life before and after covid 19 essay 500 words

COVID-19: Where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going

One of the hardest things to deal with in this type of crisis is being able to go the distance. Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel

Where we're going

Living with covid-19, people & organizations, sustainable, inclusive growth, related collection.

The Next Normal: Emerging stronger from the coronavirus pandemic

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Covid 19 Essay in English

Essay on Covid -19: In a very short amount of time, coronavirus has spread globally. It has had an enormous impact on people's lives, economy, and societies all around the world, affecting every country. Governments have had to take severe measures to try and contain the pandemic. The virus has altered our way of life in many ways, including its effects on our health and our economy. Here are a few sample essays on ‘CoronaVirus’.

100 Words Essay on Covid 19

200 words essay on covid 19, 500 words essay on covid 19.

COVID-19 or Corona Virus is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in 2019. It is similar to other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but it is more contagious and has caused more severe respiratory illness in people who have been infected. The novel coronavirus became a global pandemic in a very short period of time. It has affected lives, economies and societies across the world, leaving no country untouched. The virus has caused governments to take drastic measures to try and contain it. From health implications to economic and social ramifications, COVID-19 impacted every part of our lives. It has been more than 2 years since the pandemic hit and the world is still recovering from its effects.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the world has been impacted in a number of ways. For one, the global economy has taken a hit as businesses have been forced to close their doors. This has led to widespread job losses and an increase in poverty levels around the world. Additionally, countries have had to impose strict travel restrictions in an attempt to contain the virus, which has resulted in a decrease in tourism and international trade. Furthermore, the pandemic has put immense pressure on healthcare systems globally, as hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. Lastly, the outbreak has led to a general feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, as people are fearful of contracting the disease.

My Experience of COVID-19

I still remember how abruptly colleges and schools shut down in March 2020. I was a college student at that time and I was under the impression that everything would go back to normal in a few weeks. I could not have been more wrong. The situation only got worse every week and the government had to impose a lockdown. There were so many restrictions in place. For example, we had to wear face masks whenever we left the house, and we could only go out for essential errands. Restaurants and shops were only allowed to operate at take-out capacity, and many businesses were shut down.

In the current scenario, coronavirus is dominating all aspects of our lives. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc upon people’s lives, altering the way we live and work in a very short amount of time. It has revolutionised how we think about health care, education, and even social interaction. This virus has had long-term implications on our society, including its impact on mental health, economic stability, and global politics. But we as individuals can help to mitigate these effects by taking personal responsibility to protect themselves and those around them from infection.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Education

The outbreak of coronavirus has had a significant impact on education systems around the world. In China, where the virus originated, all schools and universities were closed for several weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Many other countries have followed suit, either closing schools altogether or suspending classes for a period of time.

This has resulted in a major disruption to the education of millions of students. Some have been able to continue their studies online, but many have not had access to the internet or have not been able to afford the costs associated with it. This has led to a widening of the digital divide between those who can afford to continue their education online and those who cannot.

The closure of schools has also had a negative impact on the mental health of many students. With no face-to-face contact with friends and teachers, some students have felt isolated and anxious. This has been compounded by the worry and uncertainty surrounding the virus itself.

The situation with coronavirus has improved and schools have been reopened but students are still catching up with the gap of 2 years that the pandemic created. In the meantime, governments and educational institutions are working together to find ways to support students and ensure that they are able to continue their education despite these difficult circumstances.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Economy

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had a significant impact on the global economy. The virus, which originated in China, has spread to over two hundred countries, resulting in widespread panic and a decrease in global trade. As a result of the outbreak, many businesses have been forced to close their doors, leading to a rise in unemployment. In addition, the stock market has taken a severe hit.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Health

The effects that coronavirus has on one's health are still being studied and researched as the virus continues to spread throughout the world. However, some of the potential effects on health that have been observed thus far include respiratory problems, fever, and coughing. In severe cases, pneumonia, kidney failure, and death can occur. It is important for people who think they may have been exposed to the virus to seek medical attention immediately so that they can be treated properly and avoid any serious complications. There is no specific cure or treatment for coronavirus at this time, but there are ways to help ease symptoms and prevent the virus from spreading.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

• Construction
• Entertainment
• Manufacturing
• Information Technology

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Geotechnical engineer

The role of geotechnical engineer starts with reviewing the projects needed to define the required material properties. The work responsibilities are followed by a site investigation of rock, soil, fault distribution and bedrock properties on and below an area of interest. The investigation is aimed to improve the ground engineering design and determine their engineering properties that include how they will interact with, on or in a proposed construction. 

The role of geotechnical engineer in mining includes designing and determining the type of foundations, earthworks, and or pavement subgrades required for the intended man-made structures to be made. Geotechnical engineering jobs are involved in earthen and concrete dam construction projects, working under a range of normal and extreme loading conditions. 

Cartographer

How fascinating it is to represent the whole world on just a piece of paper or a sphere. With the help of maps, we are able to represent the real world on a much smaller scale. Individuals who opt for a career as a cartographer are those who make maps. But, cartography is not just limited to maps, it is about a mixture of art , science , and technology. As a cartographer, not only you will create maps but use various geodetic surveys and remote sensing systems to measure, analyse, and create different maps for political, cultural or educational purposes.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Product Manager

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Operations manager.

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Bank Probationary Officer (PO)

Investment director.

An investment director is a person who helps corporations and individuals manage their finances. They can help them develop a strategy to achieve their goals, including paying off debts and investing in the future. In addition, he or she can help individuals make informed decisions.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

An expert in plumbing is aware of building regulations and safety standards and works to make sure these standards are upheld. Testing pipes for leakage using air pressure and other gauges, and also the ability to construct new pipe systems by cutting, fitting, measuring and threading pipes are some of the other more involved aspects of plumbing. Individuals in the plumber career path are self-employed or work for a small business employing less than ten people, though some might find working for larger entities or the government more desirable.

Construction Manager

Individuals who opt for a career as construction managers have a senior-level management role offered in construction firms. Responsibilities in the construction management career path are assigning tasks to workers, inspecting their work, and coordinating with other professionals including architects, subcontractors, and building services engineers.

Urban Planner

Urban Planning careers revolve around the idea of developing a plan to use the land optimally, without affecting the environment. Urban planning jobs are offered to those candidates who are skilled in making the right use of land to distribute the growing population, to create various communities. 

Urban planning careers come with the opportunity to make changes to the existing cities and towns. They identify various community needs and make short and long-term plans accordingly.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Naval Architect

A Naval Architect is a professional who designs, produces and repairs safe and sea-worthy surfaces or underwater structures. A Naval Architect stays involved in creating and designing ships, ferries, submarines and yachts with implementation of various principles such as gravity, ideal hull form, buoyancy and stability. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Veterinary Doctor

Pathologist.

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Speech Therapist

Gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

Hospital Administrator

The hospital Administrator is in charge of organising and supervising the daily operations of medical services and facilities. This organising includes managing of organisation’s staff and its members in service, budgets, service reports, departmental reporting and taking reminders of patient care and services.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Videographer

Multimedia specialist.

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

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Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

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The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We are still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of Retreat is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we don’t do is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly. Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

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How to Write About Coronavirus in a College Essay

Students can share how they navigated life during the coronavirus pandemic in a full-length essay or an optional supplement.

Writing About COVID-19 in College Essays

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Experts say students should be honest and not limit themselves to merely their experiences with the pandemic.

The global impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, means colleges and prospective students alike are in for an admissions cycle like no other. Both face unprecedented challenges and questions as they grapple with their respective futures amid the ongoing fallout of the pandemic.

Colleges must examine applicants without the aid of standardized test scores for many – a factor that prompted many schools to go test-optional for now . Even grades, a significant component of a college application, may be hard to interpret with some high schools adopting pass-fail classes last spring due to the pandemic. Major college admissions factors are suddenly skewed.

"I can't help but think other (admissions) factors are going to matter more," says Ethan Sawyer, founder of the College Essay Guy, a website that offers free and paid essay-writing resources.

College essays and letters of recommendation , Sawyer says, are likely to carry more weight than ever in this admissions cycle. And many essays will likely focus on how the pandemic shaped students' lives throughout an often tumultuous 2020.

But before writing a college essay focused on the coronavirus, students should explore whether it's the best topic for them.

Writing About COVID-19 for a College Application

Much of daily life has been colored by the coronavirus. Virtual learning is the norm at many colleges and high schools, many extracurriculars have vanished and social lives have stalled for students complying with measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"For some young people, the pandemic took away what they envisioned as their senior year," says Robert Alexander, dean of admissions, financial aid and enrollment management at the University of Rochester in New York. "Maybe that's a spot on a varsity athletic team or the lead role in the fall play. And it's OK for them to mourn what should have been and what they feel like they lost, but more important is how are they making the most of the opportunities they do have?"

That question, Alexander says, is what colleges want answered if students choose to address COVID-19 in their college essay.

But the question of whether a student should write about the coronavirus is tricky. The answer depends largely on the student.

"In general, I don't think students should write about COVID-19 in their main personal statement for their application," Robin Miller, master college admissions counselor at IvyWise, a college counseling company, wrote in an email.

"Certainly, there may be exceptions to this based on a student's individual experience, but since the personal essay is the main place in the application where the student can really allow their voice to be heard and share insight into who they are as an individual, there are likely many other topics they can choose to write about that are more distinctive and unique than COVID-19," Miller says.

Opinions among admissions experts vary on whether to write about the likely popular topic of the pandemic.

"If your essay communicates something positive, unique, and compelling about you in an interesting and eloquent way, go for it," Carolyn Pippen, principal college admissions counselor at IvyWise, wrote in an email. She adds that students shouldn't be dissuaded from writing about a topic merely because it's common, noting that "topics are bound to repeat, no matter how hard we try to avoid it."

Above all, she urges honesty.

"If your experience within the context of the pandemic has been truly unique, then write about that experience, and the standing out will take care of itself," Pippen says. "If your experience has been generally the same as most other students in your context, then trying to find a unique angle can easily cross the line into exploiting a tragedy, or at least appearing as though you have."

But focusing entirely on the pandemic can limit a student to a single story and narrow who they are in an application, Sawyer says. "There are so many wonderful possibilities for what you can say about yourself outside of your experience within the pandemic."

He notes that passions, strengths, career interests and personal identity are among the multitude of essay topic options available to applicants and encourages them to probe their values to help determine the topic that matters most to them – and write about it.

That doesn't mean the pandemic experience has to be ignored if applicants feel the need to write about it.

Writing About Coronavirus in Main and Supplemental Essays

Students can choose to write a full-length college essay on the coronavirus or summarize their experience in a shorter form.

To help students explain how the pandemic affected them, The Common App has added an optional section to address this topic. Applicants have 250 words to describe their pandemic experience and the personal and academic impact of COVID-19.

"That's not a trick question, and there's no right or wrong answer," Alexander says. Colleges want to know, he adds, how students navigated the pandemic, how they prioritized their time, what responsibilities they took on and what they learned along the way.

If students can distill all of the above information into 250 words, there's likely no need to write about it in a full-length college essay, experts say. And applicants whose lives were not heavily altered by the pandemic may even choose to skip the optional COVID-19 question.

"This space is best used to discuss hardship and/or significant challenges that the student and/or the student's family experienced as a result of COVID-19 and how they have responded to those difficulties," Miller notes. Using the section to acknowledge a lack of impact, she adds, "could be perceived as trite and lacking insight, despite the good intentions of the applicant."

To guard against this lack of awareness, Sawyer encourages students to tap someone they trust to review their writing , whether it's the 250-word Common App response or the full-length essay.

Experts tend to agree that the short-form approach to this as an essay topic works better, but there are exceptions. And if a student does have a coronavirus story that he or she feels must be told, Alexander encourages the writer to be authentic in the essay.

"My advice for an essay about COVID-19 is the same as my advice about an essay for any topic – and that is, don't write what you think we want to read or hear," Alexander says. "Write what really changed you and that story that now is yours and yours alone to tell."

Sawyer urges students to ask themselves, "What's the sentence that only I can write?" He also encourages students to remember that the pandemic is only a chapter of their lives and not the whole book.

Miller, who cautions against writing a full-length essay on the coronavirus, says that if students choose to do so they should have a conversation with their high school counselor about whether that's the right move. And if students choose to proceed with COVID-19 as a topic, she says they need to be clear, detailed and insightful about what they learned and how they adapted along the way.

"Approaching the essay in this manner will provide important balance while demonstrating personal growth and vulnerability," Miller says.

Pippen encourages students to remember that they are in an unprecedented time for college admissions.

"It is important to keep in mind with all of these (admission) factors that no colleges have ever had to consider them this way in the selection process, if at all," Pippen says. "They have had very little time to calibrate their evaluations of different application components within their offices, let alone across institutions. This means that colleges will all be handling the admissions process a little bit differently, and their approaches may even evolve over the course of the admissions cycle."

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Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay

by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020

Print article

For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.

The CommonApp COVID-19 question

First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:

• The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
• The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
• The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
• Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.

Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:

• Are my experiences different from others’?
• Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
• Am I aware of my privilege?
• Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
• Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?

If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.

Counselor recommendations and school profiles

Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:

• Grading scales and policies
• Graduation requirements
• Instructional methods
• Schedules and course offerings
• Testing requirements
• Your academic calendar
• Other extenuating circumstances

Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.

Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay

Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:

• One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
• One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
• Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.

Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.

Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .

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Seven short essays about life during the pandemic

The boston book festival's at home community writing project invites area residents to describe their experiences during this unprecedented time..

My alarm sounds at 8:15 a.m. I open my eyes and take a deep breath. I wiggle my toes and move my legs. I do this religiously every morning. Today, marks day 74 of staying at home.

My mornings are filled with reading biblical scripture, meditation, breathing in the scents of a hanging eucalyptus branch in the shower, and making tea before I log into my computer to work. After an hour-and-a-half Zoom meeting, I decided to take a long walk to the post office and grab a fresh bouquet of burnt orange ranunculus flowers. I embrace the warm sun beaming on my face. I feel joy. I feel at peace.

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I enter my apartment and excessively wash my hands and face. I pour a glass of iced kombucha. I sit at my table and look at the text message on my phone. My coworker writes that she is thinking of me during this difficult time. She must be referring to the Amy Cooper incident. I learn shortly that she is not.

I Google Minneapolis and see his name: George Floyd. And just like that a simple and beautiful day transitions into a day of sorrow.

Nakia Hill, Boston

It was a wobbly, yet solemn little procession: three masked mourners and a canine. Beginning in Kenmore Square, at David and Sue Horner’s condo, it proceeded up Commonwealth Avenue Mall.

S. Sue Horner died on Good Friday, April 10, in the Year of the Virus. Sue did not die of the virus but her parting was hemmed by it: no gatherings to mark the passing of this splendid human being.

David devised a send-off nevertheless. On April 23rd, accompanied by his daughter and son-in-law, he set out for Old South Church. David led, bearing the urn. His daughter came next, holding her phone aloft, speaker on, through which her brother in Illinois played the bagpipes for the length of the procession, its soaring thrum infusing the Mall. Her husband came last with Melon, their golden retriever.

I unlocked the empty church and led the procession into the columbarium. David drew the urn from its velvet cover, revealing a golden vessel inset with incandescent tiles. We lifted the urn into the niche, prayed, recited Psalm 23, and shared some words.

It was far too small for the luminous “Dr. Sue”, but what we could manage in the Year of the Virus.

Nancy S. Taylor, Boston

On April 26, 2020, our household was a bustling home for four people. Our two sons, ages 18 and 22, have a lot of energy. We are among the lucky ones. I can work remotely. Our food and shelter are not at risk.

As I write this a week later, it is much quieter here.

On April 27, our older son, an EMT, transported a COVID-19 patient to the ER. He left home to protect my delicate health and became ill with the virus a week later.

On April 29, my husband’s 95-year-old father had a stroke. My husband left immediately to be with his 90-year-old mother near New York City and is now preparing for his father’s discharge from the hospital. Rehab people will come to the house; going to a facility would be too dangerous.

My husband just called me to describe today’s hospital visit. The doctors had warned that although his father had regained the ability to speak, he could only repeat what was said to him.

“It’s me,” said my husband.

“It’s me,” said my father-in-law.

“I love you,” said my husband.

“I love you,” said my father-in-law.

“Sooooooooo much,” said my father-in-law.

Lucia Thompson, Wayland

Would racism exist if we were blind?

I felt his eyes bore into me as I walked through the grocery store. At first, I thought nothing of it. With the angst in the air attributable to COVID, I understood the anxiety-provoking nature of feeling as though your 6-foot bubble had burst. So, I ignored him and maintained my distance. But he persisted, glaring at my face, squinting to see who I was underneath the mask. This time I looked back, when he yelled, in my mother tongue, for me to go back to my country.

In shock, I just laughed. How could he tell what I was under my mask? Or see anything through the sunglasses he was wearing inside? It baffled me. I laughed at the irony that he would use my own language against me, that he knew enough to guess where I was from in some version of culturally competent racism. I laughed because dealing with the truth behind that comment generated a sadness in me that was too much to handle. If not now, then when will we be together?

So I ask again, would racism exist if we were blind?

Faizah Shareef, Boston

My Family is “Out” There

But I am “in” here. Life is different now “in” Assisted Living since the deadly COVID-19 arrived. Now the staff, employees, and all 100 residents have our temperatures taken daily. Everyone else, including my family, is “out” there. People like the hairdresser are really missed — with long straight hair and masks, we don’t even recognize ourselves.

Since mid-March we are in quarantine “in” our rooms with meals served. Activities are practically non-existent. We can sit on the back patio 6 feet apart, wearing masks, do exercises there, chat, and walk nearby. Nothing inside. Hopefully June will improve.

My family is “out” there — somewhere! Most are working from home (or Montana). Hopefully an August wedding will happen, but unfortunately, I may still be “in” here.

From my window I wave to my son “out” there. Recently, when my daughter visited, I opened the window “in” my second-floor room and could see and hear her perfectly “out” there. Next time she will bring a chair so we can have an “in” and “out” conversation all day, or until we run out of words.

Barbara Anderson, Raynham

My boyfriend Marcial lives in Boston, and I live in New York City. We had been doing the long-distance thing pretty successfully until coronavirus hit. In mid-March, I was furloughed from my temp job, Marcial began working remotely, and New York started shutting down. I went to Boston to stay with Marcial.

We are opposites in many ways, but we share a love of food. The kitchen has been the center of quarantine life —and also quarantine problems.

Marcial and I have gone from eating out and cooking/grocery shopping for each other during our periodic visits to cooking/grocery shopping with each other all the time. We’ve argued over things like the proper way to make rice and what greens to buy for salad. Our habits are deeply rooted in our upbringing and individual cultures (Filipino immigrant and American-born Chinese, hence the strong rice opinions).

On top of the mundane issues, we’ve also dealt with a flooded kitchen (resulting in cockroaches) and a mandoline accident leading to an ER visit. Marcial and I have spent quarantine navigating how to handle the unexpected and how to integrate our lifestyles. We’ve been eating well along the way.

Melissa Lee, Waltham

It’s 3 a.m. and my dog Rikki just gave me a worried look. Up again?

“I can’t sleep,” I say. I flick the light, pick up “Non-Zero Probabilities.” But the words lay pinned to the page like swatted flies. I watch new “Killing Eve” episodes, play old Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats songs. Still night.

We are — what? — 12 agitated weeks into lockdown, and now this. The thing that got me was Chauvin’s sunglasses. Perched nonchalantly on his head, undisturbed, as if he were at a backyard BBQ. Or anywhere other than kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, on his life. And Floyd was a father, as we all now know, having seen his daughter Gianna on Stephen Jackson’s shoulders saying “Daddy changed the world.”

Precious child. I pray, safeguard her.

Rikki has her own bed. But she won’t leave me. A Goddess of Protection. She does that thing dogs do, hovers increasingly closely the more agitated I get. “I’m losing it,” I say. I know. And like those weighted gravity blankets meant to encourage sleep, she drapes her 70 pounds over me, covering my restless heart with safety.

As if daybreak, or a prayer, could bring peace today.

Kirstan Barnett, Watertown

Until June 30, send your essay (200 words or less) about life during COVID-19 via bostonbookfest.org . Some essays will be published on the festival’s blog and some will appear in The Boston Globe.

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Workplace Articles & More

What will the world look like after coronavirus, ninety-nine thinkers weigh in on how covid-19 will impact our future..

Back in March, my colleagues at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University thought that it might be useful to begin thinking about “the day after coronavirus.” For a research center dedicated to longer-term thinking, it made sense to ask what our post–COVID-19 world might look like.

In the months that followed, I learned many things. Most importantly, I learned there is no “going back to normal.”

My season of learning

The project took on a life of its own. Over 190 days, we released 103 videos. Each was around five minutes long, with one simple question: How might COVID-19 impact our future? Watch the full video series here .

I interviewed leading thinkers on 101 distinct topics—from money to debt , supply chains to trade , work to robots , journalism to politics , water to food , climate change to human rights , e-commerce to cybersecurity , despair to mental health , gender to racism , fine arts to literature , and even hope and happiness .

My interviewees included the president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences , a former CIA director , a former NATO supreme allied commander , a former prime minister of Italy , and Britain’s astronomer royal .

I “Zoomed”—the word had become a verb almost overnight—with Kishore Mahbubani in Singapore, Yolanda Kakabadse in Quito, Judith Butler in Berkeley, California, Alice Ruhweza in Nairobi, and Jeremy Corbyn in London. For our very last episode, former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon joined from Seoul.

For me, it was truly a season of learning . Among other things, it helped me understand why COVID-19 is not a storm that we can just wait out. Our pre-pandemic world was anything but normal, and our post-pandemic world will not be like going back to normal at all. Here are four reasons why.

Disruption will accelerate

Just as people with preexisting medical conditions are most susceptible to the virus, the global impact of the crisis will accelerate preexisting transitions. As Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer highlights, a year of a global pandemic can pack in a decade or more of disruption as usual.

For example, Phil Baty from Times Higher Education warns that universities will change “profoundly [and] forever,” but mostly because the higher education sector was already screaming for change.

Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Ann Marie Lipinski arrives at the same prognosis for journalism, and Princeton economist Atif Mian worries similarly for structural global debt.

At Harvard, trade policy expert Dani Rodrik thinks the pandemic is hastening the “retreat from hyperglobalization” that was already in train before COVID-19. And Pardee School economist Perry Mehrling is convinced that “society will be transformed permanently . . . and returning to status quo ante is, I think, not possible.”

Politics will become more turbulent

While the clouds over the global economy are ominous—with even the usually optimistic Nobel Prize-winning economist Sir Angus Deaton worrying we might be entering a dark phase that takes “20 to 30 years before we see progress”—it is political commentators who seem most perplexed.

Stanford University’s political theorist Francis Fukuyama confesses he has “never seen a period in which the degree of uncertainty as to what the world will look like politically is greater than it is today.”

COVID-19 has underscored fundamental questions about government competence , the rise of populist nationalism , sidelining of expertise , decline of multilateralism , and even the idea of liberal democracy itself. None of our experts—not one—expects politics anywhere to become less turbulent than it was pre-pandemic.

Geopolitically, this manifests itself in what the founding dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School, Graham Allison , calls an “underlying, fundamental, structural, Thucydidean rivalry,” in which a rapidly rising new power, China, threatens to displace the established power, the United States. COVID-19 accelerated and intensified this great power rivalry with ramifications across Asia , Europe , Africa , Latin America , and the Middle East .

Pandemic habits will persist

Not all turbulence, however, is unwelcome.

Across sectors, expert after expert told me that habits developed during the pandemic won’t go away—and not just the habits of Zoom and working from home .

Robin Murphy , engineering professor at Texas A&M University, is convinced that “we are going to have robots everywhere” as a result of COVID-19. That’s because they became so pervasive during the pandemic for deliveries, COVID-19 tests, automated services, and even home use.

We hear from both Karen Antman , dean of Boston University’s School of Medicine, and Adil Haider , dean of medicine at Aga Khan University in Pakistan, that telemedicine is here to stay.

Vala Afshar , chief digital evangelist at Salesforce software company, goes even further. He argues that in the post-COVID-19 world “every business will be[come] a digital business” and will have to take a great deal of its commerce, interactions, and workforce online.

Crisis will create opportunities

Science journalist Laurie Garrett , who has warned about global epidemics for decades, imagines an opportunity to address the injustices of our economic and societal systems. Because “there will not be a single activity that goes on as it once did,” she says, there is also the possibility of fundamental restructuring in the upheaval.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben says the pandemic could become a wake-up call that makes people realize that “crisis and disaster are real possibilities” but can be averted.

They are not alone in this thinking. Economist Thomas Piketty recognizes the dangers of rising nationalism and inequality, but hopes we learn “to invest more in the welfare state.” He says “COVID will reinforce the legitimacy for public investments in [health systems] and infrastructure.”

Former environmental minister of Ecuador Yolanda Kakabadse similarly believes that the world will recognize that “ecosystem health equals human health,” and focus new attention on the environment. And military historian Andrew Bacevich would like to see a conversation about “the definition of national security in the 21st century.”

Achim Steiner , administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, is awestruck at the extraordinary amount of money that was mobilized to respond to this global crisis. He wonders if the world might become less stingy about the much smaller amounts needed to combat climate change before it is irreversible and catastrophic.

Ultimately, I think Noam Chomsky , one of the most important public intellectuals of our times, summed it up best. “We need to ask ourselves what world will come out of this,” he said. “What is the world we want to live in?”

John Prandato, communications specialist at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, was series editor for the video project and contributed to this essay. This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

About the Author

Adil Najam, Ph.D. , is the dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

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Home > History Community Special Collections > Remembering COVID-19 Community Archive > Community Reflections > 21

Community Reflections

My life experience during the covid-19 pandemic.

Melissa Blanco Follow

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Affiliation with sacred heart university.

Undergraduate, Class of 2024

My content explains what my life was like during the last seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it affected my life both positively and negatively. It also explains what it was like when I graduated from High School and how I want the future generations to remember the Class of 2020.

Class assignment, Western Civilization (Dr. Marino).

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Blanco, Melissa, "My Life Experience During the Covid-19 Pandemic" (2020). Community Reflections . 21. https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/covid19-reflections/21

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Persuasive Essay Guide

Persuasive Essay About Covid19

How to Write a Persuasive Essay About Covid19 | Examples & Tips

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Are you looking to write a persuasive essay about the Covid-19 pandemic?

Writing a compelling and informative essay about this global crisis can be challenging. It requires researching the latest information, understanding the facts, and presenting your argument persuasively.

But don’t worry! with some guidance from experts, you’ll be able to write an effective and persuasive essay about Covid-19.

In this blog post, we’ll outline the basics of writing a persuasive essay . We’ll provide clear examples, helpful tips, and essential information for crafting your own persuasive piece on Covid-19.

Read on to get started on your essay.

• 1. Steps to Write a Persuasive Essay About Covid-19
• 2. Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid19
• 3. Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 Vaccine
• 4. Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 Integration
• 5. Examples of Argumentative Essay About Covid 19
• 6. Examples of Persuasive Speeches About Covid-19
• 7. Tips to Write a Persuasive Essay About Covid-19
• 8. Common Topics for a Persuasive Essay on COVID-19 

Steps to Write a Persuasive Essay About Covid-19

Here are the steps to help you write a persuasive essay on this topic, along with an example essay:

Step 1: Choose a Specific Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement should clearly state your position on a specific aspect of COVID-19. It should be debatable and clear. For example:

Step 2: Research and Gather Information

Collect reliable and up-to-date information from reputable sources to support your thesis statement. This may include statistics, expert opinions, and scientific studies. For instance:

• COVID-19 vaccination effectiveness data
• Information on vaccine mandates in different countries
• Expert statements from health organizations like the WHO or CDC

Step 3: Outline Your Essay

Create a clear and organized outline to structure your essay. A persuasive essay typically follows this structure:

• Introduction
• Background Information
• Body Paragraphs (with supporting evidence)
• Counterarguments (addressing opposing views)

Step 4: Write the Introduction

In the introduction, grab your reader's attention and present your thesis statement. For example:

Step 5: Provide Background Information

Offer context and background information to help your readers understand the issue better. For instance:

Step 6: Develop Body Paragraphs

Each body paragraph should present a single point or piece of evidence that supports your thesis statement. Use clear topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. Here's an example:

Step 7: Address Counterarguments

Acknowledge opposing viewpoints and refute them with strong counterarguments. This demonstrates that you've considered different perspectives. For example:

Step 8: Write the Conclusion

Summarize your main points and restate your thesis statement in the conclusion. End with a strong call to action or thought-provoking statement. For instance:

Step 9: Revise and Proofread

Edit your essay for clarity, coherence, grammar, and spelling errors. Ensure that your argument flows logically.

Step 10: Cite Your Sources

Include proper citations and a bibliography page to give credit to your sources.

Remember to adjust your approach and arguments based on your target audience and the specific angle you want to take in your persuasive essay about COVID-19.

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Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid19

When writing a persuasive essay about the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s important to consider how you want to present your argument. To help you get started, here are some example essays for you to read:

Check out some more PDF examples below:

Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 Pandemic

Sample Of Persuasive Essay About Covid-19

Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 In The Philippines - Example

If you're in search of a compelling persuasive essay on business, don't miss out on our “ persuasive essay about business ” blog!

Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 Vaccine

Covid19 vaccines are one of the ways to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but they have been a source of controversy. Different sides argue about the benefits or dangers of the new vaccines. Whatever your point of view is, writing a persuasive essay about it is a good way of organizing your thoughts and persuading others.

A persuasive essay about the Covid-19 vaccine could consider the benefits of getting vaccinated as well as the potential side effects.

Below are some examples of persuasive essays on getting vaccinated for Covid-19.

Covid19 Vaccine Persuasive Essay

Persuasive Essay on Covid Vaccines

Interested in thought-provoking discussions on abortion? Read our persuasive essay about abortion blog to eplore arguments!

Examples of Persuasive Essay About Covid-19 Integration

Covid19 has drastically changed the way people interact in schools, markets, and workplaces. In short, it has affected all aspects of life. However, people have started to learn to live with Covid19.

Writing a persuasive essay about it shouldn't be stressful. Read the sample essay below to get idea for your own essay about Covid19 integration.

Persuasive Essay About Working From Home During Covid19

Searching for the topic of Online Education? Our persuasive essay about online education is a must-read.

Examples of Argumentative Essay About Covid 19

Covid-19 has been an ever-evolving issue, with new developments and discoveries being made on a daily basis.

Writing an argumentative essay about such an issue is both interesting and challenging. It allows you to evaluate different aspects of the pandemic, as well as consider potential solutions.

Here are some examples of argumentative essays on Covid19.

Argumentative Essay About Covid19 Sample

Argumentative Essay About Covid19 With Introduction Body and Conclusion

Looking for a persuasive take on the topic of smoking? You'll find it all related arguments in out Persuasive Essay About Smoking blog!

Examples of Persuasive Speeches About Covid-19

Do you need to prepare a speech about Covid19 and need examples? We have them for you!

Persuasive speeches about Covid-19 can provide the audience with valuable insights on how to best handle the pandemic. They can be used to advocate for specific changes in policies or simply raise awareness about the virus.

Check out some examples of persuasive speeches on Covid-19:

Persuasive Speech About Covid-19 Example

Persuasive Speech About Vaccine For Covid-19

You can also read persuasive essay examples on other topics to master your persuasive techniques!

Tips to Write a Persuasive Essay About Covid-19

Writing a persuasive essay about COVID-19 requires a thoughtful approach to present your arguments effectively. 

Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling persuasive essay on this topic:

Choose a Specific Angle

Start by narrowing down your focus. COVID-19 is a broad topic, so selecting a specific aspect or issue related to it will make your essay more persuasive and manageable. For example, you could focus on vaccination, public health measures, the economic impact, or misinformation.

Provide Credible Sources 

Support your arguments with credible sources such as scientific studies, government reports, and reputable news outlets. Reliable sources enhance the credibility of your essay.

Use Persuasive Language

Employ persuasive techniques, such as ethos (establishing credibility), pathos (appealing to emotions), and logos (using logic and evidence). Use vivid examples and anecdotes to make your points relatable.

Organize Your Essay

Structure your essay involves creating a persuasive essay outline and establishing a logical flow from one point to the next. Each paragraph should focus on a single point, and transitions between paragraphs should be smooth and logical.

Emphasize Benefits

Highlight the benefits of your proposed actions or viewpoints. Explain how your suggestions can improve public health, safety, or well-being. Make it clear why your audience should support your position.

Use Visuals -H3

Incorporate graphs, charts, and statistics when applicable. Visual aids can reinforce your arguments and make complex data more accessible to your readers.

Call to Action

End your essay with a strong call to action. Encourage your readers to take a specific step or consider your viewpoint. Make it clear what you want them to do or think after reading your essay.

Revise and Edit

Proofread your essay for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Make sure your arguments are well-structured and that your writing flows smoothly.

Seek Feedback 

Have someone else read your essay to get feedback. They may offer valuable insights and help you identify areas where your persuasive techniques can be improved.

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Common Topics for a Persuasive Essay on COVID-19 

Here are some persuasive essay topics on COVID-19:

• The Importance of Vaccination Mandates for COVID-19 Control
• Balancing Public Health and Personal Freedom During a Pandemic
• The Economic Impact of Lockdowns vs. Public Health Benefits
• The Role of Misinformation in Fueling Vaccine Hesitancy
• Remote Learning vs. In-Person Education: What's Best for Students?
• The Ethics of Vaccine Distribution: Prioritizing Vulnerable Populations
• The Mental Health Crisis Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
• The Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Healthcare Systems
• Global Cooperation vs. Vaccine Nationalism in Fighting the Pandemic
• The Future of Telemedicine: Expanding Healthcare Access Post-COVID-19

In search of more inspiring topics for your next persuasive essay? Our persuasive essay topics blog has plenty of ideas!

To sum it up,

You have read good sample essays and got some helpful tips. You now have the tools you needed to write a persuasive essay about Covid-19. So don't let the doubts stop you, start writing!

If you need professional writing help, don't worry! We've got that for you as well.

MyPerfectWords.com is a professional essay writing service that can help you craft an excellent persuasive essay on Covid-19. Our experienced essay writer will create a well-structured, insightful paper in no time!

So don't hesitate and get in touch with our persuasive essay writing service today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there any ethical considerations when writing a persuasive essay about covid-19.

Yes, there are ethical considerations when writing a persuasive essay about COVID-19. It's essential to ensure the information is accurate, not contribute to misinformation, and be sensitive to the pandemic's impact on individuals and communities. Additionally, respecting diverse viewpoints and emphasizing public health benefits can promote ethical communication.

What impact does COVID-19 have on society?

The impact of COVID-19 on society is far-reaching. It has led to job and economic losses, an increase in stress and mental health disorders, and changes in education systems. It has also had a negative effect on social interactions, as people have been asked to limit their contact with others.

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Keep reading

Elizabeth Lesser Shares How She Lifted Herself Out of Pandemic Despair

The cofounder of the Omega Institute admits that even as a teacher of mindfulness, sometimes, she is her own worst student.

When it became apparent that a virus was spreading around the globe, my first reaction was one of disbelief: We’ll surely eradicate this before it turns into a pandemic! Soon enough my disbelief morphed into fear, and then horror and grief for those who were sick and dying in Asia, Europe, and slowly, steadily...everywhere. Along with those feelings came a strange kind of optimism, a faith that we all might learn something important. Like when I watched videos of people in Italy under lockdown standing on their balconies holding candles and singing songs of hope into the darkened streets. Or as travel ceased and traffic stood still and the world got a little quieter, the air a little cleaner—I could almost hear the trees breathing sighs of relief.

In the early spring of 2020, when the pandemic took hold here in the United States and life as we knew it ground to a halt, I wondered, even with the trauma and loss, could this be the Great Slowdown we needed? People retweeted the quote “Mother Nature has sent us to our rooms.” Could that message portend a teachable moment? Maybe doing less, and doing with less, would reveal the value of enough instead of chasing after more, more, more. Maybe now we’d start to truly appreciate the people whose work keeps us alive and well: the farmers, truckers, grocery baggers; the staff who work in our hospitals; the home health aides who care for our parents; the daycare instructors and school teachers who safeguard our children’s future. And maybe, just maybe, the pandemic would finally confirm for us thick-headed humans this plain truth: What happens to even just one of us affects all of us.

My grand optimism began to waver as the weeks of isolation became months and Covid-19 cases doubled, then tripled. Schools closed. Hospitals ran out of masks and ventilators; millions of people got sick, and hundreds of thousands died. People lost their jobs, their homes, their loved ones, their mental health, their way of life. Almost no individual, community, or business was untouched by fear or pain or loss, including my own nonprofit center, which for 40 years had been teaching people to meditate, to heal, to spin trauma into the gold of growth.

.css-meat1u:before{margin-bottom:1.2rem;height:2.25rem;content:'“';display:block;font-size:4.375rem;line-height:1.1;font-family:Juana,Juana-weight300-roboto,Juana-weight300-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-weight:300;} .css-mn32pc{font-family:Juana,Juana-weight300-upcase-roboto,Juana-weight300-upcase-local,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-size:1.625rem;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:0.0075rem;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;text-transform:uppercase;}@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-mn32pc{font-size:2.25rem;line-height:1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-mn32pc{font-size:2.375rem;line-height:1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-mn32pc{font-size:2.75rem;line-height:1;}}.css-mn32pc b,.css-mn32pc strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-mn32pc em,.css-mn32pc i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;} “What happens to even just one of us affects all of us.”

As 2020 came to a close, I began to wonder if my dream of the Great Slowdown was becoming a sorrowful nightmare: the Great Meltdown. As a teacher of mindfulness, sometimes I am my own worst student; life during lockdown tested me greatly, and watching the news or doom-scrolling through social media didn’t help. I began to flunk out of inner-peace school, started reacting to stress in decidedly unenlightened ways, yelling at the TV or exploding in anger during interminable Zoom meetings.

I gave in to despair when we had to let go of another staff member at work, or when I couldn’t see my kids, who live in far-flung places. I had stopped accessing my “balcony brain”—that part of myself that can calmly observe any situation, pause before reacting, and make wise, compassionate decisions. I was spending more time in my “basement brain,” heeding the vigilant, volatile caveman within. Eventually, my burnout caught up with me, and I landed in the emergency room with a gastrointestinal issue. It was then that my darling husband suggested I try some of my own medicine—the stuff I have written several books about. “You know,” he said gently, “things like meditation and exercise. Things for your trauma and grief. Things for your soul.” Duh!

So here’s what I did. I turned to the words of some of my greatest teachers. I keep a basket of their quotes on my desk. I’m always adding to it—beautiful lines from poets, mind-blowing bits from scientists, motivation from activists, quiet wisdom from spiritual leaders. I often choose one to guide me through the day. This time, I decided that whatever quote my hand touched first would serve as my GPS back into what I call the four landscapes of the human journey: mind, body, heart, and soul.

The first words I picked gave me goosebumps: “Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” The phrase is attributed to Rosa Parks, and I felt as though she had reached down from the heavens to remind me that everything I needed was already within me. I could be that little acorn again and reroot and rise strong. I knew how to do that. I had done so before in other difficult times. I had held my ground in the shattered aftermath of divorce and come out the other side a stronger and more empathetic person. I had rooted myself in my inner strength when I was my sister’s bone marrow donor. And when we lost her, I found in those ashes the true heart of friendship. Here I was again, trying, like so many of us, to reemerge from the pandemic with lessons learned, inner strength, and something of value to offer.

I followed Mrs. Parks’ guidance and went back to the tools that never fail me: Meditation to activate my “balcony brain” and lift the veil from my clouded mind. Exercise to reclaim my body and physical vitality. The simple prayer of putting my hand on my heart and feeling flooded with forgiveness and tenderness, hope and gratitude. Walks in nature and dips back into my favorite spiritual texts to reconnect with my all-knowing soul. As I felt my strength returning, I was reminded how despair and negativity can spread like a virus, too. When they do, taking the soul’s vaster view and being an agent of uplift feels almost revolutionary. Doing so is an act of sanity and an offering of healing.

Historically, pandemics have jump-started innovation or they have slid humanity backwards into oppression. This is our era; we get to choose. Life after Covid-19 does not have to be a Great Meltdown, or a Great Slowdown. Maybe, just maybe, it will be a Great Wake-up—a global event that breaks us open and waters the seeds of our best selves. Because each one of us can be that acorn, holding our ground, lifting our sights, and, together, becoming a forest of mighty oaks.

Elizabeth Lesser is the author of Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, The Human Story Changes as well as the bestselling Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow and Marrow: Love, Loss & What Matters Most . She is the cofounder of Omega Institute, has given two popular TED talks, and is a member of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100.

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How COVID-19 pandemic changed my life

Table of Contents

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest challenges that our world has ever faced. People around the globe were affected in some way by this terrible disease, whether personally or not. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many people felt isolated and in a state of panic. They often found themselves lacking a sense of community, confidence, and trust. The health systems in many countries were able to successfully prevent and treat people with COVID-19-related diseases while providing early intervention services to those who may not be fully aware that they are infected (Rume & Islam, 2020). Personally, this pandemic has brought numerous changes and challenges to my life. The COVID-19 pandemic affected my social, academic, and economic lifestyle positively and negatively.

Social and Academic Changes

One of the changes brought by the pandemic was economic changes that occurred very drastically (Haleem, Javaid, & Vaishya, 2020). During the pandemic, food prices started to rise, affecting the amount of money my parents could spend on goods and services. We had to reduce the food we bought as our budgets were stretched. My family also had to eliminate unhealthy food bought in bulk, such as crisps and chocolate bars. Furthermore, the pandemic made us more aware of the importance of keeping our homes clean, especially regarding cooking food. Lastly, it also made us more aware of how we talked to other people when they were ill and stayed home with them rather than being out and getting on with other things.

Furthermore, COVID-19 had a significant effect on my academic life. Immediately, measures to curb the pandemic were announced, such as closing all learning institutions in the country; my school life changed. The change began when our school implemented the online education system to ensure that we continued with our education during the lockdown period. At first, this affected me negatively because when learning was not happening in a formal environment, I struggled academically since I was not getting the face-to-face interaction with the teachers I needed. Furthermore, forcing us to attend online caused my classmates and me to feel disconnected from the knowledge being taught because we were unable to have peer participation in class. However, as the pandemic subsided, we grew accustomed to this learning mode. We realized the effects on our performance and learning satisfaction were positive, as it seemed to promote emotional and behavioral changes necessary to function in a virtual world. Students who participated in e-learning during the pandemic developed more ownership of the course requirement, increased their emotional intelligence and self-awareness, improved their communication skills, and learned to work together as a community.

If there is an area that the pandemic affected was the mental health of my family and myself. The COVID-19 pandemic caused increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns that were difficult for my family and me to manage alone. Our ability to learn social resilience skills, such as self-management, was tested numerous times. One of the most visible challenges we faced was social isolation and loneliness. The multiple lockdowns made it difficult to interact with my friends and family, leading to loneliness. The changes in communication exacerbated the problem as interactions moved from face-to-face to online communication using social media and text messages. Furthermore, having family members and loved ones separated from us due to distance, unavailability of phones, and the internet created a situation of fear among us, as we did not know whether they were all right. Moreover, some people within my circle found it more challenging to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers due to poor communication skills. This was mainly attributed to anxiety or a higher risk of spreading the disease. It was also related to a poor understanding of creating and maintaining relationships during this period.

Positive Changes

In addition, this pandemic has brought some positive changes with it. First, it had been a significant catalyst for strengthening relationships and neighborhood ties. It has encouraged a sense of community because family members, neighbors, friends, and community members within my area were all working together to help each other out. Before the pandemic, everybody focused on their business, the children going to school while the older people went to work. There was not enough time to bond with each other. Well, the pandemic changed that, something that has continued until now that everything is returning to normal. In our home, it strengthened the relationship between myself and my siblings and parents. This is because we started spending more time together as a family, which enhanced our sense of understanding of ourselves.

The pandemic has been a challenging time for many people. I can confidently state that it was a significant and potentially unprecedented change in our daily life. By changing how we do things and relate with our family and friends, the pandemic has shaped our future life experiences and shown that during crises, we can come together and make a difference in each other’s lives. Therefore, I embrace wholesomely the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in my life.

• Haleem, A., Javaid, M., & Vaishya, R. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 pandemic in daily life.  Current medicine research and practice ,  10 (2), 78.
• Rume, T., & Islam, S. D. U. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability.  Heliyon ,  6 (9), e04965.
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Essay On Covid-19: 100, 200 and 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Sep 20, 2023

COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, is a global pandemic that has affected people all around the world. It first emerged in a lab in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and quickly spread to countries around the world. This virus was reportedly caused by SARS-CoV-2. Since then, it has spread rapidly to many countries, causing widespread illness and impacting our lives in numerous ways. This blog talks about the details of this virus and also drafts an essay on COVID-19 in 100, 200 and 300 words for students and professionals. 

This Blog Includes:

Essay on covid-19 in english 100 words, essay on covid-19 in 200 words, essay on covid-19 in 300 words.

Also Read – Essay on Music

COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, is a global pandemic. It started in late 2019 and has affected people all around the world. The virus spreads very quickly through someone’s sneeze and respiratory issues.

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our lives, with lockdowns, travel restrictions, and changes in daily routines. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, we should wear masks, practice social distancing, and wash our hands frequently. 

People should follow social distancing and other safety guidelines and also learn the tricks to be safe stay healthy and work the whole challenging time. 

COVID-19 also known as coronavirus, became a global health crisis in early 2020 and impacted mankind around the world. This virus is said to have originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019. It belongs to the coronavirus family and causes flu-like symptoms. It impacted the healthcare systems, economies and the daily lives of people all over the world. 

The most crucial aspect of COVID-19 is its highly spreadable nature. It is a communicable disease that spreads through various means such as coughs from infected persons, sneezes and communication. Due to its easy transmission leading to its outbreaks, there were many measures taken by the government from all over the world such as Lockdowns, Social Distancing, and wearing masks. 

There are many changes throughout the economic systems, and also in daily routines. Other measures such as schools opting for Online schooling, Remote work options available and restrictions on travel throughout the country and internationally. Subsequently, to cure and top its outbreak, the government started its vaccine campaigns, and other preventive measures. 

In conclusion, COVID-19 tested the patience and resilience of the mankind. This pandemic has taught people the importance of patience, effort and humbleness. 

Also Read – Essay on My Best Friend

COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, is a serious and contagious disease that has affected people worldwide. It was first discovered in late 2019 in Cina and then got spread in the whole world. It had a major impact on people’s life, their school, work and daily lives. 

COVID-19 is primarily transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets produced and through sneezes, and coughs of an infected person. It can spread to thousands of people because of its highly contagious nature. To cure the widespread of this virus, there are thousands of steps taken by the people and the government. 

Wearing masks is one of the essential precautions to prevent the virus from spreading. Social distancing is another vital practice, which involves maintaining a safe distance from others to minimize close contact.

Very frequent handwashing is also very important to stop the spread of this virus. Proper hand hygiene can help remove any potential virus particles from our hands, reducing the risk of infection. 

In conclusion, the Coronavirus has changed people’s perspective on living. It has also changed people’s way of interacting and how to live. To deal with this virus, it is very important to follow the important guidelines such as masks, social distancing and techniques to wash your hands. Getting vaccinated is also very important to go back to normal life and cure this virus completely. As we continue to battle this pandemic, it is crucial for everyone to do their part to protect themselves and their communities. 

to write an essay on COVID-19, understand your word limit and make sure to cover all the stages and symptoms of this disease. You need to highlight all the challenges and impacts of COVID-19. Do not forget to conclude your essay with positive precautionary measures.

Writing an essay on COVID-19 in 200 words requires you to cover all the challenges, impacts and precautions of this disease. You don’t need to describe all of these factors in brief, but make sure to add as many options as your word limit allows.

The full form for COVID-19 is Corona Virus Disease of 2019.

Hence, we hope that this blog has assisted you in comprehending what an essay on COVID-19 in English 200 words must include. For more such essays, check our category essay writing .

Simran Popli

An avid writer and a creative person. With an experience of 1.5 years content writing, Simran has worked with different areas. From medical to working in a marketing agency with different clients to Ed-tech company, the journey has been diverse. Creative, vivacious and patient are the words that describe her personality.

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Life after COVID-19: Future directions?

The humans’ vulnerability and fragility have been demonstrated during pandemics, and as a community, will need proper preparation. The coronavirus outbreak was first reported at the end of 2019 and declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Around the world, the response to the virus outbreak has been different.

The detection, traceability, and the response for different countries have been delayed, causing the overwhelming of the health systems. However, some other nations exercised various strategies to contain the infection’s dissemination and recorded a low number of cases. The different measures taken, including contact tracing, lockdown, case detection, social distancing, and quarantine strategies, helped control the disease’s spreading.

Only time will tell how well the world faced the outbreak. We also suggest the future directions that the global community should take to manage and mitigate the emergency.

Introduction

The present-day pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel Betacoronavirus , originating from Hubei Province in the People’s Republic of China, has spread to 213 countries and territories around the world. This virus is a member of the Coronaviridae family, it is a highly virulent pathogenic viral infection having an incubation period between 2 and 12 days, transmitted by inhaling infected droplets or physical contact with disease-ridden droplets. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology identified in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. 1 The virus moved from animals to humans at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China. The 2019 coronavirus at the whole-genome level is 96% identical to a bat coronavirus. 2 Between December 31, 2019 and January 3, 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported by the Chinese authorities to WHO. The Chinese isolated the virus on January 7, 2020 as a new type coronavirus, the novel SARS-CoV-2, and later shared the genetic sequence with the world so as to develop specific diagnostic kit. 3 The first fatality was noted on January 11, 2020. The Chinese New Year enhanced the spread to other provinces in China and neighboring countries like Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, and South Korea rapidly due to movement in and out of Wuhan. WHO announced “coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)” as the new name for this novel disease on February 11, 2020. During a press briefing on March 11, 2020, as the virus spread across the globe, WHO categorized COVID-19 to be a pandemic. The number of SARS-CoV-2 remaining asymptomatic has yet to be defined. Among symptomatic patients, the clinical presentation consists of fever, sore throat, anosmia, ageusia, cough, nasal congestion, fatigue, diarrhea, and features of upper respiratory tract infections. 4 In the event of serious disease, the manifestation includes severe chest discomfort with breathlessness and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The necessity for intensive care unit admission is indicated to treat ARDS, shock, acute kidney injury, and multiple organ failure. The WHO acknowledged that in the event of mild infection, patients usually recover in about 2 weeks, with generally no complications. However, in severe or critical cases, patients may take 3–6 weeks to recover and may have significant morbidity and even mortality. All ages are susceptible to pick up the infection, and health-care workers (HCW) are at a higher risk. The person-to-person transmission of the COVID-19 is estimated by the reproduction number ( R 0 ). The WHO has estimated R 0 to be between 1.4 and 2.5, 5 whereas others have estimated R 0 to be between 2.0 and 3.3. 6 The basic case reproduction rate is probably between 2 and 6.47. 5 The treatment is largely symptomatic and supportive; when patients get hypoxic, oxygen is provided with either nasal prongs, face or venturi mask, or non-rebreathing masks. In patients who are more hypoxic, the high-flow nasal cannula or noninvasive ventilation may be used, and in the critical patients, elective invasive ventilation is indicated. Drugs with antiviral properties such as ribavirin, lopinavir-ritonavir, favipiravir, ivermectin, nitazoxanide combination of azithromycin, and hydroxychloroquine have not yielded very satisfactory results. Remdesivir a broad-spectrum antiviral agent used against Ebola has shown benefits in the treatment of COVID-19. 7 Various immunomodulators such as IL-6 inhibitor (e.g., tocilizumab, sarilumab) have been used when inflammatory markers (e.g., D-dimer, ferritin) and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin IL-6 are elevated in severe COVID-19. 8 The belief is that by using these immunomodulators, disease progression may be prevented. The use of low-dose dexamethasone in a large trial in the United Kingdom reduced deaths by 35% in ventilated patients. 9 Convalescent plasma may be of benefit if given in the early phase of the mild-to-moderate form of the disease, but this form of therapy currently remains unclear. 10

Earlier pandemics

Three of the deadliest pandemics as recorded in history were caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis , leading to a fatal infection otherwise known as the plague. The Plague of Justinian arrived in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire (541–549 CE). It was carried over by ships across the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt by grain and plague-ridden fleas on black rats. The plague annihilated Constantinople and spread all across Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the Arab killing approximately 30–50 million people, nearly half of the world’s population. The plague really never left, and when it came back about 800 years later, it caused devastation. When Europe was hit in 1347 by the Black Death, more than 200 million lives were claimed in just 4 years. The etiology was later discovered by Alexandre Yersin from the Institut Pasteur, while investigating the plague epidemic in the year 1894 in Hong Kong. 11 The cholera pandemics occurred all through the 19th century, a minimum of six widespread outbreaks of cholera was documented but may have been much more. It started in India in the Bay of Bengal region and was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. The Influenza virus was also responsible for large fatalities in various pandemics. The first significant flu pandemic the Russian Flu of 1889 started in Siberia spread to Moscow, from there it spread to the rest of Europe. In the subsequent year, it moved to North America and Africa, over 360,000 died. The Spanish flu of 1918 is likely the worst pandemic of the 20th century, the 1918 flu infected up to one-third of the global population and killed up to 50 million people. At that time, the causative agent was unknown, but the cause was later detected in 1930. Reviewing historical publications indicated the presence of bacterial coinfections which perhaps contributed to the high mortality during that era. On February 1957, a new avian influenza A (H2N2) virus emerged in East Asia, sparking a pandemic the so-called “Asian Flu.” A second wave followed in early 1958, causing an approximate 1.1 million deaths globally. The smallpox caused devastation in the 20th century leading to between 300 million and 500 million deaths. The WHO reported till as recent as 1967 that about 15 million people become infected with the disease and that nearly 2 million died that year. The Plague of Athens that occurred in 430 BCE, and the Antonine Plague, which spread to the Roman Empire in 165–180 CE, may have been caused by smallpox. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic was identified in 1981, 12 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first observed in American gay communities but is believed to have developed from a chimpanzee virus from West Africa. This disease which spreads through body fluids has affected over 38 million cases of HIV worldwide. Of this, 24 million people are undergoing antiretroviral therapy. About 32 million people have died due to AIDS since the onset of the disease. The first influenza pandemic of the 21st century occurred in 2009–2010 and was caused by an influenza A (H1N1) virus. It was likely that 1,51,700–5,75,400 cardiovascular and respiratory deaths was connected with 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic in the first year of the illness in every country in the world. The 21st century saw four epidemics of concern: SARS-CoV, Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and Zika. Of these, two SARS and MERS are related to the current pandemic as both these diseases are caused due to coronaviruses. SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1 was first identified in 2003, SARS-CoV-1 is believed to have possibly started from bats, spread to cats, and then to humans in China, followed by spreading to 26 other countries, infecting 8096 people, with 774 deaths. 13 MERS or camel flu can be a fatal respiratory illness caused by a betacoronavirus (MERS-CoV). Most cases of MERS have occurred in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates but has spread to Asia, Europe, and America. Both these diseases have clinical presentations similar to COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 like SARS-CoV-1 acts on the same human cell receptor, the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2), while MERS-CoV uses dipeptidyl peptidase-4 to enter into the host cells. The R 0 of COVID-19 is estimated by WHO to range between 2 and 2.5, which is higher than that for SARS-CoV-1 (1.7–1.9) and MERS (< 1), clearly indicating that SARS-CoV-2 has a higher potential of pandemic as opposed to SARS-CoV-1 and MERS. The fatality rate of COVID-19 infection is projected to be 2.3%, which is lower than SARS-CoV-1 (9.5%) and clearly much lower than MERS (34.4%). 14 An important experience learnt from the coronaviruses is the high frequency of HCW being affected by infected patients more so during aerosol-generating procedures (AGP), such as sneezing, coughing, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intubation, and tracheostomy. In Toronto, 13% of HCW involved in intubations acquired SARS during SARS-CoV-1. 15 In the same pandemic in Singapore, 40% of HCW developed nosocomial SARS-CoV-1 and 6% of HCW’s died. 16

Lessons learnt from previous pandemics

In the 1850s, the cities like London, New York, and Paris rebuilt their sewage systems following a century-long global cholera pandemic that killed over 1.5 million people which piloted in a modern urban public health that spread across the world. In 1900 following a typhoid epidemic in the city of Chicago, the city engineers reversed the flow of the river in Chicago, as a result terminating the adulteration of Lake Michigan, which was the principal source of drinking water for the city.

Nonpharmaceutical interventions

During the Spanish Flu, numerous nonpharmaceutical approaches were commissioned to limit the spread of virus and to treat patients. Some of these measures are important and applicable in current and future outbreaks, epidemics, and even pandemics.

The exercise of implementing quarantine, began in the 14th century to safeguard coastal towns from plague epidemics. The dockyards in Venice required ships to set anchor for 40 days before being allowed to dock. This was termed quarantine and was derived from two Italian words “ quaranta giorni ” which stands for 40 days. The concept of quarantine may have preceded the Black Death, as the practice of isolating the sick, dates back to earlier times, and is referred to in the Bible with respect to segregating people with leprosy. Australia enacted maritime quarantine both in the first and initial part of second wave. This initial quarantine safeguarded Australia from the second wave of the pandemic till December 1918, this was when quarantine was infringed. 17 Air travel has revolutionized global travel as opposed to earlier maritime transport in the last century. This is in fact why there is rapid spread across international borders in the influenza pandemics in 1957, 1968, and 2009. 18 However, in 2009, airport authorities used modern techniques to screen passengers arriving from potential areas of the outbreak. This method of screening on arrival of international passengers is not likely to prevent the spread of airborne or droplet infections.

Large gatherings

In most cities during the 1918 pandemic, simple nonpharmaceutical methods were implemented to prevent person-to-person spread of the flu. This would involve closing down auditoriums, places of worship, schools, funerals, processions, weddings, and large gatherings so as to prevent crowds and build the concept of social distancing. 19 In Hong Kong during the 2009 influenza pandemic, a 25% reduction transmission of the flu was noted after schools were closed for a month. 20

The efficacy of a lockdown to counter the pandemic of COVID-19 has mixed views, the political argument seems to have negative impact by tanking the national economy. The skeptics would question a compromise between protecting a society’s health or damage the economy. Countries like Taiwan controlled the outbreak without imposing a lockdown, whereas China implemented a strict lockdown and was able to contain the spread of the virus. Sweden on the other hand did not implement a lockdown but put into action a reverse quarantine by protecting the elderly and highly susceptible individuals with comorbidities, The United States of America implemented a lockdown in areas with high contagion but lifted it very early. The United Kingdom like Sweden opted for the concept of herd immunity but quickly implemented lockdown as numbers started to soar. India like many other Asian countries implemented a preemptive lockdown when the numbers of COVID-19 was low; however, after nearly 40 days of lockdown under severe economic crisis, the government reluctantly lifted the lockdown prematurely and continued regional lockdown based on district-wise resurgence of the contagion. In a cross-country analysis, of lockdown measures more so with the European model, its effectiveness begins in about 3 weeks after implementing the lockdown and number of COVID-19 infections keeps on reducing for as much as 20 days.

Handwashing with soap and water has been advocated from time immemorial and has been documented in studies by Ignaz Semmelweis in Vienna in the mid-1800s to reduce infections. Frequent handwashing has been known to limit the spread of the influenza virus during the 1918 pandemic, this was primarily due to influenza viruses being transmitted because of hand-to-face contact. In influenza pandemics, comparing the frequency of handwashing with laboratory-confirmed influenza found a significant protective effect while analyzing the available data. 21 Handwashing with antibacterial solutions did not extend any benefit over soap and water. In Hong Kong during the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in a case–control study, handwashing over ten times in a day and disinfecting fomites in a multivariate analysis was shown to be protective. 22 The concepts of respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette involve using source control measures to prevent patients with respiratory infections from transmitting their infections to others. Persons with respiratory symptoms should cover nose and mouth with a disposable tissue while coughing or sneezing followed by hand hygiene. Alternatively, cover the nose and mouth with one’s elbow during the process of sneezing and coughing. People with respiratory symptoms should maintain a distance of over 3 ft from other people and should be encouraged to wear a mask.

Before the year 1910, the usage of face protection was infrequent during any surgical procedure in hospitals. The use of surgical mask in operating rooms in the United States and Germany started around the 1920s. In the year 1940s, both washable and sterilizable masks came into vogue. In the mid-1960s, disposable masks were introduced across the globe. A surgical mask also known as a medical mask, it is essentially a loosely fitting disposable mask that protects the individual’s mouth and nose from splashes, sprays, and droplets that may include microorganisms. A surgical mask may protect others in the vicinity by diminishing the spread of respiratory secretions of the person wearing the mask. A N95 mask offers more protection than a surgical mask does as it can filter out both large and small particles. The N95 mask must meet standards set by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, implying it needs to filter at least 95% of the particles. Some of the N95 masks have valves, this makes breathing easier. All health-care workers (HCW) should be trained to conduct a fit test so as to ascertain a proper seal before using an N95 respirator in an infected zone. All surgical masks and N95 masks are proposed to be disposable. However, as there may be a short supply during a pandemic, some of these masks may be reused after subjecting them to sterilization. The free flight phase 2 respirators of the European Union and KN95 respirators of China are considered equivalent to N95 respirators. The evidence if N95 respirators are more effective than medical masks in preventing viral respiratory infection in HCW, is uncertain but has been shown to be protective under laboratory conditions. Some studies and systemic reviews have asserted its efficacy, while some have not. 23 , 24 , 25 The P100 mask protects people from particles 0.3 μm or larger and filters out all odors, making it undetectable to the human nose. A N95 mask keeps out at least 95% of particles but isn’t oil resistant, and a P100 mask is oil proof while protecting the wearer from at least 99.8% of particles. P100 or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are considered much safer than the N95 masks. While surgical and N95 masks may be in short supply and should be set aside for HCW’s, cloth masks are easier to get, can be washed, and reused. This may be used by citizens in countries where wearing masks is mandatory.

Powered air purifying respirators

The powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs) have a battery that uses a blower to drive air through filter cartridges or canisters under pressure to a hood or face piece or a helmet, providing a higher assigned protection factor. The high positive pressure inside the facepiece reduces leakage in, from the external contaminated air. PAPRs have a higher protection more so during intubation and tracheostomy. They filter 99.97% of 0.3 μm sized particle and is oil proof. 26

Personal protective equipment

The recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) for HCW caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients includes fluid-resistant gown or a hazmat suit, two pairs of long gloves, eye protection goggles, which should include side shields. Face shields can offer both eye protection and will prevent infectivity of both face and mask. Disposable shoe covers may be needed before putting on the leggings of PPE or even the hazmat suit. Shoes should be waterproof and be capable of being disinfected. All HCW should wear scrub suits under the PPE. The PPE should be so designed for easy removal so as to avoid any blemish during removal. Hand hygiene should be carried out both during and after removing the PPE. The process of donning and doffing of PPE should be done in a stepwise fashion and ideally under the supervision of a colleague to avoid errors.

Air handling units with negative pressure

An isolation facility aims to control the airflow in the room so that the number of airborne infectious particles is reduced to a level that there is no cross infection to other people within a health-care facility. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system maintain good air quality within the intensive care unit. This is an important nonpharmacological strategy to prevent nosocomial infections. WHO suggests in COVID-19 patients to be isolated in an adequately ventilated negative pressure rooms with a minimum of 12 air changes per hour, specially if AGP is intended. 27 If the air is recirculated, then the incoming air should be filtered. High-efficiency filters like HEPA filters improve the efficiency but are very expensive to maintain. HEPA filters are 99.97% efficient for removing particles with a size of ≥ 0.3 μm in diameter.

Most of these nonpharmaceutical interventions are lessons learnt from previous outbreaks and are pearls of wisdom acquired across generations. The more recent interventions improvised during recent pandemics help in limiting and suppressing an ongoing contagion.

Sequela from COVID-19

Survivors from the current pandemic may have specific organ dysfunction following infection, leading to long-term morbidity and mortality. During the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, observational studies demonstrated that some survivors developed pulmonary fibrosis, restrictive lung anomalies, associated with impaired effort tolerance, and poor quality of life. The computed tomography scan images showed pulmonary fibrosis with air trapping and the evidence of bronchiectasis. 28 Since there are several parallels linking SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 infections, it is possible that lung fibrosis may be seen as long-term outcome in COVID-19 pneumonia. Pulmonary fibrotic disease has been observed in COVID-19, following pneumonia and severe ARDS. On autopsy of fatal cases, COVID-19 have demonstrated pulmonary fibrosis with evidence of severe fibrotic organizing pneumonia. 29 There is thus justification for using antifibrotic therapy and is being currently investigated. 29 During the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, cardiac manifestations were hypotension, arrhythmias, myocarditis, and sudden cardiac arrests. MERS too was coupled with heart failure and myocarditis. COVID-19 infection may have similar cardiac signs may also be due to a direct cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2. ACE-2 is bound to the membrane of the cell in the lungs, immune, and cardiovascular systems. ACE-2 has been identified as a functional receptor for coronaviruses. The SARS-CoV-2 infection is initiated by the spike protein of the virus attaching to ACE2, which then more so in the heart and lungs manifest its clinical presentation. 30 During the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic often ended up having hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus on long-term follow-up. 31 As the coronaviruses are similar, patients recovering from COVID-19 too need to be followed up for these conditions. In COVID-19, liver injury may be due to the direct invasion of the virus into the liver cells or due to drug-induced liver injury and or from the cytokine storm or even due to severe hypoxic injury. 32 However, long-term manifestations will need to be monitored. In the central nervous system, altered mental status due to encephalopathy or encephalitis and primary psychiatric presentation is usually seen in younger patients. 33 Clinical presentations vary from headache, seizure, encephalitis, strokes with vascular events, and even Guillain-Barré syndrome. 34 Long-term manifestations are yet to be reported.

Economic impact

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing huge economic, social, and health-care challenges. As per the international monetary fund (IMF), the global economy is projected to decline by over 4.9% at the end of 2020. There will be a precipitous slowdown ever since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the economy around the globe into a tail spin, leading to the financial system shrinking with cessation of growth. In the United States, ever since COVID-19 pandemic surfaced in the month of April, over 20.5 million have lost their jobs. The IMF has said the global economy will take a $12 trillion hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, it would take 2 years for world output to return to levels at the end of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic thrusted economies into a great lockdown, which hindered the spread of the virus and saved lives but additionally sparked the worst recession since the Great Depression. The manufacturing productivity has dipped considerably in many countries, essentially due to a decrease in demand. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted by 36.6% in the first quarter of 2020, but South Korea, which did not impose a lockdown but followed a strategy of aggressive testing, contact tracing, and quarantining, had a drop in output of 5.5%. World’s topmost economies such as the USA, China, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and many others are at the verge of collapse. The travel, tourism, hospitality, and industry has been decimated by the pandemic. Oil prices have fallen to an all-time low, and the transport sector, which consumes 60% of the oil utilization, has been affected as numerous countries imposed lockdowns. During the lockdown, prices of foodstuff and grocery had increased affecting common people. Extending lockdowns has huge economic impacts on people in the low-income and at-risk categories. High income countries have rolled out finance packages. While India’s economic stimulus package was 10% of its GDP, Japan’s economic package was 21.1%, the USA 13%, Sweden 12%, Germany 10.7%, France 9.3%, Spain 7.3%, and Italy 5.7%. South Korea and Taiwan economies were hardly affected as they did not stop their businesses during the outbreak in their countries. China, which lifted its lockdown after controlling the contagion, has been gradually reopening its economy without encountering a second wave of infection. Lockdowns have led to cleaner cities and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. 35

Climate change and pandemics

There are clear connections between COVID-19 and the climate crisis. Though the virus is believed to have originated with the horseshoe bat, they have been living in the forests of the globe for 40 million years and flourishes in the remote jungles of south China. Researcher have shown that pollution worsens the outcome of COVID-19 patients as seen in New York and Milan, two very densely populated cities. COVID-19 could well be nature’s warning against climate change as 2019 observed shocking heat waves in Europe, record wildfires in Australia, large number of deaths due to cyclones, and a large number of severe weather conditions. The last 5 years were the warmest on record, and the frequency and intensity of natural disasters are on the rise. The question is, Did these climate changes trigger the pandemic? Though this may not be proven to be so, but history indicates that certain outbreaks are directly or indirectly linked to climate change. It is noteworthy that over the last 15 years, climate change has increased the outbreaks of malaria, dengue, Zika, West Nile virus, Nipah valley virus, and Ebola. Deforestation is linked to 31% of disease outbreaks such as the Ebola, Zika, and Nipah viruses. Roughly 70% of new pathogens come from animals and about 30% of these is ascribed to deforestation, establishing farming near these forests, utilization of natural resource. One study estimates that more than 3200 strains of coronaviruses already exist among bats, awaiting an opportunity to jump to people. 36 Researchers at the Tibetan Plateau in China demonstrated that since thousands of years, they have demonstrated in the glacier viruses, most of these are unknown in the virology dataset. The researchers showed 33 groups of these virus species in the ice glaciers, of these some are potentially pathogenic.

Medications in a pandemic

In general, most cases of COVID-19, there is clearly no need for antiviral therapy and most patients can be managed by supportive care. The SARS-CoV-1 pandemic which appeared unexpectedly in 2003 quickly spread to other countries leaving the medical world in significant distress. Potential therapies were explored based on in vitro studies, without adequate randomized trials, these drugs were fast-tracked into therapy for these sick patients. Some sense was found later from observational cohort studies and case reports. Yet, this data was beneficial in offering clinical guidelines and giving future direction to research in case similar outbreaks reappears. Early in the SARS-CoV-1 pandemic, a combination of ribavirin and corticosteroids were used, so lopinavir/ritonavir too was used. Interferon-alpha, an antiviral used to treat a broad spectrum of viruses, seemed to work against SARS in cell culture tests and was tried in some patients. Like seasonal flu, most people recovered from the H1N1 2009 pandemic usually within a week, without any antiviral medications. Antiviral agents prevent, shorten, and reduce the severity of flu. Antiviral agents used for the treatment and prevention of H1N1 are oseltamivir and zanamivir, but amantadine and rimantadine were ineffective, in severe cases steroids were used. In the Ebola epidemic in 2014, a large number of people developed Ebola viral infection in western Africa; several therapies were administered against the virus, this included chloroquine and its derivative hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir, monoclonal antibodies, and convalescent plasma. In general, most cases of COVID-19, there is clearly no need for antiviral therapy, and most patients can be managed by supportive care. Frequently used antiviral drugs against the current virus in this pandemic are listed in Table 1 . Other agents like immunomodulating agents that prevent hyperinflammation due to cytokine storm has been used. Interleukin inhibitors like tocilizumab may prevent severe damage to lung parenchyma due to the cytokine release in cases of severe COVID-19 infections. 8 The use of 10 days of dexamethasone in COVID-19 patients had an excellent outcome both in survival and limiting duration on ventilators. 9 Currently, there are no highly effective broad-spectrum antiviral agents, or specific agents capable of interrupting viral life cycle, or destroying receptor proteins on the virus. Theoretically, monoclonal antibodies generally bind to specific proteins. These antibodies provide passive immunization against specific portion of the virus so as to reduce the multiplication of the virus and limit the severity of the illness. In the ideal world, neutralize the virus with the monoclonal antibody till an appropriate vaccine is generated against the contagion. 37

Drugs with potential antiviral properties tried in cases of Covid-19.

Edward Jenner invented a method to protect against smallpox in the 18th century. After observing that cowpox infection seemed to protect humans against smallpox, he observed that milkmaids who previously had caught cowpox did not catch smallpox. At the end of late 1940s, large-scale vaccine production was conceived, and disease control was set in motion. The next array of vaccines was discovered and produced in the early part of the 20th century. These were vaccines against pertussis in 1914, diphtheria in 1926, and tetanus in 1938. These set of vaccines were then merged together in 1948 and became the DTP vaccine. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine which was then licensed in 1955. In 1963, the measles vaccine was developed, and at the late 1960s, vaccines were also available to protect against mumps in 1967 and rubella in 1969. These three vaccines were then combined into the MMR vaccine in 1971. Vaccine that was developed in the 1980s included hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b. New vaccines developed later include varicella (1996), hepatitis A (2000), pneumococcal vaccine (2001), rotavirus (2008), hepatitis A (2006), human papillomavirus (2011), and meningococcal serogroup B vaccine (2014).

The influenza virus was detected in 1933 leading rapidly to the development of the first-generation live-attenuated vaccines. The first ever monovalent inactivated flu vaccine was of influenza A. After finding the influenza B virus, the bivalent vaccine was available on 1942. The first trivalent vaccine consisted of two types of influenza A strains, and one strain of influenza B was available for administration on 1978. Since 1940, researchers have demonstrated that there has been a successive drift in the strains altering the antigenicity in the virus and hence the vaccine has often been altered to mirror these changes. Future vaccines will need to be modified to adapt to changes in strains. During this illness, there is a rapid research in developing a vaccine for COVID-19, but it may already be too late to impact the outcome of the first wave in this pandemic. There are numerous potential vaccines currently undergoing clinical trials yet to provide many meaningful results. This fight against coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV) may not be simple as the previous two coronaviruses did not yield favorable results. In 2003–2004, numerous SARS-CoV-1 vaccines made it to phase I clinical trials and did not move up into further phases as eradication of the virus by nonpharmaceutical methods materialized. Inactivated virus vaccine and a spike-based DNA vaccine had proved to be safe and possibly generated neutralizing antibodies.

For Covid-19 currently there are seven distinctive vaccines across three platforms that have been developed and are in use across different countries. The most vulnerable populations in large number of countries have been vaccinated in the early part of 2021. Two messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines are currently available one developed by Pfizer (BNT162b2) and the other one being by Moderna (mRNA-1273). Once injected, the mRNA is seized by macrophages which then produce spike protein. The spike protein is then presented on the surface of these macrophages, leading to formation of antibodies against the spike proteins and renders protection against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The enzymes within the body then destroy and dispose of the mRNA. In this vaccine, no live virus is included. There are four nonreplicating vector vaccines. (1) ChAdOx1-S recombinant vaccine is a chimpanzee-derived adenovirus vaccine developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. This “vector” virus is the virus that causes common cold and not COVID-19. This vector virus which is present within the vaccine produces the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. (2) Ad26.COV2.S, is an Ad26-vector, is a nonreplicating adenoviral vector vaccine against coronavirus disease, the vaccine conceived by Janssen and known as Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine. (3) Sputnik V developed by Gamaleya, designed from two different adenoviral vectors Ad26 and Ad5 producing antibodies to spike protein. (4) Ad5-nCoV created by CanSino Biologics in China, where an Ad5 vector is used to express the spike protein antibody. There are other inactivated vaccines and nasal vaccines in phase 3 trials currently underway in India and China. More than 60 vaccines are in clinical development, but challenges faced by governments is to build up manufacturing capabilities to fulfil the needs of general population. Vaccines are a critical new tool in the battle against COVID-19 and it is immensely reassuring to see so many vaccines proving to be successful and getting developed. 38

Planning for future pandemics

In the two decades of the 21st century, mankind has faced a number of pandemics (SARS-CoV-1, 2009 H1N1 influenza, 2013 chikungunya, SARS-CoV-2) and epidemics (2006 chikungunya, meningitis, cholera, measles, yellow fever, Zika, and MERS). In every outbreak, the nature of pathogen poses challenges to public health system more so in low- and middle-income countries. Health for all is the basic and fundamental right for all human beings. At times of outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, the world looks forward to the WHO to take a leadership role and provides solutions to the ongoing outbreak. Since the WHO was founded back in 1948, it has taken leadership roles in major medical emergencies across the globe. It has done a stellar job over the years but has been found wanting in some situations, more so during the Ebola outbreak. 39 Over the years, there are concerns regarding funding for the WHO, which does come to the fore during budget spending for perceived outbreaks and threats. In major crisis, WHO needs to interact and share strategies with other similar organizations like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Collation for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness. This coordination between organizations will help in preventing duplication and cutting costs. Most outbreaks and acute public health risks are generally unpredictable and need well-directed strategies. In 2005, the International Health Regulations (IHR) provided a central legal charter that defined countries rights and commitments in dealing with public health incidents and emergencies that can potentially cross international borders. The IHR is legally binding on 196 countries, this includes the 194 WHO Member States. The Joint External Evaluation Tool of the IHR is able to assess a country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health threats independently. 40 The greatest tests to achieve control during an outbreak is arranging a trained personnel with the required skill in clinical management, public health, epidemiology, and numerous specialities in the field of medicine. Civic bodies while planning for large epidemics and pandemics delegate teams to meet the mandatory surge capacity encountered following the contagion. This involves trained human HCW’s, physical structures able to accommodate hospital beds, and appropriate medical gear and equipment. In the current pandemic, cities across India were able to convert auditoriums, stadiums wedding halls into large medical facilities, but these centres were run with skeletal staff making the logistics truly very trying but did take a load of some of the active medical facilities. In hospitals, elective surgeries were canceled making way for more hospital beds to address the contagion. The financial implications of limiting elective work may have deleterious effects on the financial model of these institutes. Countries which generally do well during outbreaks are those nations which have both robust preventive public health systems and excellent curative health services. During an outbreak, the absolute numbers open doors for potential research and are capable of generating the numbers to get meaningful outcomes in diagnostics and therapeutics. Large information too can be collected prospectively in observational studies to elicit consequential data. Finally, vigorous infection control measures have to be spread to HCW and community too; as in this pandemic, the most susceptible individuals are colleagues at work and immediate family members. In recent times, there has been a surge in global terrorism, the possibility of a contagion being used as a bioterrorism apparatus is a distinct possibility the nations must remain vigilant against this lurking threat. In 1975, a Biological Weapons Convention ensured an embargo on the production and utilization of biological weapons. Over 180 countries participated in the convention and endorsed the proceedings. Terrorist organizations and nation that support them do not follow the established rules and are potentially a huge threat if biological weapons are used against susceptible nations. 41

This century has already seen numerous outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemic, having a major impact on health care, huge economic impacts affecting the livelihoods of ordinary people increasing mortality in highly susceptible individuals. Organizations like the WHO and CDC have laid down protocols and guidelines to be implemented during outbreaks, these etiquettes need to be implemented in its full propriety to avert and minimize risk to human beings. Across affected countries, the biggest impact has been on large crowded cities leading to lockdowns. Lockdowns lead to prolonged cutbacks in commercial activity from, lockdowns will hit low-income and susceptible factions the hardest. World leaders more so from the developed nations need to address the clear and present danger a pandemic that exposes the free world. These nation-states need to plan for future contagion and the possible impacts it can have on health and the economies of the world. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, Bill Gates quoted “In any crisis leaders have two equally important responsibilities: solve the immediate problem and keep it from happening again.” However, well we prepare, some storms will have a significant toll. The final answer in the event of an outbreak happens is to ensure a rapid development of vaccines.

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Author Interviews

4 years after the pandemic struck: lessons learned and opportunities missed.

Michel Martin

Devan Schwartz

Four years after COVID lockdowns began, two new books explore how 2020 changed us all. NPR's Michel Martin talks to writers Eric Klinenberg and Dr. Cornelia Griggs about their reflections.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

When we think about a year, we often think about big, personal moments or about big things that happened in the world. Well, 2020, it turned it all upside down with what we hope was a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Four years later, though, we're still working through everything that happened in the world and to ourselves. So we have two guests who've been thinking a lot about that, about lessons learned and opportunities missed. Eric Klinenberg is a sociologist at New York University, where he directs the Institute for Public Knowledge. His latest book is "2020: One City, Seven People, And The Year Everything Changed." Eric Klinenberg, thanks so much for joining us.

ERIC KLINENBERG: It's nice to be here.

MARTIN: And Dr. Cornelia Griggs was a pediatric surgery fellow in New York at the outset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Her new book is called "The Sky Was Falling: A Young Surgeon's Story Of Bravery, Survival, And Hope." And, Dr. Griggs, welcome to you, as well. Thank you for joining us.

CORNELIA GRIGGS: Thanks so much for having me.

MARTIN: I'm just going to ask you to start by describing the mood in your hospital as COVID-19 evolved from, you know, what was, for most of us, a rumor to an actual pandemic. What sticks with you today?

GRIGGS: Absolutely. I've been in a lot of high-stakes medical scenarios in my career, and I was terrified about COVID and what I saw coming in the impending crisis. And it wasn't until we saw the lines piling up outside of the emergency room that I think people really started to get it, that this was going to be the black swan of our medical generation.

MARTIN: You know, in your book, you recall - you wrote about feeling, quote, "idiotic" - your words - "that I didn't pay closer attention to what was happening in China. I smugly assumed we would be better prepared or somehow better equipped in the United States." Why do you think that is?

GRIGGS: I had the sense that our systems in the U.S. would be better equipped, or that there would be experts in the CDC and the federal government, surely, who had anticipated a contagion of that speed and severity. But it turns out our public health infrastructure was absolutely ill-equipped in many ways.

MARTIN: Eric Klinenberg, let me turn to you. You decided to tell this story through the eyes of seven people that you found. They were in all boroughs, you know, of the city. Is there anything that they had in common?

KLINENBERG: I think what has touched Americans, regardless of where they live or what their political ideology is, is the sense that maybe before 2020, we thought there were some experts and core institutions that would take care of us in a crisis. And now I think a lot of Americans are just not so sure. No one speaks to that more than Danny Presti. He was a bar manager in Staten Island. It's the most conservative of the five New York City boroughs. Danny was trying to start a bar in 2019, not a political guy. It was just before the pandemic started, and they couldn't get their business going. They were open and then closed and serving sub sandwiches to try to get by 'cause they couldn't have people in the bar.

And at the end of 2020, he found a bunch of commentators in the right-wing media who spoke to him, and he decided to turn his bar into an autonomous zone. And, you know, of course, what happened is that the police came, but also hundreds and maybe more than a thousand right-wing demonstrators came, the Proud Boys came, and they rallied against these regulations - public health regulations. So by the end of the year, Presti had transformed into a hardcore, right-wing activist. I think a lot of Americans got radicalized in 2020, and we're still dealing with that legacy.

MARTIN: You know, the other person I wanted to ask you about - and this really just - I was shocked when I read this chapter - was Enuma Menkiti. And she and her husband are both essential workers.

KLINENBERG: Well, a big argument in my book is that crises reveal things. They show us who we are and what we value. And of course, you know, Persol and Enuma, it's a Black couple. Black people and Latinos were more likely to be called essential workers, which means more likely to be exposed to the virus and more likely to bring it home if they did get COVID. But it was heartbreaking because when they came back and recovered, their home daycare kept telling them that they were closed and they wouldn't take their children because they thought they're, like, vectors for the disease because they're essential workers. And they were shut out of their community. And it was a community that prized itself on tolerance and social justice. And I think that's something we need to remember in the United States. If we're still feeling scarred and upset and distrustful about this country and about each other, it's partly because we experience things like this, and then we just have refused to talk about it.

MARTIN: You know, the other thing I wanted to raise is that Eric Klinenberg's book talked about the hypocrisy around essential workers. It said on the one hand, everybody was saying our health care heroes. These are our heroes. Thank you, essential workers. On the other hand, some people were really up against it and just got nothing of what they needed in order to function. And I wonder, Dr. Griggs, if that - if you felt that way.

GRIGGS: Absolutely. And there were days that I was really angry, and walking into work in the morning felt like "The Hunger Games." May the odds be ever in your favor. And I, for the first time in my life, felt that my life was not important to my employer. And that's not to point a finger at any one particular person or hospital. The hospitals were trying to figure out how to, you know, fly the plane as it was being built. There were no resources to be able to provide us with enough PPE. It was a crisis. It was a disaster. And I think we are only beginning to scratch the surface of the reckoning of the collective trauma that essential workers went through in the first wave of COVID in the spring of 2020, and there are still no resources, really systematically, to be able to cope with that or understand what that means for our future work lives and careers.

MARTIN: That is Dr. Cornelia Griggs and Eric Klinenberg. They've both written books reflecting on lessons learned - and those still to be learned - from 2020. Both their books are out now. Thank you both so much for speaking with us.

GRIGGS: Thank you.

KLINENBERG: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF NELS CLINE'S "THE BOND")

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Four Years On, Covid Has Reshaped Life for Many Americans

Covid was declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020. Even as the threat of severe illness and death has faded, the pandemic’s effects linger.

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By Julie Bosman

Reporting from Chicago

Jessie Thompson, a 36-year-old mother of two in Chicago, is reminded of the Covid-19 pandemic every day.

Sometimes it happens when she picks up her children from day care and then lets them romp around at a neighborhood park on the way home. Other times, it’s when she gets out the shower at 7 a.m. after a weekday workout.

“I always think: In my past life, I’d have to be on the train in 15 minutes,” said Ms. Thompson, a manager at United Airlines.

A hybrid work schedule has replaced her daily commute to the company headquarters in downtown Chicago, giving Ms. Thompson more time with her children and a deeper connection to her neighbors. “The pandemic is such a negative memory,” she said. “But I have this bright spot of goodness from it.”

For much of the United States, the pandemic is now firmly in the past, four years to the day that the Trump administration declared a national emergency as the virus spread uncontrollably. But for many Americans, the pandemic’s effects are still a prominent part of their daily lives.

In interviews, some people said that the changes are subtle but unmistakable: Their world feels a little smaller, with less socializing and fewer crowds. Parents who began to home-school their children never stopped. Many people are continuing to mourn relatives and spouses who died of Covid or of complications from the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization dropped its global health emergency designation in May 2023, but millions of people who survived the virus are suffering from long Covid, a mysterious and frequently debilitating condition that causes fatigue, muscle pain and cognitive decline .

One common sentiment has emerged. The changes brought on by the pandemic now feel lasting, a shift that may have permanently reshaped American life.

Before the pandemic, Melody Condon, a marketing specialist in Vancouver, Wash., who is immunocompromised, said she had a stronger sense of confidence in other people.

“Unfounded or not, I believed that for the most part, others would take small actions to keep me and people like me safe,” Ms. Condon, 32, said.

But now she has encountered people who resist taking a Covid test or wearing a mask in some situations.

“What they’re communicating is that they don’t care about my health and my life,” Ms. Condon said. “I have lost so much trust in others.”

For Paris Dolfman of Roswell, Ga., a mild Covid infection in 2022 turned into an excruciating case of long Covid that has upended her life.

Ms. Dolfman, 31, is now mostly bedridden, depending on her mother for full-time care. But she said that her attitude toward life had broadened, in spite of her painful condition.

“One day I looked out the window and saw happy little birds on a branch, and I just imagined what it would be like to have the freedom to do what your body wants to do,” she said. “I decided to put my focus on the smaller things. Not to focus on the big picture, but to focus on the little things that I have.”

Clint Newman, of Albuquerque, spent the first year of the pandemic in isolation, alone in his apartment.

“I went over 12 months without touching another human being,” he said. “It was brutalizing. It scarred me pretty deeply.”

Mr. Newman said that he notices what he believes to be the lasting effects of the pandemic all around him.

“I see it in people’s anger, in people’s aggressive driving,” he said. “It just seems that there’s a lot of unhappiness and rage in the world right now. And I think a lot of that goes back to the lockdown.”

After Mr. Newman emerged from isolation, he realized that the trajectory of his life had changed, too. He decided that he did not want to be lonely again. After joining a dating app, he met a woman, Shay, and the two married in 2022.

“The pandemic is something I carry with me, consciously, all the time,” he said.

Four years after contracting Covid, Cindy Esch, of Liberty Lake, Wash., said that she has had to settle for a different life than the one she led before.

She and her husband used to go on adventures, especially on their sailboat, Passion. But her case of long Covid has been so difficult — she frequently feels intense fatigue that leaves her exhausted for days — that the couple was forced to sell their two-story home and move into a house with no stairs.

Doctors have told Ms. Esch that she and her husband must be extremely careful so that she does not contract the virus a second time, which could put her health even further at risk.

“I just don’t ever want to get Covid again — it’s something that we think about all the time,” she said. “It’s part of my daily life. It’s become a part of who my husband and I are.”

Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest. More about Julie Bosman