The Global Pandemic of Covid-19
Abstract
Covid-19 is an infectious disease that is discovered to be caused by a coronavirus. Infectious disease is the current worldwide bother and has affected most parts of peoples’ life. The disease was the first document in 2019 and is believed to have originated in China, Wuhan. A majority of people will recover by themselves without much attention provided that they do not have other types of illness, such as tuberculosis and other cardiovascular diseases (Cucinotta, & Vanelli, 2020). Older people are more at risk during this pandemic more than the young, but the virus affects everyone regardless of age, gender, and also occupation. It also spread like wildfire through saliva droplets to people who are nearby the infected person. The virus has hit every part of the globe with documented deaths that total to 489, 990 people worldwide and a confirmed case of 9,641,472 people. The pandemic has impacted many people psychologically and has cause stress and depression, which in some cases has made people commit suicide when it is not addressed. My goal in this paper is to write about coronavirus pandemic from the initial day briefly, the suffering both psychological and social, impacts in business, WHO guidelines, the place of psychology, and causes, among others.
Keywords: Covid-19, Coronavirus, Psychology, WHO, Global Pandemic, Stress, and depression.
Table of Contents
Introduction 4
Epidemiology 4
Causes 4
Signs and symptoms……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Preventions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Covid-19 impacts: The global economy 5
Stress and depression 6
Increased crimes 7
The place of psychology: The cause of undocumented deaths…………………………………7
What is important during this pandemic………………………………………………………8
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….….8
Reference list…………………………………………………………………………………….9
Introduction.
Covid-19 is a killer virus that, when contracted, individuals with weak immune systems must go through specialized care to save their lives. There are many documented deaths emanating from coronavirus, which is alarming and is calling for more precautions (Cucinotta, & Vanelli, 2020). Psychology plays an important role when such a pandemic emerges, and its help ranges from immediate help, such as helping an individual to go through grieving in a healthy manner to working with the government in preventing deaths.
Epidemiology
Covid-19 is caused by a virus called SARS-COV2, which is commonly contributing to the cause of the fatal disease currently, the global pandemic. The zoonotic origin of the virus is documented to be from Wuhan city in China in the animal market, which has wet conditions. A wet environment is the most stable habitat for the virus before it gets into the human body. Based on the first case, person-to-person transmission of the deadly virus led to the isolation of people in an attempt to curb the spreading and eventually eliminate the virus. It is documented that the first case in Wuhan was found at the beginning of December 2019. It later survived through to 2020, where on 31 January 2020, the virus was spread close to nineteen countries with confirmed cases of 11,791 people and a total of 213 deaths.
Causes
Covid-19 is believed to be caused by the new SARS-COV2 virus. The virus spread easily among people through contact, although there is more information that is to be discovered on how the virus is spreading between people. People in close contact can easily spread the virus in the proximity of two meters. When a person is infected, they spread the fatal virus through cough, when talking, and also by sneezing, which clearly shows that is spreads through saliva droplets. When saliva droplets of infected people land near someone’s nose or in the mouth, the person contracts the disease, and he/she can possibly spread it through the same was.
Signs and Symptoms
The precipitating signs and symptoms appear from the second to the fourteenth day of exposure to the virus. Some common symptoms include:
- Feeling tired.
- Breathing difficulties.
- Chest pain, among other less common symptoms such as vomiting and nausea.
Prevention
WHO has laid down some precautions that will savor everyone in this time when the vaccine is not yet available. People are prohibited from being in large crowds; they are supposed to observe social distancing, stay home, or wear a high-quality face mask. People are required to wash their hands regularly, and when sneezing or coughing, they are to cover their mouths with clothing and dispose of it afterward. Institutions should disinfect and clean high-touch surfaces, and if possible, individuals are advised to work from home. Furthermore, curfews and lockdowns are deployed to limit people’s movement, and those with the symptoms are asked to self-quarantine (Cucinotta, & Vanelli, 2020).
Covid-19 Impacts: The global economy
In the business world, coronavirus brings some factors that are catastrophic. Just to mention, the restriction of movement has caused a closure of many companies and factories that rely on foreign law materials because the pandemic has directly inhibited the supply chain. The cases of unemployment are skyrocketing because of numerous closure of businesses-for example, during the month of April, approximately 20 million Americans lost the source of income (Atkeson, 2020).
The pandemic is causing a major disruption to commerce. The major shortage of product supplies from China affected most companies in the world since most of these companies canned access to the products, essentially because of the national lockdowns that are in place (Atkeson, 2020). We cannot forget to focus on how I/O psychologists are affected by the ongoing pandemic. Most of these people are at home because institutions have fewer people if they are not already closed.
Stress and depression.
Covid-19 brings forward a major cause of stress and depression that most people are not realizing. The focus is shifted more so on the business and economic paradigm with less regard with these psychological factors that cannot be left out. The fact that this pandemic is taking away people’s lives positively correlates with much suffering in individual families. For example, it is documented that the cases of suicide in Germany have skyrocketed as a result of this pandemic. Suicide is not only predicted by the death of a family member, but job losses to the breadwinners are also a major red flag for suicide.
Mental health should be an issue not to be overlooked during this pandemic. When people have to go through the issue of death and dying without immediate help by people, they are not able to go through grieving as they would do with the help of family members. This is made impossible through the social distancing rule and stay home rule that hinders people from offering help. Human beings are social beings, and they require touch to function well, which is impossible during coronavirus pandemic. If individuals must connect to one another, then they must do it using the internet, which took the part of human connection a long time ago.
Increase of crime
Covid-19 pandemic leads to an increase in criminal activities. Although this is indirect, there is an increase in the number of unemployed people who must look for a meal, more so those who have a family. In case of death of a relative, individuals who don’t go through counseling are precipitated to do illegal activities in an attempt to vent out their anger. There is a surge of deaths and violence with a robbery where people are desperately looking for a means to survive. Cyberbullying is also increasing due to idleness and availability of electronic devices, which corrupts the mental health of an individual more so the younger paper. Various sites have reported increase activity in viewing adult contents such as pornography to users who are below 18 years of age (Fleetwood, Lea, Bromberg & Kindynis, 2020).
The place of psychology: The cause of undocumented deaths
when people are exposed to fear and uncertainty, the body reacts the same way it does when faced with a life-threatening issue. The immune system becomes suppressed, and as a result, most of the minor infections that the body can fight can culminate into death when not considered. This is the same case with the coronavirus pandemic, where people are now generally afraid of either getting infected by the virus or death of a close relative mainly caused by a coronavirus. When fear dominates someone who cannot have access to counselors or psychiatrists who can offer help, it can escalate to stress and depression, which on the other hand, creates suicidal tendencies (Li, Wang, Xue, Zhao, & Zhu, 2020).
Psychologists who are supposed to be above the average human beings do not have their antennae out to reach people who are indirectly calling for help. It is the time when everyone is required to work from home, and individuals who cannot reach psychological help with the help of technology are still crying in vain. However, this is not the only cause of undocumented deaths. In the developing countries with health facilities that are not well developed, individuals are dying in their houses with the fear of going to hospitals in the view that they might contract the virus in the hospital or when they are on the way to look for help. It is not surprising to point down that most people who have cardiovascular diseases are left unattended because doctors are afraid of contracting the disease (Le et al., 2020).
The expectations.
From a psychological point of view, individual well-being is impacted by his/her surroundings. A good environment ranges from the availability of positive people to having time with nature. In such hard times, individuals should push for well-being at a personal level and then move on to consider the wellness of others. A life without reflection is not worth for a living, and people should learn to reflect and meditate since it is from it that they get to know themselves well. Counseling officers should be open all time during this pandemic, and besides following the government’s regulations, they should also maintain their safety. Mental health should not be overlooked during this pandemic.
In conclusion, Covid-19, as a global pandemic, is taking away many lives. Despite the government’s restrictions, people are not following WHO regulations, and this causes more death. Psychological help is required more than before due to the aftermath of this pandemic. There are numerous reports about suicide rates, and if this is to be adequately counteracted, psychologists and counselors should work together with the government so the graphs on deaths that are not caused by the virus infection can positively reduce, which should be the first priority at all times.
References
Atkeson, A. (2020). What will be the economic impact of covid-19 on us? Rough estimates of disease scenarios (No. w26867). National Bureau of Economic Research.
COVID-19 epidemiology based on current evidence. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(4), 967.
Cucinotta, D., & Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Acta bio-medica: Atenei Parmensis, 91(1), 157-160.
Fleetwood, J., Lea, J., Bromberg, S., & Kindynis, T. (2020). Coronavirus and changing
conditions for crime. Discover Society.
Li, S., Wang, Y., Xue, J., Zhao, N., & Zhu, T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 epidemic declaration on psychological consequences: a study on active Weibo users. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(6), 2032.