Human Rights or Irresponsibility? part 8 Understandably, the western governments try to reach a balance by giving people enough freedom and privacy, however, people’s ignorance and selfishness are making this battle against coronavirus impossible to win and it will finally hurt themselves. Freedom and personal privacy have been valued as a symbol of a highly developed civilization. However, when we look back at this period of history after decades or in the eyes of our future generations, it is clear that we are not as civilized as we thought, but a bunch of selfish, barbarous and indifferent animals, who showed no respect to life, and would risk taking away other people’s lives just to have some fun of their own. Freedom and privacy are not as important as responsibility and life. We have to admit that humans are not fully different from their ancient ancestors. The governments and lawmakers should take control at this special time. It was already late, but we don’t want to see more people dying because of this. Now it’s time.

Human Rights or Irresponsibility? part 7 When the health care systems collapse, nobody will be safe anymore. The very sick coronavirus patients recover slowly and they all need ventilators, soon the ventilators would run out and many patients would have to wait with no treatment and die, soon the hospitals would be filled with the coronavirus patients everywhere, and all the doctors and nurses are saving the coronavirus patients, leaving no doctors or nurses in other departments. It means if someone, whether young or old, needed a ventilator due to a sudden sickness which isn’t the coronavirus, he can’t get one, or if someone got a traffic accident and he needed a doctor, he might not get one since the doctors are all dealing with the more urgent coronavirus patients. I know it’s difficult and it feels boring to stay at home for everyone. I feel the same, and I feel even worse because I spent all my savings coming to the US to study and pursue my academic dream, but now I can only stay at home and study online, mostly by myself. But when thinking of spreading the virus and taking other people’s lives, I would rather stay at home. Now the coronavirus has taken away 100,000 lives worldwide. People might feel numb to see the death number now because when the number gets too large, it makes it difficult to imagine and seem lifeless, not as shocking as a plane crash that kills hundreds of people. But think about the people you know, you love and respect, even if one person died due to the virus, it would make you so heartbreaking. When thinking of 100,000 families have lost their beloved, when watching a daughter crying and saying goodbye through the phone to her father who is dying alone in the hospital because she couldn’t go to the hospital due to the virus, who would still feel like going to a party? It’s difficult for governments to let people stay at home without strict laws and executive. Some Asian countries used aggressive methods to control the coronavirus and it worked well, but the western governments hesitate to use them as some of the methods violate human rights. Their indecisive are making them lose time and the chance to stop the virus, as the scientists have proved that only when the isolation was fully obeyed and started early and sustained long enough, the virus would be controlled.

Human Rights or Irresponsibility? Part 4 “ ’People in Western countries said China’s response was too authoritarian,’ said Yin Choi Lam, ‘Now compare it to places like Italy, would you rather have freedom or keep your life?’”. But are those human rights important as life? Those Chinese people who ran out of the US and Europe back to China voted with their actions. They would rather be isolated in China safely rather than facing the risk of getting the virus in other countries. I know many people in western countries don’t trust the data the Chinese governments released because they know at the very first beginning of the coronavirus, the Wuhan government tried to cover the truth. It’s true, but that was the Wuhan government. The officers of local governments in China sometimes want to make everything seem perfect under their control, they don’t want to report the virus to the central government. When the central government knew about the virus, it immediately took action, and the Wuhan government officer was punished due to his hiding the truth and slow action. After that, no local government dared to hide the information of the coronavirus. After a two-week visit in February, Dr. Aylward of WHO saw how China rapidly suppressed the coronavirus outbreak. When he was interviewed by NYT reporter Donald G Mcneil Jr., he said,“I know there’s suspicion, but at every testing clinic we went to, people would say, “It’s not like it was three weeks ago.” Hospitals had empty beds.” That was in February, and the new case in April once reached zero. If you still have doubts or want to know more about how China made this, you can read Mcneil Jr.’s NYT article. Sadly, western people and many governments are focusing on rumors that attack the Chinese government and let the prejudice blind their eyes, stop them learning the successful experience that China used to fight against the virus, and stop the world to unite and fight against the virus together at the very difficult time of all human beings. In South Korea, where the coronavirus was also slowed down successfully, very efficient methods are taken by the South Korea government to trace and track every person who has coronavirus or has contacted the confirmed patients using a system that they developed during the MERS outbreak. They use security cameras, GPS and cellphones to track and analyze how one person got infected with the virus, like police detectives doing their investigations. It can be very efficient.

Human Rights or Irresponsibility? part 3 Later, the government decided to lock down the whole country. But it was too late, the virus already spread all over Europe from Italy. What’s more, though the whole country was locked down, people were still moving freely, going out without masks, gathering together chatting and playing cards. Several mayors were speaking angrily to the public asking them to stay at home, criticizing them for still hanging out, jogging together and having barbers. The same situation is happening in many countries. After the Coronavirus was spreading rapidly, some of the US state governments have already closed the schools, promoted companies to let the employees work at home, and urged people to keep a social distance and stay at home. California is one of the very first states that has shut down the business companies and schools, starting their shelter in place order. However, many people are still moving freely. A few months ago, when New York state already had the largest infection number in the US, the streets were still full of people without masks there. Compared to western countries, some Asian countries did better in controlling the virus. However, their methods are accused of violation of human rights by the western media. China has been the only country that achieved a zero new daily case after the large outbreak of the virus. However, since the Chinese government locked down Wuhan City and then the whole country, the criticism of hurting human rights has never stopped, even though it successfully stopped the larger spreading and period of coronavirus and saved millions of people’s lives in China. During the lockdown, those who lived in Wuhan and ran away to another city would be punished by the law. People are unable to move or travel from one place to another as the policemen and citizens are watching and stopping it everywhere. It sounds against the spirit of democracy in many countries. People all over the country stayed at home, and the residents in many communities and cities spontaneously formed watch and wards to stop suspicious people moving in and out. Now that China has stopped the virus, many Chinese people are trying to let the world know which is the right way and why.

Human Rights or Irresponsibility? Part 2 Though after seeing the coronavirus losing control, many governments had to start letting people stay at home, however, most of the policies they used seemed to not work at all, since the virus is still spreading rapidly and causing various tragedies. Without strict laws, punishments and executive power, many of the people who are used to freedom are not taking it seriously and they do not obey the government urge to stay at home. Gianni Zampino, a middle-aged Italian man was in the hospital, speaking to social media. He did not care about the virus and he went out without taking any protection. He ended up getting the virus. What’s worse, he spread the virus to his father when he was at home. The virus took away his father’s life. He was filled with regret, that he told people to stay at home, not to make the same mistake he made. “‘I didn't do anything to prevent getting this virus, but it, unfortunately, got inside my body and killed the person I loved most in my life, my father…Everybody says that this virus is a normal flu. I can tell you it is not a normal flu. It gets inside you and it takes hold of you, and it takes your lungs.’"(Pinna 3). In Italy, where the situation was said two weeks ahead of which in the US, the death rate of the virus is 9 percent and the health care system had already broken down. Italy has been the first country in Europe, where the coronavirus has been very severe. In Italy, the patients are lying on the beds in the hospital waiting for the death miserably. A doctor is crying. She has to choose who to live or die because she can only save some of them due to the lack of breathing machines since there are too many patients after the coronavirus outbreak. We might assume the government does nothing to stop the virus. However, the Italian government is trying so hard to stop the virus and save its people. It actually chose to lock down very early. In March, when there was an outbreak in the areas like Lombardy, the Italian government decided to lock down the area. The method was similar to what they did in China, where the government locked down the Wuhan city at first. However, the information was leaked by the media before the Italian government took action. Many people in Lombardy rushed to the railway station and ran out of the area overnight, causing the virus outbreak in other areas, and soon all of Italy infected.

Human Rights, or Irresponsibility? Sunshine, beach and noisy, happy crowds. The spring breakers are enjoying their great time at a beach in Miami, Southern Florida. The cheers are hotter than the temperature. The parties are going on. “Please stay at home!” The nurses appealed to the public desperately. As the patients keep being sent to the hospital, more and more patients are dying, and the doctors and nurses are working day and night without even enough protective facilities on them. This is the worst situation after the second world war. The battle is hard, and they are trying effortlessly to save lives. The only difference is they’ve run out of bullets and time. Yes, you are watching the scenes in the same country, the United States. When I started thinking about writing this article nearly a month ago, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US was less than 5,000. Now the number is about 610, 000. It’s not so surprising for me and many Chinese people to watch the number grow like riding a rocket, because we knew how hard it was to control the virus, what needed to be done and what kind of sacrifices Chinese people and government made to stop the virus. When we saw how careless many people here are and what actions the government and people are taking to prevent the virus, we know things are going to be a lot worse. When I saw pictures of people crowding in the bars after becoming stay-home workers, I knew what’s probably going to happen. Freedom and personal privacy have been valued highly and defended in the US and most other western countries. But those are the countries which are doing poorly preventing the coronavirus. These human rights are important, but the spreading of coronavirus is more severe. The government should take aggressive actions to stop the virus even though some of the actions are against human rights. People in the country are so used to their rights, like freedom, that many of them do not understand that sometimes we need to sacrifice our rights to save something more valuable, like human life. Though after seeing the coronavirus losing control, many governments had to start letting people stay at home, however, most of the policies they used seemed to not work at all, since the virus is still spreading rapidly and causing various tragedies. Without strict laws, punishments and executive power, many of the people who are used to freedom are not taking it seriously and they do not obey the government urge to stay at home.

When to use “ have done” or “ did” ? I’m so confused.. 1.“He flew back to the pond where he had been born.” ( ugly duckling) -Why isn’t it “ where he was born”? It seems make more sense. 2.” I spoke to him already.” ( from an English exam) - Why isn’t it “ I have spoken to him already”? It seems make more sense. It confuses me so much when to use “ have” or not. It’s so strange and so difficult to understand!!>.<