COVID-19: How Has it Changed Us?

Over two years ago marks the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Believed to have been first transmitted to humans in a wet market in Wuhan, China in late 2019, the pandemic created stark political and economic change. SARS-CoV-2 otherwise known as “Covid 19” or “Coronavirus” is a respiratory disease that attacks the lungs. Its symptoms usually include cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and hospitalization or loss of life in some severe cases. Covid 19 spread virtually everywhere and not one nation was untouched.

Covid 19 measures typically started around early or mid-2020. The United States first reacted to COVID-19 when on March 13 president Donald Trump declared a national emergency that reserved billions of dollars to fight against the disease's spread. Along with the national emergency, the Trump administration put a travel ban on non-US citizens coming from Europe, and later on, March 17 asked Congress for emergency relief checks as part of the economic stimulus project. Although the US did put restrictions on who or who could not enter the country, restrictions more or less varied by state.

Under Governor Gavin Newson, California became known for its intense lockdown measures, oftentimes gaining criticism for being too extreme or “repressing freedom”. In far-right online communities where the majority of the covid resistance took place, users created and shared memes mocking the California mask mandate. Online websites and forums became the center of COVID misinformation and ridicule. Websites like Facebook and Twitter where users have the ability to share posts and tweets with their followers or friends became notoriously known for spreading false information.

On March 4th of 2020, Newsom declared a state of emergency for California. This allowed for the halting of evictions, addressed price gouging, and postponed the deadline for filing taxes. Masks also became required in hospitals, restaurants, and most other public indoor settings. On March 19, 2020, Newson announced a statewide order to ‘shelter at home’. California was not the only state to place restriction measures. Almost every state issued some variation of a stay-at-home order.

Stay-at-home orders also brought the suspension of schools. School closures occurred in virtually every state. Schools would typically move onto virtual learning and have their educators teach through a screen. School closures didn't just suspend in-classroom learning - vents such as Prom, Homecoming, and sporting events all had to be canceled due to the threat of COVID. For most students, school is how they communicate with their peers. The closure of schools was the closure of their basic communication system. The support that in-person school provided for students' mental health vanished.

Studies show that children's mental health worsened after school closures. In a study done by Jama Network, only 7% of the children benefited from school closures, compared to 31% of children who experienced signs of loneliness. Before school closures, only 4.2% of children were categorized as being angry compared to 23.9% after. Talks about the future, interacting with family, and general positive relationships with peers all decreased after schools shut down.

COVID-19 did not just affect the mental health of children and teenagers. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse increased among adults and elder individuals because of the pandemic. The COVID-19 crisis exacerbated violence against women. For women especially, the pandemic forced them to spend prolonged periods with their abusers. The stay-at-home order isolated women from their support network. Social isolation, financial and psychological problems, and the inability to use coping mechanisms all worsened domestic violence. Although there are limited studies about domestic violence amid the pandemic, we can compare domestic violence in other times of disaster to coronavirus. After Hurricane Andrew and the Bushfires in Australia, surveys found that domestic violence increased significantly due to forced isolation with one's abuser.

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to improve, the world can begin its return to normalcy. Now that children are back in school, lockdown orders are all lifted, and crucial support systems have been restored, the world can begin to connect once again. Although we often take the ease of human connection for granted, the pandemic highlighted just how crucial this connection is, and how quickly our society can plummet once it is taken away.