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The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, cultural, and social implications.
A number of provincial-level administrators of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were dismissed over their handling of the quarantine efforts in Central China, a sign of discontent with the political establishment's response to the outbreak in those regions. Some[ who? ] experts believe this is likely in a move to protect Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping from people's anger over the coronavirus pandemic. [1] Some[ who? ] commentators have suggested that outcry over the disease could be a rare protest against the CCP. [2] Additionally, protests in the special administrative region of Hong Kong have strengthened due to fears of immigration from mainland China. [3] Taiwan has also voiced concern over being included in any travel ban involving the People's Republic of China (PRC) due to the "one-China policy" and its disputed political status. [4] Further afield, the treasurer of Australia was unable to keep a pledge to maintain a fiscal surplus due to the effect of the coronavirus on the economy. [5] A number of countries have been using the outbreak to show their support to China, such as when Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia made a special visit to China with an aim to showcase Cambodia's support to China in fighting the outbreak of the epidemic. [6]
The United States president Donald Trump was criticised for his response to the pandemic. [7] [8] [9] He was accused of making several misleading or false claims, of failing to provide adequate information, and of downplaying the pandemic's significance. [10] Trump was also criticised for having closed down the global health security unit of the United States National Security Council, which was founded to prepare the government for potential pandemics. [11] Research suggests that the pandemic was a contributing factor to his failure to win reelection in the 2020 United States presidential election. [12]
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been heavily affected by the virus, with at least two dozen members (approximately 10%) of the Iranian legislature being infected, as well as at least 15 other current or former top government officials, including the vice-president. [13] [14] Advisers to Ali Khamenei and Mohammad Javad Zarif have died from the disease. [15] The spread of the virus has raised questions about the future survival of the regime. [16]
M. Nicolas Firzli, director of the World Pensions Council (WPC) and advisory-board member at the World Bank Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), refers to the pandemic as "the Greater Financial Crisis", that will "bring to the surface pent-up financial and geopolitical dysfunctions ... [many] national economies will suffer as a result, and their political sovereignty itself may be severely eroded". [17]
In April 2020, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned that using states of emergency during the pandemic "should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power". [18] [19] According to the OHCHR, around 80 countries already declared some form of state of emergency, with the most severe being among Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, the Philippines, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, and Hungary. [19]
Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, and Yemen banned or suspended the printing and distribution of newspapers. [20] [21] On 30 March 2020, the parliament of Hungary granted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the power to rule by decree for an indefinite period. [22]
The pandemic appears to have worsened conflict dynamics; [23] it has also led to a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding a global ceasefire. On March 23, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres issued an appeal for a global ceasefire as part of the United Nations' response to the pandemic. [24] [25] On 24 June 2020, 170 UN Member States and Observers signed a non-binding statement in support of the appeal, [26] rising to 172 on 25 June 2020. On 1 July 2020, the UN Security Council passed resolution S/RES/2532 (2020), demanding a "a general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations on its agenda," expressing support for "the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General and his Special Representatives and Special Envoys in that respect," calling for "all parties to armed conflicts to engage immediately in a durable humanitarian pause" of at least 90 consecutive days, and calling for greater international cooperation to address the pandemic. [27]
The pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading to the widespread closures of schools and universities. [28] According to data released by UNESCO on 25 March, school and university closures due to COVID-19 were implemented nationwide in 165 countries. Including localized closures, this affects over 1.5 billion students worldwide, accounting for 87% of enrolled learners. [29] [30] Those higher education universities have also impacted their students by deciding not to stop classes but rather migrate everything to virtual. Of 195 students interview surveyed at a large university, their findings show that there is an increased concern in mental health of these students. [31] During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people who were not connected to the internet lost access to health care and education. Production in all industries was seriously harmed. [32] [33] [34] [35]
Low income individuals are more likely to contract COVID-19 and to die from it. [36] In both New York City and Barcelona, low income neighborhoods are disproportionately hit by COVID-19 cases. Hypotheses for why this is the case include that poorer families are more likely to live in crowded housing and work in the low skill jobs, such as supermarkets and elder care, which are deemed essential during the crisis. [37] [38] In the United States, millions of low-income people may lack access to health care due to being uninsured or underinsured. [39] Millions of Americans lost their health insurance after losing their jobs. [40] [41] [42] Many low income workers in service jobs have become unemployed. [43]
Many people began teleworking during the pandemic, however teleworking has only been suitable for a tiny group of workers. Highly educated workers, usually in white-collar professions have been able to telework more than other working environments. For those still commuting to work despite the pandemic or other factors, transport remains vital. [44] [45]
The pandemic has impacted religion in various ways, including the cancellation of the worship services of various faiths, the closure of Sunday Schools, as well as the cancellation of pilgrimages surrounding observances and festivals. [46] Many churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have offered worship through livestream amidst the pandemic. [47] Relief wings of religious organisations have dispatched medical supplies and other aid to affected areas. [48] Adherents of many religions have gathered together to pray for an end to the pandemic, for those affected by it, as well as for the deity they believe in to give physicians and scientists the wisdom to combat the disease; [49] [50] [51] in the United States, Trump designated 15 March 2020 as a National Day of Prayer for "God’s healing hand to be placed on the people of our Nation". [52] [53]
One of the social impacts of COVID-19 is its influence on healthcare. Two main changes in healthcare include the providers’ experience of patient care and delivery of care. With the start of COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers struggled to keep up with an increase in demands, a reduced capacity, increased stress and workload, and to lack of protective equipment. [54]
COVID-19 changed the perception of patient care for providers. Research about patient care during COVID-19 suggested that nurses, for example, felt more confident in their skills and role in the healthcare team. Nurses viewed their profession as essential and felt increased pride in their services, as well as, patients and other healthcare workers gained a better perspective of the nursing profession. The close contact and extensive care nurses provided during the pandemic allowed them to appreciate the nursing profession. Moreover, the research indicates that nurses achieved professional growth, and uncovered a greater need to provide counseling services for COVID-19 patients to help cope with their illness. [55] Additional research suggested a different progression to nurses’ caregiving during COVID-19. Initially, nurses experienced negative emotions associated with patient care such as increased fatigue and stressful emotions. Many nurses found self-coping styles such as teamwork and altruism to combat their fatigue. As the pandemic progressed, nurses developed a sense of gratefulness and self-reflection as opposed to the negative emotions during the initial stages of the pandemic. [56]
Healthcare delivery is another aspect of healthcare that changed during the pandemic. Most healthcare providers transitioned to providing virtual or telemedicine visits in place of traditional office visits. One study found that psychiatrists faced some barriers using telemedicine such as lack of non-verbal clues, access to internet issues, and environmental distraction. However, the overall transition to telemedicine was positive and successful, even though many patients and providers still prefer in-person interaction. [57]
For healthcare providers, there is a shared feeling of responsibility, added challenges from working with COVID-19 patients, and finding ways to be resilient. As the research finds, COVID-19 placed healthcare providers in a new environment and with unexpected challenges. Providers experienced fears of helplessness, coupled with the obligation to know answers for their patients. Other common fears included becoming infected and spreading the disease to others. To mitigate these fears, the study suggested providing extensive and regular training to healthcare professionals. [54]
A current debate going on amongst the community involves the transmission risks post-quarantine. When COVID-19 reached the United States, the original required quarantine was 14 days of length, and later was shortened to 10 days, then 7 days, and eventually even 5 days in some places. Researchers have conducted studies using a variety of methods to analyze the statistical data behind the transmission risks. A group of researchers performed an experiment at numerous college universities, testing to examine what the post quarantine transmission risk was. From Harvard University, Duke University, Boston University, and Northeastern University, the post quarantine transmission risk after 7 days, was 13%. [58] However, the difficulty with this is that some individuals may remain communicable as short as 4 days or as long as 14 days. Another leading factor to the post quarantine transmission risks that researchers discovered, was that the different variants of covid, had different levels of contractibility. [59] After comparing the transmission risks from individuals with different strains, the Omicron strain was found to be the most communicable on day 5, but begins to balance out with the other strains in days 5-10. [59] Having differing rates of infectivity for each variant can play a role in the amount of time an individual should quarantine. This is one of the many factors affecting the post quarantine transmission risks, and more research should be done before coming to a set conclusive quarantine time.
On 18 March 2020, the World Health Organization issued a report related to mental health and psychosocial issues by addressing instructions and some social considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak. [60]
Due to doubts if pets or other livestock may pass on coronavirus to humans, [61] many people were reluctant to keep their pets fearing transmission, for instance in the Arab World, celebrities were urging people to keep and protect their pets. [62] Meanwhile, people in the United Kingdom tended to acquire more pets during the coronavirus lockdown. [63]
The coronavirus pandemic has been followed by a concern for a potential spike in suicides, exacerbated by social isolation due to quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, fear, and unemployment and financial factors. [64] [65]
Chaos and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have made a catastrophic future seem less remote and action to prevent it more necessary. However, it may also have the opposite effect by having minds focus on the more immediate threat of the pandemic rather than the climate crisis or the prevention of other disasters. [66] [ additional citation(s) needed ]
Researchers have identified coronaphobia as a byproduct of the pandemic, where individuals have an excessive fear of contracting the virus that causes "marked impairment in daily life functioning". [67] [68]
Crowd anxiety and apprehension to pre-pandemic behavior were normalized due to the virus and subsequent lockdowns around the world. Additionally, social upheaval and other stressors have resulted in hesitancy to be comfortable sharing the same physical space with strangers. [69] In February 2021, Saturday Night Live poked fun at "post-COVID dating" after a year of isolation imagining the "weird quirks and behaviors we've picked up". [70]
The impact on personal gatherings has been strong as medical experts have advised, and local authorities often mandated stay-at-home orders to prevents gatherings of any size, not just the larger events that were initially restricted. Such gatherings may be replaced by teleconferencing, or in some cases with unconventional attempts to maintain social distancing with activities such as a balcony sing-along for a concert, [71] or a "birthday parade" for a birthday party. [72] Replacements for gatherings have been seen as significant to mental health during the crisis. [73] Social isolation among alcohol users has also adopted a trend towards Kalsarikänni or "pantsdrunking", a Finnish antisocial drinking culture. [74] [75] [76] [77]
Many countries have reported an increase in domestic violence and intimate partner violence attributed to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. [78] Financial insecurity, stress, and uncertainty have led to increased aggression at home, with abusers able to control large amounts of their victims' daily life. [79] United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a domestic violence "ceasefire". [80]
Older people are particularly affected by COVID-19. They need special attention during the COVID-19 crisis, and their voices, opinions and concerns are important in formulating responses. [81]
Global data are extremely uncertain at present, nonetheless, the heightened risks of COVID-19 for older persons are evident in all national data. The scale of testing and nature of reporting vary between governments and hence there is risk of misinformation by generalizing from the experience and reports of a given country. [81]
While the number of older persons is relatively and absolutely smaller in developing countries, particularly in Africa, this coincides with other serious structural risks. Countries with the fewest older persons (such as many of the least developed countries), have the fewest health resources, limited experience caring for older patients (including few geriatric specialists), less institutional care for older persons, and far fewer public or NGO support structures for outreach, screening and community-based care of older persons. [81]
Older persons living in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, are particularly vulnerable to infection and adverse outcomes from COVID-19. Older persons who live alone may face barriers to obtaining accurate information, food, medication, and other essential supplies during quarantine conditions and community outreach is required. Older persons, especially in isolation, those with cognitive decline, and those who are highly care-dependent, need a continuum of practical and emotional support through informal networks (families), health workers, caregivers, and volunteers. [81]
People with disabilities are at greater risk for contracting and dying from COVID-19. This is especially true for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. [82] Data from the United States indicate that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are four times more likely to contract COVID and twice as likely to die from the disease; [83] this is likely due to the fact that people with disabilities are overrepresented in care facilities where COVID is known to spread more easily. People with disabilities are also more likely to have co-morbidities that put them at higher risk for developing COVID-related complications and may have a more difficult time socially distancing due to their support needs. [84]
People with disabilities are more likely to experience isolation and other forms of mental distress as a result of the pandemic. [85] Women and children with disabilities are more likely to experience domestic abuse during pandemics. [86]
School closures have presented children with disabilities with a host of challenges. [87] [88] Many children with disabilities have seen disruptions to critical physical and occupational therapies. Many of the assistive technologies people with disabilities use are not compatible with the platforms schools are using for remote learning. [89] A large number of children with disabilities also live in poverty and may not have access to the internet and technology required for remote learning. These children may also experience a variety of social and psychological issues as the result of school closures, including food insecurity, anxiety, as well as delays in their development. [90]
Telenursing refers to the use of information technology in the provision of nursing services whenever physical distance exists between patient and nurse, or between any number of nurses. As a field, it is part of telemedicine, and has many points of contacts with other medical and non-medical applications, such as telediagnosis, teleconsultation, and telemonitoring. The field, however, is still being developed as the information on telenursing isn't comprehensive enough.
In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers, and visitors, or from outsiders to a particular patient. Various forms of isolation exist, in some of which contact procedures are modified, and others in which the patient is kept away from all other people. In a system devised, and periodically revised, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), various levels of patient isolation comprise application of one or more formally described "precaution".
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, and spread to other areas of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020. The WHO ended its PHEIC declaration on 5 May 2023. As of 7 February 2024, the pandemic has caused 774,367,797 cases and 7,020,337 confirmed deaths, ranking it fifth in the list of the deadliest epidemics and pandemics in history.
The public health measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic effectively contained and reduced the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a global scale between the years 2020–2023, and had several other positive effects on the natural environment of planet Earth and human societies as well, including improved air quality and oxygen levels due to reduced air and water pollution, lower crime rates across the world, and less frequent violent crimes perpetrated by violent non-state actors, such as ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations.
Hazard controls for COVID-19 in workplaces are the application of occupational safety and health methodologies for hazard controls to the prevention of COVID-19. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against severe illness or death from COVID-19. Multiple layers of controls are recommended, including measures such as remote work and flextime, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs.
A patient under investigation refers to a person who had been in close contact with a person with confirmed infection or/and may have been to place where there is an outbreak or superspreading event. This person exhibits the symptoms of the disease and is required to be tested, and undergo a quarantine or isolation while waiting for the laboratory results. It is a term used by health care workers in classifying patients during evaluation and testing in contact tracing in times of infectious disease outbreaks.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of people across the globe. The pandemic has caused widespread anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. According to the UN health agency WHO, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, prevalence of common mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, went up by more than 25 percent. The pandemic has damaged social relationships, trust in institutions and in other people, has caused changes in work and income, and has imposed a substantial burden of anxiety and worry on the population. Women and young people face the greatest risk of depression and anxiety.
COVID-19 surveillance involves monitoring the spread of the coronavirus disease in order to establish the patterns of disease progression. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends active surveillance, with focus of case finding, testing and contact tracing in all transmission scenarios. COVID-19 surveillance is expected to monitor epidemiological trends, rapidly detect new cases, and based on this information, provide epidemiological information to conduct risk assessment and guide disease preparedness.
This article documents the chronology of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, which originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. Reporting on this pandemic began in December 2019.
COVID-19 affects men and women differently both in terms of the outcome of infection and the effect of the disease upon society. The mortality due to COVID-19 is higher in men. Slightly more men than women contract COVID with a ratio of 10:9.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a leading organisation involved in the global coordination for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader United Nations response to the pandemic.
Planning and preparing for pandemics has happened in countries and international organizations. The World Health Organization writes recommendations and guidelines, though there is no sustained mechanism to review countries' preparedness for epidemics and their rapid response abilities. National action depends on national governments. In 2005–2006, before the 2009 swine flu pandemic and during the decade following it, the governments in the United States, France, UK, and others managed strategic health equipment stocks, but they often reduced stocks after the 2009 pandemic in order to reduce costs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted hospitals around the world. Many hospitals have scaled back or postponed non-emergency care. This has medical consequences for the people served by the hospitals, and it has financial consequences for the hospitals. Health and social systems across the globe are struggling to cope. The situation is especially challenging in humanitarian, fragile and low-income country contexts, where health and social systems are already weak. Health facilities in many places are closing or limiting services. Services to provide sexual and reproductive health care risk being sidelined, which will lead to higher maternal mortality and morbidity. The pandemic also resulted in the imposition of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in places such as California and New York for all public workers, including hospital staff.
This article documents the chronology of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, which originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect. Reporting on this pandemic began in December 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare workers physically and psychologically. Healthcare workers are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection than the general population due to frequent contact with infected individuals. Healthcare workers have been required to work under stressful conditions without proper protective equipment, and make difficult decisions involving ethical implications. Health and social systems across the globe are struggling to cope. The situation is especially challenging in humanitarian, fragile and low-income country contexts, where health and social systems are already weak. Services to provide sexual and reproductive health care risk being sidelined, which will lead to higher maternal mortality and morbidity.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had many impacts on global health beyond those caused by the COVID-19 disease itself. It has led to a reduction in hospital visits for other reasons. There have been 38 per cent fewer hospital visits for heart attack symptoms in the United States and 40 per cent fewer in Spain. The head of cardiology at the University of Arizona said, "My worry is some of these people are dying at home because they're too scared to go to the hospital." There is also concern that people with strokes and appendicitis are not seeking timely treatment. Shortages of medical supplies have impacted people with various conditions.
A systematic review notes that children with COVID-19 have milder effects and better prognoses than adults. However, children are susceptible to "multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children" (MIS-C), a rare but life-threatening systemic illness involving persistent fever and extreme inflammation following exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The United Nations response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been led by its Secretary-General and can be divided into formal resolutions at the General Assembly and at the Security Council (UNSC), and operations via its specialized agencies and chiefly the World Health Organization in the initial stages, but involving more humanitarian-oriented agencies as the humanitarian impact became clearer, and then economic organizations, like the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank, as the socioeconomic implications worsened.
Individuals with disabilities are more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 and have higher mortality rates compared to those without disabilities. This is particularly true for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, those residing in care facilities, and women with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities face heightened risks of mental health issues related to the pandemic, such as increased feelings of loneliness and isolation. They were also more likely to face domestic violence and abuse during the pandemic. People with disabilities are more likely to experience unemployment as a result of the pandemic and may require changes to the types of accommodations they require for work. Children with disabilities experience complications in their educational programming. Remote learning poses a host of challenges for children with disabilities, including disruptions to physical and occupational therapies and access to assistive technologies.
This is a social history of the 2020s. Social history refers to changes affecting societies and the lived experiences of their members.