The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
8 — Wednesday, March 9, 2022
PAIGE HODDER
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Editor in Chief
JULIAN BARNARD
AND SHUBHUM GIROTI
Editorial Page Editors
ficial position of The Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Julian Barnard
Zack Blumberg
Emily Considine
Brandon Cowit
Jess D’Agostino
Zoe Phillips
Ben Davis
Andrew Gerace
Shubhum Giroti
Min Soo Kim
Jessie Mitchell
Mary Rolfes
Nikhil Sharma
Jack Tumpowsky
Joel Weiner
Erin White
Anna Tupiano
I
t has been almost two years
since March 13, 2020. Almost
two years of not seeing loved
ones, wearing masks, quarantining,
testing, vaccinating, mandating and
sanitizing. Almost two years and
it’s difficult to think of a time when
the COVID-19 pandemic will not be
involved in every aspect of our lives.
After these two years, many wonder
when there will be a time their
efforts to protect themselves and
their community from this disease
will lessen.
As
COVID
cases
decrease
nationwide, some states — most
notably, the state of California —
have begun to consider COVID-19
as endemic. Shifting to endemicity
does not, as we might hope,
entail removing all coronavirus
restrictions and returning back to
our pre-pandemic lives. Instead, it
means reorienting our minds, our
resources and our public health
policy towards approaching COVID-
19 as a long-term issue.
A pandemic, which is what we
have referred to COVID-19 as for
roughly the last two years, is a
rapidly and unpredictably spreading
disease that infects a wide and
diverse range of people. COVID-
19 has infected every continent,
illustrating its reach and labeling it
a pandemic. An endemic disease,
which is what many states are
beginning to consider COVID-19,
is one whose spread is predictable
and consistent and whose reach is
limited to a certain area. While a
disease becoming endemic does not
mean that all infection and death
ceases, it does mean shifting toward
treating it as a consistent issue to
mitigate, and not an imminent threat
to mobilize against.
As we come to terms with COVID-
19’s long-lasting effects, it is vital that
the federal government provide
at-home test kits, KN95 masks and
over-the-counter medications to
reduce the severity of the disease
for those who still become infected.
The pandemic exposed how grossly
underprepared the United States
was for combating a widespread
disease outbreak, to the point where
even Robert Redfield, then-Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
director, acknowledged it all the
way back in August 2020. Masks and
tests were scarce, and the vaccine
distribution was insufficient to
prevent the further spread of the
disease and the emergence of new
variants. If new variants pop up,
we should be adequately prepared
to quickly equip ourselves with the
necessary preventative measures.
Awarding
domestic
manufacturers with federal dollars
so they continue producing a robust
supply of tests, masks and antiviral
drugs will be the cornerstone
of effective endemic policy. One
of the best ways that the federal
government can incentivize states
to shift to this endemic focus is by
awarding states grants to beef up
PPE manufacturing, accumulate
vaccine and mask reserves and
continue to encourage vaccination
for those who are eligible.
As we shift to an endemic
stage, the importance of data
cannot be undermined. Recently,
it surfaced that the CDC was not
fully disclosing all the data on
COVID-19
hospitalizations
and
wastewater surveillance it had
collected throughout the pandemic.
Although
CDC
officials
cited
concerns about releasing potentially
inaccurate information, they have
since received funding intended to
improve their ability to collect and
disseminate information in a timely
and accurate manner. States and
localities would benefit immensely
from greater access to a state-of-
the-art
wastewater
surveillance
database. Receiving that data in
real-time would allow jurisdictions
to quickly modify public health
policy in case of an outbreak and
delimit those measures for the
region in which the outbreak occurs.
Moreover, communicating accurate
data to the public could help rebuild
public confidence in our medical
institutions.
Some of the recent moves by
state governments to end mask
and vaccination mandates seem to
convey the message that “endemic”
means “stop trying.” Indoor masking
requirements for vaccinated persons
have expired in jurisdictions such
as California, Illinois, New York
and Washington, D.C. Masking
requirements in K-12 schools are
also being lifted. Compare that
to
California
Governor
Gavin
Newsom’s SMARTER plan, which
is intended to treat COVID-19 as a
permanent part of life — allowing
people a sense of normalcy without
becoming vulnerable to future
COVID-19 variants. Newson’s plan
includes stockpiling millions of
masks, continuing to encourage
vaccination and the development of
treatments.
Treatments in particular are key
to a safe future. The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration approved one
antiviral drug for adults and issued
emergency authorization for others.
Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment,
Paxlovid, was in short supply in
the months after its emergency
authorization.
The
federal
government should play a central
role in encouraging the development
of more COVID-19 treatments and
ensuring that those treatments are
widely available throughout the
country. A large federal effort akin
to Operation Warp Speed could help
the states transition to an endemic
stage without risking thousands of
lives.
Additionally, one major factor
in ensuring that COVID-19 can
remain an endemic disease is
ensuring that countries around the
world receive an adequate number
of vaccines. A concerning number
of the world’s largest countries
have vaccination rates far below
the percentage that could provide
herd immunity. Should this state
of affairs continue, more variants,
including
potentially
vaccine-
resistant ones, have the potential to
persist. This is because variants are
far more likely to emerge when the
virus is able to spread, and the virus
is more likely to spread through
unvaccinated individuals.
As a wealthy country with a
higher-than-average
vaccination
rate, the United States has the ability,
and a moral obligation, to improve
the vaccination rates of other
countries. An easy way to begin that
task would be to donate excess doses
to said countries. While the U.S. has,
as of March 6, donated around 413.7
million doses of the vaccine to other
countries, that number is minute
compared to the nearly 3 billion
people around the world that have
yet to receive even one dose of the
vaccine.
While there may not be sweeping
policy changes to be made, moving
into an endemic state will require a
revised mindset and long-term shift.
Treating COVID-19 as endemic,
and thus returning to relative
normalcy, means being prepared
to quash future outbreaks quickly.
That requires a large and easily
accessible supply of masks, tests and
treatments and ensuring that the
entire world, not just its wealthiest
countries, is adequately vaccinated.
Endemicity doesn’t mean giving up
— it means being prepared to ensure
that COVID-19 never again becomes
a pandemic.
From The Daily: Focus on
COVID-19 as an endemic
W
ith
the
winter
semester still in its
infancy, my friend
and I were on the lookout for
fun things to do on campus.
Consequently, we bought tickets
to the TEDx event hosted by the
University of Michigan. TED
is an organization that invites
individuals from across the
world to give talks about “ideas
worth
spreading.”
A
TEDx
event is organized completely
by an independent body, like
the University of Michigan, but
is still affiliated with the now
world-renowned brand. Both
my friend and I had grown up
at schools where our teachers
would often use TED Talks as
educational material, so it didn’t
take too much to convince us to
buy tickets when we found out
that the University was going to
have its own TEDx. The night
we bought the tickets, we also
made a pact — one day, both of
us would give a TED Talk of our
own.
After buying the tickets, I
began looking into the details of
the event. This year’s theme was
‘shatterproof’, which I thought
was pretty cool. I knew what
the word meant, but sometimes
I like looking up words I know
to see how they’re officially
defined. I typed ‘shatterproof’
into the search bar and Google
defined it as: “constructed of
material that resists shattering.”
I didn’t find that particularly
useful — my teachers had always
told me that a word, in any shape
or form, should never be used in
its own definition.
Fast forward to the day of
the event, the event organizers
provided the audience with their
own definition of ‘shatterproof’
right before the first speaker
was introduced. They referred
to it as “the ability to withstand
adversity and not fall apart.” I
liked that definition more. To
me, it captured the core essence
of the word — being able to fight
against the odds and come out
stronger.
Four speakers — a professor
of environmental science, a
producer, an engineer turned
filmmaker and a senior in
the field of social sciences —
came and went. As the crowd
dispersed for a brief intermission
before the next four speakers,
I found myself still digesting
what each speaker had said.
Although I enjoyed listening to
all of them, there was one thing I
just didn’t get: for the most part,
these talks didn’t really seem to
revolve around the idea of being
shatterproof. However, they did
have one message in common,
and it was one that I rather liked.
They focused on the idea that
everybody, be it an individual
or a community, has a story to
share and that story deserves to
be heard.
For some of these speakers,
like Thomas Laub, stories are
a way of taking a lesson or a
message and converting it into
something that can be shared.
He believes that stories have
the ability to hold a mirror
up
to
society
and
portray
some harsh truths, while also
providing an escape when times
get tough. Razi Jafri implored
the audience to be mindful
and to seek authentic artists
and storytellers, because each
community deserves to be seen
with truth, nuance and respect.
Finally, LSA senior Becca Wong
made it clear that you are in
control of your story and that
you are a lot more than the
stereotypes and labels society
tries to put on you.
Having started her speech by
comparing herself to a phoenix,
she ended with the phrase, “You
can never put the flame out,”
suggesting that no matter how
hard others might try, her story
and her journey will live on. And
that’s when it hit me.
The amazing thing about TED
Talks is that they give people a
chance to share their stories —
stories of how they overcame
adversity and fulfilled all their
dreams. The story of how they
moved halfway across the world
to pursue a career in dance, in
the case of Dr. Fangfei Miao,
or how they went from losing
a leg to cancer at the age of 13
to becoming a paralympic gold
medalist in the case of Sam
Grewe. I have always been a
huge advocate of the idea that
stories are one of the best, if
not the best, ways to document
one’s journey through life. With
stories, we can show the lessons
we’ve learned, the values we live
by, the journey we have been on
and the people we’ve met. With
stories we can decide how we
are remembered, because, as
novelist Salley Vickers once said,
“Stories are all we humans have
to make us immortal.”
By the time all eight speakers
had given their talks, this idea
had been ingrained in me: it is
our stories that are shatterproof.
If we are able to share real,
authentic stories with the world,
there’s nothing anybody can
do to tear them down. There is
no better way to express our
emotions — love, friendship,
kindness — than with stories.
There is no better way to share
our
experiences
than
with
stories. As my friend and I
walked out of the auditorium
that
day,
we
repeated
the
promise we had made earlier
with renewed vigor. We both
will give a TED Talk one day.
And if we don’t, we are certain
that, one way or another, our
story will still be told.
A shatterproof material we all own
RUSHABH SHAH
Opinion Columnist
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
EDITORIAL BOARD
O
ver a recent weekend, I
found myself with some
spare time and decided to
pick up “The President Is Missing,”
a novel co-written by former
President Bill Clinton and seasoned
author James Patterson. I had
some doubts about the story while
reading the early chapters, but the
novel, a political thriller published in
2018, turned out to be an incredibly
suspenseful
page-turner
packed
with remarkable insights into the
American presidency.
While a work of fiction, Clinton
and
Patterson’s
gripping
novel
sheds light on a real-world danger
that threatens our entire country
every day: cybersecurity. In the
nearly four years that have passed
since “The President Is Missing”
hit bookshelves, the invisible cyber
threat lurking behind our computer
screens has only deepened. In a world
where living without phones and
the internet is virtually impossible,
the fictional cyber crisis depicted
in the book felt all too realistic. As
cyberattacks become increasingly
common
with
technological
advances, it’s time our leaders devote
more attention to addressing our
digital vulnerabilities.
Anyone following the headlines
knows that the cyber threat is at the
top of the minds of business owners,
government officials and everyday
Americans around the country.
And for good reason. In recent
years, cybercriminals have grown
increasingly sophisticated, turning
to tactics that make attacks harder to
detect and mitigate.
A 2020 report from Microsoft
focusing
on
the
cyber
threat
warns of a dramatic “leap in attack
sophistication.” Just last year, the U.S.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Agency (CISA), a division of the
Department of Homeland Security,
reported
an
alarming
uptick
“in
sophisticated,
high-impact
ransomware
incidents
against
critical infrastructure organizations
globally.” In the U.S. in 2021, only two
of 16 critical infrastructure sectors
were left unscathed by cyberattacks,
with industries related to defense,
emergency services and agriculture
all being hit by cybercriminals.
Last May, a massive ransomware
attack took a major oil pipeline
running along the East Coast offline,
leading to headaches and long
waits at the gas pump for millions
of drivers. The attack, which is
believed to be the largest against oil
infrastructure in American history,
went unresolved for days until the
pipeline’s operator — the Colonial
Pipeline Company — paid more than
$4 million in ransom to the hackers.
Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy expert
and researcher, called the closure
“a definite alarm bell,” telling
Politico the incident was “the most
significant, successful attack on
energy infrastructure we know of
in the United States.” And in recent
days, some officials have begun
making preparations for possible
Russian cyberattacks against the
U.S. as tensions over Ukraine soar.
Cyberattacks may often be short-
term nuisances that are resolved
with little disruption. But in an era
where everything is dependent upon
technology — from our hospitals,
water supply and electrical grid to
our banks and schools — the most
basic services millions rely on could
be compromised on a minute’s notice.
A sophisticated, widespread attack
launched by cyberterrorists could
precipitate
massive
disruptions,
shuttering critical systems and
putting millions of people in danger.
While this kind of catastrophic
scenario is perhaps a bit far-fetched
by some measures, the latest moves
by attackers on the web demonstrate
that America needs to be ready for
anything.
A good first step to fortify
our cyber defenses would be
directing more time and money
toward addressing this startling
threat. President Joe Biden has
already made cybersecurity “a top
priority” for his administration,
devoting more federal resources to
confront cyberattacks. But these
increases in funding for cyber
defense aren’t enough. Retired
Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery,
Senior Director of the Center on
Cyber and Technology Innovation,
wrote that “the government will
have to maintain this double-digit
growth (in cybersecurity spending)
for several years if it is to have the
resources it needs to deal with cyber
threats.” The U.S. government has
over $30 trillion in debt and needs
to spend more carefully than ever.
But if there’s one priority that
needs to be funded generously, it’s
cybersecurity. With cyber warfare
now a distinct possibility both at
home and abroad, it’s imperative
America
has
strong
defenses,
whether that be on land and sea or
in cyberspace.
Congress also has more work to
do on confronting the cyber threat.
On a recent visit to the University
of Michigan’s Flint campus, Sen.
Gary Peters, D-Mich., detailed new
legislation he introduced on the
Senate floor that would improve
the
reporting
of
cyberattacks.
If
passed,
the
Strengthening
American Cybersecurity Act would
“require
critical
infrastructure
owners and operators and civilian
federal agencies to report to the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency (CISA) if they
experience a substantial cyber-
attack,”
according
to
a
press
release from Peters’s office. Peters
— who serves as the chair of the
Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee —
said these “efforts will significantly
bolster
and
modernize
federal
cybersecurity
as
new,
serious
software vulnerabilities continue to
be discovered.” It’s critical Congress
passes bills like these if we want to
stand strong against the cyber threat
and be prepared for any attacks that
come our way.
As the digital world continues to
evolve at a breakneck pace, ensuring
America has what it needs to defend
itself in cyberspace is more crucial
than ever. Strengthening our cyber
defenses must be a top priority as we
navigate this emerging threat.
Bolstering our cyber defenses should be a top priority
EVAN STERN
Opinion Columnist
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