Overview of the Pandemic

Cities are distinct because cities are economic centers, they have many restaurants, tourist spots, community parks, large office or commercial buildings, and most of all- a large number of people. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the areas with the most significant change in their day-to-day functions are the urban cities. Streets that once used to be crowded during business hours, streets that were once public hot-spots during weekends, and streets that were full of food-trucks with children playing around those stands waiting excitedly for their food are all, but the same. The pandemic has led to a global lockdown, resulting in empty streets, mass unemployment, and economic downfall.

The Coronavirus pandemic has created challenges for everyone, most of all the residents of urban cities. The public transportation in major cities is limited, if not terminated altogether, airports have been shut, offices have been closed; the world has literally come to a standstill. With everyone being affected in some way, the definition of what used to be normal is now merely a distant dream. Something as simple as going on a small walk, or going out to meet friends, is now considered risky. Some of the most important challenges urban communities are facing are unemployment, economic downfall, everything around being shut, and streets being deserted. Even in the major cities like New York, medical centers are running out of essential medical supplies, ventilators, and even protective equipment used by doctors and nurses.

The normal we all used to know and live, a few weeks ago, is probably never going to happen again. There would a new normal, with new changes, new norms, new attitude, and new measures – a change that the global population would learn to grow and live with. With the help of effective measures and the use of modern technology, the challenges could me mitigated and would help the global population in transitioning to a new normal. Some of these changes and how technology might help bring the changes are discussed below.

Major Changes

Social media and video conferencing platforms

Humans are social animals. After food, water, and shelter – our social networks are a necessity to us, no matter big or small. One of the major and the most significant changes that has come with the current pandemic is the disruption of social life of people. Hanging out with friends, eating out with family, attending concerts, having a graduation ceremony – these were all considered the normal ways to interact with people. The pandemic has brought such a polar change that even hand-shaking – a centuries old gesture, now comes with an element of major risk. All the ‘Stay-at-home’ orders and mandatory ‘Social-distancing’ are essential to flatten the curve now, but it comes with a cost. Studies have shown that social isolation can have psychological effects on people.

A 2015 meta-analysis of the Scientific literature by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a research psychologist at Brigham Young University, and colleagues determined that chronic social isolation increases the risk of mortality by 29%. ^[1]

Not only this, businesses have been affected due to the pandemic. Offices have been shut, schools have closed, all the events around the world have been cancelled. In a way, everything – EVERYTHING has been disrupted in one way or other.

Interestingly, this is the first pandemic in the history, where people have access to the internet. This makes these gloomy, isolated days a little hopeful.

• Offices have transitioned to the Work from Home culture, with the use of technological tools like Zoom, Microsoft Team, and Skype. From an intern to the CEO of the company, they have all switched to attending online meetings.
• Schools and universities have also adapted to online teaching methods so that students’ learning is not affected. Thanks to Zoom again!
• The graduation ceremony is a milestone in a student’s life. In my case, my family was supposed to fly to the US all the way from India to celebrate this milestone with me. Now that it is no longer possible, the only option I have is to make whatever I can to celebrate my college degree with the help of these tools.
• In countries like India, the lockdown is so strict that people cannot get out of their houses even for a walk. Families have started gathering over video calls to celebrate festivals that were once celebrated together. Some people join over video calls to play games, just as a time-pass during these difficult times.

All of this has been possible only due to the smart technologies that we have. Social media and video conferencing platforms have brought us all together, even when physically apart. I believe that the use of these tools in only going to increase as we get used to the new normal.

E-healthcare

With the exponentially rising number of COVID-19 cases and the lack of medical supplies and medical personnel, going to the doctor has become hard. And testing for possible COVID-19 cases has become harder and harder – be it the lack of testing kits or the lack of hospital beds. Even testing for coronavirus with a testing kit comes with a dire risk as the virus is highly contagious and there is no vaccine or possible cure, not yet at least.

To combat this problem, a smart technological solution is the concept of e-Healthcare. Researchers have come up with online tools that use AI prediction algorithms to determine whether a person should get tested for the COVID-19 virus. The online tool consists of a series of health-related questions which would ascertain if the person is showing any symptoms for the virus. This lowers the risk of contamination.

Once we successfully flatten the curve, and cities start opening, when the economy takes a start again – it would be different. A new normal! Even then, social distancing measures would still be in effect. Taking a flight, going to a stadium, gathering in large crowds would never be the same. Especially then, these e-Healthcare measures would turn out to be immensely helpful. Monitoring travelers by setting up e-Healthcare booths at the airport would be essential, using this tool at a stadium to prevent further possible outbreak of the virus, and using this tool at other public places with mass gathering would be helpful and would become a new normal.

Once we have made sure that these tools are helpful, they can be further used to monitor other diseases, give patients the option to get cheap or free diagnosis, and save the extra effort that was once required in dealing with health issues and hospitals.

For example, in South Korea the government is using these tools to monitor people in public places to identify people who might show the symptoms of the virus. The use of this tool in South Korea, although controversial in the aspect of breaching privacy, has been successful. South Korea was one of the most hit countries with COVID-19 cases. But the effective use of social distancing and the use of technology to monitor people on the streets helped South Korea in flattening the curve.

Another example would be of the usage of automated rovers in China, where the rovers would go around on the streets, monitoring people for any possible symptoms, and reminding them to use face-masks when out in public. I believe that merging healthcare and technology together in this way would be common in the future, as it serves as a great example and has been proven effective.

Online tool to monitor government spending

Another problem that became apparent during this pandemic was the lack of medical supplies and other resources. We all learned how even a developed nation like the United States was barely prepared to deal with a pandemic of this scale. The lack of resources, medical supplies, essential medical tools, and the political restlessness all exacerbated the current situation. In other countries like India, for example, the topic of healthcare was hardly discussed amongst people. All people cared about was food, clothing, roof, and internet. But with the pandemic resulting in extreme outcome, healthcare is now a widely discussed topic. It is important for all people, especially those living in densely populated urban centers to know that they have access to good healthcare, particularly when it comes to something as severe as the coronavirus.

To have a better healthcare, it is important to re-structure the current healthcare system in several major countries. To do this, it requires for a better spending and an increased budget in the healthcare industry. I personally believe that people are oblivious to the day-to-day functioning of the government. Sure, people do know of what is being discussed and they all have opinions about the same, but no one really knows about the functioning of the industries and how the government is subjugating to it.

As a solution, I believe that there should be an online tool that would categorize how much the government is spending, in what industries, and by how much. With everyone having access to this tool, the relationship between people and their governments would become more transparent and would help people in realizing that healthcare is more important than weapons. I was surprised to learn how badly developed nations like United States and China were prepared to deal with a pandemic, and how they are better prepared to be in a war than deal with a pandemic. I believe that once all citizens of a nation have access to a tool like this where they can monitor government spending, and know where their taxes have been spent, they would realize that healthcare, food, housing, jobs, education, etc. are more important than weapons and missiles. Additionally, it would increase the engagement between the government and the people and would lead to transparency and accountability, and maybe a country would be better prepared the next time something of this scale occurs. (touch-wood)

References

MillerMar, G., CleryApr, D., HeidtApr, A., HeidtApr, A., Ortega, R. P., & HeidtApr, A. (2020, March 16). Social distancing prevents infections, but it can have unintended consequences. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/we-are-social-species-how-will-social-distancing-affect-us

I attended a meeting for this blog, where I learned and discussed about the use of electric scooters on campus and around places where there is a lot of young population. In this meeting, I met with a group of people, discussed the problem, and have provided with what might be some interesting solutions to the problem regarding the use of electric scooters.

What was the meeting about?

The meeting that I attended was a meeting of Indiana University Student Government Body, where they discuss problems occurring on campus and how they are affecting the lives of students. The topics in these meetings are vast in nature- they range from discussing about the lack of water fountain machines to the need for a good mental health for college students, or even to raise awareness about societal causes.

The meeting is attended by members of the Student Government Body and the liaisons to these meetings from other departments. For example, I attended this meeting in my capacity as an RA Liaison. The meeting is mostly attended by college students, mostly undergraduate college students from IU. In the meeting I attended that took place in Eigenmann Residence Hall, a total of 23-25 people was present for the meeting.

What was discussed?

In this particular meeting, an ongoing problem on college campuses around the US and other cities were discussed. This is a major problem even in Bloomington, Indiana as we have all, in our capacity as students have noticed this current problem. The problem has to do with the rise of number of electric scooters and how they have created a problem on several levels- be it from illegal parking, driving on the sidewalks, fallen scooters on sidewalks, or even the safety aspect of them.

About the meeting

The information and topics discussed in the meeting were discussed on a PowerPoint presentation, where people had the option to ask a question after every slide. This gave the presenter the option to make the topic into a discussion and have more people contribute to the discussion.

And as one would expect, there were conflicting views about these scooters in the meetings. Some people blamed irresponsible users for the misuse of these scooters, others called and found them inherently dangerous.

Breaking down the problems

Illegal Parking

The illegal parking of electric scooters has not been a new problem. It has always been there since the advent of these scooters on campus. I understand that it is not a technological based problem but rather a user-based problem, since it is the users of these scooters who park them illegally on sidewalks, but it is a major problem, nevertheless. I have hardly met a person in Bloomington who has not yet seen an electric scooter parked illegally on the sidewalks and have blocked the way for people walking on the sidewalks. In the meeting I attended, someone complained of how a friend of theirs, who uses a wheelchair to go down the sidewalks, once had their way blocked because someone had just blocked the sidewalk with these scooters fallen down on the ground, making it hard for the person on wheelchair to go through.

To tackle this problem, the scooter companies started a process where users of these scooters would need to upload a picture of the parked scooter, parked legally on a cycle stand, or else they “might” be fined a sum of money. The problem with this solution I explained in the meeting was of how students who use these scooters might not always find a cycle stand to park the scooters at, or even a vacant spot for that matter. Additionally, these added measures by the scooter companies have not really changed anything. The sight of electric scooters fallen on the sidewalks or being parked illegally is still not an infrequent sight, and is still a problem in various cities across the world, including Bloomington, Indiana.

Driving on the Sidewalks

Aside from being parked on the sidewalks, there have been multiple cases where people have driven these electric scooters on the sidewalks, instead of driving them on roads or assigned bicycle lanes. It should not be hard to fathom for anyone to realize how severely dangerous and reckless it might be to drive these scooters on sidewalks. Not only do they block and disturb the people walking on the sidewalks, but the electric scooters can go up to the speed of 17 mph, which can prove to be dangerous when collided with a walking person on a sidewalk. Even in Bloomington, I have witnessed students multiple times driving electric scooters on the sidewalks, and some people shared the same views about this in the meeting I attended.

The risk of accidents

As mentioned, electric scooters are motorized vehicles and can go to a top speed of 17-18 mph, limited not by its motor but by the weight and the circumference of its wheels. Driving these scooters on an unpaved road, on a sidewalk, or even on a proper road could be really fatal, for both the driver and for someone else. I know this because I have had my own experience with the same. In September 2019, I was driving one of these scooters and I had an accident, of which I have lost all memory, where the accident turned out to be severe. A human face has 14 bones on the face and I ended up breaking all 14 facial bones and four front teeth due to this accident driving an electric scooter.

And this is not something new. We had another student in class who had a severe accident driving these electric scooters and was in a coma for weeks after the accident. Aside from that, it was discussed in the meeting that this whole academic year has had a total of at least 5 serious accidents in Bloomington, on campus. And what is even more surprising is the fact that these 5 cases are just the ones that were of people who live on campus and have reported the accident on some extent. Another major problem that exacerbates this problem is that people can still ride these scooters during the night. This has led to multiple people driving these scooters after coming back from the bars and have resulted in countless other accidents, and needless to say, created a fear in people when someone on these scooters is coming behind them.

How did the meeting resolve?

The meeting was a mere discussion of problems around campus that affected other students and their well-being, so there was no resolve to the problems discussed, but the Student Body found it important to bring the matter to higher-ups and see if they see anything different. But the meeting ended on a note about raising awareness amongst students to not be irresponsible and reckless with these scooters.

Potential Solutions to the Problems

The stricter use of technology

To ascertain that people do not misuse these electric scooters by parking them on the sidewalks, there should be assigned spots to park these scooters. By assigned spots, I do not mean spots like the cycle stands, but assigned spots for electric scooters. And since these scooters are already equipped with GPS technology and require a photo while ending a ride, it would be easier for a company to track the parking spots for these scooters, and charge people in cases of illegal parking. By making the technology around the use of electric scooters stricter, I believe that we would be reducing the element of risk by a magnitude.

Using street cameras to monitor the users

Although it is somewhat of an expensive solution, but by using cameras and other monitoring devices that are already placed on the streets, we can make sure that people are only driving the scooters on assigned lanes and not on the sidewalks. And if a person is found to be riding these scooters on the sidewalks, the action taken against the user should be the same as getting a ticket for a driving violation, and should be treated as such since these electric scooters are motorized vehicles.

Banning or limiting the use of electric scooters at some places

The idea of banning electric scooters completely seems like a strict action but banning the use of these scooters on places like college campuses or school zones is worth considering. For example, the use of drones and rover-boards is already illegal on the IU campus due to safety and security reasons. By banning the use of these scooters, at least on campus, we would reduce risk of people getting injured due to someone’s carelessness.

There are already some cities that have banned the use of ridesharing electric scooters due to the risk that is associated with their use.

Reflection on the meeting

It was interesting to have the experience to attend a meeting and get to know what the process is behind the functioning of the student government body. The topics were general and yet important enough and relevant to IU Community, and it was a safe space to talk about your opinions and views and argue for your position about the same. I really had fun during the meeting as it was not only resourceful, but it helped me in thinking about the meeting from the assignment’s point of view.

Minutes from the meeting

12pm- General meet and greet. Introduction and Welcome

12:05pm- Topics to be discussed today- Electric Scooters

12:15pm- Questions and opinions about the scooters

12:25pm- Discussing misuse of these scooters by illegal parking and driving on the sidewalks

12:35pm- Questions asked about the topic

12:45pm- How dangerous can these scooters be?

12:55pm- Questions about the topic

1pm- Summary of the meeting

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
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The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

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You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.