Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been turned upside down, and Sam Stelnicki went into detail during her presentation describing some current events from around the globe. France deemed bakeries a necessity given their impact on the economy and in the French citizens’ daily lives. Vladimir Putin postponed the referendum that would have decided whether or not he could be in power until 2036, and also included in the referendum were gay marriage rights among other things. The Netherlands which is home to one of the world’s largest flower growing/selling industry is struggling due to the pandemic because flowers bring in $6.7 billion in profit each year to the country. Most of the flowers are wilting and being composted because people are not out like usual this spring buying them from vendors.
U.S. prisons are also struggling to contain the virus because there is no way for the prisoners to social distance. Because of this, talks about releasing the more vulnerable prisoners are under way along with restricted visitation becoming a possibility. The Hungarian Prime Minister has been granted universal power for fighting the coronavirus, so he does not need parliamentary approval for any of his decrees. Also, anyone who gives false information publicly about the coronavirus is sentenced to five years in prison. In Turkmenistan there has always been severe censorship enforced, and that has not stopped with the coronavirus. The government has not reported any cases, but there are rumors saying otherwise. In addition, saying the word coronavirus is illegal now and citizens can be arrested for wearing face masks and talking about the pandemic. Also, Sub Saharan Africa is experiencing a recession because of the pandemic. Their total losses for the year are predicted to be around $37-79 billion, and they don’t have adequate healthcare systems to handle the economic strain.
Everyone everywhere is being affected by the coronavirus in some way, and it is the greatest global threat this world has faced for many decades. As of today, over three million people in the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19, so this current events discussion relates to international affairs in every way imaginable.