Indecision and a Virus Public Square

“Indecision and a Virus”

A seemingly unstoppable and catastrophic virus has infiltrated our borders and instead of putting all available resources into finding solutions to the problem, our government seems to prefer to argue about funding. The Zika virus, a terrifying problem in Latin American countries, has emerged in 20 U.S. states prompting a response from the White House. President Obama recently proposed a $1.8 billion dollar emergency-funding package to assist in managing the virus, but he has only been met with arguments over where the funding will come from.  Since the disease is predominantly located in Latin America, it appears that some of our congress members are hesitant to allocate the necessary funds to stopping this virus while we’re ahead.

After spending several years working in the healthcare field and studying disease prevention I have learned that prevention of disease is always smarter and more cost effective than treatment. For example, a 100$ vaccination for Mumps can prevent thousands of dollars spent in treatment. It seems obvious that preventing this disease from reaching crises proportions would be the better approach; yet, it appears our policy makers may be waiting until the shit hits the fan.

            A disease needs an efficient method of transmission to cause real problems in an area. Like many deadly diseases (West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever etc.) the Zika virus’ primary method of transmission to humans is a mosquito. This mosquito, called Aedes aegypti, is currently thriving in at least a dozen U.S. states, which is a major cause for concern because if the disease spreads to the mosquitos in the U.S., it could be quickly transmitted to our population.  

As if this information wasn’t troubling enough, researchers studying the virus have confirmed that the virus can also be spread via sexual transmission. A disease that is initially transmitted to humans via a living organism and then able to spread via human sexual contact. Sound familiar? You don’t have to think long to realize that this type of disease sounds very similar to HIV, which tore through the U.S. and has yet to be cured. While the Zika virus doesn’t seem to be killing people like HIV, it has been found to have other devastating effects.

            Research shows that the Zika virus targets human brain cells and has been found to cause major birth defects in newborns with infected parents. The virus causes microcephaly, which means that brain and head formation are halted during gestation and babies either die before birth or are born with extremely small heads. 

Aside from the apparent catastrophic effects of the virus, one of the more disturbing aspects about the virus is the fact that individuals infected with it, often display no symptoms. In addition, there is no information about how long it stays in the system or what long term effects the virus could have. As of right now, there is no cure, no treatment, and no prevention methods aside from avoiding countries with the disease and sexual contact with anyone who has been to those countries.

            It doesn’t take a scientist to realize that this situation can spin out of control very quickly. Rather than approving funds to be allocated solely for managing this virus, some members of congress seem to be pushing for money to be taken from funds set aside for other diseases like Ebola. This seems a bit counterproductive to say the least.

Perhaps living in a nation with ample access to vaccinations and medicine has caused some of the leaders of our country to forget just how devastating some of these diseases can be. It was not too long ago when diseases like typhoid fever and cholera decimated our society. We were only able to overcome these diseases because of the vital research that was done to eradicate them. Neglecting Ebola to fund research for the Zika virus is downright irresponsible and could potentially lead to these diseases spreading illness and death throughout our country.

The costs of waiting to deal with this disease until it runs rampant across our nation would be catastrophic. Countless parents will lose children, and astronomical amounts of money will be spent in treatment. Now is not the time for indecisiveness and debate over funding because the virus will not wait for our leaders to be ready.  We must make it our priority to invest resources into studying the Zika virus and develop methods of prevention and treatment before it is too late.

Public Square Childhood Obesity

In today’s society, one cannot help but see vast amounts of publicity focused on the growing epidemic of child obesity. However, it seems that the epidemic continues to be growing and parents continue to ignore their children’s plight. A study on childhood obesity shows that “more than three-quarters of parents of pre-school-age obese sons and nearly 70 percent of parents of obese daughters described their children as “about the right weight.”

When comparing this study to one from 1994, it appears that the children in the study from 2012 were substantially heavier and their parents’ ability to recognize their child’s weight accurately decreased by 30 percent. Dr. David L. Katz discusses the problem in his article and calls the problem oblivobesity.
It appears that due to rising obesity rates in various countries, a new sense of normal weight may be one of the reasons for parents believing that their children are not overweight.     

 A point that Dr. Katz makes is that many of these parents may be in denial about their children’s weight. It may be easier for them because admitting their children have a weight problem may mean they as parents would have to begin eating healthier and setting an example.

 So in many cases it appears that these parents choose denial because it’s easier to pretend no problem exists.  On the other hand, this denial may be some type of wishful thinking. Dr. Thomas N. Robinson states, “It is natural for a parent to want to think optimistically about their child.” So these parents may believe that their child will simply grow out of their obesity, as they grow older. In addition, many of these parents base their thoughts about their child’s weight on their child’s activity level. Studies have shown that parents will often believe that their child’s weight is not a concern if they are physically active.

The inherent problem with this is that children’s parents often overestimate how active their children actually are. Studies have also shown that parents begin paying more attention to their children’s weight as they approach adolescence because of the body image issues associated with that age. However, this much attention is usually only given to children from upper and middle class parents, because buying healthier food costs more. So many of the parents of lower economic status are forced to purchase less healthy foods because that is all they can provide. The sad truth is that many of these parents can simply not afford to buy healthier foods.

Another problem seems to arise from misunderstandings between doctors and their patients. Many doctors are forced to use words like “weight problem” in order to avoid hurting patient feelings. But the problem with using these words is that patients may not understand completely what the doctors are telling them. They may believe that the problem is not bad and their child is not obese. It is not until later, when the child develops health problems, like diabetes, that the parents understand the severity of the situation. It is apparent that obesity on the rise and childhood obesity is more a problem now than ever.

When tackling this problem we need to think about the possible causes contributing to the epidemic. We need to make sure that being overweight does not become “the new normal” and that parents know what the ramifications are for their children to be obese as well as themselves. Its necessary for us as a society to educate parents and their children about how important it is to eat healthy and maintain a healthy weight.

Ramifications of self driving cars Public Square

The future has arrived, and self driving cars, once a fantasy of the past, are quickly becoming a reality. Although fully autonomous vehicles are not yet available, tests are being done in various parts of the world to bring these cars to our homes. Who will be the first to get these self driving cars? Public transit and the wealthy will most likely get the first taste of fully autonomous cars. By 2020, these vehicles should start becoming available to the general public to purchase. So what are some issues with the development of self driving cars? The development of these vehicles, will greatly affect multiple areas of our society. (Insurance, jobs, lack of purchasing vehicles 

The first way our society will be affected would probably be in the public transit sector, and the availability of jobs in public transit. As it is now, many individuals 
are employed as bus drivers, taxi cab drivers, metrolink operators, however, it appears that the appearance of driverless vehicles may put these people's jobs at risk. Businesses continuously attempt to find ways to cut costs. For companies that employ drivers to shuttle the public around, the two major costs are fuel, and the driver. With the rise of hybrid vehicles, which save copious amounts of money on gas, it appears the next thing to go will be the driver. If employed drivers are replaced with driverless cars, then the prices for consumers to obtain a ride, will drop and the cost of providing these services will drop for the provider. So it appears both the customers and businesses benefit, while the employees suffer. They will be forced to find a new line of work, despite the fact that many of them have been drivers in public transit for most of their lives. 

Insurance policies on vehicles will also change due to the emergence of driverless vehicles. As it stands, human drivers are careless, and have the propensity to make mistakes, leading to a higher insurance cost, to cover the possible loss money in the event of an accident. However, the use of automated vehicles, will lower these costs because machines, are programmed to avoid the mistakes of humans, and if perfected, would be much safer to use when compared to driving a vehicle manually. Lower insurance costs for driverless cars, would inevitably lead to an increase cost for individuals who refuse to buy an automated vehicle, which would inevitably force many people to purchase these new vehicles. 

It appears that we will be ushered into a new era, which may promote the use of self driving automated cars, to be called when desired, and to shuttle individuals around, much like Uber, but without drivers. It appears, that one day in the near future, individuals would be discouraged from purchasing their own vehicle, and instead be more inclined to use one of the driverless vehicle fleet services. Whatever the case may be in the future, it is undeniable that these new automated vehicles are in our societies near future, and they will shape our world in a completely different way.