Chinese vaccine

 From a Chinese government perspective, they are going to try and use the vaccine to repair relations with Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Latin America, the Caribbean, and any other country they want to gain a favor for. Chinese officials however have come under fire for utilizing Chinese hackers trying to 

steal US vaccination data, and that locals involved in the testing are being "treated like Guinea pigs." However, many see Chinese production and distribution of masks and ventilators when the virus first spread as a way for China to make up for their mistakes in being the birth and initial spread of the deadly disease. This adds on to how people see China if they make the new vaccine ready for global use before everyone else. As the US is lagging behind in being the global leader with our complications with our own future leader, China is aiming to jump in the lead by producing the world's first vaccine.

China says they are ready to be able to give the new vaccine to the world if it proves successful, but some critics don't see them being as lenient with giving their prized possession to everyone. Understandably, most see them as holding them hostage for more money, trade benefits, and other assets that Chine would use against others.

This is just one scenario of many that could happen depending on who is able to successfully create the first vaccine. We will just have to see what the future holds for us and the virus's fate.

Covid Vaccines and Global Cooperation

 Making a vaccine is a hassle. Making a vaccine for a virus that is quickly taking over the Earth and fast tracking the entire process is insane to even imagine. All the safety and precautions that they still have to follow up with are being rushed and cause a question of concern for how the public will respond to a vaccine produced this quickly. You could say some people are glad that it was manufactured in this fashion with such speed so people can begin protecting their families and friends who are more at risk. However, you could also say that people are going to reject the idea that they made a good trustworthy vaccine because of how fast it was. These completely lopsided responses could illicit some arguments and some public protests in extreme scenarios.

FedEx worker handling dry ice

This isn't the only problem though. Another dilemma is the distribution of the vaccine. For the portion of people who want the vaccination, it'll be difficult to acquire it from their local pharmacies and doctor's offices. The primary companies who are producing the vaccine are reporting that it has to be stored and transported below freezing levels. This requires extra attentive care to keeping a certain temperature and ensuring the vaccine will still be effective when reaching the patients. Storage containers full of medicine will be transported from facility to facility and being dispersed to other local hospitals while ensuring proper temperature storage. If not properly handled, the vaccines might not be effective anymore and eventually destroy the public's trust the vaccines really do work. It is not only intercountry/intercontinental transportation that has to distribute effectively, it's also global distribution that has to be directed efficiently and effectively. If a single country makes all the vaccines, or at least most of them, then that country would have to communicate with other countries about their transportation and amount of product they need. If all of this is able to work in tandem with not too many conflicts, then just maybe could vaccine distribution run smoothly.

ID swipes

 This topic kind of relates to my last post in a way that deals with visitor restrictions. However this more deals with how they are enforcing and implementing the restrictions.

The ID swipe. I think it's a good idea for what its used for, and then a bad idea for the extra money they had to spend just to make sure we didn't have visitors. Let me explain. The RA's working the front desk ask everyone to swipe in their ID to make sure we actually live in the building. I'm sure some people try and sneak in their friends or what not but they'll most likely get caught with having to swipe in their ID and it shows that they live in a different building. Knowing this, kids won't even bother trying to get their friends in and instead go meet up somewhere else.

Furthermore, students have to scan their ID at the front doors first to even open the doors. In other words, students can't open the doors to dorms if they don't live there. All the swiping at the front desk to make sure we live there is doing nothing except making us swipe in twice every time we enter our dorms. Especially if most of us walk in by ourselves coming back from class or getting food, there is no possible way for us to even open the door if we didn't live there. Most of the time it is a burden, as for me I usually come back with food and have to put it all down to get my ID out.

I am overexaggerating a little on how much of a burden and waste of money it is since it is only an extra minute or two out of my day and only one small swiping machine in each of the housing dorms. I think my point when trying writing this was just to show how much the University is doing to keep the virus in check when they don't need to do this much. If people continue to go out off campus they will probably contract the virus eventually if they haven't already. No amount of on-campus restrictions will keep college students from being college students.

Comfortable Prison

Covid kind of put a hold on all things social. To increase these matters, school, such as our University of Kentucky, have placed restrictions on every kind of gathering, guests in dorms, where to sit anywhere on campus, etc. In doing so, us students are virtually confined to one place. 

The video you see here is my dorm room. I am in here just about all the time except to get food and an occasional Saturday when I might go golfing with some friends. It sucks, but it is my very own comfortable prison. From what I've seen and heard about prisons from movies, they are able to come out of their cells for meals and once a day for yard time. Similarly, I only come out of my room for meals at Champs, and a couple times a week to hang with friends off campus. I don't complain about it too much because I know it could be worse. I have my computer and constant internet access along with most of my belongings and my own shower with a roommate. I have been lucky enough so far to not have tested positive for the virus and therefore have not been subjected to not leaving my room at all and having food brought to me for 2 weeks. 

It is a good conversation starter though as it is usually my first response when friends or family back home call and ask how it's been. Then I continue on about the details of how much I can go out and do. Same conversation every time. My one critique however is with the restrictions of guests in other dorms. They originally said no guests for the first couple weeks and then we would be allowed to have visitors on like September 7th or something. Then they extended that date 2 weeks. Then they extended that date 2 more weeks again. It has now been a little over a month, and now I have lost all trust that they'll ever allow the guests. We are college students, we find a way to get together with our friends anyways. Would they rather us go out in public with even more people just to hang out? That's kind of the big question I always think about. And why try to keep our hopes up that we'll ever have guests when we know they'll probably push it back longer? It just doesn't make sense. 

Anyways, this is still my personal prison with only me and my roommate. 

Online Education

Thanks to Covid, schools have resorted to online learning. They had to start up the school year somehow and it was able to get done by moving to zoom lectures, videos, and lots of online files. The issue however, lies within students' abilities to learn remotely.

Let me rephrase: The issue lies within the students' abilities to pay attention and focus enough to continue learning effectively. I recently got asked if this new online learning we have become accustomed to has provided an equal opportunity for learning. I personally think it has. However, there are some aspects that are more difficult to deal with that I do not think are as equal.

The opportunity to learn is more than equal and fair. At first, in the end of the spring semester 2020, it was not as equal as teachers were scrambling to figure out how to finish the semester remotely when they've never had to deal with anything like this before. Most students did have to teach themselves at least a little bit of material from the lack of lectures or class time. And teachers also had to compensate for students who didn't have quick, reliable internet or computer access at home. 

But that was all unprepared, nobody was ready for anything like that to occur. Now we are in the fall semester of 2020 and professors and instructors had time to prepare their schedule and lay out their plan for students. This allowed all students to have the same opportunities to learn as teachers posted lecture videos, hosted regularly scheduled zoom meetings/lectures, and provided more than enough resources for students to learn. The online learning does not take into account the social or emotional aspect of being in a classroom with others, but the videos they provide for us to watch along with zoom classes and other material are the same videos and lectures we would see as if they were in person. Every student has access to the same resources and classwork even though the resources are online. 

For the spring semester, schools allowed students to drop classes or waive their final grades because of Covid's quick surge in the US. For this semester though, I don't believe schools should give any kind of extensions or lenience on the grading policies. I believe if students fail their classes and attempt to blame it on online learning, then they were simply being lazy. Students will still fail some classes don't get me wrong, but it won't be because of the remote teaching.

Schools and businesses and society in general will eventually get back to normal. We will be able to walk around without having a mask on, we can gather for parties and big events, and teachers will be able to host in person classes again. At that point we can get rid of all these issues that stem from remote education. A lot of countries in Europe and Asia are already doing it. The kids learning in these countries should have an advantage against people who are still learning online. Not an advantage with the material of their classes, but with labs and other classes that include some kind of hands on learning that you can't get from an online lecture. From a hiring perspective, depending on what kind of hands on teaching was acquired that an online-taught student didn't receive should be a competitive advantage. However, most labs and hands on type classes are the few classes still being taken in person or as a hybrid class so in the end I don't think people who are already back to learning in person won't have any sort of advantage in the job market.

So many questions have arose about the future and how much Covid could affect it, but we won't find out until we get there and that could be years. Hopefully it isn't too much longer, but for now, it doesn't seem like it'll be anytime soon.

UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines?

 A county-wide vaccine distribution is someone's job. In this entry I am going to detail how I would handle this dilemma if it was my job.

I don't know the demographics of Fayette County as most people don't. However, being a part of a college community, I have made the assumption that a good portion of the population consists of younger individuals. What I don't know is the racial, gender, or economic distribution. This is important to be ignorant to, because my distribution wouldn't be biased toward race, gender, or socioeconomic status.

To distribute the vaccine, I would only factor in age and people with underlying health conditions. People over the age of 50 would receive the vaccine, as well as anybody with diabetes, asthma, any organ conditions, etc. All the people that fall under these criteria are at the highest risk of Covid having a negative health effect on them and will most likely be symptomatic. 

The rest of the third of vaccines will go as follows. It has been seen that you are unlikely to get Covid once you have already gotten it. People who have yet to test positive for the virus and are still being extremely cautious about contracting will be next. It will be first come first serve for the rest of the vaccines, but only for people who meet the criteria.

I feel like this would be the most effective way to distribute a limited amount of vaccines without being biased toward certain classes and helping the people who would greatly benefit from a vaccine. 

Pop Culture vs. Pandemic: Who prevails

The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 has taken a massive toll on how we live our lives and probably how we will continue to live our lives as we move on past the pandemic in the future. I have taken the liberty of finding a couple of examples for y'all to see exactly how the pandemic has altered our way of life through pop culture.

The video above displays how schools across the country have adapted to a new learning environment during the pandemic. Since nobody is allowed to be near each other without risking exposure to the virus, schools have resorted to zoom meetings, online lectures, pre-recorded videos, etc to teach their students remotely. This video however doesn't just display the new learning environment, it also exemplifies how we, as students, still find ways to enjoy ourselves, have fun, and connect with others by coordinating carefully planned pranks on the teacher during these zoom meetings. With one student recording all the action, these pranks go viral and it becomes the new fad for students to attempt pranks remotely. The new trend then sets the stage for others to try and "top it" by coming up with better and more original pranks. This has become our form of entertainment with the outside world being put on hold to slow down the disease.

My next example is when things began to relax a little on the restrictions. In Tyne, England, Sam Fender performed a concert for about 2500 fans. 

However, this wasn't just any concert with 2500 people. Only in groups of no more than 5 people, everybody was split up into these metal platforms that were all organized and separated to comply with CDC guidelines and social distancing rules. Possibly being the new norm, the way this event was held could be how big events would be handled going forward. This newly invented "pop culture" and how it presents itself has the potential to be the lengths we will go to in attempts to host big events and other social gatherings. Clearly there are a lot less people attending than there would be without a pandemic with so much separation between people, but that only means there might be even more events planned so everyone can have the opportunity to go. Maybe? I'm trying to be optimistic but if they want to make money and keep society and culture flowing, they are going to have to put on a lot more shows for more people. At least that's how I see it and feel like that would be the best option for big events to move forward. 

Anyways, this is what pop culture is like now, with our entertainment stemming from poking fun at the pandemic and original designs for how to put on a concert, this could be what we do for a good amount of time moving forward. There is a good chance of a vaccine coming around and then everything going back to normal but that probably won't be for a while and there is also the chance of another epidemic of other origins that will make us go back to this separated way of life. Something to think about.

New meals

 When Covid hit hard and officially shut everything down, Grocery stores stayed open while restaurants closed down. Our food consumption then began to rely heavily on my mom's cooking, from which I decided I wanted to start cooking. With the exception of occasional fried food, I'd say I eat pretty healthy. And coming from my mom, home cooked meals are usually healthy for our household. 

Me and my girlfriend, Madison, at
the Houston zoo lights during Christmas

On the right is a picture of me and my girlfriend. During the pandemic shutdown, we only traveled between our houses to restrict contact with other people. With the help of my mom, we started cooking dinner with her and eventually getting to the point when we would make our own meals for our families. I have to say that all of our dishes were top notch, 10/10. Since we were constantly cooking, our diets gradually became better and better, especially since neither one of us ever eat snacks or sweets.

From a financial standpoint, I'd say the pandemic contributed positively. Buying ingredients from the grocery store then cooking meals at home is cheaper. And since we never went out to eat anymore or got fast food, as a family, we saved quite a bit of money. Now obviously we were at home the entire time, so the electricity bill and water bill and other utilities went up but that's not what we're here to talk about. Food consumption and it's relationship to our family during the pandemic went very well. We were very fortunate, all things considering. Not only did it save us a little bit of money, it also improved our diets and contributed to learning how to cook with my girlfriend whom I love dearly.

The complete shutdown has ended, but the world is definitely not back to 100%. While in school, I try to continue to eat healthy in the cafeteria as best as I can and make the most out of these circumstances at school.

Experience is Knowledge

 Most information spreads online with social media or through news outlets. The decision is can people be trusted on social media, and which news outlets are telling the whole story. For the corona-virus, it's a hard decision to make because who you listen to could change your actions and how you see this situation of a global pandemic. 

My personal preference is listening to experiences. I listen to news outlets, and pay attention to some social media but I hardly ever trust it, none the less base my actions upon it. Friends and family who have been personally affected, articles about people's experiences with the virus, and famous athletes or celebrities have also been affected are who I trust. That last choice is strange, but why would someone with a huge platform and has tremendous amount of influence among young kids who aspire to be them, lie about an experience. They are often not tied into political affairs, usually, and they know their voice actually means something. Below is a video of Matthew McConaughey speaking out and using his voice to try and influence people to follow the necessary precautions so we can get through these times.

I try to listen to everybody regardless of what they believe or how they get their information. One of my buddies that I talked to, who is in a frat, was upset that they got singled out for second tests. He started complaining that it only affects old people, us younger kids have nothing to worry about, and that masks don't even help that much since we take them off in our rooms anyways. He wasn't completely wrong, but it definitely seemed like he never got the whole story. Yes, it affects people of age, but it also affects young adults, teenagers, and children too. If they don't have any underlying health condition then yea they'll more than likely be okay, but that's not the problem. It's those kids and young adults who then go on to visit with their parents and grandparents, and now there's a high chance of families losing loved ones. The entire story makes a difference. What actually happens and how it affects people make a difference. Just ensure that your information is trustworthy, and take proper action then we will be able to get through this.

Second Home

This year, as well as last year, I am living on campus in a dorm room. Similar to a hotel except this is where I live for roughly 8 or 9 months out of the year. It's my second home. Most of my belongings and living essentials came with me when I first moved in. If possible, I would like to stay here for as long as I'm supposed to stay here without having to get kicked out or sent home because of the coronavirus. And as far as I can tell by being on campus for a few weeks now, I think we'll be able to stay.

The University gave everyone who came back to campus a test for COVID-19. Once that first round of testing was over, they sent an email saying fraternities and sororities have a positive rate 3x higher than the rest of the school. That sounds bad but considering the rest of the school only had a positive rate of 1%, it's not too bad. The conclusion of this email stated that the frats and sororities were required to 

receive another test, round two. 

Greek Row at the University of Washington-Seattle

From what I've seen around campus, almost every student wears a mask with the exception of when they are dining. A few people here and there do not wear masks, seeming like they're only doing it to be rebellious. But it feels good to see that the students might want to stay on campus or so many of them would't be wearing a mask. Some schools have sent entire dorms home over outbreaks, some schools have gone back to completely online. Much of the outbreak issues resided with greek houses. But you can't blame them, frats are being frats, they're college kids like the rest of us trying to continue their college experience. The only difference between our University staying on campus and some in person classes is because our school singled them out and required them to have another round of testing. It's not a bad thing, they're finding a main source for outbreaks as seen with other schools closing again and taking action on it. Because of this, and students actually wearing their masks, I do believe that we will be able to stay on campus, and for most of us, continue to live in our second homes.

Myself with Covid

 My name is Luke Barrera. Being born and raised just outside Houston, Texas and then coming 1000 miles for college could strain things just a little bit when it comes to relations back home. I am a 19 year old Hispanic/White sophomore student at the University of Kentucky. I would say back home that i reside fairly comfortably in the middle class suburbs. My high school days were pretty easy. Our school had roughly 3000 kids and about 800 in our graduating class but everyone kind of new each other one way or another. I decided to travel far for college to start fresh, not that i needed to, without knowing a single person here. So far I'd say it has gone pretty well. I know a good chunk of people, have that one solid friend group that would always hang out, and I'm getting involved more than I expected to. Then the Corona-virus hit and slowed things down a little bit. School activities were being shut down one by one, more and more students were going home and staying home, and online classes were becoming normal. Me personally, I went home for spring break with one backpack of clothes and my laptop thinking I we would at least go back and finish the semester. Then they extended spring break for 2 extra weeks, and eventually went online for the rest of the 2020 spring semester. All my clothes, pillows, supplies, bathroom stuff was left in my dorm room. They told us to go back to campus and move out of the residency halls at the end of spring break, but there was no way I was going to spend hundreds of dollars just to go back for a couple hours, pack everything up and go home. I was lucky enough to have roommate who's family lived in Lexington and were nice enough to pack up my stuff for me and store it at their place until fall semester.

During the pandemic, I had it going pretty well. My and my girlfriend only went back and forth from each others houses and didn't really go anywhere except the grocery store and occasional fast food. We went to have lunch with my grandparents every Sunday so we knew we had to be careful anywhere we went. Living in Houston, a Covid hot spot, wasn't too bad considering the image that was plastered on the news for what its like to be in a hot spot. Nobody in my family or extended family got sick, I only knew of 2 friends who got it so it never really seemed too bad on the outside either. Coming back to campus wasn't too harsh of a transition. We drove up, so the scariest part was staying in hotel rooms that we couldn't be certain if they were actually clean. But we made it here, I tested negative, my family made it back home safely, and now I'm stuck in my dorm only leaving to get food and go to 1 class a week. It's ironic that it can be a little overwhelming not having anything to do knowing you are on a large college campus, but it's going well so far and I can only hope that it continues to go well.