How Stay-at-Home Orders have Affected People’s Lives
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How Stay at Home Orders have Affected People’s Lives
To curb the spread of COVID-19, governments around the globe ordered people to stay at home for most parts of the year. At the peak of the pandemic’s reality, the family home became a focal point for everything; daycare, entertainment, socialization, and school. Reports suggest that the change was particularly stressful for most parents and guardians across the globe. Further, the pandemic led to the closure of many universities worldwide, utterly affecting the careers and routine lives of staff and students.
Ruifeng Wang, an Assistant Coordinator of Special International Initiatives at an American university, had to adjust his usual working routines following stay-at-home orders. “Basically, we just simply moved work laptops to home and work remotely without too many changes to my career,” Wang said. “We followed the same working hours as we had previously.” When questioned about the emotional effect of the transition, he said, “At the beginning I was excited to have more relaxing environment and spaces while working from home rather than working in the office. However, I began to realize that it was not that easy in motion after several weeks.” Wang discovered he wasn’t a typical stay-at-home individual, and he began feeling bored, frustrated, and depressed until they were recalled back to the office in June. Things took a similar turn for Lei Song, a Student Development Center advisor at a Chinese university. “During COVID-19, Chinese universities delayed the start of the school year and decided to launch online courses immediately without affecting students’ learning,” Song said. “This means that as teachers we have to work from our own home, we need to use the internet to manage and help students with learning problems.” Unlike Wang, Song adapted more positively to the stay-at-home transition, viewing it as an opportunity to spend more time with family.
The closure of universities and adjustments of learning procedures also took a hard toll on students globally. Oliver Lang, a student in a British university, confirmed that stay-at-home orders changed some routine activities. “Changing to online courses means that students need to study in their dormitories or at home, which means we need more awareness,” Lang said. The student spent most time cooking with his roommate, and the availability of online shopping was utterly satisfactory. Lang acknowledged that it was safer to stay indoors during the period, despite the boredom. Jackson Conner, a university student in Australia, found online learning in the COVID-19 period rather interesting. “Students will promptly feedback their ideas in the chat interface, and the teacher will respond to everyone’s various ideas in a timely manner,” Conner said.
As reported by the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 period was relatively brutal for older people, changing socialization patterns, cessation of employment, reducing physical contact with kin, and most critical, the intense fear of illness and death (WHO, 2020). Nonetheless, interviews with two older adults depict rather positive life transitions. Larry Downs, a former barkeeper in Guildford England, opened a bar in his hometown after retiring. The dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to close the bar indefinitely, adhering to federal regulations. He was however able to start an online wine tasting event, where people enjoyed virtual bar events. “Meet friends to chat and drink just like before,” Downs said. Likewise, Tum Jiang, a retired older woman from Xuzhou, China, spent most of the stay-at-home period interacting with family. “We have sports together in the living room and the yard,” Jiang said. “Time with family is always happy.”
References
WHO. (2020). Older people & COVID-19. Retrieved from World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health/covid-19