Assignment3
Question 1
Assume you are now the older adult living in your current dwelling. How safe is it for you? Assess four areas-living, sleeping, cooking and bathroom for safety concerns. What risk does it pose to you? Identify the changes you would need to make to improve the safety in your home. Would those changes improve your safe at your current age? Why or why not?
QUESTION 2
Herd immunity”. Some have entertained the idea of “controlled voluntary infection,” akin to the “chickenpox parties” of the 1980s. However, COVID-19 is 100 times more lethal than the chickenpox. Someone who goes to a “coronavirus party” to get infected would not only be substantially increasing their own chance of dying in the next month, they would also be putting their families and friends at risk. COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States, killing almost 2,000 Americans every day. Chickenpox never killed more than 150 Americans in a year.
To reach herd immunity for COVID-19, likely 70% or more of the population would need to be immune. Without a vaccine, over 200 million Americans would have to get infected before we reach this threshold. Put another way, even if the current pace of the COVID-19 pandemic continues in the United States – with over 25,000 confirmed cases a day – it will be well into 2021 before we reach herd immunity. If current daily death rates continue, over half a million Americans would be dead from COVID-19 by that time.
Please read the following article and answer these questions:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/from-our-experts/early-herd-immunity-against-covid-19-a-dangerous-misconception?fbclid=IwAR1NVSVhGG7ClhZgrbjEOMmeskOsfvDvwLi-LfBuUA7Aaz3Mdz-4-LsWtx0
1. Why is there a difference in a “Chicken Pox” party vs. a “Coronavirus Party”. 2. Can you explain why Herd Immunity is not a safe alternative?
QUESTION 3
We have recently witnessed outbreaks of violence in response to the racial injustices committed against blacks in this country. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke eloquently about the use of violence in the passage below:
“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. IT CREATES bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.”
Violence is an epidemic in this country – in this crisis and in general, as we count the numbers of lives lost each day/week/year.
Please reflect on Dr. King’s words and provide your opinion/insight on the questions below:
Are there instances in history where non-violence worked and if so, does non-violence still work?
If violence is the only answer, do the means justify the ends?
