When we think of a pandemic, our minds go straight to something along the lines of “widespread global disease that causes harm”. Naturally, it isn’t something we want to be omnipresent in our daily lives; it has caused millions of cases of mortality and morbidity, spiked unemployment rates in many countries, and pushed many countries, from developed to developing ones, to the brink of recession (if they aren’t in one already). Let’s take a moment to process and offer our condolences. 

In the first of the 3 part series, I examined the economical implications that the pandemic had inflicted. In the second of the 3 part series, I examined key pieces of technology which have led to global recovery. In the third of this three part series, I would like to accentuate some lifelong principles that we have learnt during the pandemic, from some blatantly obvious traits, to perhaps some more obscure innocuous fragments of change. 

Firstly, resilience. In every corner and under every rock you decide you look, you’d be sure to find an example of this. Children and students were forced to stay home to learn, so they adapted and quickly developed an online schooling system (although not as effective, this was still quite resilient of schools and governments). Teenagers were forced to cut back on their socialisation, so they resorted to various other online platforms. Adults were forced to get used to changing their daily routines, so they found new ways of entertainment. The elderly found it all the harder to meet their daily needs, so society stepped up and brought home food/store deliveries, various in-home care practices (while abiding by social distancing and access restrictions), or even developing advanced robots to help in some countries. 

On the other hand, this pandemic has also embedded some harsh realities into us: The world is not equal. Consider the vaccine rollout. It has been suggested by many sources that during 2021, the Gini coefficient for the vaccines reached over 0.85. For those who may be unfamiliar with this term, this number is a number between 0 and 1 measuring the degree of inequality between countries, with 0 being completely equal and 1 being … horribly unequal. So a measure of 0.85 is concerning to say the least. According to an article published in the Journal of Global health (PubMed), it can be seen that while continents like Europe and NA contain around 9.5% and 7.5% of the global population respectively, they consisted of almost 18% of the global vaccinated population as of June 2021. On the other hand, Africa, consisting of almost 18% of the global population, only represented just over 1.5% of the vaccinated population. Such problems are exacerbated by the levels of poverty, in which and IMF forecast suggested around 50 million people pushed into poverty are located in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Thankfully, this has been cushioned by the support received by the World Bank and the IMF. 

Many of us have also “matured” to an extent, but this is likely to have various implications, and arguably, this change overall isn’t positive. When we consider adolescents or young adults who are in the prime of their development, incessant lockdowns, venue closures, and learning disruptions are the last thing they need. In the short term, we can unfortunately see higher rates of mental illnesses including elevated stress and anxiety. It is possible that many would have had a further disruption to their education, as many do not have access to adequate technology (as well as the fact that online learning just isn’t as effective as face-to-face teaching). In the longer term (within a generation), we have every right to believe that the quality of the workforce may deteriorate, perhaps in terms of interpersonal skills, or perhaps in terms of work ethic. Although many might get the chance to recuperate and refine their communication, working and innovative skills in high school, university, other higher education institutions or work experiences & internships, what is ultimately lost in these prime years of their lives will take many more years to mould. 

So what do you think about how our society has changed and responded to Covid-19? If a similar outbreak happens again, will there be a similar occurrence, or will we be more equipped? 

Image Credit: Pace Hospitals