The United States mourns the nearly 3,000 lives lost during 9/11, which sent the country into shock. This terrorist attack took place on American soil, soil that had not felt the impacts of international conflict anywhere close to that magnitude since Pearl Harbor.

Nineteen years after the attack, America is facing a new crisis that has reached American soil: COVID-19. Whereas the 9/11 terrorist attack happened in a matter of minutes, COVID-19 has continued to come in constant waves over time, but both have and will continue to have implications that will last a lifetime.

One response that came from the result of 9/11 was the USA PATRIOTS Act. As a mechanism to prevent another terrorist attack, this act expands the government’s authority to increase surveillance on suspected terrorists and U.S. citizens, according to Zack Bonner, an Iowa State political science lecturer.

“There was a lot of fear and there was a lot of worry because the public never really saw this coming,” Bonner said. “There was a question of ‘What should we do now?’ after it happened.”

The government also increased security measures in airports while implementing travel bans as well. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, states have created mask mandates and limited social gatherings in hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19.

“I think in terms of potential for restricting civil liberties, [the pandemic response and 9/11 response] are fairly similar,” Bonner said. “Right to privacy, issues like that were pretty well taken away quickly, which is similar to what we are seeing now.”

Contact tracing has been used as a mechanism to prevent further spread of the virus after someone is infected. Bonner compared this to what the PATRIOTS Act did, which raises the question of an individual’s right to privacy.

“It is for a good cause, but that can be a potential for an invasion of privacy again,” Bonner said.

Throughout both of these crises, American citizens have had to sacrifice some of their civil liberties and rights, but both events have received greatly different responses from the public. Mack Shelley, chairman of the political science department, said after 9/11 there was a “rally ‘round the flag” effect.

The rally ‘round the flag phenomenon is a political science concept that explains a short spike in a political leader’s popularity during international war or crisis. This is proven through George W. Bush’s popularity rate reaching 91 percent after the 9/11 attack.

“Whenever the United States gets involved in a major war or some major attack like 9/11, there is almost an immediate upward spike for whoever is in power at the moment,” Shelley said.

Shelley said the pandemic is more of a slow-moving event, as opposed to 9/11, but it still is very impactful. But President Donald Trump has yet to benefit in popularity from his response to COVID-19, he said.

“If you are lucky, you are going to be able to take credit for taking the right steps to take care of the virus,” Shelley said. “In this case, and pretty clearly, Trump is having a hard time selling that argument. He has been trying to turn into something like an attack by China on the United States.”

During the pandemic, Trump has referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus” and at times even the “Kung-flu.” Shelley said all these names have very racist overtones and the use of them is part of an attempt to transfer blame.

After 9/11, Shelley said he remembers a similar response, but the nationalist statements with racist overtones were instead against Arab people.

The attack had a face for Americans to attribute it to — Osama Bin Laden. Bonner said this is something the virus lacks, making it less tangible for people to understand what America is fighting during this pandemic, especially when there are many cases of individuals being asymptomatic.

“COVID is more of an unseen enemy, so it is really hard for American people to focus on an enemy,” Bonner said.

On Friday, countless politicians commemorated the lives lost during 9/11, including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and more.

“[9/11] has been granted as Patriot Day — it becomes a way to memorialize the event and all the unfortunate things surrounding it, but of course it is an immediate way to get political ground points at a minimum,” Shelley said. “It gets sucked into all the politics of the moment, and it has ever since day one.”

Just as 9/11 sparked the war on terrorism, Shelley said there is essentially a war on COVID-19 as well. Frontline workers during 9/11 included countless firefighters, police officers and civilians that risked their lives, similar to medical professionals and essential workers who are currently at the frontline of the pandemic, also risking their lives.

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S. is nearing 200,000, and over 6 million people have been infected. This number has greatly surpassed 9/11 deaths and is close to the same amount of combat casualties of World War II.

“If you just go purely by body count, this pandemic is already on a World War II level, at least for [the number of] dead in combat,” Shelley said.

Iowa State’s Young Americans for Freedom President Chuck Klapatauskas said the effects of 9/11 globally issued a more imperialist view of how the U.S. treats other nations and resulted in expanding the military.

“Everyone says they wish they could have another day after 9/11, without 9/11, because everyone really came together, regardless of political and cultural beliefs,” Klapatauskas said. “Everyone unified under the American image, the image that George Bush and all the responders put forth is we’re all Americans and we all share this great nation together.”

Trump has campaigned on divisiveness, and this arguably helped him win in 2016, according to Shelley. But since the pandemic, this tactic has not worked in his favor, he said.

“You need a uniter…and Trump has kind of a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy,” Shelley said.

Both Shelley and Bonner said although there are commonalities between the two crises, they still remain unparalleled, and the U.S. will continue to feel the effects of both.

Klapatauskas said it is important to still commemorate those who lost their lives from the 9/11 attack.

“Obviously, the pandemic is ripe in our eyes, and it is very prevalent, I think, for all the remembrance of the families and the victims and the people who live in New York City, the New York Police Department and the Fire Department of New York,” Klapatauskas said. “I think it is important that no matter what the circumstances, we remember it because it is such a tragic event that impacted so many.”