OCT ISSUE In this issue: Herd Immunity Hello Royals! Welcome back to The Current Uproar! This is our November issue! Check out our previous issues from both this year and last year on the student newspaper webpage: http://www.whsactivities.org/page/ show/2139802-school-newspaper-the-current-uproar- (QR code be- low)! As always our newspaper is open to all students and open to https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F% wide variety of content, so if you have any suggestions or would like 2Fcdn.technologynetworks.com%2Ftn%2Fimages%2Fthumbs% 2Fjpeg%2F640_360%2Fherd-immunity-is-a-dangerous-strategy-for to become a correspondent, send us an email at currentu- -tackling-covid-19-339142.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F% [email protected]! Hope you enjoy this issue! 2Fwww.technologynetworks.com%2Fimmunology%2Fnews% 2Fherd-immunity-is-a-dangerous-strategy-for-tackling-covid-19- Sincerely, 339142&tbnid=ChSkRcjJYyYEvM&vet=12ahUKEwjziJ6LuYjtAhUO0K wKHbRWCKsQMygAegQIARB9..i&docid=_GG8GGYOk4e08M&w=6 Nikhil Jain 40&h=360&q=herd% 20immuni- Editor ty&safe=active&ved=2ahUKEwjziJ6LuYjtAhUO0KwKHbRWCKsQMy Global News https://cdn.shopify.com/s/ files/1/1061/1924/products/ Earth_Globe_Americas_Emoji_lar ge.png?v=1571606063 Musical Notes Monthly edition by Carson Macynski 9th grade VLA First, let me just say that I don’t listen to mainstream music. Like, I couldn’t name the artists or lyrics to a popular song but I could identify the song’s key/time signature, tempo, primary chords, subtonic keys, and bassline rhythm. That’s because I’ve studied Music Theory and play the viola for the school orchestra and the MN Youth Symphonies making classical music my preference. My parents are a product of the 80’s and have always wanted me to appreciate that era of music more. With the death of Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist of the 70/80’s rock band Van Halen, now seemed like a good time to start. Eddie Van Halen is expected to go down in history as the “best guitarist of all time.” He was born in 1955 in the Netherlands and moved to the Western US during the early 1960’s. He teamed up with his brother Alex on drums, David Lee Roth on lead vocals, and Michael Anthony on bass to form the band, Van Halen, in 1974. The band skyrocketed to the top of the charts in 1978 with the hit song “You Really Got Me” from their album Van Halen I. In 1985, David Lee Roth left Van Halen and was replaced by Sammy Hagar with Hagar as lead singer, Van Halen released several more albums and hit songs. Sammy Hagar left the band in 1996. The band found another front man for a while until Sammy came back for a reunion tour. Eventually, David Lee Roth reunited with Eddie Van Halen and they continued to play together until 2015. Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, joined the band in 2007 as the bass guitar player. He was only 16 when he started touring with his dad’s band. Can you imagine being in high school and touring all over the country? In 2015, they stopped touring after Eddie's health declined including being diag- nosed years earlier with tongue cancer. Sadly, Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020 after battling throat cancer. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope to see you in next month's edition. Movie: It’s a good day; however, you’re bored and need something to do. Look no further than the movie theater! A movie theater is a great place. It’s that, and it has concessions, comfortable chairs, and good movies (sometimes). Movie theaters have long relied on this model to attract customers, make a profit, and stay open. Nonetheless, like many other brick-and-mortar businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic had a destructive effect on the movie theatre industry. The Los Angeles Times reports that ‘93% of exhibitors saw their reve- nue plummet 75% or more in the second quarter, compared with the same period of time last year... the thea- ter industry employs 150,000 people, many of whom are part-time and hourly. If the status quo continues, two-thirds of those jobs could vanish.’ Furthermore, famous filmmakers and industry executives, fearing the loss of movie theaters, are lobbying the government to give these cornerstones of entertainment access to essential pandemic relief funds. (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-09-30/ hollywood-fears-for-movies-theaters-survival-amid-covid-19-pandemic). When the pandemic is over, go watch a movie. Make sure the place that we know and love survives and doesn’t die out. World News Highlight: With economies reopening, the upcoming US election, and the democracy protests in Thailand, the fourth quarter is going to be a hectic time: all the more reasons to read this short news brief. In Europe, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) are reaching the trade-deal negotiation deadline. The two sides are hard at work negotiating; however, many key areas still remain unresolved: notably, fisheries and the Internal Market Bill. Although fishing only constitutes a small part of the European economy, its plight has become largely symbolic. France, the Netherlands, and Denmark (all EU constituents) rely heavily on British territorial waters for fishing. The UK wants to restrict those countries’ access to its fish. In a tit for tat move, France is vowing to launch an energy embargo and to prevent the trade of British fish. The internal market bill has en- tered the house of lords, despite criticism from many. What is this bill? It aims to promote trade across all re- gions of the UK by requiring all nations (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales) to accept cross-border goods, without regards to the different standards set in each nation: for example, if a company based in Eng- land is allowed to produce cheap burgers at the expense of quality, it would still be able to sell it on the other three markets. The Welsh government puts it as a ‘race to the bottom’. Without a trade deal, the two superpow- ers will have to fall back on standard World Trade Organization tariffs, costing billions in losses. Even though the economic problems are taking center stage in Brexit, let’s not forget that travel, health, security, and the environment in Europe will be impacted negatively, so they need a deal. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/ world/europe/brexit-no-deal-fisheries/2020/10/16/2ec812c0-0f21-11eb-b404-8d1e675ec701_story.html https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-54065391) https://www.politico.eu/article/what-happens-no-brexit-trade-deal-eu-uk/ #EndSARS a Battle Cry for Nigeria’s Youth By Abigail Goitom In the 1990s, the Nigerian government created the Special Anti-Robbery Squad also known as (SARS). The primary purpose of this notorious task force was to stop robbery and prevent crime. In October, a video of an officer shooting a civilian, in Delta state, and speeding off with his car was circulating fast. It was only a mat- ter of time before young ones took to the streets to protest police brutality and violence-sounds familiar, doesn’t it. Video reports have also shown Nigerian military opening fire and actually shooting into a crowd of peaceful protestors and this event has been labeled as the Lekki Massacre. It is estimated that the protest death toll has risen to 100. Humans rights organizations report that SARS has used a variety of methods to torture people in custody: hanging, mock execution, beating,burning with ciga- rettes, waterboarding,punching and kicking, near-asphyxiation with plastic bags, and sexual violence. In a measly effort to appease protestors, the government decided to disband SARS, yet it was replaced with the Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) which did noth- ing to resolve the issue and highlights the ineffectiveness of not just Nigerian governments but govern- ments everywhere as they continue to use police violence as a means to oppress people. Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/25/africa/nigeria-end-sars-protests-analysis-intl/index.html Herd Immunity: why our reliance on this idea may prove to be fatal during a global pandemic By: Anika Tripathi The term “Herd Immunity” has been thrown around by many health officials as a means of treatment for the global pandemic that is currently affecting communities all around the world. COVID-19. Many countries have opened up their economies in hope that naturally occuring Herd Immunity will take its course and defeat COVID but this utter disregard for safety precautions and this blind reliance on naturally occuring Herd Immunity can prove deadly and have dire consequences. But, before we explore how natural- ly occurring Herd Immunity can harm us we must first address what is Herd Immunity? Herd Immunity is the idea that if many people get exposed to a particular disease and become im- mune, an entire community is protected including even those who may not have been exposed previously to the virus. Herd Immunity can be achieved either by vaccination, which is what most countries are trying to develop, or through natural infection. Herd immunity has helped us recover from a number of diseases from influenza, commonly known as the flu, to Polio. But in most cases this type of immunity has been achieved via the invention of vaccines. Because there is yet to be a safe vaccine made for distribution to the public, the type of Herd Immunity that health officials are discussing more recently in light of COVID-19 is known as naturally occurring Herd Immunity and this type of Herd Immunity can cause unimaginable loss to our human population as a whole.