What does it take to eradicate an outbreak?

Daniel Salazar

People currently buy essential items to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

The world is currently in a crisis with COVID-19, a fast spreading and incurable virus.  More and more are being infected and scrambles of scientists are trying to find a solution to combat it. That raises the question, what does it take to find that solution?

COVID-19 belongs to the Coronaviridae family which, according to Science Direct, is spread out amongst over 60 coronaviruses which often causes “only mild respiratory or enteric infections.” This led to the Coronaviridae family not being recognized as dangerous until the 2002 SARS outbreak.

SARS was quickly controlled, however, which meant that there wasn’t an immediate need to find a cure. However, the outbreak of this disease led to a peak in interest of the Coronaviridae which provided some knowledge that could be used to combat the current disease.

Today’s current issue is to be able to find some way of curing or developing a vaccine for Covid-19. This is largely due to a failure in limiting the spread in some countries.  Vox news states “democratic norms” creates a problem of implementing “strict isolation methods.” 

Daniela Mejia, a Godinez Fundamental sophomore, has concerns about individuals who are not acting quick enough to limit its spread.

“It upsets me to see so many people go out and hang out in public places. Their ignorance is the reason why we will not recover from the Coronavirus soon,” Mejia said.

But a vaccine would take long to be widely spread amongst the public. The New Yorker, an American weekly magazine, quoted the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:  “A vaccine that you make and start testing in a year is not a vaccine that’s deployable.” They also stated that a deployable vaccine would take “a year to a year and a half, no matter how fast you go.”

So the World Health Organization provides social distancing tips to stop or hopefully stall the further spread of Coronavirus. 

“It’s not going to stop the Coronavirus but the distancing will be useful in order to prevent the spread of it,” said sophomore Ryan Garcia.