Name? IE University Student
Westphalian Identity? Citizen of the World
Age? Anywhere between 17-25
Why is he in the news? There has been one confirmed case of the coronavirus at IE University, Segovia campus. Rather unsurprisingly, an undergraduate student who had recently returned from Italy.
Why do we care? Well, we attend and work at the university and thus, are a bit impacted by the people, policies and ‘pandemics’ that take residence there.
Why should you care? Often when major events or issues occur in IR, it’s hard to analyze and wage their real impact as they are not always near us. But now, with Covid19 knocking at our doorsteps, we can see the over exaggerated panic first hand. So yes, you should care (and wash your hands for goodness sake), but you should not freak out.
Who else cares? The Spanish health ministry and other government employees as Spain has witnessed a massive jump in confirmed cases (119 confirmed midday Monday March 2nd). Not to mention the Spanish citizens near the cases, neighboring EU nations, and the dozens of panicked IE students who have brilliantly fled the country for their respective homes…
Any further comments? While many of our colleagues were panicking over the cases in Spain, Covid19 has begun wreaking havoc on the global markets, resulting in massive economic fallouts. A very interesting issue is the impact the virus has had on China’s environmental footprint. Since the heightened spread of the virus this past month, China’s CO2 emissions have drastically fallen. Perhaps Xi can capitalize on this, changing criticisms of his handling of the crisis to praises of China’s new commitment to saving the world – sounds like a good propaganda tool. Every cloud has a silver lining.
