Contagion Movie

Throughout the history, influenza viruses have caused several pandemics or global epidemics, killing many people. For example, the influenza strike in 1918 to 1919 infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, which is one-third of the planet’s population at the time and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million people. More than 25 percentage of the U.S. population were affected, and caused 675,000 deaths in U.S during the pandemic.(History, 2015). There were no effective treatments for this type of influenza and no available vaccines can prevent its spread during the period. (History, 2015) U.S government required general population to wear masks and other protective equipments in public areas, and many public places also closed due to the influenza strike. Health care providers tried everything they knew to save people, but none shows any evidence of effects. (National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2015). Scientists found out that the influenza virus had invaded their lungs and caused pneumonia, which made so many people died from the pandemic (History,2015). Another influenza strike happened

In the article “The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health”, it gives many examples of cases where the courts support an official's decision to quarantine a citizen as a way to prevent the spreading of a contagious disease (Bayer, 2007). In my opinion, the public has a right to be protected against the few who are infected because it serves the overall good of society. It also decreases the chance of having a chaotic situation such as extreme panic and the spread of disease. I do believe there should be a strong sense of beneficence in regard to helping those affected or harmed rather than just isolating sick

If the government had taken these precautions, it wouldn’t guarantee the disease being controlled. But what it would do is lower the chances for the virus to spread more.

Geraldine Brook’s novel, Year of Wonders is based on a true story which recounts a 17th Century Plague, which struck the English village of Eyam and put many in strife. The story revolves around the protagonist, Anna Frith as she develops strength throughout the novel from being a maid in the beginning of the novel and eventually becomes a midwife. Similarly, Steven Soderbergh’s Film, Contagion is set in 21st Century America, which narrates the epidemic of the MEV1 virus, which causes dispute amongst many characters and has a manipulative effect on the characters in the film. In both the text and the novel, Diseases not only attack individuals but also causes the breakdown in society. Diseases cause the greed and the want for money in some characters, which has a huge impact on society as a whole. Similarly, diseases cause the need for self-preservation in order to survive. On the other hand, diseases cause characters to lose faith.

Kira Newman introduces the government justification of quarantine policy, stating “throughout outbreaks, the government asserted that plague control measures were acts of public health for the benefit of all” (Newman, 810). However, contrary to this argument there was a public opinion that “[such] isolation [was portrayed] as personal punishment rather than prudent policy” (Newman, 810). However, as the plague was progressing there was not enough space where to keep all infected people. The doctors recommended to leave the habitation located in the epicenter and move to another location, however, “many individuals were not fortunate enough to have a second residence, so quarantine commingled the sick and the well” (Newman, 812).

No matter how strenuous it may be for an urban area to prevent an outbreak from occurring, it is still inevitable. Many organizations have tried to educate the population about the cause of diseases and how to prevent it. Although this method displays a decrease in certain diseases, it still occurs. However, instead of just attempting to prevent these diseases, a profound amount of cures have been discovered to treat it. Throughout multiple sources, such as online articles and lectures on the Industrial Revolution, it is unambiguous that the human race spreads disease through unsanitary environments, direct physical contact, and lack of knowledge, but society adapts to these situations and restrains the expansion of diseases by improved safety

When I lived in Los Angeles during high school, me and my neighbor Brandon would frequently take the Metro train to get to school. While we waited on the platform for the train to come, we would occasionally hear the automated intercom announcement say, “In case of an emergency, do not hesitate to locate the nearest emergency phones or Metro sheriff.” This recurring message was often ignored by not only us. Who seemed to also disregard the monotone voice were other passengers who either were occupied with other things or had earphones in and simply did not hear it. The problem with this is, if an emergency or disaster happened at that moment, how many of us would know the right way to react? If there was a fire, we wouldn’t know how to properly engage in saving ourselves. Unfortunately, the only warning us everyday citizens were given was to call officials. There were no specific instructions on what we could do in case an emergency arises at the train station. In Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable, she covers disasters when they happen and how humans that are involved respond to them. Ripley argues that when someone is involved in a disaster, they experience human responses such as being in denial or delaying proper reactions. Because we can not control the brain and our irrational thoughts tend to obscure us, we should raise more awareness of likely disasters and train regular citizens accordingly.

I feel that strong communication not only within your own county but from county to state has a lot to do with how things are gone about and dealt with. You have to have strong communication one with such a large issue that might be at hand and plus look at the amount of lives that you are taking care of. Everyone that is or gets involved throughout such a large issue such as anthrax needs to be in on “the know” about every little single detail that there is. Strong communication is what gets everyone through it and in a manner that is not hectic or chaotic. Granted there are those people that are going to be beyond beside their self because of what is happening but there should also be those people out there helping them calm down and letting them know that everything is going to be ok. It is sad to say but big events such as 9/11 bring people together and closer and makes us realize that it isn’t just about us there are other people involved and we need to be

In the medical thriller, The Hot Zone, Preston states that flawed decisions in outbreak situations are a threat to human survival. Ebola is known by many to be lethal and in recent years, has caused an interest within the public. Many in the United States have shown fear towards the threat of Ebola in the country, which has caused many to also research the effects of Ebola on the human body. Moreover, Ebola poses a threat to the safety of medical professionals; doctors must be able to safely help patients without high risk of exposure to the hot virus. Of equal importance, medical professionals involved with the treatment of hot viruses must be trained properly in order to effectively make decisions and protect all patients and

The government would try to control the outbreak by taking the people who need to be quarantined into a high medicated center where they could be treated within a matter of minutes. While they are in intensive care, the people who are related to or was living with them needs to take a vaccine. So if they were to get it, their immune system would take care of it. Although it would take a couple of days to recover from the disease if it was taken care of in time. What I mean by that is if a person who had the disease who didn’t see a doctor within a matter of 48 hours than their chances of surviving would be minimal.

Naturally they where scared to go near the victims of the fever, for fear of contracting the illness themselves. Because of this fear people fled the towns and left their sick to die. This was on some level a rational fear, you might not get sick directly form the afflicted person, however, the infected mosquitos may are clearly in that area. When there is mass outbreak of a disease we tend to see mass panic amount the citizens of the area, the holds true with plague of London and the black death that scourged Europe, and Yellow Fever was no acceptation. The use of hospitals was a lot more common during the Yellow Fever outbreaks then it was during other epidemics, however we still see people accounts of people trying to brave out the illness and don't call a doctor till it’s too late. In a desperate attempted by stop the spread they issued quarantines and citizens tried to stop rail roads form entering their town. People are leaving the towns and many medical professional are too fearful to care for the sick. Fathers leave their families behind. Some mothers do what they can to nurse to children before they die of the fever, while others abandon their

Paternalistic policies can be effective in preventing injuries and deaths in the population (Gostin, 2008). Paternalism exists throughout Contagion. In order to keep the masses safe from contracting the MEV-1 virus, public health agencies initiated safety guidelines for the general public to follow. From a public health aspect, individual interests must yield to those of the wider community to facilitate the public’s health, safety, and well-being. The public health tradition values prevention and views its successes or failures based on the benefits and burdens that accrue to populations rather than to individuals. This

In the movie, The Big Sick we are bombarded with all different types of issues that occur within the family. The movie focuses on the main character, Kumail, and his different relationships. Kumail's relationship with his girlfriend, her family, and his family all display some challenges and dysfunctions that can occur in families. As the movie unfolds the various complex familial issues in the family as a whole is revealed. There are cultural issues, secrecy issues and conflict issues.

For some inexplicit reason, people are obsessed with the idea of an apocalypse. Steven Soderbergh 's, Contagion, depicts what could really happen if a viral outbreak lead to a worldwide pandemic. What makes this piece so unique to the apocalypse genre is the director’s ability to focus on the societal impact rather than the virus itself. This pandemic leads to a momentary collapse of social order, commenting on how self-absorption plays a role in times of disaster on both a small and large scale. Soderbergh uses numerous cinematic and narrative elements to attempt to display how an ultra-realistic viral outbreak would spread and ultimately impact society.

Over the past few decades, the significance, magnitude and consequence of risk management and communication have been brought before the world over and over again in a number of situations related to health, terrorist activities, natural disasters etc. When one turns the pages of history, it is rather obvious that lack of planning and absence of resources due to unpreparedness makes it difficult for the concerned authorities to manage an emergency or epidemic a problematic and traumatic task. The chaotic situations can turn out to be more nerve-racking and tense when preparations are not made before hand (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2002).