Each represents a lost human life
A Chinese doctor who tried to sound the alarm; a father of six who emigrated from Pakistan to the United States to give a better life to his circle of relatives; a 15-year-old boy who left his remote home in the Amazon to study. They all died of Covid-19.
In 8 months, more than 33 million people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in almost every country. The disease has claimed lives on every continent in Antarctica, and more than a million people have died.
That’s four times more people died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 16 times more people died from unusual influenza in the United States last winter, and more than 335 times the number of others killed in the 9/11 attacks.
But the tragedy of the coronavirus is not limited to the number of deaths, but also to the dark truths it has revealed about who we are and how we treat the most vulnerable. to health care and ignited a long-standing war against the facts that prevent scientists from transmitting life-saving information.
Almost every user around the world has been affected by the pandemic, but that hasn’t come close to us together, but in many ways it’s tearing us apart.
Every day, Vinod Kumar collected rubbish and sweeps through the streets of the Indian capital, New Delhi, to his family, who in the end claimed his life.
In March, when India entered a national blockade, New Delhi’s hectic streets emptied while others stayed home to protect themselves from the virus, but Kumar, 57, was the family’s only economic support: he had to keep working.
“He did his homework to the fullest even though he was older,” says his 27-year-old son, Sumit Vinod. “He never left his homework half-finished. “
Cases of Covid-19 were discovered in spaces where Kumar collected you, but the Delhi government that used it did not provide non-public protective devices or virus tests, said Vinod, who tried to take Kumar to his own hospital, where he hoped there would be less threatening infection, but was told admission would charge 35,000 Indian rupees ($475) , your father’s monthly salary. At a government hospital, Kumar had to pay 3,100 rupees for treatment. Vinod borrowed cash from his friends and family. Pay the bill.
“We didn’t even have a stretcher to bring him in, which made it complicated because he was already out of breath and had problems. It took him eight hours despite everything to get a bed,” Vinod said.
On April 24, six days after being admitted to the hospital, Kumar died. His son stated that he had not earned any reimbursement from his employer. Jai Prakash, a senior official in Delhi Township, said the staff had received gloves and masks since April. and that those with symptoms had been examined. Relatives of Covid-19’s deceased staff earned 10 million rupees ($136,000) in six weeks, he said.
“I don’t know if a major remedy could have stored it, but what we went through was very difficult,” Vinod said. “Certainly, if we had money, it wouldn’t be. “
Like many countries, India has a huge wealth gap. Low-income staff suffered their pandemic, the world’s largest moment with more than six million cases.
That hole widened when the country entered a brutal and brutal closure in March, where millions of migrant workers were trapped in villages without work or a way home, while middle-class Indians can simply paint in their homes and at a social distance from their neighbors, day laborers still had no selection to continue painting. For those living in densely populated slums, social estating is impossible. Access to health care for the poorest Indian patients in Covid-19 is far from guaranteed.
It’s a global problem. A study published in April through the United Nations University’s Global Research Institute on Development Economics indicates that 30 years of progress in reducing global poverty is beginning to deteriorate and predicts that coronavirus could push one billion people into poverty worldwide.
The pandemic has only highlighted the hole of wealth, it has made it worse.
Karla Lake and her husband, Graeme, 73, boarded the luxury cruise ship Ruby Princess in Sydney on March 8, the same day the Australian fitness government said the threat of contracting a coronavirus in the country is low.
After meeting three decades ago on a blind date, the couple had retired, making dozens of cruises like this in New Zealand for Karla’s birthday.
But this time, as they toured New Zealand, passing through the towering Fiordland Mountains and Napier’s art deco buildings, the coronavirus spread aboard, which they only learned at home, on land tested positive and were admitted to the hospital. days, Karla dead.
“Karla fell asleep around 3pm on Saturday afternoon and I didn’t know the last time I would contact her,” Graeme said.
An Australian commission of inquiry has learned of several serious errors in relation to the Ruby Princess, adding the fact that the government has not remote and proven the suspected cases. More than 3,000 passengers and equipment have been able to disembark and disperse around the world, despite a significant accumulation of flu-like symptoms among passengers. Approximately 850 Australian passengers and the team had contracted Covid-19. There are 28 Covid-19 related deaths related to the vessel, adding Lake Karla.
Graeme and 900 other passengers filed a demand for elegance opposite Ruby Princess operator Princess Cruises alleging negligence and non-compliance with their legal responsibility to supply a cruise. Princess Cruises declined to comment due to ongoing litigation.
“If I’d been told there’s sickness on the boat, I might have had a chance to tell Karla, let’s stay in the cockpit and set her away, so she wouldn’t get sick,” Graeme said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, some of the largest coronavirus teams were on cruises with travelers from around the world. In February, the Diamond Princess, moored off the coast of Japan, experienced the largest open-air epidemic in mainland China.
These closed societies at sea have served as microcosses of the crisis.
The Ruby Princess and other ships illustrated how temporarily the virus can spread, and has also provided governments with early lessons: acting temporarily, being transparent with the public, and making sure large-scale testing is available.
Unfortunately, all governments have paid attention to these warnings.
For most of his life, Michael Gibson worked as a registrar of births, marriages and deaths in England. The “precision content” has signed thousands of death certificates, but yours is incomplete, says her daughter Cathy Gardner.
The 88-year-old man, who has Alzheimer’s disease and lives in a nursing home in Oxfordshire, developed a cough and fever in mid-March. By then, many other people had become inflamed with a coronavirus in the UK, but Gibson. untested, instead gave him antibiotics.
When Gardner asked the rest house staff if anyone had Covid-19, they told him that a woguy who had tested positive at the hospital had later died at the facility. it is not known whether he died of Covid-19.
“There were no rules for nursing homes on how to treat other residents,” he said. “They were absolutely ignored. “
On April 2, Gardner braved a national blockade 270 kilometers (170 miles) from his home to see his father. He stood in front of his window, watching his father fall asleep. “He had his eyes closed and he looked comfortable and comfortable. Easy going,” she said. “He enjoyed classical music so they had it. “
He died the next day. His death certificate mentions Covid-19 as a cause.
Gardner is suing the government, alleging discrimination and a lack of protection for vulnerable people. The British government denies that it has been slow to shield old people’s homes, saying that the first tips as the scenario should be reflected and later updated.
“It’s very difficult to keep talking about what happened to my father, because it’s like getting scabies,” Gardner said. “I only know the help I receive from other grieving families, and I do it for them as well. “
Until 13 March, the British government’s view was that it was “very unlikely” for other people living in nursing homes to become inflamed because there was no coronavirus in the community. Hospitals sent Covid-19 patients back to homes that were not provided to isolate them. while they were among the maximum vulnerable. By mid-March, infections in nursing homes had epped. It was not until mid-April that the new regulations stipulated that all patients leaving the hospital to go to nursing homes were tested.
It’s too late for many. Residents of nursing homes accounted for approximately 53% of the more than 36,000 Covid-19 deaths reported in England and Wales as of June 12, according to government data. Worldwide, the figure is 47% on average, according to a review from 26 countries.
Some others, adding U. S. President Donald Trump, have ruled out the virus as a disease that only affects other older people with fitness issues, leading others to whether it meant older people are disposable. U. S. , Trump falsely claimed that other young people were “practically immune. “
Gardner and others that the lives of other older people deserve protection.
“The measures they have taken (the authorities) have discriminated against the oldest or most vulnerable people in the population,” he said. “They simply failed in their basic duty with the right to life of citizens. “
Richard Rose served nine years in the U. S. Army. U. S. , adding tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the coronavirus was a war he couldn’t win. 14 days, ” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Three days later, he discovered him dead at his home in Port Clinton, Ohio.
Although no autopsy was performed in Rose, Ottawa County Coroner Dr. Daniel Cadigan concluded that Rose had died of Covid-19 due to her positive outcome and past smart health.
Rose’s circle of family and friends considers him a kind, friendly and concerned guy who enjoyed video games.
But through some online, you are reminded for another reason. On April 29, Rose posted on social media that she would not buy a mask. “They gave me here not to buy this fucking hype,” he wrote. After his death, his message spread widely online.
It is known whether Rose replaced her position by fighting Covid-19.
“I’m out of breath just sitting here, ” he wrote shortly before his death. Weeks later, Rose continues to be attacked online for ignoring official fitness tips.
Science shows those mask paints to protect the user and others from coronavirus, and they all wear one when surrounded by others in public, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. But it’s not the first time
“We’ll have to show compassion, whether we agree with someone’s ideals or not,” Nick Conley, Rose’s friend, told CNN’s WOIO affiliate. “Someone has passed away and we deserve compassion for him. “
In May, a conspiracy video claiming that the pandemic was a hoax had millions of perspectives before being removed via YouTube and Facebook. At the time, the United States had reported more than a million cases of coronavirus. The massive appetite for a conspiracy video showed how much incorrect information had become widespread in the country.
For years, President Trump had made unvoned statements and undermined the established media. The pandemic has increased bets.
At a time when clinical accuracy is crucial, Trump has consistently minimized, or flatly rejected, the risk of the virus, he knows how fatal it is, and it drug-untested, adding whether disinfectants can be used only to treat the virus in humans. wondering if there is “a way to do something like this, through an internal injection or almost a cleanup. “
And it wasn’t until July, when more than 3 million more people had become inflamed with a coronavirus in the United States, that the president nevertheless wore a mask in public. Even now, Trump mocks Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. to dress up in a mask.
The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated the true burden of war opposed to the facts, fake news has influenced elections and causes others not to be informed about the world, believing in incorrect information about the Covid-19 would possibly even have burdened lives.
Four Covid-19 tests and a false diagnosis of pneumonia were needed before Isarire Lukukui Karaja was hospitalized in Brazil and finally, on August 13, tested positive.
The day her older sister died from the virus.
As his condition worsened, annoyed by other fitness problems, his daughter, Tuinaki Karaja, begged his father to hold on. “I said, “Please, Dad, fight for your life. ” Shortly after Tuinaki returned home, the phone sounded. . His dead father.
More than part of Brazil’s 800,000 indigenous people live in remote spaces, adding reserves; many are far from hospitals, lack basic sanitation services and are more vulnerable to disease due to their isolation from the outdoor world. spaces have difficulty accessing public fitness services, have the highest rates of pre-existing fitness problems, and are treated as second-class citizens.
All of this has contributed to indigenous Brazilians ingesting themselves with coronavirus at twice the rate of the country’s general population.
Many of the 3,800 karaja, of which the original Isarire, live in the Santa Teresa do Morro indigenous reserve in the state of Tocantins, according to the independent non-profit socio-environmental institute, Isarire’s father had been the head of the reserve and, upon his death, passed this role to his son. In the reserve, known for its singing, for making headdresses of classic delicate feathers and as a user to whom the recommendation can be simply sized. In 2005, he became the first Aboriginal user to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting in Brazil.
“My father did a lot for Aboriginal communities. He’s a leader,” Tuinaki said. He said, “I do this because I like it, I need to see my people. “
When European colonizers arrived in South America 500 years ago, there were about 11 million natives, in a century the population had shrunk by 90%, mainly due to the onset of diseases.
Coronavirus has raised fears that something may happen.
Even before the pandemic in Latin America, the average life expectancy of indigenous peoples in 20 years is lower than that of the general population, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
As the epidemic has settled in Brazil, which has the third largest number of reported cases, activists have warned that the government has not done enough to help others like Isarire. They said illegal logging and logging on indigenous lands, which have increased since then. Brazilian pro-development president Jair Bolsonaro swore last year; may bring the virus to vulnerable communities.
Aboriginal peoples are so afraid of coronavirus that some have taken legal action to force the federal government to implement security measures. While Brazil’s supreme court won a partial victory in August, a ruling handed down said it was no exaggeration to describe the scenario as genocide. Indigenous communities in some countries, adding Brazil, have moved away in a protective way.
The tragedy for indigenous peoples around the world is that they have already lost much for the colonizers, some tribes have been eradicated. Those who stay now face threats.
“These other elders are the guardians of knowledge, languages, traditions, festivities, rituals,” said Dinaman Tuxa, of the articulation of Brazil’s other indigenous peoples. “We lose much more than other people, we lose our culture, our nation. “
Yassin Hussein Moyo was killed after being shot on his family’s balcony in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, seeing police on the street impose a coronavirus lockdown. It is thirteen years old and is the third day of national curfew to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
At the time, Kenya reported 50 cases.
Yassin’s father, Hussein Moyo Molte, in a close friend’s space to watch the news and remembers hearing gunshots moments before his daughter called him and said, “Yassin shot. “The police had fired to enforce the curfew. The teenager had been hit by a stray bullet in his stomach.
“My son was shot on the balcony of the house, he wasn’t even on the street,” Moyo said. “The curfew, but the way the cop treated him was very bad. “
Before his death, Yassin’s mother, Hadija Abdullahi Hussein, told her children to worry the police, but says she has since lost all confidence in the force.
“Can I honestly tell you, the cop is fine after the cop has killed his brother?I can’t go back and tell them to accept the police as true,” he said.
The challenge beyond 13-year-old Yassin.
A month after Kenya’s national closure, another 14 people died from coronaviruses.
But at the time, according to human rights organization Amnesty International, the country’s Independent Police Oversight Authority said in September that it was investigating the deaths of 20 other people who were allegedly killed. through the police the curfew going on in the country.
Disturbing videos posted through local media showed police throwing tear gas violently, beating and forcing others to lie down in tight ground teams in the coastal town of Mombasa. Kenya is now in its sixth month of national curfew, and there is no indication of when it will end.
There have been cases of others who died as a result of police brutality in Kenya before, but the pandemic turned out to have exacerbated the problem.
Kenya’s question speaks of a broader crisis unfolding around the world: the death toll of one million does not reflect the true burden of coronavirus His victims far exceed those who were shown to have died as a result of Covid-19.
This hidden toll is likely to increase.
At the end of the year, the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that up to 12,000 more people can die every day from starvation related to the social and economic effects of the pandemic, perhaps even more than the disease dies daily.
These Americans will be included in the coronavirus statistics.
But they are of the tragic burden of the pandemic.