Change Edition – The Social & Economic Changes Caused by COVID-19

Over these past couple of years, our society has faced a never before experienced pandemic in which our way of life was turned upside down. Laws were passed that forced social distancing and separation, and for the first time, we found ourselves separated from friends and family. Many people have been killed, human suffering has spread, and many businesses have had to close because of these conditions. 

This pandemic has largely affected the youth in our society because the lack of one on one social interaction impeded social skill development. After returning to school this past year, a noticeable amount of violence has been reported across the country, possibly because of a decline in positive interactions within interpersonal relationships during quarantine. In a survey of 1,182 students, they reported negative changes such as a decline in time spent on their classes and grades, poor sleeping habits, a lack of a daily fitness routine, physical weight gain, social life, and mental health (“Covid-19’s Impact on Education”). 

In 2020, the overall suicide rate dropped, but increased among 15-34-year-olds (“Suicide Rates Declined Again in 2020”). Fear of infection and becoming sick after seeing friends and family caused an increased amount of stress, fear, and anxiety. This has led to unhealthy behaviors in all age groups, such as excessive alcohol consumption, drug use, excessive media use, and overeating.

Non-profit organizations and shelters around the world have seen an increase in the number of homeless people looking for shelter. It’s estimated that close to 19 million Americans either lost their jobs or their homes in 2020. Job losses reached levels not seen since the Great Depression (1929-1933). According to the National Institutes of Health, over 140,000 U.S. children lost a primary or secondary caregiver because of the pandemic. This has furthermore caused the foster care system to become overwhelmed. Since we have been in quarantine, the foster care system was forced to switch to online zoom meetings, which created conflic wiht the adoption process by making it longer and more complicated for families.

Due to COVID-19 there has been a fall in tourism, and it was estimated that countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) could lose over 4 trillion dollars during 2020-2021 (“Global Economy Could Lose Over $4 trillion Due to COVID-19 Impact on Tourism”). For some countries, that would be 20% of their GDP. People who work in the tourism industry largely depend on the income of tourists for a source of money. UNWTO shows us that women and youth, who make up 54% of the tourism workforce, are the most at-risk due to this fall. In order to make this money back, tourism recovery will largely rely on worldwide vaccination uptake. 

Although all of this has caused huge problems for our social and economic society, we are recovering slowly from the effects of COVID-19. Since returning to school in 2021, we are on a path to returning back to our normal social lives. People have been allowed to return to their jobs, which allows them to have a more stable income, and the GDP from tourism is expected to rise 7.4% by the end of this year (“11 Facts on the Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic”). This pandemic is suspected to end in late 2022 to early 2023 according to McKinsey & Company, but it is still uncertain whether or not this will happen. Although this pandemic has caused a significant amount of change in everyone’s life, we can hope for a strong recovery and the healing of our economy.