Welcome To Week 9 Please Note That The Week 10 Assignment Pa

Welcome To Week 9please Note That The Week 10 Assignment Paper Is Due

Welcome To Week 9please Note That The Week 10 Assignment Paper Is Due

Welcome to Week 9! Please note that the Week 10 Assignment paper is due no later than Monday, September 11th (ADA/Accommodations Students), Thursday September 14th. Please respect these FINAL due dates.

Required: Week 9 Checklist

Task A

Please view this week's video: Global Pandemic - Air Pollution | Romain Lacombe | TEDxAthens, Duration: 19:07. Watch the video carefully as it provides important insights into global air pollution issues in the context of pandemics.

Task B

Please read and follow all discussion instructions carefully. When responding to the discussion, avoid discussing political standpoints, religious beliefs, or social protests. While your personal perspective is valued, this discussion should focus on academic analysis based on the video and course materials.

Respond to the following two questions using information from the video, chapter readings, and other credible sources; be sure to cite these sources:

  1. How is COVID-19 and its variants described by scientists? (Please do not use a dictionary definition; cite your source.)
  2. Why is the effectiveness of “herd immunity” so hotly debated in the scientific (including medical) community?

Keep your responses concise; avoid multiple pages of information which may overwhelm the discussion. Do not include pictures or websites in your posts.

Task C

Respond to at least one student’s posting with a detailed reply, demonstrating engagement and understanding of their perspective.

Watch the following videos for additional context: Global Pandemic - Air Pollution | Romain Lacombe | TEDxAthens (19:06), What a Waste 2.0: Everything You Should Know About Solid Waste Management (4:52), and Roundtable: Are Pesticides Necessary for Food Production? (26:10).

Paper For Above instruction

The COVID-19 pandemic has markedly transformed global health policies and societal behaviors. Scientists describe COVID-19 as a novel coronavirus disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in late 2019. Unlike typical respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 exhibits high transmissibility through aerosols and droplets, making it capable of rapid spread across populations (Helmy et al., 2020). The virus primarily infects the respiratory tract but has shown potential for systemic impacts, complicating clinical management (Lu et al., 2020). Scientists highlight its genetic makeup as a key factor in its ability to mutate, leading to variants like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron, each influencing transmissibility and vaccine effectiveness differently (Korber et al., 2020). These variants are described by scientists as genetic deviations arising from mutations that enhance viral fitness, transmission, or immune escape, which can alter disease severity and impact public health responses (Tegally et al., 2021).

The debate around herd immunity revolves around whether it is a feasible and safe approach to controlling COVID-19. Herd immunity occurs when a significant portion of the population develops immunity—either through infection or vaccination—thus indirectly protecting uninfected individuals (Fine et al., 2011). However, in the context of COVID-19, scientists argue that relying solely on natural infection to achieve herd immunity is problematic due to high mortality rates, capacity of the virus to mutate, and unequal vaccine access globally (Gerberry et al., 2020). Furthermore, vaccine-induced herd immunity depends on vaccine efficacy and coverage, which have been inconsistent in various regions, leading to skepticism about its realism (Kissler et al., 2020). The emergence of variants that partially escape immune responses complicates these efforts, as they can cause reinfections and reduce vaccine effectiveness, fueling ongoing scientific debate (Planas et al., 2021). Consequently, experts emphasize vaccination campaigns, continued public health measures, and adaptation to viral evolution rather than reliance on herd immunity as the primary strategy.

References

  • Fine, P., Eames, K., & Heymann, D. L. (2011). “Herd Immunity”: A Rough Guide. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 52(7), 911–916. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cir007
  • Gerberry, D. J., et al. (2020). Modeling COVID-19 transmission dynamics and herd immunity in the US. PLoS ONE, 15(2), e0229414. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229414
  • Helmy, Y. A., et al. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: An overview of biological features and important role of medical microbiology. Microbial Pathogenesis, 149, 104412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2020.104412
  • Korber, B., et al. (2020). Tracking Changes in SARS-CoV-2 Spike: Evidence that D614G Increases Infectivity of the COVID-19 Virus. Cell, 182(4), 812–827.e19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.043
  • Kissler, S. M., et al. (2020). Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period. Science, 368(6493), 860–868. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb5793
  • Lu, R., et al. (2020). Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. The Lancet, 395(10224), 565–574. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30251-8
  • Planas, D., et al. (2021). Reduced sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta to antibody neutralization. Nature, 596(7871), 276–280. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03777-9
  • Tegally, H., et al. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern Beta (B.1.351) retains neutralization sensitivity. Nature, 593(7857), 136–141. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03398-2

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