US coronavirus fatality, calling a man a ‘wonderful woman’ ” Our author is Laura Italiano and she wrote to inform us of the mistake Trump indirectly made because of misgendering information that came from the CDC when he announced the first patient death in connection with the coronavirus. From reading the article’s title, the author is trying to click-bait people that want to read another one of President Trump’s stupid mistakes. From the article, “the victim, in fact, was a man who died in a Seattle-area hospital, officials said.”(NY Post) The victim had an underlying health condition and passed over-night. The author although she wants to inform the audience, her main audience are people who most likely are unfavorable to Trump. She is writing something non-fictional and through an online text-medium. She does not have a particular stance on the issue, but in order to get more clicks on her article, she made a very interesting title. Her tone is very normal and her purpose is to inform the general public of the most recent coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. The language she uses, like for example in the title made me think that Trump did something very stupid and as someone who is not a trump supporter made me click on the article itself.

The second article, “How Coronavirus Is Already Being Viewed Through a Partisan Lens,” is written by Jack Healy, Campbell Robertson, and Sabrina Tavernise. The authors of this article want to inform us(through an online text-medium) of the role politics could potentially play in the representation of information regarding the coronavirus to the general public. The authors are writing a nonfiction and informative piece. Although it is just factual information, the author takes the stance of a skeptic in what the Trump administration has been spewing lately about the coronavirus. This is all circling back to the claim President Trump made about the coronavirus, calling it a “hoax” by the democratic party. He used this same language to dismiss the investigation of the Russian election interference and his possible impeachment. The following day, he came back to explain the virus itself was not a hoax. Trump is responding to the democrat’s response that the president and his cabinet are not as prepared for the virus as the general public may perceive. This can cause all sorts of problems because this feud is a matter of public health. It could possibly, “undermine the public’s trust in government responses or even goad skeptics into dismissing any real threats as Fake News.”(NY Times). The article is stating that if the public sees that issues regarding this virus are being influenced by political stances, people might lose confidence in that said information and it may pose a greater threat to the whole containment and recovery process of the nation. From the article in this sentence, “Conservative commentators have, as ever, rushed to Mr. Trump’s side, praising the administration’s response and dismissing fears as a media-hyped overreaction. They have labeled Democrats “The Pandemic Party.”(NY Times) we can get a clear idea of the stance the authors are going for. They are leftist and are arguing that conservatives will always take Trump’s side, they did not say it a bad thing because the President is helping to stop the growing fear, but then again he is also dividing the country because he is calling the democrats “The Pandemic Party”. This division is what the authors want to point out to us. The issues surrounding the virus should not be associated with politics. This is the main purpose of this article. They state that the public needs credible information regarding the virus and Trump dismissing concerns on the virus which will inevitably spread to the whole of the U.S. is not going to help the country for the better. Other experts question if Trump has the credibility to get through this health-crisis, based on his previous claims and spreading of false information. Mayor of Dallas in 2014, Mike Rawlings, previously helped with maintaining public health when 2 nurses were diagnosed with ebola. He says, “I hope the governors and the mayors focus on what needs to be done, ” he said. “We’ve all got to be a team. This is hard work. We don’t have time for politics. People may die.”(NY Times). The article then points out that Trump was a harsh critic of how Obama handled the Ebola Outbreak. Then the article proceeds to ridicule Trump on the fact that the places that support him are questioning amidst this health-crisis if one should, “eat at an Asian restaurant”.(NY Times) Both democrats and republicans are increasingly getting divided because of this rising health crisis and its all just a political mess that is getting in the way of people’s safety.

The third article, “Coronavirus Fears Drive Stocks Down for 6th Day and Into Correction” written by Matt Phillips is an informative piece written in an online text-based medium under the New York Times and it contains information on how the coronavirus has and also will, later on, affect the stock market. His main purpose as specified underneath the title is to inform us that, “The virus, which has now spread to 47 countries, has put pressure on businesses and supply chains around the world.”(NY Times). The article states there has been a major drop in the global stock market for the 6th straight day and that the global stock market hasn’t been this low since 9 years ago. Now there is even a fear of a recession due to the coronavirus outbreak as it “squeezes corporate profits”(NY Times). The virus is set to hinder global supply chains, like the U.S. and China, the 2 biggest world economies. “In addition, the outbreak could crush consumer demand, as people limit travel or stay home even without a government order to do so.”(NY Times) People are staying in, not traveling and thus oil prices have gone down and money has poured into gold and government bonds which are safer investments-as all over the world stocks dip. Even Microsoft, the U.S.’s most valuable company dropped 7% as they anticipate a dip in sales due to the outbreak on its supply chains. The stance of this article is to show that clearly, the outbreak is affecting world economies for the worst and it will only get worse from here on out, as more production of goods is delayed and people are hesitant to go out and spend their money.

The fourth article, “Communication, transparency key as Canada faces new coronavirus threat,” is written by Wendy Glauser and it is a journal article from the Gale OneFile database. The author wants to inform us of the importance communication has to battle the containment and eradication of this coronavirus. From the article Dr.Ross Upshur from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto says that trust is the glue that holds this epidemic and contains it the best. But the author then rebuts this by stating that, “It appears there may still be gaps in communication between public health and front line staff. Shortly after Toronto, Public Health officials announced the first case of the new coronavirus on Twitter, a union representing the paramedics who transported the patient raised concerns that the paramedics were not notified about the diagnosis.” Even though the health officials in Canada said they will try to be as transparent as possible, they still did not inform the paramedics of the virus their patients were carrying. This could have posed a threat to the paramedic’s workers and cold has also made the situation worse in terms of containing the virus. The author’s stance is of an observer and she sees that while Canada does say they have gained a lot of experience from the 2003 SARS outbreak, she provides evidence that they still need to be 100% more transparent. Her language used in the article has no particular tone to it and she only wants to inform us of what Canada’s measures are for the virus. The solution Canada came up within the end is, “Federal public health officials have struck a special advisory committee with representatives from each province and territory to coordinate the response across Canada. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said the committee is meeting regularly as the situation evolves.” They hope that having a public health official representative at each providence to relay new information to the public might be the best in order to help keep the general public updated on the course of the virus.

Work-Cited

“Coronavirus.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus.

Italiano, Laura. “Trump Misidentifies First US Coronavirus Fatality, Calling Man a ‘Wonderful Woman’.” New York Post, New York Post, 1 Mar. 2020, nypost.com/2020/02/29/trump-misidentifies-first-us-coronavirus-fatality-calling-man-a-wonderful-woman/.

Healy, Jack, et al. “How Coronavirus Is Already Being Viewed Through a Partisan Lens.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/us/how-coronavirus-is-already-being-viewed-through-a-partisan-lens.html.

Phillips, Matt. “Stocks Continue to Tumble on Coronavirus Concerns.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/business/stock-market-coronavirus.html.

Glauser, Wendy. “Communication, transparency key as Canada faces new coronavirus threat.” CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 192, no. 7, 18 Feb. 2020, p. E171+. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, https://link-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A613922476/HRCA?u=cuny_ccny&sid=HRCA&xid=2e9bcc6c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.