User:SleepyB/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
COVID-19 pandemic in Curaçao

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because while the pandemic effects are being covered in Western countries and the effects of COVID-19 on its populations. I feel like we do not talk about the pandemic affects the smaller countries even more especially if they are a smaller country or colony, like Curaçao who depend on finances from the colonial power.

My preliminary impression of the article was that it did not have a lot of updated and local sources and it draws upon a lot of the Netherlands/Dutch perspective. It seems to also take on the perspective of the Western gaze a lot.

Evaluate the article
The initial lead section, first part of the article only covers to August. It is January 2020, and though there might not be a lot of information, it still is not updated. The first case with the 68-year old man from The Netherlands does not also tell you that he was a tourist, but also does not show if he survived, died etc. The sentence just strays lacking an update. The July-August section of the lead part of the article is problematic cause it implies that all COVID-19 cases on the island are resolved, which is not the truth. There is no continuation or other revenant information of what else is happening on the island.

For the Background, there is no mention that the cases of COVID-19 in Curaçao was also brought to the island, no stats on how many tourists came with potential exposure to COVID, any local transmissions etc. No mention of the effects of COVID-19 within the community/country.

There seems to be a lot of just one-mention, one-sentence facts and not a lot of further evidence or information to support those claims/sentences. Furthermore, the article has lot of underrepresented points such as; certain demographics that are affected with COVID-19, what has happened with certain people/cases of COVID also are just left in the air. In addition, the tone seems problematic in the article, implying it is almost okay to travel to the island cause of the lack of cases that been "resolved" in Curaçao; what does "resolved" mean in Curaçao, the country could have very different standards in what is "resolved," especially if the reader does not know much about the country. There is a huge focus of the European standpoint; the Dutch colonial power influencing a lot of the article with sources that a majority from the Netherlands or Dutch media reports and articles.

Under the second and first wave, there is just a graph, which is helpful to visualize the statistics of COVID-19, but no other further mentions, news, articles or updates surrounding the issue. There is not further clarification in who is a part of the statistics; Is just the tourists, locals, children, multi-nationals? Curaçao is a small country but with many demographics. Stats are also powerful in what information they display as important, and to leave out a lot of information or even many people is problematic.

SleepyB (talk) 23:26, 19 January 2021 (UTC)