Page 23 - March April 2020 TPA

COVID-19. The mortality rate of SARS was approximately ten percent, and
MERS has an estimated thirty to thirty-five percent mortality rate. The WHO
has estimated that COVID-19 has a mortality rate of 3.4%, but also notes that
certain demographics like age will cause the number to fluctuate. (https://
www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses).

In 2020, the United States has modern medicine and the best healthcare
system in the world on its side. Vaccines, antivirals, antibiotics, and a wide
variety of other treatments proven effective await at the hint of a sniffle or sore
throat. But what happens when a new virus pops up? One that has no proven
treatment, vaccine, or cure? COVID-19 has been rapidly ingraining itself into
the increasingly unsettled minds of Americans. People observed as the virus
first began to take hold in China, and as it made its way onto American soil,
the panic level soared. Now, medical masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and other
similar products are sold out in stores and online as Americans fall victim to the
media frenzy and prepare for the worst. Law Enforcement officers will play a
crucial role in managing the stream of panic and misinformation. Education is
key. Law Enforcement Officers should know how to prevent the spread of the
illness, and what do to if they encounter COVID-19 while in the field. It is also
important that agencies have plans in place for pandemic-level outbreaks
of the disease. Above all, education and preparation are the best tools that
anyone, especially law enforcement officers, can have to fight diseases like
COVID-19.

All About COVID-19

Background: Cases of a mysterious respiratory illness began to emerge in
December of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Wuhan is a large city of
11 million people located in central China, and is an important commercial,
industrial, education, and transportation hub. The first cases of the new virus
have been linked to a large seafood and live animal market that sold exotic
animals. It is believed that this new strain of coronavirus originated in bats or
another small mammal before it ultimately spread from person-to-person. The
cases started popping up during the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebrations,
a time of year when many people from around the world travel throughout
China to join in on the festivities. Experts believe that the flood of people
traveling around China at the time when the virus first appeared exacerbated
its rapid spread. Cases of COVID-19 swiftly spread around the populous city,
promptly moving into other provinces around China. While the city of Wuhan
was eventually locked down, the virus’s global spread was inevitable in a
world so connected in the twenty-first century, where a flight can take you
across the ocean in less than a day.

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