Implications of Globalization on the Fight Against Covid-19

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Globalization and COVID-19
Globalization denotes the assimilation between people, companies, and authorities around the world. Since the 18th century, globalization gradually accelerated secondary to new technologies related to communication and transportation. It increased by trades worldwide, accompanied by the enhancement of financial exchanges. Moreover, it opened free trade policies, thereby further increasing the world exports (Beck). Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected globalization. Globalization became a tool that helped spread SARS-CoV-2, but it also became the saving grace to improve the falling economies and fight against the disease worldwide. Thus, it became a double-edged sword. This paper examines the effects of globalization and the impact of COVID-19 on globalization.
Globalization impacted people's mobility and resources (i.e., food and agriculture sectors), economy and workforce, academic institutions, and health sector. First, since it is the root cause of urbanization, it played a significant role in transmitting the disease from one nation to another. It promoted the migration of people from an area of low productivity and low economic opportunities to industrialized nations, importation of supplies, and the movement of people from more to less industrialized areas due to tourism. Urban areas are crowded and confined spaces where there is close contact from one person to another. Fujita and Hamaguchi reported that the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic are the urbanized areas and usually does not significantly affect the rural areas CITATION Fuj20 \l 13321 (Fujita and Hamaguchi).
Furthermore, most cases have been tabulated from industrialized countries, although many cases also came from poorer countries. The principal cause of the increasing number of cases is the overpopulation in large cities. Most cases are found in the United States, where 31.4% are infected, and Europe, with 28% affected. The U.S. and Europe, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, and the European Union) are some of the most populated areas, where the former accounts for 4.3% while the latter accounts for 6.7% of the world’s population. This provoked an enhanced agglomeration of economic and social activities, resulting in the virus's spread CITATION Fuj20 \l 13321 (Fujita and Hamaguchi).
Second, it resulted in an imbalance in the supply and demand chain. Specifically, the falling economies led to the consumers' and investors' loss of confidence in the marketplaces. This is due to the devaluing of the demand while the supply is gradually lost due to absenteeism and workforce reduction. The public health standards also negatively affected the supply and demand chain by restricting travel and trade to enhance health response and prevent the disease's further spread (Shrestha et al.).
Third, academic institutions were unprepared for the sudden change of class set-ups, where 80% of these reported a negative impact on research and the students’ quality of education. Fourth, the health sector has been failing in the fight against COVID-19 due to the reduced workforce and continuous increase in the number of cases (Shrestha et al.).
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