GRSJ224/COVID-19: Impacts on Social Justice

What to know about COVID-19

COVID-19 is a new disease and is part of a large gamily of viruses called Coronaviruses. It was initially detected in Wuhan China on December 2020. In humans, coronaviruses mainly cause symptoms common to respiratory ailments including stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, and fever. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and may recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and people with pre-existing conditions are more likely to develop serious illness. Most human coronaviruses are the result of infection by direct contact with secretions or droplets, such as from coughing or sneezing.

Countries on borders and immigration

China

On December 31, 2019, China alerted WHO regarding several cases of unusual pneumonia located in Wuhan. On January 23, 2020, China places Wuhan under lockdown, suspending transport to contain the virus and also cancels all large-scale Lunar New Year celebrations. On January 25, 2020, all flights and high speed trains from Wuhan to Hong Kong are suspended. Within 4 days of the Wuhan lockdown, more cities around Wuhan are placed under lockdown. Since then China has combat the spread of the virus. While other countries has ban travel to/from China. Now, China has put in place a quarantine requirement for travel into China. This means that people travelling into China, must be placed on a 14-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival.

Singapore

Singapore, has been one of the success stories in this COVID-19 pandemic. As of April 1, 2020, Singapore reported 461 active cases with the amount of discharged of 245 and the amount of deaths to only be 3 people. Most of Singapore's cases are imported to which there are a total of 523 cases. Singapore's response to the COVID-19 has been more effective as its infection rate is much slower than the rest of the world. As of March 23, 2020, travel restrictions in Singapore have been in place to contain the spread of COVID-19. Starting with all short term visitors, there is no entry or transit through Singapore. All Singapore citizens, permanent residents, and long-term pass holders, are put in a 14-day quarantine when coming from Hubei Province and a 14-day Stay Home Notice for people coming from all other countries. As of March 27, 2020, all travellers entering Singapore, including Singapore citizen, permanent residents, and long-term pass holders, must submit an electronic health declaration via the SG-Arrival Card e-Services before proceeding with immigration clearance. Those who decided to break the 14-day quarantine regulations are subject to harsh penalties.

Taiwan

Along with Singapore, Taiwan has been one of the countries with a low infection rate. During the wake of Wuhan's lockdown on January 23, 2020, Taiwan began with monitoring all individuals who had travelled to Wuhan within 14 days and had a fever or upper respiratory tract infections. On January 25, 2020, Taiwan started imposing border controls and closing access to visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The Taiwan Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) use the national health database with the immigration and customs database to create analytical data that helped authorities to monitor the travel history and health symptoms of incoming travellers. Taiwan used QR codes and online reporting travel records and health symptoms for travellers on their 14-day quarantine. It also imposes harsh penalties for those who avoid home quarantine. With the measures in place, Taiwan had reported close to 300 confirmed cases and two deaths according to Taiwan's CECC on March 29, 2020.

Europe

Europe has been struggling with the spread of coronavirus. Italy and Spain are among countries with a high rate of infection and deaths. At one point, Italy had the highest death toll in the world from the pandemic with more than 105,000 people in the country having contracted the virus, and more than 12,000 have died. The Italian government has progressively worked to contain the disease, including declaring a total national lockdown on March 10. The nation wide lockdown of Italy means that all non-essential travel has been banned and currently  airlines have suspended their flights or are operating lesser flights to Italy. Spain has also been one of the hotspots in this global pandemic. The country has been closed down and essentially like many countries it has quarantined itself. Spain has closed its land borders since March 16, 2020 and only allow its residents to enter in. Other countries in Europe has closed their borders to travellers and ask for a mandatory 14-day quarantine for residents travelling back to their home country.

Canada

Canada has closed its border to all countries. Canada's initial response was to open their borders to travellers. However, Justin Trudeau unveiled "increasingly aggressive measures to contain the new coronavirus outbreak" and urged people to stay at home.

USA

As of April 7, 2020, USA has the most number of cases in the world, surpassing 350,000 cases and 12,000 deaths. On March 16, 2020 President Trump declares a national emergency. This includes closing off air travel and land travel to the U.S. The emergency declaration allows the administration to provide emergency funding to state and local governments and gives the Federal Emergency Management Agency responsibility for coordinating disaster relief.

Social Justice

Asylum Seekers

During this global health crisis, the world has had to self quarantine itself during this time. We also see many negative economic impacts have been seen from worldwide tourism to local business. This is because of the travel restrictions and self quarantine and according to Pew Research , 93% of the world's population now lives in countries or territories that are the subject of travel restrictions. This isn't great news for asylum seekers. The majority of countries have banned entry of asylum seekers, the U.S. has said it will turn away asylum seekers at the Southern border with Mexico. While many countries in Europe have suspended asylum claims and hearings. In Canada has put asylum claims on hold for arrivals from the U.S. border. The change made by the Canadian government was swiftly condemned by civil rights and refugee groups. The decision to turn back irregular asylum seekers came three days after Mr. Trudeau's government said that it planned only to quarantine them for two weeks once they crossed into Canada.

Xenophobia and Racism

Ever since the coronavirus outbreak that started in China, it has spread to the majority of the world. However, the disease is not the only thing that is spreading. Many Asian Americans and Asian people are dealing with incidents of xenophobia and racism. With a mix of verbal and physical attacks around the world. There are also many Asian Americans purchasing firearms in response to the xenophobia arising from the pandemic. While U.S. president Donald Trump has faced criticism for referring to the coronavirus as the "Chinese Virus", a term considered by some critics to be racist and anti-Chinese. This new disease leads to public fear, stigma and the scapegoating of certain kinds of people because we tend to understand these events through our past disease rhetoric, which is rooted in fear stigma, scapegoating.