The COVID-19 pandemic
2020 was a year of many global events, causing ripples in the social, economic, and even humanitarian development of the world; some of them so memorable that we could not imagine this landmark year in the history of humanity without them. And while the BLM movement, Brexit, and other such occurrences have caused reforms and changes to occur that will have repercussions for many years to come, the one event (or rather ongoing situation) that has impacted our lives for good is the coronavirus pandemic. Many of us have had so much to lose, so much struggle, and so much pain, that it has become very difficult to imagine a post-COVID reality, or even to remember our lives before they were flipped upside down. But, as the new year dawns upon us, we can only hope that, with our coordinated and cumulated efforts, and with the aid of not only the international community, but also of our closest friends and family, we will get over another year of the pandemic successfully, and will hopefully be closer to seeing its end. Thus, in order to refresh your memory and allow you to reflect on everything that has happened since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, we have prepared an article outlining most of the main developments of the pandemic that has changed our lives, virtually forever.
How it began
On the 31st of December 2019, the very last day of the year, 59 citizens of Wuhan, China were reported to have contracted a mysterious, pneumonia-like disease, that caused difficulty in breathing and high fever in those infected, but that did not seem to have any specific cause. The major concern was the prevention of its spread and of its becoming an epidemic, in order to not reproduce the disastrous effects that the SARS epidemic had had in 2003 (which had also originated in China, and had infected over 8,000 people); little did they know however, that this would end up being so much worse. Soon enough, Chinese researchers identified the new illness as being caused by a new coronavirus, naming it SARS-CoV-2, and speculated that it came from bats in a Wuhan wet market. The virality of the virus really came down to two main factors: it had a high contagion rate, and could spread quickly; and it could be transmitted even when the carrier showed no symptoms, allowing people to pass it on without even knowing they have it.
On January 11th 2020, Chinese officials reported the first death; this was just a few weeks before the Spring Festival, one of the greatest celebrations in China, where millions of people would travel all across the country, facilitating the spread of the virus. Other Asian countries confirmed cases just a week later, and on the 30th of January, the WHO officially declared a global public health emergency (with a fully-fledged pandemic declared after a month and a bit), after thousands more cases were reported worldwide and community transmission had already begun being observed in countries such as the USA. Following the huge surge in cases in Italy at the end of February, an infected man entered Romania, and after that, on February 26th, the first national coronavirus case was reported in our country.
School closure and lockdown
On March 11th, schools all around the country shut down in order to prevent the spread of the virus, with the reassurance that they would return after two weeks; but as cases continued soaring, the schools stayed closed and online until the end of the year. This, followed by the establishment of a “state of emergency” and a national lockdown, meant that many children, as well as parents, were forced to work from home and find new, creative ways of entertaining themselves as social gatherings and outings became more and more restricted. 22% of those surveyed about their lockdown said that they had picked up a new hobby during quarantine, and 35% said that quarantine gave them the chance to reconnect with long-lost loved ones.
Indeed, as people found themselves with more time on their hands and a bigger need for relaxation (and for escaping from the worries of both their personal lives as well as the events of the world), they turned to creative outlets to unwind and guard their mental health, some of the most popular being baking, gardening, and knitting. The isolation and lack of social interaction, as well as the constant stream of worrying news, have created some understandable mental health impacts and a rough time for so many people globally, but as we move forward and de-stigmatise discussions relating to the matter, we can hopefully reduce pressure and relieve some of the negativity. It’s hard, but we’ll all come out of it so much stronger and more equipped to deal with whatever will be thrown at us in the future.
International response
Internationally, over 84 million people have been infected with the virus, and almost 200,000 people have passed away, most of whom had either had pre-existing conditions or were at risk to begin with (over 65 years old). On a global scale, countries and organisations have worked hard to contain not only the humanitarian repercussions of the pandemic, but also the economic fallout. Countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and South Korea have been praised for their quick and efficient responses to the pandemic, and their continuous efforts towards addressing the health crisis without overstepping on basic human rights, as well as the minimal damage they have taken to their economies all thanks to their immediate reaction and ingenuity. And as we see all the progress they have made, leading to an almost complete eradication of the virus and a return back to the “old” normal, we cannot help but envy them, watching them fill up entire stadiums with no restrictions and going to school care-free, while we struggle more than ever to contain the crisis.
Nevertheless, progress has been made even in the EU, since as of January 1st, a €1.8 trillion stimulus package was put into place with the help of NextGenerationEU, that will serve to not only improve resilience towards future health crises, but also fund research and ensure that the recovery of Europe runs as smoothly as possible.
This is not to say that there haven’t been some international controversies related to this pandemic - one could even say that it was inevitable and bound to happen. Misinformation spread quickly at the very beginning of the outbreak, with conspiracies of lab-created viruses and biological warfare being shared everywhere; a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry has even stated multiple times that the virus was fabricated in the US and released in China by the US army. This, fuelled by President Donald Trump insisting on calling it the “Chinese virus” and further stigmatising China and encouraging racism, led to clashes between the two governments, however thankfully everything has been resolved without escalating into more serious conflicts.
Economic repercussions
The world’s economy has definitely taken a toll because of the pandemic (especially of course the toilet paper market), with the World Bank estimating that the global economy will shrink by 5.2% by the end of the year. The national lockdowns and limitations on different goods and services provided have meant that many countries have suffered greatly; all G7 countries but China have entered recession, and Germany for instance has developed a budget deficit after a consistent budget surplus, signalling a worrying trend. The global labour market is also changing, as almost 500 million jobs were lost worldwide and more and more jobs are moving online, where possible. Furthermore, the increased international uncertainty means that countries may move to reduce globalisation in an attempt to become more self-sufficient, as inequality between developed and developing countries unfortunately rises.
Vaccines - a new hope
Scientists have been working heroically since day one to develop a vaccine against the virus, and after months of bleak hope and disbelief in whether they could achieve it in a fast enough time period, all their hard work bore fruit: on November 9th, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine had a 90% efficiency rate (which has since been updated to up to 95%), and that no serious side effects were recorded during their trials on 43,500 people.
Since then, two more vaccines have been tested and are being approved all around the world. The Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna one work in a similar fashion, by injecting mRNA in order to produce virus protein and teach the antibodies how to protect against them. However, they need to be kept in the cold in order to prevent the mRNA from being damaged. The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine works a bit differently, by injecting an adenovirus that contains DNA that will help protect against the coronavirus. DNA is tougher than RNA and so can survive at higher temperatures, and this vaccine has a proven efficiency of up to 90% under certain circumstances. The inoculation process will take place in phases, first ensuring the protection of healthcare workers, then of essential workers and those in high-risk categories, and then the rest of the population; so far, more than 10.8 million people have been vaccinated worldwide, and although anti-vaxx propaganda is fast-spreading, herd immunity will be achieved soon enough, with or without their help, so the revolutionary breakthroughs that these vaccines have created have given us real hope that this pandemic can, and will end.
The future
Although the vaccine brought newfound optimism about finally escaping the pandemic that has ravaged our planet, we were also hit with the news of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 being discovered in the UK, that could spread up to 70% faster than the original. This is believed to be the result of 17 different mutations that happened all at once in the virus, and although does not seem to be more deadly, it can still infect quicker; thus, many countries have already put travel restrictions in place with regards to movement to and from the UK. However, the good news is that there is no reason to suspect that the vaccine wouldn’t work on this variant, meaning that, at least for now, we can still continue combating the spread by inoculation. Although the pandemic will probably not be over for at least another two years, this year will be easier, and we can use the lessons that 2020 has taught us in order to continue tackling the virus with even more efficiency and effectiveness.
As the world population grows and pathogens develop to become more and more infectious, we can only expect that we will see more epidemics, endemics, and even potential pandemics occur in the future. However, with the increased resilience and infrastructure that we were forced to develop thanks to the novel coronavirus, we can only hope that they will be handled better, more swiftly, and with less human suffering. Our world has changed for good, with everything from working to going out being revolutionised as people try to find ways around the difficulties imposed by COVID-19, and this will definitely not disappear overnight.
Concluding remarks
This pandemic has brought great distress all around the world, and we offer our deepest condolences to everyone that has had to suffer through the loss of a loved one because of the pandemic and because of the unfortunate events that have happened last year. It was tough. It was dark, and often scary. But we made it. And although the pandemic will not stop, at least not in the near future, we are now more prepared to face it, and can look at it through a new lens and a new perspective.
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