Державні стратегії країн Західної Європи щодо подолання наслідків пандемії COVID-19 (2020–2021 рр.)

Abstract

UA : Об'єкт дослідження: Державні стратегії країн Західної Європи в боротьбі з пандемією Covid–19, як глобальна проблема людства. З’ясування різниці між термінами : «епідемія» та «пандемія». Розляд та оцінка заходів країн Західної Європи у подоланні пандемії Covid–19. Предмет дослідження: Особливості протидії Covid–19 державами Західної Європи, як приклад подолання, та стримання пандемії коронавірусу, для інших країн. Аналіз поведінки кожної країни в умовах пандемії . Політика стримування вірусу , в жорстких умовах життя звичайних громадян. Заборони та заходи, щодо профілактики розповсюдження вірусу на території країн Західної Європи. Мета дослідження: На основі аналізу джерел та літератури розглянути особливості розповсюдження вірусу Covid – 19на території Західної Європи. Проаналізувати яким шляхом , та як швидко вірус потрапив в Західну Єропу. Проаналузувати політику стримання, та подолання наслідків епідемії. Визначити які заходи були прийняті для стримування вірусу у кожній країні окремо. Провести аналіз , та порівняти методи боротьби у кожній країні окремо. Порівняти заходи які використовували країни Західної Європи та України в протидії вірусу Covid – 19. Звернути увагу, та проаналізувати «особливу» політику стримування та подолання вірусу у Швеції. Порівняти всі методи стримування та подолання вірусу , і визначити найефективніший метод , зсилаючись на інформацію , яка була проаналізована в тексті роботи. Наукова новизна дослідження полягає в аналізі протидії вірусу кожної держави Західної Європи окремо. Так як, беручи на себе відповідальність за своїх громадян , уряди кожної країни намагались боротися з пандемією по-різному. Буде розглянуто, та проаналізовано особливості заходів щодо боротьби з вірусом. А також проведено аналіз з Україної та її стратегіями протидії Covid–19. Так як, Україна була одною з перших хто швидко «зачинив» свої кордони для іноземців, але як виявилось – не дуже результативно. Висновки Проаналізувавши безліч інформації, яка зараз у вільному доступі і її дуже багато , хочу зазаначити , що ситуація яка склалась у світі на початку 2020 року повинна змінити відношення людей до їх особистого життя. Адже те , що трапилось майже два роки тому, і триває зараз – це жах, який на жаль ми переживаємо. І, скооріш за все , ще будемо переживати та вчитись жити «по-новому». Аналізуючи інформацію, ми можемо зробити висновок , що майже всі країни Західної Європи однаково швидко зреагували , та ввели всі можливі заходи, аби вірус як умога швидше покинув їх території. Також, був розглянутий особливий підхід Швеції в протидії вірусу на території краіни. Адже, політика протидії виявилась відмінної від сосідніх держав. Але згодом, була не такою ефективною,як стратегіїї сосідніх з нею країн. Так, безумовно, аналізуючі данні , я хочу заначити, що країни Європи краще, швидше і якісніше боролися, і продовжують боротися з пандемією та її наслідками. Адже , не потрібно також забувати про той факт , що Європа більш розвинутіша аніж Україна. Але все ж таки, Ця епідемія допомогла позбутися байдужого ставлення до власного здоров'я і до здоров'я інших – це вже позитив. Хтось нарешті усвідомить, що, захворівши, краще залишитися вдома, а не за будь-яку цінубігти на роботу і тим самим наражати на небезпеку себе та інших. Хтось перестане економити кілька гривень, намагаючись втиснутися за будь-яку ціну в переповнений тролейбус чи електричку. Хтось почне вимагати від роботодавця забезпечення елементарних засобів безпеки на робочому місці. А якщо той відмовиться – то зробить вибір на користь власного здоров'я і комфорту, а не ризику втратити робоче місце.

EN : Relevance of the research. The relevance of our master’s degree thesis lies in the novelty of this issue, or rather this problem. The problem of understanding COVID-19 is, first of all, that all the research is being conducted right before our eyes. The news of a breakthrough in cancer treatment, new brain research, or the discovery of water on Mars is usually based on work in peer-reviewed scientific journals published over the years. The research itself was conducted even earlier, perhaps even years earlier. The findings become known to the general public when they get in the media. However, the situation of coronavirus is different. We have been witnessing science “at the forefront”, being accompanied by chaos, confusion and conflicting preliminary data. In such a situation, mistakes and human bias are possible. But this is the way to learn how the world works and move on to a better understanding of it. The tools of self-correction are embedded in science. The conclusions are checked and then rechecked. Therefore, every next study reveals a clearer and somewhat more adequate picture of the world: it just takes a little time to get there. The limited time in the pandemic lacks to enable quick understanding and and settlement of differences, which results in problems’ escalation. The approximate findings of unreviewed studies have attracted more attention than usual. We can also hear contradictory voices of some scientists. The things we seemed to know a year ago have changed, something has evolved, and something has remained unclear. Therefore, the aim of our study is to consider the peculiarities of combatting and counteracting the COVID-19 virus on the territories of Western European countries, draw the parallels between Ukraine and Europe, and examine the conditions under which the virus entered Europe and Ukraine. In order to attain the aim set, the following research tasks are to be solved: 1. To examine the concepts of “epidemic” and “pandemic”, analyze and identify the difference between these two terms. 2. To identify and describe the strategies to overcome the spread of the virus in Europe as well as to analyze the control and prevention policies of European countries. 3. To analyze the “special” policy of countering the virus in Sweden, compare it with other countries’ policies in containment and prevention COVID-19. 5. To investigate the situation in Ukraine and draw parallels with other European countries. The research object is the state strategies of Western European countries to overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). The research subject is the peculiarities of overcoming the virus and the COVID-19 containment policies in the countries of Western Europe and Ukraine. The chronological framework of the study dates back to when the virus was first detected in humans in December 2019 in Wuhan, Central China. The disease began as an outbreak that developed into the pandemic. The cause of the disease was the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the circulation of which in the human population was unknown until December 2019. The upper limit is 2021. The geographical framework covers the territory of Western Europe, and the entire territory of Ukraine. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the analysis of the reasons for the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus in Western Europe. In considering this issue, it is believed that the rapid spread of the virus into European countries was due to the late quarantine introduction. The countries of Western Europe, including Germany, France and Spain, probably hoped that the coronavirus, so-called SARS-CoV-2, like its “brother” named SARS, which originated in China, spread around the world, got to America, then Canada and ceased, would behave the same. However, the virus did not die. It continues to be aggressive. There was the deletion (structural mutation, in which part of the chromosome or DNA sequence is removed) of a large part of its genome – 29 nucleotides, and it was believed that the virus would gradually fade away. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The scientific and practical significance of the research lies in studying the virus implications for Western Europe and Ukraine. This region was chosen as, in my opinion, it has suffered serious damage from the virus. Conclusions. Having analysed the concepts of “epidemic” and “pandemic”, we can conclude that a pandemic is the highest intensity of the epidemic process, characterized by a progressive spread of an infectious disease with extremely high population damage over large areas of the continents or the entire Earth. A pandemic is often characterized by a lack of collective immunity in humanity, and generally effective means of disease prevention (vaccine) and treatment. Among the infectious diseases that reached the scale of the pandemic were plague, cholera, influenza, HIV / AIDS, and the 2019 coronavirus disease. Thus, the pandemic covers large areas of countries, states and continents. An epidemic is a rapid spread of a disease to a large number of people in a given region within a short period of time. For example, the spread of meningococcal infection in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people. The epidemic breakout requires a number of prerequisites. Ecology, organization of work and business, standards of behavior in society, boycott of the masses… This is not a complete list of the expected changes. The scientific community continues to debate about the origin of the coronavirus: whether it was specially designed, or intentionally released into the environment from the laboratory where it had been studied, or arose naturally. The time will come and we will find out. But for now, looking at the powerful economic and social consequences of the new coronavirus, it is clear that they are in fact the weapon of the 21st century: such viruses, combined with information technology, are undergoing tremendous changes. Intentionally or not, it is not yet known, but this situation of unprecedented destructive force, in fact, is currently what is being experienced in the whole world. Now and in the future, in order to raise a panic, which can destroy everything in the world, it will be enough to ‘release” something out of the laboratory, and the net will do its work, spreading the information interpreted by each of the millions of panickers in his/her own way. This pile of facts mixed with fakes is a bomb, compared to which nuclear weapons will simply become irrelevant. The world may well be ruled by technology used for aggression. We see that after the outbreak of the coronavirus, the world has already begun to change, as it changed after the plagues of the 14th-15th centuries, the revolutions of the 18th-19th centuries, the two world wars of the 20th century, etc. The good news is that such global upheavals, together with the negative economic and environmental consequences, have led to a stronger development of humanity and awakening of human consciousness. The changes the coronavirus have caused are obvious. Medicine and science have clearly benefited from gaining tremendous experience in responding to such challenges and joining forces and brains to overcome them. New labor relations will be finally “legalized”, new norms of communication between people will appear: spending 8 hours in the office will become optional, and sometimes undesirable, concert halls and stadiums will give way to virtual forms of perception of art and sports. However, no can say that all current trends will develop. As far as ecology is concerned, after some temporary improvement, it is likely to return to its previous state, if not worse. But what exactly will happen is obvious: information manipulators will not be left without work. The current outbreak of coronavirus is unlikely to significantly change further human behavior or social behavior. However, the important thing is that now we have seen how socio-psychological mechanisms work, when not only information but also emotion is transmitted to society. Information and emotions are transmitted much faster than the physical coronavirus itself. Therefore, this epidemic, even at its very epicenter, is primarily informational and emotional, no matter how inhumane it may sound. That is, information virality (contagion) for society is more powerful than the medical one. However, the panic, which spreads through the information space, can also physically weaken people at risk. These include not only people with poor health or immunity, but also people who are prone to suggestion. This sounds tragic, but nowadays, the “information pandemic” is more tarrifying than the usual one, which causes huge fatalities. However, in my paper I mentioned only the negative consequences, but after analyzing the situation, I want to note that there are also positive consequences of the panic due to the outbreak of coronavirus. This epidemic has helped to get rid of indifference to one’s own health and the health of others, which is positive. People have finally realized that when they get sick, it is better to stay at home than to run to work at any cost thus endangering themselves and others. Some people have stopped saving a few dollars, trying to squeeze into a crowded trolleybus or electric train at any cost. Others have started demanding that the employer should provide them with basic safety equipment in the workplace. In the case of the employer’s refusal to do so, the people are likely to make a choice in favor of their own health and comfort, rather than the risk of losing their jobs. Also, people have become more outspoken in expressing their attitude with regard to safety issues: spitting and coughing in public, violating the privacy of their fellow citizens. For the scientific and medical world, it seems that the current experience of countering the COVID-19 outbreak will be extremely valuable. The rapid spread of the coronavirus has prompted scientists and doctors from around the world to join forces in real time, that is, simply online. It seems to me that the coronavirus pandemic will be a great help in the transition to a new way. We aal remember how scientists used to look for new drugs and vaccines. These were closed research centers owned by states or multinational corporations. The research moved according to a given algorithm under conditions of strict reporting, etc. Everything has changed now. On computer screens, tens of thousands of bioengineers can see open genome data of all the identified modifications of the virus, posted on the website of the US National Library of Medicine; in real time, they can analyse all the produced proteins and compare with the similar biological agents that have already faced (in other words, the coronavirus is compared with other viruses). Intense communication has catalyzed an unprecedented level of collaboration between scientists, which, combined with scientific advances, has allowed research to move faster than during any previous outbreak. If we can say so, the coronavirus epidemic in China has had a partially positive impact on the environment. NASA scientists have recorded a significant reduction in the content of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a poisonous gas emitted by vehicles, power plants and industrial facilities. In general, we are talking about reducing pollution by 36% compared to the same period of the previous year. This is a fleeting effect of cleansing our environment. After all, for decades there has been a confrontation between the growing economy and the restorative forces of the environment. But suddenly, to the surprise of economic and political gurus, the decision arose spontaneously – the virus. Not only does this apply directly to the environment, but also to the ability of mankind to take extreme security measures. In less than two months, global organizations showed us how possible it is to close entire cities, including leading tourist destinations such as Venice, reduce flights and cancel many major conferences and summits, and so on. However, we can see and conclude that humanity reacted this way only under the immediate threat – the coronavirus. At the same time, we do not perceive such a long-term threat as global warming. In general, it can be noted that the coronavirus has caused a lot of problems, and without solving them the countries will not be able to move forward. The main issue is the safety of citizens in the field of health care. The coronavirus has finally divided the world into ‘before’ and ‘after’. In the so-called ‘tomorrow’, the human values will include not only a high standard of living, social guarantees, low unemployment, but, what is most important, a modern and flexible healthcare system! At the end of the day, the countries will be divided into two groups: those that have the potential to meet new challenges in the field of medicine and those that are unable to do so. Thus, it is quite predictable that human and financial capital will be concentrated in the first type of countries. After all, the security of the country should be ensured not only by the army and police, but also by medicine. But the most important thing is information immunity. Any state that does not take into account such components of its security will be as helpless as a state that loses its territories. Ukraine was convinced of this by the example of New Sanjars. Now the main thing is to do everything to ensure this example to remain the first and last one. The conducted research allows us to conclude that the world in early 2020 should change people’s attitudes to their personal lives. After all, what happened almost two years ago and continues today is a horror that we unfortunately experience. Most likely, we will further experience it and learn to live “in a new way”. Overall, almost all Western European countries reacted to the pandemic equally fast, and introduced all possible measures to ensure that the virus leaves their territories as soon as possible. After all, we must not forget the fact that Europe is more developed than Ukraine. This pandemic has helped to get rid of indifference to health issues, which can be considered as a positive effect.