5.4: At Home and Abroad- How COVID-19 Changed All of Our Lives

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Understand how COVID-19 became a global pandemic
• Realize how COVID-19 changed how the world operates

COVID-19 Becomes a Global Pandemic

In November 2019, there were rumblings about a virus that was spreading in China. Starting in December, China began to close its borders to outsiders even though the Chinese government was not fully communicating to the world that there was a serious event happening. At the end of the month, China reported to the World Health Organization that they were monitoring a cluster of pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan. Just two weeks later on 13 January 2020 the first case of COVID-19 appeared outside of China, in Thailand. From that point on, the virus began to spread at a fast rate, facilitated by trade and tourism, and on 11 March 2020 the WHO had declared a pandemic. In the beginning, very little information was fully reaching the rest of the world, but it was apparent that what was happening in China was going to have global impact. We can see this especially in the economic sense as companies that relied on Chinese-made components were beginning to see their supply chains drying up. Small businesses that depended on these materials from China were soon closing their doors. 

It is evident that the Chinese government made a conscious decision to not be transparent with the global community, that is, until COVID-19 began to spread throughout the world. Even then, the United States did not fully address the issue with the general public. President Donald Trump eventually began to update the press, but the seriousness of the situation was continuously downplayed until March 17, 2021, when for the first time in 100 years, the U.S. was placed on a mandatory quarantine due to the COVID-19 virus. The intention was that the quarantine, was a precautionary measure and would not last long.  

Response

The thought behind the quarantine was that it would minimize the spread of COVID-19, as it was spread by airborne transmission. If a person was in an indoor space with an individual infected with COVID-19, then it was possible that the virus would spread through coughing, sneezing, or even breathing. The intention was to “flatten the curve”, meaning that slowing down the contraction rate was important before allowing people to start moving freely around their communities. That COVID-19 continued to spread showed the lack of uniformity by different governments in their response to abetting the spread of the virus, as well as the inability, or unwillingness, of the general global population to maintain the quarantine. It was unexpected that quarantining would differ by country, state and even city. Ultimately, the time period of quarantining differed based on where you were located. Upon average, most Americans were quarantined for a minimum of one year. In California, quarantining lasted much longer.

Due to the rapid contraction rate, and the large number of individuals who would need to be hospitalized due to the disease, the spread of COVID-19 placed a great deal of pressure on medical facilities across the globe. Children, older adults, and those who had preexisting conditions found themselves more vulnerable to the virus. Even though it was COVID-19 that was making headlines, there were of course other maladies still effecting people. If you experienced another healthcare emergency, then you could be more at risk from not being treated in a timely manner because of the high number of COVID-19 patients that were monopolizing medical resources. Those who contracted the virus and recovered can still face health issues related to COVID-19. As of 2024, medical researchers were still discovering the long-term effects of having COVID-19.

It became the primary focus of governments, companies, and individuals, to figure out a way to continue normal life activities during the pandemic. The first way was to educate people about the importance of washing hands and/or utilizing hand sanitizer. Public sanitizing stations have since become a ubiquitous sight everywhere from amusement parks to college classrooms. Second, wearing a mask became mandatory for a period of time. While early on there was a lot of debate on what type of mask was the most effective, there are now a variety of types of masks one can wear. After a time, wearing masks was no longer mandatory, but the continued use of them did produce additional benefits, such as slowing down the rate of contracting the seasonal flu. Alongside the use of masks was the idea of social distancing, where people were advised to remain six feet apart in public. 

Thirdly, creating a COVID-19 test became a priority. Knowing if you had the virus was key so you could take precautions to not spread it to others. When a person tested positive, they were asked to report it to health authorities so that they could initiate contact tracing. Notifying authorities and employers was important, as to allow other individuals to realize that they had possibly been exposed and allow them to take precautions to mitigate further spread. This was all necessary until the final stage of the response. A vaccine needed to be developed and disbursed throughout the world. Once the vaccine was found to be both safe and effective, the disbursement happened in waves in order to treat the most vulnerable first, starting with seniors. The effective disbursement of vaccines is important in building group immunity. This is important to minimize the likelihood of individuals contracting the virus who were unable to receive the vaccine, usually due to being immunocompromised.

Life Has Changed

In California, most people were on quarantine between 1.5 to 2 years, and life was altered (Executive Orders N-12-21 and N-39-20). People who were working from home became aware of how they could do their jobs with greater flexibility. Companies struggled to reinstate in-person work hours, as people wanted to have a hybrid work option.  According to the US Census Bureau, before 2020, only 5.7 percent of Americans worked from home, which is around 13.4 million workers. Post-COVID-19, in 2023, 17.9 percent of the workforce was working from home. In some industries, the hybrid workforce in 2023 can range as high as 34 percent (Parker 2023). The highest wage earners tend to have the most flexibility in continuing to work from home. The most startling statistic is that women are engaging in the flexible workforce at a much higher rate than men. It is clear that workers are reexamining how they want to work, when they want to work, and how much they want to work. Flexibility is a key desire among the post-COVID-19 workforce.

Within higher education, we are still trying to tackle how to engage within the new normal. Students are now much more interested in the flexibility of attending class. At campuses across the United States, students enjoy taking hybrid and online classes instead of in-person classes. College enrollment has decreased around the country, thus, colleges are trying to find new ways to meet students’ needs and wants.

Government has proven to be helpful in providing a variety of COVID-19 provisions, such as housing assistance, minimum income guarantees, healthcare assistance, small business assistance, food assistance, unemployment assistance, and student loan assistance. Americans are now forced to consider what role should government have in helping individuals during all times and not just during a pandemic. People are having demands of their government to have actual results that they can visualize. Simultaneously, the way government handled COVID-19 has created a sense of distrust. Americans must trust their government when they are warning everyone of danger.  Local, state, and federal politicians lost a great deal of credibility in being honest and transparent, which made it difficult for Americans to believe that any part of the COVID-19 response was beneficial. We now have to find a balance between the role government has to keep us all safe, while also trying to believe our government. No one knows when all of our lives will ‘go back to normal.’  It may be that we are now currently living in the new normal.

COVID-19 is here to stay with us, just like the flu. Every year, we are experiencing new strands (mutations). Just like with the flu vaccine, the goal is for individuals to have a yearly vaccine to minimize another COVID-19 global pandemic. Yet, many people were not as trusting with the vaccine. The questions about the need to have multiple vaccines over a long period of time is also coming into question. The federal government subsidized COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccines. However, some states stopped providing COVID-19 testing and vaccines for free, while other states, such as California, are still subsidizing COVID-19 testing and vaccines.