essay on time management in covid 19

• Productivity Center

9 Ways to Manage Your Time During a Pandemic

Albert Costill

• Time Management

Wednesday, May 27th, 2020

As you are entirely aware, pandemics, such as COVID-19, can completely turn your world upside down. What’s more, the uncertainty and break in normalcy can wreck all of the strides you made in managing your time . Here are nine ways to manage your time during a pandemic.

Thankfully, you can get back on track. It’s not going to happen overnight. But, with a little trial and error, as well as patience, you can once again master the art of time management. And, here are nine ways to help you get there.

1. Prioritize your health and well-being with mico-practices.

Right now, the most important thing for you to do is to take care of your health and well-being . After all, how can you stay focused and energized when you’re not feeling 100% physically, emotionally, and mentally?

I don’t want to bore you with the same advice you’ve been told a million times. Exercise. Eat healthily. Get plenty of sleep. And, if you need to talk to some, please reach out to someone who trusts or a professional mental health professional.

All of the above are known as “macro-practices.” But, research has found that just as effective are “micro-practices.”

These are practices that only take a few seconds or minutes to do. They can also be anchored to existing activities. And, they’ve been found to promote calmness and relaxation. For instance, when washing your hands, conduct a self-wellness check-in. Another example would be doing breathing exercises when taking a break from work or writing in a gratitude journal during your evening routine.

2. What’s the best way to structure your day?

When a pandemic strikes, it’s going to disrupt our routines . Even if you were already working from home, COVID-19, as an example, you now have to manage your time homeschooling your kids or sharing a workplace with your spouse or roommate.

In short, while you should have a broad plan on how you’re going to spend your days, it also shouldn’t be too rigid that you don’t have any wiggle room. Remember, during uncertain times, things can change daily. And, since this is already a stressful time, you don’t want to add the pressure of following a strict schedule.

So, how can you achieve this? To be honest, that depends on what exactly is going on in your life. For instance, you may have to be a “teacher” for your kids between 9 am and 11 am. Or, maybe your significant other has a virtual meeting at 1 pm that forces you to hang out in the backyard for its duration.

If you’re in these types of situations, then you need to construct your schedule around them. Perhaps block time for uninterrupted work before you have to homeschool your children. If you have an invite at the same time as your better half, consider an alternative time.

Most importantly, try to work during your personal production peaks . During lulls, leave your calendar open. And forgive yourself if your day didn’t go exactly as planned. Despite what it may seem like, tomorrow is a new beginning to get back on track.

3. Designate a workplace.

A calm, clean, and dedicated workspace is essential. No matter how much you plan or motivated you are, it’s impossible to stay focused when you’re sitting on the couch with the TV on and your family chatting in the background. Moreover, how can you remain productive when you have a messy desk that’s stealing your attention from your work?

In a perfect world, you would have your own home office where you could shut the door and work in silence. But, that’s not possible for everyone . At the least, try to find a quiet area in your home and set up shop there. Make sure that you have everything you need to get your work done. And, make sure that you keep it clean and clutter-free.

Don’t be afraid to experiment or get creative. Is there a closet that you could place a desk in? Could you purchase a small folding table and move it around as needed? Would a wall unit work? Is there a shed or garage that could be converted into a home office?

4. Pay attention to fragmented time.

What exactly is fragmented time? Well, H.V. MacArthur describes this as occurs those “small pockets of 15 to 30-minute blocks of time that exist between scheduled meetings.” I call these time buffers. But, whatever terminology you want to use, the concept is the same.

Having gaps in your schedule gives you a chance to breathe and take a break . It can even be used to help you prepare for your next meeting or to-do-list. And, it ensures that if that Zoom call went into overtime, you aren’t to run late into your next appointment.

Despite these benefits, “most of us are very passive with our calendars,” writes MacArthur. “Clockwise saw a 17% increase in the amount of fragmented time per person per week (blocks of time less than 2 hours) and a 1.27-hour (8%) decrease in the amount of focus time per person per week (blocks of time longer than 2 hours).”

The reason? “People tend to schedule us for meetings based on what works for them and the open space they spot in our calendars,” MacArthur states. “But that may leave you very little time to actually get work done and the fragmented time ends up sucked up in busy but unproductive activities.”

The solution? Bome more “intentional about the ratio of fragmented to focused time you allow in your schedule.”

5. Find a healthier balance with your screens.

Before the coronavirus, we were already dependent on our gadgets. In fact, it’s been found that we tap, click, and swipe our phones a whopping 2,617 times a day.  I can’t imagine what that’s up to now, what with the latest news updates, virtual activities , and staying connected to your work.

Sure. It’s of the utmost importance to remain informed and in-touch. But, it can also be distracting. Even worse, being glued to your screen for too long can be exhausting.

How can you create a healthier relationship with your phone? Well, Catherine Price, author of How To Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan To Take Back Your Life, suggests trying “to gently get into the habit of cultivating moment-to-moment awareness.” It gives you a chance to see see how you feel while on your screens.

“I also recommend reducing ‘ease of access,’” adds Price. “If you’ve got that device in your pocket, it’s very easy to access every news app in the universe.” A quick fix would be to “create a charging station for your phone somewhere nearby, but not within arm’s reach.”

“If you’re having issues with compulsively checking before bed, maybe get your phone out of your bedroom and put a book on your bedside table instead,” states Price. “Put some kind of craft project or a puzzle out on your table so that when you do have a down moment, you have some option that’s easy to get to that’s not your phone.”

Price also recommends being more selective with your apps. That means only keeping those that are beneficial and uninstalling those that aren’t. You may also want to remove social media apps fro your Home screen. And, instead of imposing more things on yourself, reduce the amount of Zoom meeting or conference calls you have on your schedule.

6. Put first things first in your calendar.

“Putting first things first means organizing and executing around your most important priorities,” Stephen Covey famously wrote. “It is living and being driven by the principles you value most, not by the agendas and forces surrounding you.”

In other words, identify your priorities and add them to your calendar. If not, something of less importance will take precedence. Best of all, because you should only a handful of priorities, you can maintain a healthy balance of structure and malleability.

7. Don’t put yourself in calendar debt.

“Lots of people spend time coming up with budgets so they can improve their finances,” writes Kayla Sloan in another Calendar article . “Then they spend additional time tracking their finances and comparing everything to their budget. After that, they may tweak one or the other, and sometimes both, as they balance their spending and income.”

“Sticking to a budget and doing financial planning goes a long way toward reaching your money goals,” adds Kayla. However, “have you ever thought about time in a similar way?” After all, “you can always make more money.”

But, as for time? Well, “once spent, you can’t make more“ of it. “That’s why you should budget your time like you budget money,” suggests Kayla.

Creating a budget for the first time may seem overwhelming. In reality, though, it’s not all that complicated. The key is to know exactly how you want to spend your most valuable asset.

To help you get started, here are some recommendations from Kayla:

• Find and use a calendar app .
• Put your most important tasks in a list.
• Create healthy routines like planning ahead and exercise.
• Block out time for tasks like email.
• Determine what can be automated, delegated, and eliminated from your schedule.
• Learn shortcuts, such as keyboard shortcuts.
• Schedule downtime.
• Keep motivated by setting personal and work goals.

And, as Dave Ramsey explains, when you have a time budget, you gain a sense of traction. As a result, you’ll be more efficient and won’t waste your time on activities that leave you feeling drained.

8. Keep your values in sight.

Think of your values as a compass. Even if you’ve hiked in the same forest hundreds of times, it’s easy to turn yourself around and get lost. Thankfully, you have your trusty compass to guide you out of the woods safely.

When you know the value of your work, by alining it with your mission and values, it’s much easier to stay on track — especially during these unprecedented times. Instead of wasting your time on meaningless activities, you’re only focusing on the things that are bringing you closer to your goals.

9. Look after your peeps.

In this day in age, I highly doubt that you’re working entirely by yourself. I mean, even freelancers and solopreneurs may outsource tasks to others.

Regardless of how many people you’re collaborating with, it’s imperative that you check-in on them. We’re living in strange times right now. And, it’s undoubtedly affecting or mental health, which in turn will impact our performance.

Even just saying “hi” to others can make them feel connected and less isolated. More importantly, you can also make sure that they’re aware of their purpose and help them address any possible issues.

For example, if they’re struggling with time management, make sure that they’re only focusing on their top priorities. If not, and they’re wasting time on something else, then that can bottleneck your own productivity.

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My name is Albert Costill and I'm a content marketer at Calendar. If I can help people become more productive in my journey, even better. If you ever have a question about your Calendar or how you can use it - - don't hesitate to reach out. I'm a Calendar Pro.

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Research Roundup: How the Pandemic Changed Management

• Mark C. Bolino,
• Jacob M. Whitney,
• Sarah E. Henry

Lessons from 69 articles published in top management and applied psychology journals.

Researchers recently reviewed 69 articles focused on the management implications of the Covid-19 pandemic that were published between March 2020 and July 2023 in top journals in management and applied psychology. The review highlights the numerous ways in which employees, teams, leaders, organizations, and societies were impacted and offers lessons for managing through future pandemics or other events of mass disruption.

The recent pandemic disrupted life as we know it, including for employees and organizations around the world. To understand such changes, we recently reviewed 69 articles focused on the management implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. These papers were published between March 2020 and July 2023 in top journals in management and applied psychology.

• Mark C. Bolino is the David L. Boren Professor and the Michael F. Price Chair in International Business at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business. His research focuses on understanding how an organization can inspire its employees to go the extra mile without compromising their personal well-being.
• JW Jacob M. Whitney is a doctoral candidate in management at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business and an incoming assistant professor at Kennesaw State University. His research interests include leadership, teams, and organizational citizenship behavior.
• SH Sarah E. Henry is a doctoral candidate in management at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business and an incoming assistant professor at the University of South Florida. Her research interests include organizational citizenship behaviors, workplace interpersonal dynamics, and international management.

Partner Center

Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

• The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We are still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

• A syllabus for the end of the world

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

• What day is it today?

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of Retreat is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

• Vox is starting a book club. Come read with us!

In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we don’t do is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly. Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

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I Thought We’d Learned Nothing From the Pandemic. I Wasn’t Seeing the Full Picture

M y first home had a back door that opened to a concrete patio with a giant crack down the middle. When my sister and I played, I made sure to stay on the same side of the divide as her, just in case. The 1988 film The Land Before Time was one of the first movies I ever saw, and the image of the earth splintering into pieces planted its roots in my brain. I believed that, even in my own backyard, I could easily become the tiny Triceratops separated from her family, on the other side of the chasm, as everything crumbled into chaos.

Some 30 years later, I marvel at the eerie, unexpected ways that cartoonish nightmare came to life – not just for me and my family, but for all of us. The landscape was already covered in fissures well before COVID-19 made its way across the planet, but the pandemic applied pressure, and the cracks broke wide open, separating us from each other physically and ideologically. Under the weight of the crisis, we scattered and landed on such different patches of earth we could barely see each other’s faces, even when we squinted. We disagreed viciously with each other, about how to respond, but also about what was true.

Recently, someone asked me if we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, and my first thought was a flat no. Nothing. There was a time when I thought it would be the very thing to draw us together and catapult us – as a capital “S” Society – into a kinder future. It’s surreal to remember those early days when people rallied together, sewing masks for health care workers during critical shortages and gathering on balconies in cities from Dallas to New York City to clap and sing songs like “Yellow Submarine.” It felt like a giant lightning bolt shot across the sky, and for one breath, we all saw something that had been hidden in the dark – the inherent vulnerability in being human or maybe our inescapable connectedness .

More from TIME

Read More: The Family Time the Pandemic Stole

But it turns out, it was just a flash. The goodwill vanished as quickly as it appeared. A couple of years later, people feel lied to, abandoned, and all on their own. I’ve felt my own curiosity shrinking, my willingness to reach out waning , my ability to keep my hands open dwindling. I look out across the landscape and see selfishness and rage, burnt earth and so many dead bodies. Game over. We lost. And if we’ve already lost, why try?

Still, the question kept nagging me. I wondered, am I seeing the full picture? What happens when we focus not on the collective society but at one face, one story at a time? I’m not asking for a bow to minimize the suffering – a pretty flourish to put on top and make the whole thing “worth it.” Yuck. That’s not what we need. But I wondered about deep, quiet growth. The kind we feel in our bodies, relationships, homes, places of work, neighborhoods.

Like a walkie-talkie message sent to my allies on the ground, I posted a call on my Instagram. What do you see? What do you hear? What feels possible? Is there life out here? Sprouting up among the rubble? I heard human voices calling back – reports of life, personal and specific. I heard one story at a time – stories of grief and distrust, fury and disappointment. Also gratitude. Discovery. Determination.

Among the most prevalent were the stories of self-revelation. Almost as if machines were given the chance to live as humans, people described blossoming into fuller selves. They listened to their bodies’ cues, recognized their desires and comforts, tuned into their gut instincts, and honored the intuition they hadn’t realized belonged to them. Alex, a writer and fellow disabled parent, found the freedom to explore a fuller version of herself in the privacy the pandemic provided. “The way I dress, the way I love, and the way I carry myself have both shrunk and expanded,” she shared. “I don’t love myself very well with an audience.” Without the daily ritual of trying to pass as “normal” in public, Tamar, a queer mom in the Netherlands, realized she’s autistic. “I think the pandemic helped me to recognize the mask,” she wrote. “Not that unmasking is easy now. But at least I know it’s there.” In a time of widespread suffering that none of us could solve on our own, many tended to our internal wounds and misalignments, large and small, and found clarity.

Read More: A Tool for Staying Grounded in This Era of Constant Uncertainty

I wonder if this flourishing of self-awareness is at least partially responsible for the life alterations people pursued. The pandemic broke open our personal notions of work and pushed us to reevaluate things like time and money. Lucy, a disabled writer in the U.K., made the hard decision to leave her job as a journalist covering Westminster to write freelance about her beloved disability community. “This work feels important in a way nothing else has ever felt,” she wrote. “I don’t think I’d have realized this was what I should be doing without the pandemic.” And she wasn’t alone – many people changed jobs , moved, learned new skills and hobbies, became politically engaged.

Perhaps more than any other shifts, people described a significant reassessment of their relationships. They set boundaries, said no, had challenging conversations. They also reconnected, fell in love, and learned to trust. Jeanne, a quilter in Indiana, got to know relatives she wouldn’t have connected with if lockdowns hadn’t prompted weekly family Zooms. “We are all over the map as regards to our belief systems,” she emphasized, “but it is possible to love people you don’t see eye to eye with on every issue.” Anna, an anti-violence advocate in Maine, learned she could trust her new marriage: “Life was not a honeymoon. But we still chose to turn to each other with kindness and curiosity.” So many bonds forged and broken, strengthened and strained.

Instead of relying on default relationships or institutional structures, widespread recalibrations allowed for going off script and fortifying smaller communities. Mara from Idyllwild, Calif., described the tangible plan for care enacted in her town. “We started a mutual-aid group at the beginning of the pandemic,” she wrote, “and it grew so quickly before we knew it we were feeding 400 of the 4000 residents.” She didn’t pretend the conditions were ideal. In fact, she expressed immense frustration with our collective response to the pandemic. Even so, the local group rallied and continues to offer assistance to their community with help from donations and volunteers (many of whom were originally on the receiving end of support). “I’ve learned that people thrive when they feel their connection to others,” she wrote. Clare, a teacher from the U.K., voiced similar conviction as she described a giant scarf she’s woven out of ribbons, each representing a single person. The scarf is “a collection of stories, moments and wisdom we are sharing with each other,” she wrote. It now stretches well over 1,000 feet.

A few hours into reading the comments, I lay back on my bed, phone held against my chest. The room was quiet, but my internal world was lighting up with firefly flickers. What felt different? Surely part of it was receiving personal accounts of deep-rooted growth. And also, there was something to the mere act of asking and listening. Maybe it connected me to humans before battle cries. Maybe it was the chance to be in conversation with others who were also trying to understand – what is happening to us? Underneath it all, an undeniable thread remained; I saw people peering into the mess and narrating their findings onto the shared frequency. Every comment was like a flare into the sky. I’m here! And if the sky is full of flares, we aren’t alone.

I recognized my own pandemic discoveries – some minor, others massive. Like washing off thick eyeliner and mascara every night is more effort than it’s worth; I can transform the mundane into the magical with a bedsheet, a movie projector, and twinkle lights; my paralyzed body can mother an infant in ways I’d never seen modeled for me. I remembered disappointing, bewildering conversations within my own family of origin and our imperfect attempts to remain close while also seeing things so differently. I realized that every time I get the weekly invite to my virtual “Find the Mumsies” call, with a tiny group of moms living hundreds of miles apart, I’m being welcomed into a pocket of unexpected community. Even though we’ve never been in one room all together, I’ve felt an uncommon kind of solace in their now-familiar faces.

Hope is a slippery thing. I desperately want to hold onto it, but everywhere I look there are real, weighty reasons to despair. The pandemic marks a stretch on the timeline that tangles with a teetering democracy, a deteriorating planet , the loss of human rights that once felt unshakable . When the world is falling apart Land Before Time style, it can feel trite, sniffing out the beauty – useless, firing off flares to anyone looking for signs of life. But, while I’m under no delusions that if we just keep trudging forward we’ll find our own oasis of waterfalls and grassy meadows glistening in the sunshine beneath a heavenly chorus, I wonder if trivializing small acts of beauty, connection, and hope actually cuts us off from resources essential to our survival. The group of abandoned dinosaurs were keeping each other alive and making each other laugh well before they made it to their fantasy ending.

Read More: How Ice Cream Became My Own Personal Act of Resistance

After the monarch butterfly went on the endangered-species list, my friend and fellow writer Hannah Soyer sent me wildflower seeds to plant in my yard. A simple act of big hope – that I will actually plant them, that they will grow, that a monarch butterfly will receive nourishment from whatever blossoms are able to push their way through the dirt. There are so many ways that could fail. But maybe the outcome wasn’t exactly the point. Maybe hope is the dogged insistence – the stubborn defiance – to continue cultivating moments of beauty regardless. There is value in the planting apart from the harvest.

I can’t point out a single collective lesson from the pandemic. It’s hard to see any great “we.” Still, I see the faces in my moms’ group, making pancakes for their kids and popping on between strings of meetings while we try to figure out how to raise these small people in this chaotic world. I think of my friends on Instagram tending to the selves they discovered when no one was watching and the scarf of ribbons stretching the length of more than three football fields. I remember my family of three, holding hands on the way up the ramp to the library. These bits of growth and rings of support might not be loud or right on the surface, but that’s not the same thing as nothing. If we only cared about the bottom-line defeats or sweeping successes of the big picture, we’d never plant flowers at all.

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/watch-live-tips-to-improve-time-management-under-quarantine

WATCH: 5 ways to manage your time during a pandemic

The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 2 million people and killed more than 130,000 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. As countries around the world, including the United States, grapple with how to contain COVID-19, school closings, stay-at-home orders and other restrictions have upended daily life for many.

Watch the livestream in the player above.

Kamini Wood, a certified life coach, and the PBS NewsHour’s Amna Nawaz answered your questions about time management in a shifting world of working-from-home, unemployment and school closings.

What’s the best way to structure your day?

This pandemic has forced many to face a new normal and find a new routine. That often includes working with the rest of your family or roommates.

Wood emphasizes giving yourself “an element of grace” when going through your day-to-day life. That means giving yourself time to relax or find an activity you enjoy, and keep things in perspective.

She said it’s helpful to maintain at least a broader plan for your days, which means not staying in your pajamas — in an effort to feel like you are really starting your day — but not making things so structured “where every hour is planned out.”

Finding that happy medium means you don’t overstress yourself in an already stressful moment in history, and gives you the leeway to focus on your accomplishments, rather than the things you missed during the day.

“Things may have to change, and it’s going to be okay,” Wood said.

Wood also recommends setting short-term daily schedules, rather than long-term schedules since “it’s a fluid time for us.”

Things may shift from day-to-day so it’s important to stay flexible when things need to change. Wood mentioned, as an example, that teachers are trying to figure out how to maintain classes and adapt to the changing circumstances.

Ultimately, she recommends taking things day-by-day to help prevent feeling overwhelmed.

How do I manage time with kids at home?

Just as adults are feeling stressed out by this change, kids are also feeling stressed about their regular routines being upended.

Wood said it’s important to give your children a safe space to talk about their feelings.

“They understand more than we necessarily think they do,” she said.

Children will likely not have the same stressors as you, and the best way to figure out what’s stressing them out is to communicate. That way, it’s easier to find ways to alleviate their anxiety.

For younger children in particular, they may not even know how to process the emotions they’re feeling. Wood said it’s important to acknowledge their frustrations and find a way to help them work through it.

Wood also emphasized that there’s no single right answer to this, and that the best thing to do is figure out what works for your particular family.

“There’s not a right way to do it,” she said. “But there is going to be our way of doing it.”

When working around family members in general, Wood said to practice forgiveness and to try to practice joy.

Remembering to be forgiving and to find moments of joy helps to “bring that happiness back into our lives.”

Is it a good time to start something new?

Many of us may suddenly have a lot of time to explore new skills or projects, but Wood emphasizes that it’s not necessarily the most important thing to do right now.

“We have to honor ourselves and where we’re at,” she said.

She reminds everyone not to give yourself more stress than you can manage, so while it may be a good time to learn something new, you shouldn’t start it if you don’t have the passion or energy to try it out.

“Remember you’re doing your best,” she said.

How do I maintain certain habits if I’ve lost my job?

Since the outbreak, millions of Americans have filed for unemployment, which means for so many, the routines attached to work schedules have been severely affected.

Wood said the thing to remember is that none of this was in your control.

“You did not have control over this pandemic, or this uncertainty that has happened,” she said. “What you do have control over is how you choose to move forward.”

She also said to remember that “it’s okay to be vulnerable” and to ask for help from your support group, whether that’s family or friends.

Most importantly, she said, practice self compassion.

“One of the things you can do is really evaluate and appreciate who you are as a person, what your values and your core gifts are, and when you anchor into those things, you’ll remember how valuable you are,” she said.

After reminding yourself of your support base and your self worth, then you can earnestly plan your next steps.

When it’s difficult to even get up in the morning, Wood suggests practicing self-care once you wake up, perhaps some exercise or meditation, to help you get motivated for the day. After that, laying out a plan can help keep you on track.

How should I deal with stress?

Wood said the first thing to do when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed is to accept that those thoughts are there, but they don’t have to drive the rest of your day.

She recommends having a “brain dump” by writing your thoughts in a journal, with no particular structure. That way, the feelings have a place to go. She also said it can be helpful to rip the page up when you’re done.

“Emotions are meant to be in motion,” she said.

Wood also suggests, at the end of the day, to make a list of all your accomplishments, no matter how small. This helps with the feeling of being “stuck” or feeling like you did not accomplish enough that day.

When dealing with more immediate stress, Wood recommends acknowledging the feelings and to have a way to “get present.”

“If you’re having a sad day, recognize that it’s okay to be sad,” she said.

To stay present in the moment, it helps to tune into your five senses, thinking about what you can hear, or taste, or touch. That way, your mind focuses on that rather than all the racing thoughts and emotions swirling around.

Wood also suggests finding an anchoring thought or word that helps you settle down. Her personal anchoring word is “grace,” which she admits she repeats to herself a lot.

“It’s a reminder that you’re okay,” she said.

Justin Stabley is a digital editor at the PBS NewsHour.

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• Covid 19 Essays

Covid 19 Essays (Examples)

206+ documents containing “covid 19” .

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Covid 19 and healthcare worker burnout.

Article Review: COVID-19 and the Mental Health Impact Upon Healthcare WorkersAmericans lauded healthcare workers as the nations heroes during the height of the pandemic. But, just like other Americans, healthcare workers too were also personally and intimately affected by the impact of COVID-19. They had to deal with the overwhelming experience of dealing with stress, sickness, and death daily, in a manner which many of them were unprepared for before the crisis. Hall & Powers (2022) remind the reader in their article Addressing the mental health impact of the COVID pandemic on healthcare workers, America is now facing three years of the pandemic, and years of medical misinformation, death, and frustrations with the seemingly endless waves of infection and reinfection.Healthcare workers face greater physical risk from infectious illness, and also a psychological toll from frustration and a sense of helplessness, both when patients pass away, and also resistance to accepting….

Hall, E.J. & Powers, R. E. (2022, June 23) Addressing the mental health impact of the COVID

pandemic on healthcare workers. Newswires.  https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/577854977/addressing-the-mental-health-impact-of-the-covid-pandemic-on-healthcare-workers 

Covid 19 Pandemic Midterm Project

Covid 19 Pandemic Continues To Threaten the Survival of Human Service OrganizationsCovid 19 has impacted the physical, mental, and social lives of human beings from all dimensions. Despite the growing needs of social services firms or community-based organizations (CBOs), they struggle to fulfill those needs (Tsega et al., 2020). They have dwindling resources to meet the requirements of such individuals. Government and funding agencies are also out of techniques and funds to meet the demands of these contracts or the costs of delivering pertinent services.There are three main challenges that CBOs are facing in times of crisis: long-term financial survival, staff availability for being active even on low salaries, and delivery concerns to meet the clients needs (Tsega et al., 2020). Some of the ethical challenges that the social work employees were not aware of or were not prepared for beforehand when Covid struck the world are building a relationship….

Banks, S., Cai, T., de Jonge, E., Shears, J., Shum, M., Sobocan, A.M., Strom, K., Truell, R., Uriz, M.J. & Weinberg, M. (2020, June 29). Ethical challenges for social workers during Covid 19: A global perspective. The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW).  https://www.ifsw.org/ethical-challenges-for-social-workers-during-covid-19-a-global-perspective/ 

Chadi, N., Ryan, N. C., & Geoffroy, M. C. (2022). COVID-19 and the impacts on youth mental health: emerging evidence from longitudinal studies. Les impacts de la pandémie de la COVID-19 sur la santé mentale des jeunes: données émergeantes des études longitudinales. Canadian Journal of Public Health= Revue Canadienne de Sante Publique, 113(1), 44–52.  https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-021-00567-8 

Exner-Cortens, D., Baker, E., Gray, S., Fernandez Conde, C., Rivera, R. R., Van Bavel, M., Vezina, E., Ambrose, A., Pawluk, C., Schwartz, K. D., & Arnold, P. D. (2021). School-based suicide risk assessment using eHealth for youth: Systematic scoping review. JMIR Mental Health, 8(9), e29454.  https://doi.org/10.2196/29454

COVID 19 Pandemic and Interest Rates

COVID-19 Pandemic The coronavirus pandemic is a grave global health threat, significantly disrupting everyday life and the economy in Canada as well as everywhere else across the world. While all Canadian economic sectors have been adversely impacted, a few like the travel, hospitality, service, and energy industry have been especially hit hard. Necessary public health measures are taken for containing virus spread, including the closedown of educational institutions, social distancing, and lockdowns, and emergency states, themselves greatly and adversely affect economic activity. But a key point to note is that though the effect is huge, it will, nevertheless, pass soon. Experts worldwide have adopted major valiant steps to combat the virus and its spread and support individuals as well as organizations through this very tough time (CBC News, 2020). Impact of COVID-19 on Interest Rates The average Canadian interest rate between 1990 and 2020 was 5.86% - it attained an unprecedented high in….

COVID 19 Vaccinations

1) What is the name of the article? Where was it published? Who is the author and what are his or her credentials?a. Name: Public health officials are failing to communicate effectively about AstraZenecab. Published: May 12, 2021c. Author: Joel Abramsd. Author Credentials: Manager of Outreach at The Conversation US2) Post a link to the article or the actual article with your assignmenta. https://theconversation.com/public-health-officials-are-failing-to-communicate-effectively-about-astrazeneca-1603403) How did you search for or find it (search words, reading, etc)?I searched for the article using Google. I was particularly interested in vaccinations and their overall impact on society. This was compounded by the exception speed by which the vaccines were approved and administered to the public. Due to the speed and complexity of the virus I was interested in researching aspects that failed with the vaccine rollout and how it was being communicated to the public. I wanted to see how health officials would….

1. Abbasi J. COVID-19 and mRNA Vaccines-First Large Test for a New Approach. JAMA. 2020 Sep 3. PubMed:  https://pubmed.gov/32880613 . Full-text:

2. Alter G, Seder R: The Power of Antibody-Based Surveillance. N Engl J Med 2020, published 1 September. Full-text:  https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe2028079 .

3. Ball P. The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines — and what it means for other diseases. Nature 2020, published 18 December. Full-text:  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03626-1 

Financial Corporates COVID 19 Pandemic

COVID-19 Pandemic on Financial CorporatesA dividend can be defined as the dispersion of some of the companys incomes to a group of eligible shareholders as the firms board of directors determines it. Familiar stakeholders of dividend-paying companies are typically qualified if they possess the merchandiser before the date of ex-dividend. The bonus may be reimbursed out as coinage or as an arrangement of added merchandise. Additionally, fringe benefits are expenditures carried out by publicly recorded businesses as a prize to depositors for depositing their cash into the project. The statements of dividend payouts are usually followed by a proportional rise or fall in a companys stock value. Most companies retain earnings to be invested back into the company rather than paying dividends. Examples of dividends are cash dividends and bonus shares. A cash dividend is a dividend rewarded in cash and will reduce the companys cash reserves.On the other hand,….

Allen, Franklin, and Roni Michaely. “Dividend policy.” Handbooks in operations research and management science 9 (1995): 793-837.

Barr, Michael S., Howell E. Jackson, and Margaret E. Tahyar. “The Financial Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Available at SSRN 3666461 (2020).

Beck, Thorsten. “Finance in the times of coronavirus.” Economics in the Time of COVID-19 73 (2020).

Beckman, Jayson, and Amanda M. Countryman. “The Importance of Agriculture in the Economy: Impacts from COVID?19.” American journal of agricultural economics (2021).

Impact of COVID 19 on Pregnant Couples Persuasive Speech

Conquering COVID – A Guide for a Pregnant Couple Persuasive Speech Outline Topic: Conquering COVID – A Guide for a Pregnant Couple 1. Introduction a. Does COVID-19 hit harder when one is pregnant? If a pregnant woman is affected, will the virus damage the baby? b. Many of us have probably seen daily coronavirus updates and are aware of some of the measures we can take to prevent us from contracting the virus. We have received lots of information on wearing masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene practices. We have also heard about some of the measures taken to help one recover/conquer the virus when infected. However, there is little information on the impact of COVID-19 on a pregnant couple and what they can do to conquer the virus during pregnancy. c. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnant women are vulnerable populations that are likely to be hospitalized, risk preterm birth,….

How Covid 19 has impacted'supply chains in American industry

Simon Property Group is one of the premier shopping center operators in the world. The firm looks to own, develop, and manage high quality shopping and entertainment destinations. The company is also looking to transition its high value real estate assets into mixed used destinations. Here, the company will not only provide shopping, dining, and entertainment options, but also residential and office experiences. As of its latest annual shareholder filing, Simon owns properties in 37 states and Puerto Rico. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on the overall retail industry and Simon Property Group. The fear of contracting the virus along with nationwide closures have significantly reduced traffic to Simon’s properties. As a result, it supply chains have been dramatically altered throughout the 2020 fiscal year. In addition, COVID-19 has indirectly impacted Simon, through higher adoption rates and usage of online channels. As consumers are now forced to purchased discretionary goods….

Hate Crimes against Asians The Surge in COVID 19

Introduction In China, the city of Wuhan is believed to be ground zero of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, which started in late December 2019. The virus has since spread globally, with cases of infection reported in almost all world countries. The United States, in particular, has been heavily affected by the spread of the virus, with the country's death toll in the hundreds of thousands and a still greater number of the infected. Amidst the worry and fear of the viral spread, several reports of harassment and even physical violence to Asian Americans have sprung up across the nation (Gover et al., 647). This paper uses a mix of media information and empirical sources to analyze the nature and effect of the hate crimes committed against Asian Americans in the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anti-Asian Hate Crime during the COVID-19 pandemic The fear created by the rising number of daily….

Sample COVID 19 Marketing Program

Introduction: As the holiday season approaches, it is imperative that standards related to social distancing and PPE are adhered to. This is particularly true as Americans enter a critical holiday season where family gathers are scheduled to occur over the next few months. Due to this occurrence, a community outreach program is needed to help mitigate the impacts of the virus on local communities. Through a concerted door to door campaign, we aim to help lower the threat of the virus, educated the community, and ultimately save lives. The campaign will first consist of door to door outreach, talking specifically about how to minimize the impacts of the virus during the holiday season. Here, we will look to share information with households will also provide resources for individuals to utilized during their own time. In conjunction with the door to door campaign we also are looking to use small radio….

How NHL Responded to COVID 19

The National Hockey League and their COVID-19 ResponseThe COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly impacted lives and livelihoods across the globe as the virus continues to spread worldwide and new variants emerge. COVID-19 has essentially affected every sector of the economy and society as governments are forced to adopt measures to contain its spread. One of the areas that have been affected by the spread of the virus is sports. National sports leagues such as the National Hockey League (NHL) have been affected. In the initial stages of the pandemic, NHL suspended all sporting activities just like other national sports leagues in effort to curb the spread of the virus. However, the pandemic still rages on, which implies that NHL has to find better ways of COVID-19 response amidst the emergence of new variants like the Delta variant. This segment provides suggestions for improving NHLs response to the pandemic based on….

Global CAD. (2020). Managing your organization successfully during COVID-19. Retrieved August 17, 2021, from  https://globalcad.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GlobalCAD-CovidEnglish_April15v2.pdf 

Gregory, S. (2020). The NHL had 0 positive COVID-19 tests throughout postseason. We asked Commissioner Gary Bettman what we can learn from that. Time. Retrieved August 17, 2021, from  https://time.com/5894175/nhl-gary-bettman-stanley-cup-covid/ 

Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2019). Essentials of business communication (11th ed.). Australia: Cengage.

Maguire, K. (2021). COVID-19 and football: Crisis creates opportunity. The Political Quarterly, 92(1), 132-138.

Effect of COVID 19 on Teacher Burnout

Findings and ResultsThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of COVID-19 on teacher burnout. The study identifies the COVID-19 global pandemic as an example of environmental factors that contribute to or influence teacher burnout. This research was conducted on grounds that teacher well-being remains one of the most critical issues in the United States educational sector. Teacher well-being has gained interest in the U.S. because of the increased diversity and demands across schools and classrooms. Moreover, given the nature of their work, teachers are predisposed to a series of stressors including lack of emotional support, student discipline problems, and poor working conditions (Ross, Romer, & Horner, 2012). To achieve the purpose of the study, four individual teachers were included in the survey. These participants provided significant insights into the issue of teacher burnout, environmental factors contributing to it, and the impact of COVID-19 on teacher burnout.ResultsAs previously….

Buchanan, J. (2012). Telling tales out of school: Exploring why former teachers are not returning to the classroom. Australian Journal of Education, 56(2), 205-217.

Chang, M.-L. (2009). An appraisal perspective of teacher burnout: examining the emotional work of teachers. Educational Psychology Review, 21(3), 193-218. doi:10.1007/s10648- 009-9106-y

Graber, B. D. (2018). From frantic to focused: The impact of environmental factors and personal factors on elementary teacher stress (dissertation). Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC.

How Does COVID-19 Affect Healthcare Economically

Annotated Bibliography Cutler, D. (2020). How will COVID-19 Affect the health care economy? JAMA, 323(22), 2237-2238. DOI: 10.1001/JAMA.2020.7308 The author discusses the economic and healthcare crisis the COVID-19 pandemic created. The projections drawn in the paper predict a 10 to 25% contraction of the US economy in the second quarter. The writer asserts that the United States has entered a COVID-19 recession. The pandemic's economic effect is attributed to the federal government's failure to provide adequate testing facilities. Pak, A., Adegboye, O., Adekunle, A., Rahman, K., McBryde, E., & Eisen, D. (2020). Economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak: The need for epidemic preparedness. Public Health, 8(241). DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00241 The author highlights the effect of COVID-19 on the global economy and financial markets. The paper indicates the significant reduction in income, unemployment rise, disruptions in industrial operation, and service rendering due to the measures employed to deal with the pandemic in various countries. An underestimation….

Florida Hospital COVID 19 Crisis

Good Health Hospital: COVID-19 CrisisWith any disease, there are three basic levels of addressing the crisis, that of primary care (prevention), management during the early stages, and then more intensive tertiary-level treatment when the disease has become more advanced. With COVID-19, the healthcare system has been dealing with several critical factors regarding the pandemic. As well as the disease itself, there has been an evolution of new variants such as Omicron, which has been infecting already-vaccinated people, and resistance to the idea of vaccination at all. The speed with which the pandemic is intensifying is of particular concern.According to Salvador-Carulla (et al., 2019), hospitals must move from an evidence-based framework, with rigorous long-term testing of various epidemiological approaches. Instead, an evidence-informed framework must be adopted. Hospitals must make do with good enough information, given the rapidity with which the pandemic has spread. Good management has always been compromised of a….

Khaliq, A.A. (2018). Managerial epidemiology: Principles and applications. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

Knowles, H. & Beachum, L (2022). Some GOP leaders are scornful or silent about booster shots seen as key to fighting omicron. The Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/04/booster-shots-governors-republican/ 

Pilishvili, T., Gierke, R., Fleming-Dutra, K. E., Farrar, J. L., Mohr, N. M., Talan, D. A.,Krishnadasan, A., Harland, K. K., Smithline, H. A., Hou, P. C., Lee, L. C., Lim, S. C., Moran, G. J., Krebs, E., Steele, M. T., Beiser, D. G., Faine, B., Haran, J. P., Nandi, U., Schrading, W. A., … Vaccine effectiveness among healthcare personnel study team (2021). Effectiveness of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine among U.S. Health Care Personnel. The New England Journal of Medicine, 385(25), e90.  https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2106599

More Beds in the ICU Needed to Fight COVID 19

Mitigating the COVID Crisis in the ERWhat can be done to mitigate the COVID-19 type crisis in America's emergency rooms? To mitigate the COVID-19 crisis in America's emergency rooms, several actions can be taken. First, increasing the number of hospital beds and staffing levels can aid in managing the high demand for medical care. This can be done through the construction of temporary facilities and the recruitment of healthcare workers from outside the region (Berlinger, 2020). Second, strengthening the supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies can ensure that healthcare workers have the resources they need to safely care for patients. This can involve partnerships with private industry to increase production and distribution of essential items. Third, improving access to COVID-19 testing can help to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the number of hospitalizations. This can be done through expanding the availability of….

Berlinger, N., Wynia, M., Powell, T., Hester, D. M., Milliken, A., Fabi, R., & Jenks, N. P. (2020). Ethical framework for health care institutions responding to novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) guidelines for institutional ethics services responding to COVID-19. The Hastings Center, 12.

Rockwell, K. L., & Gilroy, A. S. (2020). Incorporating telemedicine as part of COVID-19 outbreak response systems. Am J Manag Care, 26(4), 147-148.

How the Ethics Challenges Facing Accountants will Change Post Covid 19

AbstractBusinesses of all sizes and types have suffered from the adverse effects of the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic, and the world is still facing a fundamental existential threat. Nevertheless, efficacious vaccines have been developed and increasing numbers of consumers are recognizing the need to be vaccinated against this deadly disease to the point where many observers can see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Although no one can predict the future with absolute precision, an article written by the Working Group formed by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and national ethics standard setters (NSS) from Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, the UK and the US provides a timely extrapolation of current economic trajectories to describe several ethics challenges that accountants can be reasonably expected to encounter in the years to come. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the….

Five ethics challenges that will intensify as the pandemic wanes. (2021, May 10). International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) and National Standard Setters (NSS) from Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. working group. Retrieved from  https://www.ethicsboard.org/news-events/2021-05/5-ethics-challenges-will-intensify-pandemic-wanes .

Need assistance developing essay topics related to Covid 19. Can you offer any guidance?

Of course! Here are some essay topic ideas related to Covid-19: 1. The impact of Covid-19 on mental health: Discuss how the pandemic has affected individuals' mental well-being and explore potential solutions for addressing mental health challenges during this time. 2. The disparities in healthcare access during the Covid-19 pandemic: Analyze how different communities have been disproportionately affected by the virus and delve into the systemic inequalities that have exacerbated health disparities. 3. The economic consequences of Covid-19: Examine the economic fallout of the pandemic, including job losses, business closures, and financial strains on individuals and families. Consider potential strategies for economic recovery....

Essay Topics Related to COVID-19 Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on individuals, societies, and economies worldwide. Its multifaceted nature presents a wealth of topics suitable for academic exploration. This essay provides guidance on developing engaging and insightful essay topics related to COVID-19, offering a comprehensive range of perspectives to choose from. Health and Medical Impacts The Impact of COVID-19 on Public Health: Assessing the Global Response and Preparedness Long-Term Health Effects of COVID-19: Exploring Physical, Mental, and Social Consequences The Role of Vaccines in Combating COVID-19: Ethical, Scientific, and Policy Considerations The Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Systems: Resource....

How has COVID-19 impacted global travel and tourism trends?

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on global travel and tourism trends. The pandemic has led to widespread travel restrictions, border closures, and changes in consumer behavior, all of which have had a major effect on the travel and tourism industry. Some of the key impacts of COVID-19 on global travel and tourism trends include: 1. Travel restrictions and border closures: Many countries have implemented travel restrictions and closed their borders to international visitors in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. This has led to a dramatic decrease in international travel and tourism and has had a significant....

COVID-19's Devastating Impact on Global Travel and Tourism: A Trend Analysis The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a seismic shock on the global travel and tourism industry, leaving a trail of unprecedented disruption and economic turmoil. As governments imposed travel restrictions and lockdowns to contain the virus, the once-bustling travel sector came to a screeching halt, with dire consequences for businesses and destinations worldwide. Here's an in-depth analysis of the profound impact of COVID-19 on global travel and tourism trends: Crumbling Travel Demand and Economic Losses The pandemic has decimated travel demand, leading to a catastrophic decline in international arrivals. According to the World....

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Annotated Bibliography Cutler, D. (2020). How will COVID-19 Affect the health care economy? JAMA, 323(22), 2237-2238. DOI: 10.1001/JAMA.2020.7308 The author discusses the economic and healthcare crisis the COVID-19 pandemic created. The…

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Positive leadership in uncertain times

For business leaders, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated unprecedented change. More than ever, the health of businesses is urgently and visibly linked with the health of workforces, the health of our society, and the health of our planet. Previously unimaginable shifts in our daily lives are compelling companies to adapt quickly and identify creative, unconventional ways to operate and survive. Worldwide uncertainty makes it more difficult for leaders to find their footing—and those who like to operate from a place of clarity are finding few ports in this global storm.

The question most leaders are facing, then, is this: How do we move forward in such uniquely uncertain circumstances? Positive, effective leadership  helps us navigate crises, rebuild communities, and forge ahead in moments of ambiguity. But with so many challenges colliding at once, many leaders may be struggling to chart a clear way forward.

To gain that foothold and respond effectively, leaders should act on three imperatives: clarifying your purpose, supporting your stakeholders, and bolstering your emotional and organizational resilience.

The first step is to rediscover or reemphasize your purpose . The temptation for businesses in moments of crisis is often to get small, to hunker down and zero in on bottom-line fundamentals and metrics. Now, instead of narrowing their focus, leaders in a crisis should consider pulling back and reminding themselves of their guiding principles. Emphasizing purpose will also signal your intentions to the wider world, instilling confidence and goodwill among stakeholders who share your principles. In times of change, workers, consumers, and investors alike will gravitate toward organizations whose purpose reflects their personal values and beliefs.

The second step is to ask what actions you can take to protect and support those who rely on you and the organization—especially those who may be particularly vulnerable or whose needs are becoming increasingly acute. That means taking stock of who your stakeholders  are—from customers and investors to employees, communities, and society as a whole. It means identifying what they need—and recognizing that these needs may differ in each case. And it means determining how you can serve them most effectively, from short-term decisions like how to continue operations at a time of physical distancing, to long-term considerations such as whether to prioritize employees’ current wages or equity for retirement. It may also include potentially redesigning supply chains  to support local employment while also strengthening the resiliency of operations. Your stakeholders are the people who drive and measure your success, and particularly when success feels elusive, recommitting to them can galvanize the trust, confidence, and morale required to forge ahead.

The third step is to prioritize your emotional and organizational resilience. Even with a strong purpose and a plan to serve your extended community, your progress may not be immediately apparent. You will need to marshal resolve in order to stay the course—and to handle the kind of attention that comes from doing so. To make that adjustment, identify and access the actions and behaviors that make you a more thoughtful and capable leader—whether that involves making time for activities that restore your energy, pursuing the space you need to gain perspective, or simply ensuring that you are getting the sleep you need. In short, find balance.

Equally important is empowering the right teams. When faced with an overwhelming volume of critical decisions, leaders may feel the urge to limit authority and tighten control. But organizational resilience depends on more stakeholders and perspectives, organized across a network of cross-functional teams  with clear mandates. Empowering leaders with the right temperament and character—those who stay curious and flexible and are willing to make the tough, even unpopular calls—is vital for thoughtful and swift decision making.

Every step involves choices that are tough to make even in good times, let alone in uncertain ones, but the same instincts and actions that will see us through this current global crisis will also make us stronger as we face longer-term challenges. The ability to understand who we are and what we value, recognize our responsibilities and our opportunities, and chart a course based on our most fundamental goals while supporting our own emotional resilience and that of our organization—these are skills that will fortify us in the years and decades ahead. As we navigate an uncertain road today, our approach to this moment will inform the way we lead tomorrow.

This essay first appeared in the Milken Institute’s Power of Ideas collection focused on building and rebuilding lives in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The essay series features insights from thought leaders across industries. Read their contributions and share your thoughts using #PowerofIdeas. Find more coverage on the Milken Institute LinkedIn page .

Liz Hilton Segel is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New York office.

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Leadership in a crisis: Responding to the coronavirus outbreak and future challenges

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Covid 19 Essay in English

Essay on Covid -19: In a very short amount of time, coronavirus has spread globally. It has had an enormous impact on people's lives, economy, and societies all around the world, affecting every country. Governments have had to take severe measures to try and contain the pandemic. The virus has altered our way of life in many ways, including its effects on our health and our economy. Here are a few sample essays on ‘CoronaVirus’.

100 Words Essay on Covid 19

200 words essay on covid 19, 500 words essay on covid 19.

COVID-19 or Corona Virus is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in 2019. It is similar to other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but it is more contagious and has caused more severe respiratory illness in people who have been infected. The novel coronavirus became a global pandemic in a very short period of time. It has affected lives, economies and societies across the world, leaving no country untouched. The virus has caused governments to take drastic measures to try and contain it. From health implications to economic and social ramifications, COVID-19 impacted every part of our lives. It has been more than 2 years since the pandemic hit and the world is still recovering from its effects.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the world has been impacted in a number of ways. For one, the global economy has taken a hit as businesses have been forced to close their doors. This has led to widespread job losses and an increase in poverty levels around the world. Additionally, countries have had to impose strict travel restrictions in an attempt to contain the virus, which has resulted in a decrease in tourism and international trade. Furthermore, the pandemic has put immense pressure on healthcare systems globally, as hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. Lastly, the outbreak has led to a general feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, as people are fearful of contracting the disease.

My Experience of COVID-19

I still remember how abruptly colleges and schools shut down in March 2020. I was a college student at that time and I was under the impression that everything would go back to normal in a few weeks. I could not have been more wrong. The situation only got worse every week and the government had to impose a lockdown. There were so many restrictions in place. For example, we had to wear face masks whenever we left the house, and we could only go out for essential errands. Restaurants and shops were only allowed to operate at take-out capacity, and many businesses were shut down.

In the current scenario, coronavirus is dominating all aspects of our lives. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc upon people’s lives, altering the way we live and work in a very short amount of time. It has revolutionised how we think about health care, education, and even social interaction. This virus has had long-term implications on our society, including its impact on mental health, economic stability, and global politics. But we as individuals can help to mitigate these effects by taking personal responsibility to protect themselves and those around them from infection.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Education

The outbreak of coronavirus has had a significant impact on education systems around the world. In China, where the virus originated, all schools and universities were closed for several weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Many other countries have followed suit, either closing schools altogether or suspending classes for a period of time.

This has resulted in a major disruption to the education of millions of students. Some have been able to continue their studies online, but many have not had access to the internet or have not been able to afford the costs associated with it. This has led to a widening of the digital divide between those who can afford to continue their education online and those who cannot.

The closure of schools has also had a negative impact on the mental health of many students. With no face-to-face contact with friends and teachers, some students have felt isolated and anxious. This has been compounded by the worry and uncertainty surrounding the virus itself.

The situation with coronavirus has improved and schools have been reopened but students are still catching up with the gap of 2 years that the pandemic created. In the meantime, governments and educational institutions are working together to find ways to support students and ensure that they are able to continue their education despite these difficult circumstances.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Economy

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had a significant impact on the global economy. The virus, which originated in China, has spread to over two hundred countries, resulting in widespread panic and a decrease in global trade. As a result of the outbreak, many businesses have been forced to close their doors, leading to a rise in unemployment. In addition, the stock market has taken a severe hit.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Health

The effects that coronavirus has on one's health are still being studied and researched as the virus continues to spread throughout the world. However, some of the potential effects on health that have been observed thus far include respiratory problems, fever, and coughing. In severe cases, pneumonia, kidney failure, and death can occur. It is important for people who think they may have been exposed to the virus to seek medical attention immediately so that they can be treated properly and avoid any serious complications. There is no specific cure or treatment for coronavirus at this time, but there are ways to help ease symptoms and prevent the virus from spreading.

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The complexity of managing COVID-19: How important is good governance?

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Alaka m. basu , amb alaka m. basu professor, department of global development - cornell university, senior fellow - united nations foundation kaushik basu , and kaushik basu nonresident senior fellow - global economy and development @kaushikcbasu jose maria u. tapia jmut jose maria u. tapia student - cornell university.

November 17, 2020

• 13 min read

This essay is part of “ Reimagining the global economy: Building back better in a post-COVID-19 world ,” a collection of 12 essays presenting new ideas to guide policies and shape debates in a post-COVID-19 world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of public health systems worldwide, casting a shadow that we could not have imagined even a year ago. As the fog of confusion lifts and we begin to understand the rudiments of how the virus behaves, the end of the pandemic is nowhere in sight. The number of cases and the deaths continue to rise. The latter breached the 1 million mark a few weeks ago and it looks likely now that, in terms of severity, this pandemic will surpass the Asian Flu of 1957-58 and the Hong Kong Flu of 1968-69.

Moreover, a parallel problem may well exceed the direct death toll from the virus. We are referring to the growing economic crises globally, and the prospect that these may hit emerging economies especially hard.

The economic fall-out is not entirely the direct outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic but a result of how we have responded to it—what measures governments took and how ordinary people, workers, and firms reacted to the crisis. The government activism to contain the virus that we saw this time exceeds that in previous such crises, which may have dampened the spread of the COVID-19 but has extracted a toll from the economy.

This essay takes stock of the policies adopted by governments in emerging economies, and what effect these governance strategies may have had, and then speculates about what the future is likely to look like and what we may do here on.

Nations that build walls to keep out goods, people and talent will get out-competed by other nations in the product market.

It is becoming clear that the scramble among several emerging economies to imitate and outdo European and North American countries was a mistake. We get a glimpse of this by considering two nations continents apart, the economies of which have been among the hardest hit in the world, namely, Peru and India. During the second quarter of 2020, Peru saw an annual growth of -30.2 percent and India -23.9 percent. From the global Q2 data that have emerged thus far, Peru and India are among the four slowest growing economies in the world. Along with U.K and Tunisia these are the only nations that lost more than 20 percent of their GDP. 1

COVID-19-related mortality statistics, and, in particular, the Crude Mortality Rate (CMR), however imperfect, are the most telling indicator of the comparative scale of the pandemic in different countries. At first glance, from the end of October 2020, Peru, with 1039 COVID-19 deaths per million population looks bad by any standard and much worse than India with 88. Peru’s CMR is currently among the highest reported globally.

However, both Peru and India need to be placed in regional perspective. For reasons that are likely to do with the history of past diseases, there are striking regional differences in the lethality of the virus (Figure 11.1). South America is worse hit than any other world region, and Asia and Africa seem to have got it relatively lightly, in contrast to Europe and America. The stark regional difference cries out for more epidemiological analysis. But even as we await that, these are differences that cannot be ignored.

To understand the effect of policy interventions, it is therefore important to look at how these countries fare within their own regions, which have had similar histories of illnesses and viruses (Figure 11.2). Both Peru and India do much worse than the neighbors with whom they largely share their social, economic, ecological and demographic features. Peru’s COVID-19 mortality rate per million population, or CMR, of 1039 is ahead of the second highest, Brazil at 749, and almost twice that of Argentina at 679.

Similarly, India at 88 compares well with Europe and the U.S., as does virtually all of Asia and Africa, but is doing much worse than its neighbors, with the second worst country in the region, Afghanistan, experiencing less than half the death rate of India.

The official Indian statement that up to 78,000 deaths 2 were averted by the lockdown has been criticized 3 for its assumptions. A more reasonable exercise is to estimate the excess deaths experienced by a country that breaks away from the pattern of its regional neighbors. So, for example, if India had experienced Afghanistan’s COVID-19 mortality rate, it would by now have had 54,112 deaths. And if it had the rate reported by Bangladesh, it would have had 49,950 deaths from COVID-19 today. In other words, more than half its current toll of some 122,099 COVID-19 deaths would have been avoided if it had experienced the same virus hit as its neighbors.

What might explain this outlier experience of COVID-19 CMRs and economic downslide in India and Peru? If the regional background conditions are broadly similar, one is left to ask if it is in fact the policy response that differed markedly and might account for these relatively poor outcomes.

Peru and India have performed poorly in terms of GDP growth rate in Q2 2020 among the countries displayed in Table 2, and given that both these countries are often treated as case studies of strong governance, this draws attention to the fact that there may be a dissonance between strong governance and good governance.

The turnaround for India has been especially surprising, given that until a few years ago it was among the three fastest growing economies in the world. The slowdown began in 2016, though the sharp downturn, sharper than virtually all other countries, occurred after the lockdown.

On the COVID-19 policy front, both India and Peru have become known for what the Oxford University’s COVID Policy Tracker 4 calls the “stringency” of the government’s response to the epidemic. At 8 pm on March 24, 2020, the Indian government announced, with four hours’ notice, a complete nationwide shutdown. Virtually all movement outside the perimeter of one’s home was officially sought to be brought to a standstill. Naturally, as described in several papers, such as that of Ray and Subramanian, 5 this meant that most economic life also came to a sudden standstill, which in turn meant that hundreds of millions of workers in the informal, as well as more marginally formal sectors, lost their livelihoods.

In addition, tens of millions of these workers, being migrant workers in places far-flung from their original homes, also lost their temporary homes and their savings with these lost livelihoods, so that the only safe space that beckoned them was their place of origin in small towns and villages often hundreds of miles away from their places of work.

After a few weeks of precarious living in their migrant destinations, they set off, on foot since trains and buses had been stopped, for these towns and villages, creating a “lockdown and scatter” that spread the virus from the city to the town and the town to the village. Indeed, “lockdown” is a bit of a misnomer for what happened in India, since over 20 million people did exactly the opposite of what one does in a lockdown. Thus India had a strange combination of lockdown some and scatter the rest, like in no other country. They spilled out and scattered in ways they would otherwise not do. It is not surprising that the infection, which was marginally present in rural areas (23 percent in April), now makes up some 54 percent of all cases in India. 6

In Peru too, the lockdown was sudden, nationwide, long drawn out and stringent. 7 Jobs were lost, financial aid was difficult to disburse, migrant workers were forced to return home, and the virus has now spread to all parts of the country with death rates from it surpassing almost every other part of the world.

As an aside, to think about ways of implementing lockdowns that are less stringent and geographically as well as functionally less total, an example from yet another continent is instructive. Ethiopia, with a COVID-19 death rate of 13 per million population seems to have bettered the already relatively low African rate of 31 in Table 1. 8

We hope that human beings will emerge from this crisis more aware of the problems of sustainability.

The way forward

We next move from the immediate crisis to the medium term. Where is the world headed and how should we deal with the new world? Arguably, that two sectors that will emerge larger and stronger in the post-pandemic world are: digital technology and outsourcing, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

The last 9 months of the pandemic have been a huge training ground for people in the use of digital technology—Zoom, WebEx, digital finance, and many others. This learning-by-doing exercise is likely to give a big boost to outsourcing, which has the potential to help countries like India, the Philippines, and South Africa.

Globalization may see a short-run retreat but, we believe, it will come back with a vengeance. Nations that build walls to keep out goods, people and talent will get out-competed by other nations in the product market. This realization will make most countries reverse their knee-jerk anti-globalization; and the ones that do not will cease to be important global players. Either way, globalization will be back on track and with a much greater amount of outsourcing.

To return, more critically this time, to our earlier aside on Ethiopia, its historical and contemporary record on tampering with internet connectivity 9 in an attempt to muzzle inter-ethnic tensions and political dissent will not serve it well in such a post-pandemic scenario. This is a useful reminder for all emerging market economies.

We hope that human beings will emerge from this crisis more aware of the problems of sustainability. This could divert some demand from luxury goods to better health, and what is best described as “creative consumption”: art, music, and culture. 10 The former will mean much larger healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

But to take advantage of these new opportunities, nations will need to navigate the current predicament so that they have a viable economy once the pandemic passes. Thus it is important to be able to control the pandemic while keeping the economy open. There is some emerging literature 11 on this, but much more is needed. This is a governance challenge of a kind rarely faced, because the pandemic has disrupted normal markets and there is need, at least in the short run, for governments to step in to fill the caveat.

Emerging economies will have to devise novel governance strategies for doing this double duty of tamping down on new infections without strident controls on economic behavior and without blindly imitating Europe and America.

Here is an example. One interesting opportunity amidst this chaos is to tap into the “resource” of those who have already had COVID-19 and are immune, even if only in the short-term—we still have no definitive evidence on the length of acquired immunity. These people can be offered a high salary to work in sectors that require physical interaction with others. This will help keep supply chains unbroken. Normally, the market would have on its own caused such a salary increase but in this case, the main benefit of marshaling this labor force is on the aggregate economy and GDP and therefore is a classic case of positive externality, which the free market does not adequately reward. It is more a challenge of governance. As with most economic policy, this will need careful research and design before being implemented. We have to be aware that a policy like this will come with its risk of bribery and corruption. There is also the moral hazard challenge of poor people choosing to get COVID-19 in order to qualify for these special jobs. Safeguards will be needed against these risks. But we believe that any government that succeeds in implementing an intelligently-designed intervention to draw on this huge, under-utilized resource can have a big, positive impact on the economy 12 .

This is just one idea. We must innovate in different ways to survive the crisis and then have the ability to navigate the new world that will emerge, hopefully in the not too distant future.

Related Content

Emiliana Vegas, Rebecca Winthrop

Homi Kharas, John W. McArthur

Anthony F. Pipa, Max Bouchet

Note: We are grateful for financial support from Cornell University’s Hatfield Fund for the research associated with this paper. We also wish to express our gratitude to Homi Kharas for many suggestions and David Batcheck for generous editorial help.

• “GDP Annual Growth Rate – Forecast 2020-2022,” Trading Economics, https://tradingeconomics.com/forecast/gdp-annual-growth-rate.
• “Government Cites Various Statistical Models, Says Averted Between 1.4 Million-2.9 Million Cases Due To Lockdown,” Business World, May 23, 2020, www.businessworld.in/article/Government-Cites-Various-Statistical-Models-Says-Averted-Between-1-4-million-2-9-million-Cases-Due-To-Lockdown/23-05-2020-193002/.
• Suvrat Raju, “Did the Indian lockdown avert deaths?” medRxiv , July 5, 2020, https://europepmc.org/article/ppr/ppr183813#A1.
• “COVID Policy Tracker,” Oxford University, https://github.com/OxCGRT/covid-policy-tracker t.
• Debraj Ray and S. Subramanian, “India’s Lockdown: An Interim Report,” NBER Working Paper, May 2020, https://www.nber.org/papers/w27282.
• Gopika Gopakumar and Shayan Ghosh, “Rural recovery could slow down as cases rise, says Ghosh,” Mint, August 19, 2020, https://www.livemint.com/news/india/rural-recovery-could-slow-down-as-cases-rise-says-ghosh-11597801644015.html.
• Pierina Pighi Bel and Jake Horton, “Coronavirus: What’s happening in Peru?,” BBC, July 9, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53150808.
• “No lockdown, few ventilators, but Ethiopia is beating Covid-19,” Financial Times, May 27, 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/7c6327ca-a00b-11ea-b65d-489c67b0d85d.
• Cara Anna, “Ethiopia enters 3rd week of internet shutdown after unrest,” Washington Post, July 14, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/ethiopia-enters-3rd-week-of-internet-shutdown-after-unrest/2020/07/14/4699c400-c5d6-11ea-a825-8722004e4150_story.html.
• Patrick Kabanda, The Creative Wealth of Nations: Can the Arts Advance Development? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).
• Guanlin Li et al, “Disease-dependent interaction policies to support health and economic outcomes during the COVID-19 epidemic,” medRxiv, August 2020, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.24.20180752v3.
• For helpful discussion concerning this idea, we are grateful to Turab Hussain, Daksh Walia and Mehr-un-Nisa, during a seminar of South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM).

Global Economy and Development

Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti

June 28, 2024

Zouera Youssoufou, Zakari Momodu

June 27, 2024

Brahima Sangafowa Coulibaly, Zia Qureshi

August 1, 2024

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The turn from just-in-time to just-in-case globalization in and after times of COVID-19: An essay on the risk re-appraisal of borders and buffers

Affiliations.

• 1 Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
• 2 School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• 3 Antwerp Management School / Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
• PMID: 34171023
• PMCID: PMC7264036
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100034

In this essay, we apply insights from International Economics and Economic Geography to examine how the current COVID-19 crisis may structurally change the international economy. Our key argument is that the current crisis will fundamentally change key economic actors' risk appetite, triggering a renewed risk assessment that will lead to the comeback of buffers and borders across industries. This partial return to regionalization will involve a form of de-globalization that transforms modern just-in-time management into its just-in-case counterpart, because resilience will be priced and discounted for by enterprises and governments alike. We discuss what such a structural change will imply for the International Business of international value chains.

Keywords: COVID-19; Economic geography; Globalization; International business; International economics; Spatial economics.

© 2020 The Authors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors state that there are no conflicts of interest, and that all three contributed equally to this commentary.

Traditional trade networks in the…

Traditional trade networks in the textile industry Source: WTO Global Value Chain Development…

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Impacts of Long COVID on workers: A longitudinal study of employment exit, work hours and mental health in the UK

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Birmingham Business School, City-Region Economic Development Institute, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Keele Business School, Keele University, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

• Darja Reuschke, 
• Donald Houston, 
• Paul Sissons

• Published: June 26, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous implications for the world of work. However, there has been relatively little focus on the employment and workforce challenges of the virus in relation to workforce health, beyond the immediate management of the spread of the disease. There is an important gap in understanding the ongoing workforce issues created by the significant incidence of Long COVID in the population.

This paper examines the effects of Long COVID on employment and workers’ mental health to contribute to understanding of work-limiting health conditions and to offer policy implications for COVID-19 and similar health conditions on employment and the workforce.

A large national panel study for the UK is used to estimate the likelihood of exiting employment as well as on changes in working hours and general mental health and happiness of those who remain in work. The sample includes individuals 16 years and older who were in employment in January/February 2020 and followed during the pandemic 2020–2021. Long COVID is self-reported in the data. Informed by conceptual consideration of employment protection in the UK, two groups of individuals with Long COVID are defined based on the duration of symptoms. Group 1 has Long COVID 5–28 weeks after an infection with COVID-19, which is up to the maximum length of Statutory Sick Pay in the UK. Group 2 has symptoms for 29+ weeks, which is beyond the statutory entitlement to sickness pay. Panel regression models are fitted both with fixed-effects and random-effects. Individual and job characteristics are used as controls Those with no COVID-19 symptoms are the reference group.

In between-person comparison, Group 2 is at higher risk of exiting employment compared to those with no COVID-19 symptoms. Between-person estimates of mental health and well-being show negative effects of Long COVID for both groups but these are greatest in Group 2. Within-person estimates suggest that factors associated with earnings mediate the negative Long COVID effects on mental health in Group 1 and that Group 2 adapts to working with Long COVID. Group 1 is at risk of working zero hours (i.e. being on sick leave) but neither Group 1 nor Group 2 have a higher probability of working fewer hours compared to those with no COVID-19 symptoms. The negative impact of Long COVID on working hours stems primarily from working zero hours (sickness leave) rather than working fewer hours, suggesting a lack of accommodation by employers of Long COVID at work.

Policy implications

The extension of Statutory Sickness Pay and greater flexibility to manage partial (returns to) work would help preserve employment and mental health. Those with Long COVID for 12 months are likely to meet the definition of disability and so have a right to receive reasonable workplace adjustments.

Citation: Reuschke D, Houston D, Sissons P (2024) Impacts of Long COVID on workers: A longitudinal study of employment exit, work hours and mental health in the UK. PLoS ONE 19(6): e0306122. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122

Editor: Gabriel A. Picone, University of South Florida, UNITED STATES

Received: January 25, 2024; Accepted: June 11, 2024; Published: June 26, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Reuschke et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research. (2021). Understanding Society: COVID-19 Study, 2020-2021. [data collection]. 11th Edition. UK Data Service. SN: 8644, DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-8644-11 University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research. (2022). Understanding Society: Waves 1-11, 2009-2020 and Harmonised BHPS: Waves 1-18, 1991-2009. [data collection]. 15th Edition. UK Data Service. SN: 6614, DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-6614-16 .

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

Long COVID describes a long-term debilitating illness following an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is conceptually defined as persistent COVID-19 symptoms or late complications of the virus infection that develop at least five weeks after an initial infection with the virus [ 1 , 2 ]. Symptoms of Long COVID are multidimensional and can include chronic or episodic physical, cognitive or mental illness [ 3 – 5 ]. Fatigue, breathing problems, inability to concentrate and muscle pain are common [ 6 , 7 ] and can pose significant limitations on daily activities [ 8 ]. Symptoms often fluctuate or relapse [ 2 , 9 ]. Worldwide an estimated 65 million people have had Long COVID [ 10 ]. It affects individuals of all ages [ 10 ] but those between 45–54 are at greatest risk [ 8 ]. Double vaccination only gives modest protection [ 11 ]. It is estimated that 10–12% of the vaccinated population develop Long COVID following a COVID-19 infection [ 10 ]. The higher prevalence of Long COVID in people of working-age and the withdrawal of public vaccination programmes for those under 65 years of age in the UK mean that Long COVID is set to have a significant and lasting impact on individuals’ health, employment and earnings. There is currently no effective treatment for Long COVID and it can be difficult to clinically diagnose [ 10 ].

The onset of long-term illness can have three contrasting, although not mutually exclusive, negative impacts on employment outcomes with consequences for both employees and employers: i) leaving the labour market, either on a permanent or temporary basis until health may recover; ii) reducing hours worked in order to accommodate health problems, including sickness absence; or iii) continuing in existing work arrangements, with possible further consequences for the health and well-being. In addition to the impacts of long-term illness such as Long COVID itself on mental health and job loss, impaired ability to work can have further significant negative impacts on mental health.

Given the large numbers of the population reporting Long COVID [ 6 , 10 ] and a sharp rise in economic inactivity (those neither working nor seeking or available for work) and resultant labour shortages [ 12 ], it is surprising that little robust evidence is available on the potential workforce impacts [ 1 ]. Narratives about the impact of the pandemic on the workforce have tended to focus on lifestyle reappraisal such as the ‘Great Retirement’ and only recently have begun to acknowledge that the pandemic’s direct health impact may be an important driver of rising ill-health and economic inactivity. This paper aims to help address this gap through providing evidence on the impacts of Long COVID on workers using data for the United Kingdom (UK). The focus is on employment outcomes as well as the mental health outcomes of those in employment covering a range of impacts of Long COVID on workers.

The main contribution of this study is to provide robust evidence on the impact of COVID-related health conditions on employment. This is an important contribution to social epidemiology and public health studies, which overwhelmingly focus on the impact of employment on health [ 13 ]. The morbidity effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been documented and, therefore, research is now needed on how developing Long COVID affects employment and in-work experiences. As with other difficult-to-diagnose illnesses with varied symptoms such as chronic fatigue syndrome, research is also needed to reveal and change the societal misperceptions, stigma and discrimination experienced by people and employees with ‘unrecognised’ diseases where individuals usually do not have a specific diagnosis [ 14 – 16 ]. We use a large national longitudinal survey of people 16 years and older and multi-variate panel regression modelling to estimate how the development of Long COVID has changed individuals’ employment and in-work experience.

2. Context and existing evidence

Poor health and disability (a health condition that has lasted or is expected to last more than 12 months and limits daily activity) carry large penalties for employment [ 17 ]. Chronic illnesses, disabilities and mental health conditions have been associated with labour market exit and barriers for re-employment [ 18 – 20 ]. Disabilities and poor health have also been associated with worse in-work experiences compared to non-disabled employees in relation to contentment, perception of fairness, well-being and job satisfaction [ 21 , 22 ]. These health-related inequalities in work experiences have been conceptualised through multiple interconnected factors related to individual characteristics (e.g. type of disability), context (legislation) and at the organisational level factors including discrimination and the lack of workplace accommodations and provision of support [ 23 , 24 ]. Long COVID, as a new complex illness, raises therefore important questions about employment outcomes and in-work experiences. Investigating work outcomes of Long COVID adds to previous studies on work-limiting conditions through focussing on an illness which is often associated, similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, with comorbid health conditions and people often do not receive appropriate treatment and are not eligible for disability benefits [ 18 ].

Studies on Long COVID have suggested large negative effects of developing the illness on quality of life due to the major challenges posed by physical health conditions, problems with mental health including anxiety and depression and the unpredictability of symptoms [ 7 , 25 – 28 ]. Scientific evidence on the impact of Long COVID on employment and in-work experiences are limited as most existing studies have been based on samples not designed to investigate consequences for work and employment, in particular studies based on samples of hospitalised patients [ 29 ] or limited to individuals with COVID-19 symptoms or self-reported Long COVID [ 7 , 9 ] with no comparator or control group. A limited number of studies have recruited small non-random samples of workers to describe experiences of workers with Long COVID [ 30 , 31 ]. These scientific limitations notwithstanding, existing evidence suggests that Long COVID creates burdens for the ability to return to work due to the severity of the symptoms and their fluctuating nature [ 31 ]. Existing UK studies, based on different sampling strategies, found an increased level of sickness leave due to Long COVID both in hospitalised and not hospitalised patients [ 7 , 32 ].

Long COVID is associated with stigma as the health conditions are poorly understood and difficult for health services to manage [ 16 ]. Many Long COVID sufferers do not have a medical diagnosis [ 14 ]. There is no scientific evidence on Long COVID stigma and worker experiences but studies have increasingly shown that health-related stigma by employers, co-workers and others such as health care professionals and customers is a barrier to employment and well-being at work of people with disabilities [ 33 ]. A survey by the Trade Union Congress drawing on a self-selective sample of 3,000 respondents with Long COVID, states that 66 per cent of respondents reported they had received unfair treatment at work, and 23 per cent reported their employer had queried whether they had Long COVID or the severity of their symptoms [ 34 ].

Long COVID may often limit daily activities for less than 12 months, but it is often long enough to impact on employment and mental health, not least since the UK’s Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) system only protects employment for six months (28 weeks) following the onset of a health problem and payment levels are unrelated to normal earnings as in insurance-based schemes. To provide some context, in the UK, only around half of employers have occupational sick pay schemes which pay a higher rate than statutory requirements and few extend beyond six months [ 35 ]. SSP is available to employees meeting the health and earnings criteria but who are not covered by an occupational sick pay scheme. SSP is relatively ungenerous (up to £99.35 GBP per week) and is set at a flat rate, rather than providing a level of compensation relative to salary [ 36 ]. SSP is also relatively inflexible, creating difficulties around phased returns to work. Longer-term periods of ill-health therefore often precipitate the termination of employment and necessitate a claim to out-of-work sickness benefits [ 37 ].

There are also significant differences in access to occupational health support to enable workers to remain in work. Large and public sector employers are more likely to offer access to occupational health services, while lower paid and lower qualified employees, those working in smaller firms, are less likely to have access to such services [ 38 ]. In terms of disability support for those in work, there is also evidence to suggest that access to supportive practices are not evenly distributed among the workforce, and that support for invisible disabilities by employers and colleagues may be more limited than for more visible conditions [ 39 ].

Together, these gaps in the sick pay system and inequalities in the coverage of occupational health support represent important limitations in the provision of support to allow individuals to remain in work while managing health conditions in the UK. However, no existing study has investigated the association between work outcomes of Long COVID and the length of employment protection in law and how the employment and in-work experiences of Long COVID may be mitigated by certain worker or job characteristics (e.g. skills level, earnings).

3. Data and methods

3.1 survey data.

The dataset used is the Understanding Society COVID-19 Study 2020–2021 , which draws on a large household panel study, Understanding Society (USoc), which started in 2009 with a nationally representative sampling frame. The data are available to researchers who are registered with the UK Data Service [ 40 ]. The present study has received ethical approval from the Humanities and Social Sciences Committee at the University of Birmingham (ERN_2069).

The first survey round of the USoc COVID-19 Study was conducted in April 2020, soon after the onset of the pandemic, administered online to all adult members 16 years and older of the annual panel study (n = 42,330), and again every month until July 2020, thereafter every two months until March 2021, with a last wave in September 2021 (wave 9). In the first wave, 17,745 individuals completed the survey [ 41 ]. Individuals could also join the study in waves 2–4. In total, across all nine waves, 19,763 individuals participated in the study. However, as in all longitudinal surveys, there is an issue with panel attrition. From all individuals who participated in the study, 40.5% participated in every wave. A relatively high proportion of 9.5% only participated in wave 1 (April 2020).

The USoc COVID-19 Study 2020–21 can be linked with the USoc main panel study [ 42 ]. This allows the linkage of pre-COVID-19 characteristics to the COVID-19 survey data. We use participant’s 2019 interview for additional pre-COVID-19 information. The USoc COVID-19 Study ended before the spike in COVID-19 infections caused by the BA.2 Omicron virus. However, the design and breadth of the USoc COVID-19 Study including information on individuals pre-COVID characteristics, allow an in-depth investigation of employment effects not possible with other secondary survey data.

3.1.1 Measuring long COVID.

The study started in April 2020 (wave 1) but only in the three surveys in January, March and September 2021 (waves 7–9) a question on the duration of coronavirus symptoms was included in the questionnaire and asked from those who previously reported that they had COVID-19 symptoms and had not returned to previous health or who reported COVID-19 symptoms in the current survey (“For how many weeks have you experienced coronavirus symptoms?”). In line with the UK Office for National Statistic’s Community Infection Survey, we define Long COVID as having had COVID-19 symptoms for five weeks and more [ 6 ]. From the initially recruited participants, n = 15,249 were still in the study at least once over the waves 7–9 and n = 9,678 individuals were in the study in each of these three waves our study is based on.

Our focus is on the health-related COVID-19 impact on employment and in-work experiences of those who remain in work. Longer-term periods of ill health that extend the maximum period of Statutory Sickness Pay of 28 weeks in the UK, often precipitate the termination of employment [ 35 ]. This is the maximum period we expect especially low-paid workers and those in more insecure employment positions to be more likely to leave employment. Those on lower income and in lower skilled jobs in particular, may need to work even if they are unwell which may result in lower in-work experiences. This is the rationale for deriving two groups of individuals with Long COVID for this study: 1) 5–28 weeks of symptoms and 2) symptoms of 29 weeks and more. For comparison, we define a further two groups of respondents with 3) COVID-19 symptoms of less than five weeks (short COVID) after a COVID-19 infection and 4) a group with no symptoms including recovery from a previous coronavirus infection (used as reference group in the modelling). This is our preferred measure of Long COVID for this study. However, when estimating employment exit, we also use a binary (total) measure of Long COVID (see section 3.3.1). This measure defines as Long COVID all those who reported that they have not recovered from a COVID-19 infection or who had experienced coronavirus symptoms for five weeks and more [ 32 ]. The comparison group on this binary measure are respondents with no COVID-19 symptoms or who recovered from a coronavirus infection.

Some people answered in the same interview that they have not recovered from a coronavirus infection which they reported in a previous interview and that they have experienced at the time of the interview coronavirus symptoms for fewer than five weeks. It is likely that these respondents have reported a re-infection with COVID-19 on top of their Long COVID. We do not include these observations in our duration-based Long COVID measure since no reliable information is available on respondent’s length of Long COVID.

3.1.2 Measuring employment and mental health outcomes.

Respondents were asked about their work status (employed, self-employed, both employed and self-employed, none) in January/February 2020 retrospectively when they first entered the survey and for each wave of the USoc COVID-19 Study. Those who were furloughed were asked to report their work status as being employed. From this we derive a binary variable capturing exit from employment (paid employment or self-employment) compared to having remained in employment. The survey does not differentiate between economic inactivity and unemployment so that we cannot differentiate between these outcomes.

We further explore employment outcomes for those who remain in employment using number of hours worked to test whether Long COVID is associated with a reduction in working hours.

In addition, two measures of mental health and well-being are examined. From the General Health Questionnaire comprising of 12 questions (GHQ-12) we use the Likert scale ranging from 0 to 36 with 0 indicating the least distressed and 36 the most distressed as a measure of general mental health. From the GHQ-12, the single question on happiness is used as a measure of subjective well-being. It has been used to study performance at work and is therefore useful to examine in-work experiences in our study alongside the full GHQ-12 [ 43 ]. The happiness question measures whether individuals feel more happy than usual (coded 1) to much less happy than usual (coded 4). We reverse both the Likert and the happiness scales so that in our modelling findings, positive (negative) values indicate a higher (lower) level of mental health and well-being.

Our sample draws on survey responses in waves 7–9 (January-September 2021) of the USoc COVID-19 Study in which the question on the duration of COVID-19 symptoms was included. We select respondents who were in employment in January/February 2020. For estimating employment exit, we use a sample of 9,288 individuals with at least one observation between January-September 2021 (Sample 1). For some analysis, we further restrict this sample only to individuals for whom we have information on their employment status in at least two waves (from waves 7–9).

We derive a second sample that includes observations from individuals in employment both in January/February 2020 and in waves 7–9 (Sample 2). The sample size are 20,225 wave-observations (n = 8,708 individuals). The sample size in the multi-variate analysis varies depending on the outcome variable and the modelling frame used.

The second employment sample contains n = 1,906 wave-observations of working zero hours (9.5% of all wave-observations), the average number of number of hours worked of those who worked at least one hour is 34.36 (sd = 13.0), the average reversed GHQ-12 score is 23.6 (sd = 5.8) which is within the range of the expected mental health score, and the highest proportion (48%) of the sample reports that they are no more unhappy or depressed than usual (mean = 3.0, sd = 0.8). A summary of the dependent variables by our duration-based Long COVID variable is shown in Table 1 . A sample description of all co-variates used in the multi-variate analysis is shown in the Supplementary Documentation ( S1 Appendix ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.t001

The sample description in Table 1 shows an increased proportion of respondents not being employed in waves 7–9 among those with Long COVID 29+ weeks. Those with Long COVID symptoms within the Statutory Sickness Pay period (5–28 weeks), have a similar proportion of respondents out of employment compared to those who have no COVID-19 symptoms (including having recovered from a previous COVID-19 infection). In the descriptive data, among respondents who have remained in employment, the proportion of those working zero hours is substantially higher among those with Long COVID 5–28 weeks compared to those with no COVID-19 symptoms although if still working at least one hour per week, this Long COVID group works on average an hour longer than those with no COVID-19 symptoms. Those with Long COVID 29+ weeks have a slightly higher proportion of respondents working zero hours compared to the group of respondents with no COVID-19 symptoms and their mean working hours (if they are still working) is lowest of all groups. The mean GHQ-12 and happiness scores show large differences across the four groups. For both Long COVID groups, the scores are substantially lower indicating lower mental health and well-being.

3.3 Analytical framework

We have panel data (individuals i observed at different times t ) and estimate both random-effects and fixed-effects panel models for each of the set of employment and mental health outcomes. Stata 16 is used for the statistical analysis.

The fixed-effects panel model estimates within-individual variation and requires that the same individual is observed twice, once when they experienced COVID-19 symptoms and once when they did not experience COVID-19 symptoms. These models include an error term that represents individual-specific unmeasured characteristics and therefore allow to control for unobserved heterogeneity due to time-invariant omitted variables and traits. The disadvantage is, however, that individuals in our study who experienced Long COVID in all three subsequent waves, are not included in the statistical analysis.

This is why we also report random-effects models which estimate between-individual variation and within-individual variation. These models, however, assume that the error term is not correlated with unobserved time-invariant (and time-variant) variables. Random-effects models allow the investigation of time-invariant characteristics which we also report. We include as time-invariant variables pre-COVID-19 job characteristics of the respondents which we link to the survey data from the main panel study.

3.3.1 Employment exit.

We estimate the probability of having moved from employment to non-employment with logistic regression models. Unfortunately, we cannot fit a logistic regression model with fixed effects using our duration-based measure. The model requires that people have experienced between subsequent waves changes in the work status and COVID-19 symptoms categories. We can fit a logistic regression model with fixed effects using the binary (total) Long COVID measure (COVID-19 symptoms 5+ weeks vs <5 weeks including no symptoms and recovery from COVID-19). We report random-effects findings for the duration-based measure of Long COVID (no symptom, short COVID, Long COVID 5–28 weeks, Long COVID 29+ weeks).

3.3.2 Working time.

We estimate effects of Long COVID on working hours using a two-step approach. First, we use a binary logistic regression with working zero hours as dependent variable and, second, a log-linear regression model of working hours.

3.3.3 Mental health and well-being.

We regress the reversed and standardised GHQ-12 score using linear panel regressions (positive/negative values indicate better/lower mental health, see 3.1.2). For the reversed 4-item happiness scale which measures whether respondents are less happy or much happier compared to their usual status, ordered logistic panel regression models are fitted.

3.3.4 Co-variates.

In the fixed-effects regression panel models, co-variates included are the age of the respondents and age squared, two variables indicating whether a partner/spouse and a child 0–15 years of age live in the household, and wave dummies. Time-invariant characteristics are included in the error term.

For estimating the effects of Long COVID on the number of hours worked and mental health and well-being, the following (time-variant) variables are also added in the fixed-effects models: industry sectors and employment status (employee vs self-employed), based on the large variations of working conditions across sectors and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on self-employed work (note that these are not added in the model of working zero hours due to the small number of observations). In models of mental health and well-being, we further include as a co-variate hourly earnings as lower incomes have been associated with poorer mental health [ 44 ].

In the random-effects panel regression models, a comprehensive set of co-variates of personal characteristics is added to the above time-variant variables: sex, highest education, ethnicity, region, and a long-standing health condition in the year preceding the pandemic (from the main panel interview) (see S1 Appendix ). Previous research has shown that the prevalence of Long COVID is greater in people with another activity-limiting health condition or disability, in particular asthma, lung disease or heart disease [ 45 ].

In the employment exit random-effects models, we further add as pre-COVID-19 characteristics: industry sector, number of hours worked, a temporary (versus permanent) contract, self-employment and hourly earnings, taken either from the 2019 main panel interview or from retrospective information for January/February 2020 collected in the USoc COVID-19 survey.

3.3.5 Robustness checks.

As robustness checks for models of hours worked and mental health, we derive measures of change between the respondent’s interview that fell into waves 7–9 and their number of hours work in January/February 2020 and their GHQ-12 score in 2019 (from the USoc main panel interview). The GHQ-12 change score is standardised and reversed so that negative (positive) values indicate a decline (increase) in mental health. Linear regression models are used to examine whether Long COVID is related with a reduction in hours worked or decline in mental health for the same individuals including controls (3.3.4).

4.1 Employment exit

Findings on whether Long COVID is connected with an increased risk of leaving the workforce, are summarised in two models in Table 2 . The data, unfortunately, do not allow the investigation of Long COVID using the duration-based measure of Long COVID in a fixed-effects (FE) model framework (which requires change in work status and in the four COVID-19 symptoms groups). However, a fixed-effects logistic regression model is fitted using the binary measure of Long COVID (COVID-19 symptoms 5+ week or not). These results are displayed in Model 1 ( Table 2 ). Model 2 ( Table 2 ) uses the duration-based measure of Long COVID with no COVID-19 symptoms as reference group in the random-effects panel framework. Results are shown in odds ratio (OR). The number of wave-observations and of individuals between the fixed-effects (FE) and random-effects (RE) model are strikingly different as the fixed-effects models only uses wave-observations from individuals who experienced both a change in work status and Long COVID. The random-effects model instead estimates the odds of an employment exit for the four COVID-19 symptoms groups and controls. Odds ratios larger (smaller) than 1 indicate that an employment exit has greater (fewer) odds of occurring with the co-variate.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.t002

The binary (total) measure of Long COVID is not significantly related with an exit from employment in the fixed-effects model (Model 1, Table 2 ). The odds ratio is increased (OR = 1.36, sd = 0.7) but not significantly larger than Zero. The duration-based measure of COVID-19 symptoms instead shows a large and significant increase of the odds of those with Long COVID 29+ weeks (OR = 3.5, sd = 1.9) to have exited the workforce compared to those who did not have COVID-19 symptoms or have recovered from a COVID-19 infection (Model 2, Table 2 ). In comparison, those with Long COVID 5–28 weeks (that is within the Statutory Sickness Pay period) and those with short COVID (<5 weeks) do not have significantly higher odds of not being in employment any more than those with no COVID-19 symptoms.

Long COVID and a previous long-standing health condition are interrelated in our sample (e.g. 53% of respondents with COVID-19 symptoms for 29+ weeks reported a previous health condition compared to 28% of respondents with no COVID-19 symptoms). Previous research has also shown that the prevalence of Long COVID is greater in people with another activity-limiting health condition or disability, in particular asthma, lung disease or heart disease [ 45 ]. Importantly, however, findings in Model 2 in Table 2 show that the odds of an employment exit are twice as high for Long COVID for 29+weeks to a previous long-standing health condition (OR = 3.5, sd = 1.9 compared to OR = 1.7, sd = 0.3).

In both model frameworks, findings show an inverse relationship with age suggesting that both young and older people left the workforce. Furthermore, the random-effects model framework (Model 2) reveals an increased risk of employment exit of Asian people (OR = 3.2, sd = 1.2), those with insecure (temporary) jobs (OR = 2.7, sd = 0.7) or those who worked fewer hours before the outbreak of the pandemic (OR = 0.9, sd = 0.01). The only industry sector that shows a significant positive relationship with an employment exit compared to the advanced service sector is the combined category of transport, information and communication (OR = 2.9, sd = 1.1).

4.2 Working hours

Findings in Table 3 show whether Long COVID has had a negative impact on the number of hours worked (of those still in employment). Models 1 and 2 estimate the risk of working zero hours using fixed-effects (FE) and random-effects (RE). Results are shown in odds ratio. Using observations from individuals who worked at least one hour in the reference week (see Table 1 ), Models 3 and 4 estimate the effect of Long COVID and controls on number of working hours (logged) first with fixed-effects (FE) and then with random-effects (RE).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.t003

We find that having short COVID (symptoms <5 weeks) or Long COVID 5–28 weeks, i.e. a duration covered by Statutory Sickness Pay according to employment protection law, increases the odds of not working (while still being in employment) (OR = 1.9–3.6, sd = 0.3–1.0). For those with Long COVID beyond the maximum period of employment protection in the UK of 28 weeks, we do not find a relationship with working zero hours.

In the random-effects model (Model 2, Table 3 ) also a previous long-standing health condition shows a positive relationship with working zero hours (OR = 1.7, sd = 0.2), although this effect is smaller relative to having short COVID (OR = 2.1, sd = 0.3) and Long COVID 5–28 weeks (OR = 3.6, sd = 1.0). The random-effects model also reveals a greater risk of working zero hours in industry sectors particularly affected by lockdowns (hospitality—GI, transportation—HJ and personal services—RSTU), women (OR = 1.9, sd = 0.2), the self-employed (OR = 2.96, sd = 0.5) and those on lower earnings (OR = 0.76, sd = 0.8).

Considering only those who are still working at least one hour per week (Models 3 and 4 in Table 3 ), neither of the COVID-19 symptoms groups display a relationship with the number of hours worked compared to those with no COVID-19 symptoms. Hence, the impact of Long COVID on working hours is due to workers not working at all rather than working reduced hours. This result is supported by additional analysis of the change in working hours between the COVID-19 surveys (waves 7–9) and January/February 2020 using the duration-based Long COVID variable and the same controls (see S1 Appendix ). This shows that those with short COVID (<5 weeks) and Long COVID 5–28 weeks are associated with a significant reduction in working hours compared to those with no COVID-19 symptoms but those with Long COVID 29+ weeks do not work less (or more) than they did before the pandemic.

Furthermore, a previous long-standing health condition is also not related with reduced working hours (Model 4, Table 3 ). Instead we find that young people (age squared = -0.0003, sd = 0.0001), women (-0.03, sd = 0.01), working in retail and hospitality (GI—-0.09, sd = 0.02) and being self-employed (-0.27, sd = 0.01) are related with shorter working hours.

4.3 Mental health and well-being

Table 4 presents findings on the impact of Long COVID on worker’s mental health and well-being using the standardised GHQ-12 Likert score (Models 1–3) and the happiness scale from the GHQ-12 (Models 4–6). Two fixed-effects (FE) models are displayed for each outcome variable (Models 1 and 2, 4 and 5) whereby the second model for each adds hourly net earnings to the first model to control for the impact of lower (higher) income on mental health and well-being. Coefficients are displayed for the GHQ-12 score and odds ratios for the happiness scale.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.t004

We first consider findings for the GHQ-12. The first fixed-effects model shows a large negative and significant effect of Long COVID 5–28 weeks (-0.23, sd = 0.06) on mental health. This effect is not significant once earnings are controlled for (Model 2, Table 4 ). Suffering Long COVID for 29+ weeks is not significant in either fixed-effects model. Short COVID (<5 weeks) is significantly negatively associated with mental health in the fixed-effects models (-0.08, sd = 0.02). The short COVID effect on mental health is not influenced by earnings and remains statistically significant in Model 2 (-0.08, sd = 0.03).

The random-effects model (Model 3) (which assumes that the co-variates are not correlated with omitted variables) instead shows for all three COVID-19 symptom groups a large negative and significant relationship with mental health when earnings are controlled for (-0.13, sd = 0.03 - -0.35, sd = 0.08)–and this negative relationship is largest for the Long COVID group with a longer duration of the illness (29+ weeks). For them, the mental health score is reduced by 35% (-0.35, sd = 0.08)–and this effect is large when compared to all other co-variates.

Additional analysis in Table 5 confirms these results and aids interpretation. The dependent variable in Table 5 measures the change of individual’s GHQ-12 score between 2019 and during the pandemic surveys (in waves 7–9). The GHQ-12 for the year 2019 is linked to the COVID-19 surveys from the Understanding Society main panel interview. A negative (positive) value indicates a reduction (increase) in mental health. Otherwise the same models including all co-variates are used as in Table 4 . Results from random-effects models (Model 4, Table 5 ) show that those with Long COVID 29+ weeks are also at risk of experiencing the greatest reduction in mental health after earnings are controlled for (-0.195, sd = 0.09) compared to not having COVID-19 symptoms. The effect is smaller for short COVID (-0.13, sd = 0.03) or Long COVID 5–28 weeks (-0.09, sd = 0.06). In the fixed-effects models (Models 1 and 2, Table 5 ), Long COVID 29+ weeks does not show an effect on mental health. A possible explanation of the difference between the random-effects and fixed-effects estimates may be that people adapt to working with the illness.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.t005

When the change in the GHQ-12 score between 2019 and during the pandemic is estimated, the Long COVID group with symptoms 5–28 weeks has significantly poorer mental health before earnings are controlled for (-0.25, sd = 0.05–0.06) (Models 1 and 3, Table 5 ) but there is no significant Long COVID effect after earnings are included in the models (Models 2 and 4, Table 5 ). Together with findings for this group in Table 4 , earnings are likely to capture that in some (higher paid) jobs tasks are less physical and can be performed better with Long COVID symptoms or that employers may be more likely or better able to accommodate the needs of Long COVID sufferers [ 31 ].

Considering now the happiness findings in Table 4 (Models 4–6), these broadly confirm findings of the GHQ-12 mental health score. In the fixed-effects model, both Long COVID groups are affected by lower happiness before earnings are controlled for (OR = 0.50, sd = 0.1) (Model 4). The Long COVID effect is reduced and is not statistically significant anymore when earnings are controlled for (Model 5). In the random-effects model (Model 6), compared to the group with no COVID-19 symptoms, short COVID and Long COVID 5–28 weeks are associated with lower happiness (OR = 0.7, sd = 0.06 and OR = 0.44, sd = 0.09) while the odds ratio is smallest, indicating the greatest reduction in mental health, in the group with Long COVID of 29+ weeks (OR = 0.3, sd = 0.08).

As concerns other co-variates in Table 4 , the fixed-effects models show negative effects on mental health and well-being of working in administration, human health and education (OPQ: -0.46, sd = 0.2; OR = 0.12, sd = 0.09) which is likely to reflect the increased job demand in these sectors. The random-effects models further show lower mental health and well-being of women compared to men (-0.18, sd = 0.02; OR = 0.61, sd = 0.05), a finding reported for the COVID-19 pandemic in existing studies [ 46 ].

5. Conclusions

Our findings provide evidence in between-group comparison of an impact of Long COVID on employment exit for those who have suffered from COVID-19 symptoms beyond the maximum period of statutory sickness leave (which is 28 weeks in the UK).

For those who remain in employment, we observe a negative impact of Long COVID on working hours. This stems primarily from working zero hours (sickness leave) and not from working fewer hours. As previously shown, working fewer hours can help accommodate a work-limiting disability [ 47 ] and therefore this finding may suggest a lack of accommodation by employers of Long COVID at work.

The in-work experiences of those with Long COVID were further investigated with the GHQ-12. We find large negative effects in between-group comparison on worker’s general mental health and their happiness for the Long COVID group with symptoms for 29+ weeks (beyond the maximum period of employment protection in the case of sickness leave). For this group, analysis of variation within the same individuals shows no negative Long COVID effect on mental health and well-being. We suggest that adaptations of how to live and work with Long COVID could be one possible explanation. Findings for the Long COVID group with symptoms 5–28 weeks are more mixed but suggest that negative impact on mental health is mediated by earnings and the possible job characteristics associated with higher/lower incomes. The findings therefore raise concerns about how workers on lower incomes cope with Long COVID in the workplace.

Despite the strength of our data (large population sample allowing for comparison group analysis, longitudinal design, information on pre-pandemic characteristics of the respondents), there are also limitations. The measure of weeks of COVID-19 symptoms since infection meant that we could derive a measure of Long COVID that incorporates risk of loss of employment. However, there may be inconsistencies in how people who fall ‘between’ full weeks have answered the question and therefore some people may be misclassified in this study. Some respondents with Long COVID who got reinfected with COVID-19 also did not answer the question on the duration of COVID-19 symptoms for their first infection. Given the study design, we were only able to investigate short-term effects of developing Long COVID on employment and mental health but not the longer-term effects of Long COVID on people’s likelihood to return to, or remain in, work. Since Long COVID could be identified only for three subsequence study waves (covering nine months in total), the data do not support an event history analysis which is why we estimate the probability of having moved from employment to non-employment with logistic regression models. Our study also does not include links between developing Long COVID with unemployment or the receipt of social benefits. These are important areas for further research in order to capture the full impacts of the pandemic, and to better understand how best to support people with Long COVID in the workplace.

Several policy implications arise from this research. In the specific context of the UK, the extension of Statutory Sickness Pay beyond 28 weeks and greater flexibility to manage partial (returns to) work would help to stem the flow out of employment of those with Long COVID. Financial support for employers to maintain employment until recovery from Long COVID would also help preserve employment.

Our findings further demonstrate that Long COVID poses a twin challenge to employers of providing adaptations and flexibility to manage the physical symptoms, as well as supporting improvements to mental health and well-being. There is also a legal point for employers in that a sizeable number of workers with Long COVID are likely to meet the definition of disability once they have had Long COVID for 12 months (following the Equality Act 2010 in the UK), and so have a right to receive reasonable workplace adjustments. Employers therefore have a lawful duty to consider and act on the needs of their workforce in relation to Long COVID once it reaches 12 months in duration.

Our research has demonstrated the importance of the workforce impacts of Long COVID. However, there is a need to better understand the diversity of employer responses and ‘what works’ in supporting employees with Long COVID. Organisational case studies of good Human Resource Management (HRM) practice around health management of fluctuating and comorbid health conditions, and examining inequalities in experiences, are needed to enable HRM practitioners to make the case for resources and focus on this area, as well to support compliance with legislation.

Supporting information

S1 appendix. sample description and additional models on work hours..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306122.s001

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• DOI: 10.1080/1120009X.2024.2367935
• Corpus ID: 270488956

Antiviral combination regimens as rescue therapy in immunocompromised hosts with persistent COVID-19.

• Roberta Maria Antonello , D.M.A. Marangoni , +13 authors M. Spinicci
• Published in Journal of chemotherapy 14 June 2024

11 References

Combination regimen of nirmatrelvir/ritonavir and molnupiravir for the treatment of persistent sars-cov-2 infection: a case report and a scoping review of the literature, triple combination therapy with two antivirals and monoclonal antibodies for persistent or relapsed sars-cov-2 infection in immunocompromised patients., dual combined antiviral treatment with remdesivir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in patients with impaired humoral immunity and persistent sars‐cov‐2 infection, long-term sars-cov-2 asymptomatic carriage in an immunocompromised host: clinical, immunological, and virological implications, de novo emergence of a remdesivir resistance mutation during treatment of persistent sars-cov-2 infection in an immunocompromised patient: a case report, case report: sotrovimab, remdesivir and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir combination as salvage treatment option in two immunocompromised patients hospitalized for covid-19, outcome of early treatment of sars‐cov‐2 infection in patients with haematological disorders, dual antiviral therapy for persistent covid-19 and associated organizing pneumonia in an immunocompromised host, triple antiviral treatment for covid-19 in an immunocompromised patient., successful combination treatment for persistent sars-cov-2 infection., related papers.

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Working on the COVID frontline inspired Northeastern research on the moral injury suffered by health care professionals

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Rory Gleeson, an assistant professor of English at Northeastern University in London, is writing a novel based on his experience as a non-registered support worker, a role designed to assist under-pressure nurses.

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LONDON — Rory Gleeson knows what a beautiful death looks like. And he knows that patients he cared for while covered head to toe in protective personal equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic were not being afforded the life ending they deserved.

Gleeson is a novelist and assistant professor of English at Northeastern University in London. But, in an experience echoed the world over during the coronavirus pandemic , repeated lockdowns killed his creative spirit and the writing dried up.

Having interviewed senior staff at the hospital in Codogno — a town in Italy’s Lombardy region that was at the epicenter of the first European COVID-19 wave in spring 2020 — about the turmoil they had endured and the abandonment they felt, he was determined to put himself to practical use if the virus struck again.

And it did.

The second wave rocked the United Kingdom that autumn, encouraging the writer to apply for a job with the country’s National Health Service (NHS) as a non-registered support worker, a role designed to assist under-pressure nurses.

Now, Gleson is producing a novel based on his and others’ experience working on the frontlines.

“I had two grandparents of mine die in hospice in a very beautiful way,” Gleeson recalls. “They were cared for, they were spoiled rotten and they were given love, attention and kindness as they died.” 

He says it was “important” for his family to see their loved ones “go with dignity” and know that the medical workers were “doing the best for their patients as they leave.” 

But that experience was a world apart from when he started his three-month stint working in Hammersmith Hospital, west London, in early 2021 during the period when the third COVID wave in Britain was not long past its peak.

What he went through during shifts could be “upsetting” while also leaving him feeling shame and guilt at being unable to provide the level of care he wanted to at all times.

In more normal times, intensive care units will often see a nurse deployed with a single patient on a daily basis for the entirety of their weekly shift pattern, a deployment that allows strong bonds to form, Gleeson explains. He says during COVID overloads, nurses could be given as many as three high-dependency patients to care for, with support workers like him assisting them by helping with the physical labor of turning patients, washing them and changing beds, while also running ward errands.

“There were a number of things that were upsetting that you see and that you do,” he tells Northeastern Global News . “A lot of people in ICUs are uncomfortable, they’re in pain, they’re delirious or they’re in a very dazed state. And you are there to try to console that person and to try to make things easier for them — and a lot of times you can’t. 

“Sometimes you don’t have the time and sometimes you have to move to other people or sometimes you have to do other things. So you literally don’t have the time and the space to give them the compassion, dignity and care that you would want, which is your job. A lot of the time there is a great sense of failure when you are watching somebody get worse or watching somebody suffer needlessly when you could help that person if the circumstances were different, if circumstances in the hospital were different,” he says. 

The pace of the work could be so frantic and disconnected, especially because having to wear personal protective equipment like gloves and face masks fractured the personal relationship between coronavirus patient and caregiver, that the sick Gleeson had cared for died without him knowing.

“At one stage, somebody asked me about a patient and I thought, ‘Actually, I haven’t seen them in a while.’ I did a database search for them and I realized that the patient had died — he died two weeks before without me knowing,” he remembers.

“And then I looked through the list and I realized that there were seven or eight different patients that I had known who had actually passed. I’d never known, and that hit quite hard. Nobody had told you they had died because nobody knew who anybody was, nobody knew what the relationships were.”

It was while speaking to a staff member who was training ICU nurses that he became “struck” by a term she used to describe what health care professionals were experiencing — moral injury.

“She said there were a lot of nurses who felt that their patients had gotten worse under their care and that it was their fault,” says the screenwriter and novelist. “Those nurses had found that very emotionally damaging and they were ashamed and deeply offended by watching patients decline unnecessarily under their care and feeling personally responsible for it.”

The trainer had told him that this form of moral injury was causing many to “abandon their profession,” having felt let down by the health care system and the governments in charge.

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Moral injury has tended to have been associated with the guilt and shame that soldiers can return with from war after potentially having witnessed or been privy to something that offended their moral character, such as the killing of a prisoner of war.

But COVID instilled those same feelings of regret and betrayal in those who served on their own type of frontline during the pandemic. NHS Wales says moral dilemmas that some staff faced during coronavirus included being “unable to optimize end of life care” and “providing care with constrained or inadequate resources: for example, insufficient ventilators.”

“Health and social care workers may be exposed to morally injurious events, from instances where they are asked to act, or in some cases instructed not to, which go against their training and sense of right and wrong, or where they may experience betrayal at work,” according to the NHS.

Gleeson says he became intrigued by the concept of moral injury in health care. 

“I found that very interesting,” he says, “because it was about how giving bad care impacts the person who ends up giving it. It is not something you think about a lot.”

Gleeson wants to speak to ICU workers and hear their stories. He will then use these conversations as inspiration for a novel that he will write as part of his three-and-a-half years of research for his PhD in creative writing.

He believes fiction, in this context, can be used to “express core emotional truths and new knowledge, but in a very emotionally impactful way.” 

What Gleeson especially wants is for those to come forward who feel their story or account has not been heard in the media or through other mediums. 

He says there is a “superhero narrative” in the NHS that puts medical workers up on a pedestal. But this, he argues, has cultivated a culture whereby these workers’ vocations are used against them, imposing long hours and low pay. “You can treat them poorly, because they’re supposed to take it, because they’re superheroes,” he says. 

Gleeson continues: “But they’re people and they’re people who get tired, they’re people who make mistakes and they are people who have a variety of very complicated feelings about their job. 

“So what I’m hoping to express with this is the amount of complication and complexity that a job of being a health care professional entails by getting people’s unspoken or less spoken about feelings about their jobs, their experience in their jobs and their experience of things they’ve done that they might not necessarily be immediately willing to tell people.”

He is hoping that his own travails of working in a major hospital during the pandemic will help him to connect and empathize with interviewees. “What I’ve learned when conducting some of the early interviews is you have to make it two-way,” he says.

“They are semi-structured interviews. But if it comes up during conversation that I have an example of something that I did or something I saw on a ward and you tell somebody about your own experience, that can give them a context and an idea of the way that you’re gathering information and the way that you’re processing stories. 

“And the one thing I know about health care workers is they all have stories and they love telling them — they are very good storytellers. It is about getting the story they haven’t told somebody before.”

Those wanting to speak to Gleeson about their personal ICU experiences can email him at [email protected]

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An Introduction to COVID-19

Simon james fong.

4 Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China

Nilanjan Dey

5 Department of Information Technology, Techno International New Town, Kolkata, West Bengal India

Jyotismita Chaki

6 School of Information Technology and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu India

A novel coronavirus (CoV) named ‘2019-nCoV’ or ‘2019 novel coronavirus’ or ‘COVID-19’ by the World Health Organization (WHO) is in charge of the current outbreak of pneumonia that began at the beginning of December 2019 near in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China [1–4]. COVID-19 is a pathogenic virus. From the phylogenetic analysis carried out with obtainable full genome sequences, bats occur to be the COVID-19 virus reservoir, but the intermediate host(s) has not been detected till now.

A Brief History of the Coronavirus Outbreak

A novel coronavirus (CoV) named ‘2019-nCoV’ or ‘2019 novel coronavirus’ or ‘COVID-19’ by the World Health Organization (WHO) is in charge of the current outbreak of pneumonia that began at the beginning of December 2019 near in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China [ 1 – 4 ]. COVID-19 is a pathogenic virus. From the phylogenetic analysis carried out with obtainable full genome sequences, bats occur to be the COVID-19 virus reservoir, but the intermediate host(s) has not been detected till now. Though three major areas of work already are ongoing in China to advise our awareness of the pathogenic origin of the outbreak. These include early inquiries of cases with symptoms occurring near in Wuhan during December 2019, ecological sampling from the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market as well as other area markets, and the collection of detailed reports of the point of origin and type of wildlife species marketed on the Huanan market and the destination of those animals after the market has been closed [ 5 – 8 ].

Coronaviruses mostly cause gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections and are inherently categorized into four major types: Gammacoronavirus, Deltacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus and Alphacoronavirus [ 9 – 11 ]. The first two types mainly infect birds, while the last two mostly infect mammals. Six types of human CoVs have been formally recognized. These comprise HCoVHKU1, HCoV-OC43, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) which is the type of the Betacoronavirus, HCoV229E and HCoV-NL63, which are the member of the Alphacoronavirus. Coronaviruses did not draw global concern until the 2003 SARS pandemic [ 12 – 14 ], preceded by the 2012 MERS [ 15 – 17 ] and most recently by the COVID-19 outbreaks. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are known to be extremely pathogenic and spread from bats to palm civets or dromedary camels and eventually to humans.

COVID-19 is spread by dust particles and fomites while close unsafe touch between the infector and the infected individual. Airborne distribution has not been recorded for COVID-19 and is not known to be a significant transmission engine based on empirical evidence; although it can be imagined if such aerosol-generating practices are carried out in medical facilities. Faecal spreading has been seen in certain patients, and the active virus has been reported in a small number of clinical studies [ 18 – 20 ]. Furthermore, the faecal-oral route does not seem to be a COVID-19 transmission engine; its function and relevance for COVID-19 need to be identified.

For about 18,738,58 laboratory-confirmed cases recorded as of 2nd week of April 2020, the maximum number of cases (77.8%) was between 30 and 69 years of age. Among the recorded cases, 21.6% are farmers or employees by profession, 51.1% are male and 77.0% are Hubei.

However, there are already many concerns regarding the latest coronavirus. Although it seems to be transferred to humans by animals, it is important to recognize individual animals and other sources, the path of transmission, the incubation cycle, and the features of the susceptible community and the survival rate. Nonetheless, very little clinical knowledge on COVID-19 disease is currently accessible and details on age span, the animal origin of the virus, incubation time, outbreak curve, viral spectroscopy, dissemination pathogenesis, autopsy observations, and any clinical responses to antivirals are lacking among the serious cases.

How Different and Deadly COVID-19 is Compared to Plagues in History

COVID-19 has reached to more than 150 nations, including China, and has caused WHO to call the disease a worldwide pandemic. By the time of 2nd week of April 2020, this COVID-19 cases exceeded 18,738,58, although more than 1,160,45 deaths were recorded worldwide and United States of America became the global epicentre of coronavirus. More than one-third of the COVID-19 instances are outside of China. Past pandemics that have existed in the past decade or so, like bird flu, swine flu, and SARS, it is hard to find out the comparison between those pandemics and this coronavirus. Following is a guide to compare coronavirus with such diseases and recent pandemics that have reformed the world community.

Coronavirus Versus Seasonal Influenza

Influenza, or seasonal flu, occurs globally every year–usually between December and February. It is impossible to determine the number of reports per year because it is not a reportable infection (so no need to be recorded to municipality), so often patients with minor symptoms do not go to a physician. Recent figures placed the Rate of Case Fatality at 0.1% [ 21 – 23 ].

There are approximately 3–5 million reports of serious influenza a year, and about 250,000–500,000 deaths globally. In most developed nations, the majority of deaths arise in persons over 65 years of age. Moreover, it is unsafe for pregnant mothers, children under 59 months of age and individuals with serious illnesses.

The annual vaccination eliminates infection and severe risks in most developing countries but is nevertheless a recognized yet uncomfortable aspect of the season.

In contrast to the seasonal influenza, coronavirus is not so common, has led to fewer cases till now, has a higher rate of case fatality and has no antidote.

Coronavirus Versus Bird Flu (H5N1 and H7N9)

Several cases of bird flu have existed over the years, with the most severe in 2013 and 2016. This is usually from two separate strains—H5N1 and H7N9 [ 24 – 26 ].

The H7N9 outbreak in 2016 accounted for one-third of all confirmed human cases but remained confined relative to both coronavirus and other pandemics/outbreak cases. After the first outbreak, about 1,233 laboratory-confirmed reports of bird flu have occurred. The disease has a Rate of Case Fatality of 20–40%.

Although the percentage is very high, the blowout from individual to individual is restricted, which, in effect, has minimized the number of related deaths. It is also impossible to monitor as birds do not necessarily expire from sickness.

In contrast to the bird flu, coronavirus becomes more common, travels more quickly through human to human interaction, has an inferior cardiothoracic ratio, resulting in further total fatalities and spread from the initial source.

Coronavirus Versus Ebola Epidemic

The Ebola epidemic of 2013 was primarily centred in 10 nations, including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have the greatest effects, but the extremely high Case Fatality Rate of 40% has created this as a significant problem for health professionals nationwide [ 27 – 29 ].

Around 2013 and 2016, there were about 28,646 suspicious incidents and about 11,323 fatalities, although these are expected to be overlooked. Those who survived from the original epidemic may still become sick months or even years later, because the infection may stay inactive for prolonged periods. Thankfully, a vaccination was launched in December 2016 and is perceived to be effective.

In contrast to the Ebola, coronavirus is more common globally, has caused in fewer fatalities, has a lesser case fatality rate, has no reported problems during treatment and after recovery, does not have an appropriate vaccination.

Coronavirus Versus Camel Flu (MERS)

Camel flu is a misnomer–though camels have MERS antibodies and may have been included in the transmission of the disease; it was originally transmitted to humans through bats [ 30 – 32 ]. Like Ebola, it infected only a limited number of nations, i.e. about 27, but about 858 fatalities from about 2,494 laboratory-confirmed reports suggested that it was a significant threat if no steps were taken in place to control it.

In contrast to the camel flu, coronavirus is more common globally, has occurred more fatalities, has a lesser case fatality rate, and spreads more easily among humans.

Coronavirus Versus Swine Flu (H1N1)

Swine flu is the same form of influenza that wiped 1.7% of the world population in 1918. This was deemed a pandemic again in June 2009 an approximately-21% of the global population infected by this [ 33 – 35 ].

Thankfully, the case fatality rate is substantially lower than in the last pandemic, with 0.1%–0.5% of events ending in death. About 18,500 of these fatalities have been laboratory-confirmed, but statistics range as high as 151,700–575,400 worldwide. 50–80% of severe occurrences have been reported in individuals with chronic illnesses like asthma, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

In contrast to the swine flu, coronavirus is not so common, has caused fewer fatalities, has more case fatality rate, has a longer growth time and less impact on young people.

Coronavirus Versus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

SARS was discovered in 2003 as it spread from bats to humans resulted in about 774 fatalities. By May there were eventually about 8,100 reports across 17 countries, with a 15% case fatality rate. The number is estimated to be closer to 9.6% as confirmed cases are counted, with 0.9% cardiothoracic ratio for people aged 20–29, rising to 28% for people aged 70–79. Similar to coronavirus, SARS had bad results for males than females in all age categories [ 36 – 38 ].

Coronavirus is more common relative to SARS, which ended in more overall fatalities, lower case fatality rate, the even higher case fatality rate in older ages, and poorer results for males.

Coronavirus Versus Hong Kong Flu (H3N2)

The Hong Kong flu pandemic erupted on 13 July 1968, with 1–4 million deaths globally by 1969. It was one of the greatest flu pandemics of the twentieth century, but thankfully the case fatality rate was smaller than the epidemic of 1918, resulting in fewer fatalities overall. That may have been attributed to the fact that citizens had generated immunity owing to a previous epidemic in 1957 and to better medical treatment [ 39 ].

In contrast to the Hong Kong flu, coronavirus is not so common, has caused in fewer fatalities and has a higher case fatality rate.

Coronavirus Versus Spanish Flu (H1N1)

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was one of the greatest occurrences of recorded history. During the first year of the pandemic, lifespan in the US dropped by 12 years, with more civilians killed than HIV/AIDS in 24 h [ 40 – 42 ].

Regardless of the name, the epidemic did not necessarily arise in Spain; wartime censors in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and France blocked news of the disease, but Spain did not, creating the misleading perception that more cases and fatalities had occurred relative to its neighbours

This strain of H1N1 eventually affected more than 500 million men, or 27% of the world’s population at the moment, and had deaths of between 40 and 50 million. At the end of 1920, 1.7% of the world’s people had expired of this illness, including an exceptionally high death rate for young adults aged between 20 and 40 years.

In contrast to the Spanish flu, coronavirus is not so common, has caused in fewer fatalities, has a higher case fatality rate, is more harmful to older ages and is less risky for individuals aged 20–40 years.

Coronavirus Versus Common Cold (Typically Rhinovirus)

Common cold is the most common illness impacting people—Typically, a person suffers from 2–3 colds each year and the average kid will catch 6–8 during the similar time span. Although there are more than 200 cold-associated virus types, infections are uncommon and fatalities are very rare and typically arise mainly in extremely old, extremely young or immunosuppressed cases [ 43 , 44 ].

In contrast to the common cold, coronavirus is not so prevalent, causes more fatalities, has more case fatality rate, is less infectious and is less likely to impact small children.

Reviews of Online Portals and Social Media for Epidemic Information Dissemination

As COVID-19 started to propagate across the globe, the outbreak contributed to a significant change in the broad technology platforms. Where they once declined to engage in the affairs of their systems, except though the possible danger to public safety became obvious, the advent of a novel coronavirus placed them in a different interventionist way of thought. Big tech firms and social media are taking concrete steps to guide users to relevant, credible details on the virus [ 45 – 48 ]. And some of the measures they’re doing proactively. Below are a few of them.

Facebook started adding a box in the news feed that led users to the Centers for Disease Control website regarding COVID-19. It reflects a significant departure from the company’s normal strategy of placing items in the News Feed. The purpose of the update, after all, is personalization—Facebook tries to give the posts you’re going to care about, whether it is because you’re connected with a person or like a post. In the virus package, Facebook has placed a remarkable algorithmic thumb on the scale, potentially pushing millions of people to accurate, authenticated knowledge from a reputable source.

Similar initiatives have been adopted by Twitter. Searching for COVID-19 will carry you to a page highlighting the latest reports from public health groups and credible national news outlets. The search also allows for common misspellings. Twitter has stated that although Russian-style initiatives to cause discontent by large-scale intelligence operations have not yet been observed, a zero-tolerance approach to network exploitation and all other attempts to exploit their service at this crucial juncture will be expected. The problem has the attention of the organization. It also offers promotional support to public service agencies and other non-profit groups.

Google has made a step in making it better for those who choose to operate or research from home, offering specialized streaming services to all paying G Suite customers. Google also confirmed that free access to ‘advanced’ Hangouts Meet apps will be rolled out to both G Suite and G Suite for Education clients worldwide through 1st July. It ensures that companies can hold meetings of up to 250 people, broadcast live to up to about 100,000 users within a single network, and archive and export meetings to Google Drive. Usually, Google pays an additional $13 per person per month for these services in comparison to G Suite’s ‘enterprise’ membership, which adds up to a total of about $25 per client each month.

Microsoft took a similar move, introducing the software ‘Chat Device’ to help public health and protection in the coronavirus epidemic, which enables collaborative collaboration via video and text messaging. There’s an aspect of self-interest in this. Tech firms are offering out their goods free of charge during periods of emergency for the same purpose as newspapers are reducing their paywalls: it’s nice to draw more paying consumers.

Pinterest, which has introduced much of the anti-misinformation strategies that Facebook and Twitter are already embracing, is now restricting the search results for ‘coronavirus’, ‘COVID-19’ and similar words for ‘internationally recognized health organizations’.

Google-owned YouTube, traditionally the most conspiratorial website, has recently introduced a connection to the World Health Organization virus epidemic page to the top of the search results. In the early days of the epidemic, BuzzFeed found famous coronavirus conspiratorial videos on YouTube—especially in India, where one ‘explain’ with a false interpretation of the sources of the disease racketeered 13 million views before YouTube deleted it. Yet in the United States, conspiratorial posts regarding the illness have failed to gain only 1 million views.

That’s not to suggest that misinformation doesn’t propagate on digital platforms—just as it travels through the broader Internet, even though interaction with friends and relatives. When there’s a site that appears to be under-performing in the global epidemic, it’s Facebook-owned WhatsApp, where the Washington Post reported ‘a torrent of disinformation’ in places like Nigeria, Indonesia, Peru, Pakistan and Ireland. Given the encrypted existence of the app, it is difficult to measure the severity of the problem. Misinformation is also spread in WhatsApp communities, where participation is restricted to about 250 individuals. Knowledge of one category may be readily exchanged with another; however, there is a considerable amount of complexity of rotating several groups to peddle affected healing remedies or propagate false rumours.

Preventative Measures and Policies Enforced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Different Countries

Coronavirus is already an ongoing epidemic, so it is necessary to take precautions to minimize both the risk of being sick and the transmission of the disease.

WHO Advice [ 49 ]

• Wash hands regularly with alcohol-based hand wash or soap and water.
• Preserve contact space (at least 1 m/3 feet between you and someone who sneezes or coughs).
• Don’t touch your nose, head and ears.
• Cover your nose and mouth as you sneeze or cough, preferably with your bent elbow or tissue.
• Try to find early medical attention if you have fatigue, cough and trouble breathing.
• Take preventive precautions if you are in or have recently go to places where coronavirus spreads.

The first person believed to have become sick because of the latest virus was near in Wuhan on 1 December 2019. A formal warning of the epidemic was released on 31 December. The World Health Organization was informed of the epidemic on the same day. Through 7 January, the Chinese Government addressed the avoidance and regulation of COVID-19. A curfew was declared on 23 January to prohibit flying in and out of Wuhan. Private usage of cars has been banned in the region. Chinese New Year (25 January) festivities have been cancelled in many locations [ 50 ].

On 26 January, the Communist Party and the Government adopted more steps to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, including safety warnings for travellers and improvements to national holidays. The leading party has agreed to prolong the Spring Festival holiday to control the outbreak. Universities and schools across the world have already been locked down. Many steps have been taken by the Hong Kong and Macau governments, in particular concerning schools and colleges. Remote job initiatives have been placed in effect in many regions of China. Several immigration limits have been enforced.

Certain counties and cities outside Hubei also implemented travel limits. Public transit has been changed and museums in China have been partially removed. Some experts challenged the quality of the number of cases announced by the Chinese Government, which constantly modified the way coronavirus cases were recorded.

Italy, a member state of the European Union and a popular tourist attraction, entered the list of coronavirus-affected nations on 30 January, when two positive cases in COVID-19 were identified among Chinese tourists. Italy has the largest number of coronavirus infections both in Europe and outside of China [ 51 ].

Infections, originally limited to northern Italy, gradually spread to all other areas. Many other nations in Asia, Europe and the Americas have tracked their local cases to Italy. Several Italian travellers were even infected with coronavirus-positive in foreign nations.

Late in Italy, the most impacted coronavirus cities and counties are Lombardia, accompanied by Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Piedmonte. Milan, the second most populated city in Italy, is situated in Lombardy. Other regions in Italy with coronavirus comprised Campania, Toscana, Liguria, Lazio, Sicilia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Puglia, Trento, Abruzzo, Calabria, Molise, Valle d’Aosta, Sardegna, Bolzano and Basilicata.

Italy ranks 19th of the top 30 nations getting high-risk coronavirus airline passengers in China, as per WorldPop’s provisional study of the spread of COVID-19.

The Italian State has taken steps like the inspection and termination of large cultural activities during the early days of the coronavirus epidemic and has gradually declared the closing of educational establishments and airport hygiene/disinfection initiatives.

The Italian National Institute of Health suggested social distancing and agreed that the broader community of the country’s elderly is a problem. In the meantime, several other nations, including the US, have recommended that travel to Italy should be avoided temporarily, unless necessary.

The Italian government has declared the closing (quarantine) of the impacted areas in the northern region of the nation so as not to spread to the rest of the world. Italy has declared the immediate suspension of all to-and-fro air travel with China following coronavirus discovery by a Chinese tourist to Italy. Italian airlines, like Ryan Air, have begun introducing protective steps and have begun calling for the declaration forms to be submitted by passengers flying to Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania.

The Italian government first declined to permit fans to compete in sporting activities until early April to prevent the potential transmission of coronavirus. The step ensured players of health and stopped event cancellations because of coronavirus fears. Two days of the declaration, the government cancelled all athletic activities owing to the emergence of the outbreak asking for an emergency. Sports activities in Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, which recorded coronavirus-positive infections, were confirmed to be temporarily suspended. Schools and colleges in Italy have also been forced to shut down.

Iran announced the first recorded cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection on 19 February when, as per the Medical Education and Ministry of Health, two persons died later that day. The Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance has declared the cancellation of all concerts and other cultural activities for one week. The Medical Education and Ministry of Health has also declared the closing of universities, higher education colleges and schools in many cities and regions. The Department of Sports and Culture has taken action to suspend athletic activities, including football matches [ 52 ].

On 2 March 2020, the government revealed plans to train about 300,000 troops and volunteers to fight the outbreak of the epidemic, and also send robots and water cannons to clean the cities. The State also developed an initiative and a webpage to counter the epidemic. On 9 March 2020, nearly 70,000 inmates were immediately released from jail owing to the epidemic, presumably to prevent the further dissemination of the disease inside jails. The Revolutionary Guards declared a campaign on 13 March 2020 to clear highways, stores and public areas in Iran. President Hassan Rouhani stated on 26 February 2020 that there were no arrangements to quarantine areas impacted by the epidemic and only persons should be quarantined. The temples of Shia in Qom stayed open to pilgrims.

South Korea

On 20 January, South Korea announced its first occurrence. There was a large rise in cases on 20 February, possibly due to the meeting in Daegu of a progressive faith community recognized as the Shincheonji Church of Christ. Any citizens believed that the hospital was propagating the disease. As of 22 February, 1,261 of the 9,336 members of the church registered symptoms. A petition was distributed calling for the abolition of the church. More than 2,000 verified cases were registered on 28 February, increasing to 3,150 on 29 February [ 53 ].

Several educational establishments have been partially closing down, including hundreds of kindergartens in Daegu and many primary schools in Seoul. As of 18 February, several South Korean colleges had confirmed intentions to delay the launch of the spring semester. That included 155 institutions deciding to postpone the start of the semester by two weeks until 16 March, and 22 institutions deciding to delay the start of the semester by one week until 9 March. Also, on 23 February 2020, all primary schools, kindergartens, middle schools and secondary schools were declared to postpone the start of the semester from 2 March to 9 March.

South Korea’s economy is expected to expand by 1.9%, down from 2.1%. The State has given 136.7 billion won funding to local councils. The State has also coordinated the purchase of masks and other sanitary supplies. Entertainment Company SM Entertainment is confirmed to have contributed five hundred million won in attempts to fight the disease.

In the kpop industry, the widespread dissemination of coronavirus within South Korea has contributed to the cancellation or postponement of concerts and other programmes for kpop activities inside and outside South Korea. For instance, circumstances such as the cancellation of the remaining Asian dates and the European leg for the Seventeen’s Ode To You Tour on 9 February 2020 and the cancellation of all Seoul dates for the BTS Soul Tour Map. As of 15 March, a maximum of 136 countries and regions provided entry restrictions and/or expired visas for passengers from South Korea.

The overall reported cases of coronavirus rose significantly in France on 12 March. The areas with reported cases include Paris, Amiens, Bordeaux and Eastern Haute-Savoie. The first coronaviral death happened in France on 15 February, marking it the first death in Europe. The second death of a 60-year-old French national in Paris was announced on 26 February [ 54 ].

On February 28, fashion designer Agnès B. (not to be mistaken with Agnès Buzyn) cancelled fashion shows at the Paris Fashion Week, expected to continue until 3 March. On a subsequent day, the Paris half-marathon, planned for Sunday 1 March with 44,000 entrants, was postponed as one of a series of steps declared by Health Minister Olivier Véran.

On 13 March, the Ligue de Football Professional disbanded Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 (France’s tier two professional divisions) permanently due to safety threats.

Germany has a popular Regional Pandemic Strategy detailing the roles and activities of the health care system participants in the case of a significant outbreak. Epidemic surveillance is carried out by the federal government, like the Robert Koch Center, and by the German governments. The German States have their preparations for an outbreak. The regional strategy for the treatment of the current coronavirus epidemic was expanded by March 2020. Four primary goals are contained in this plan: (1) to minimize mortality and morbidity; (2) to guarantee the safety of sick persons; (3) to protect vital health services and (4) to offer concise and reliable reports to decision-makers, the media and the public [ 55 ].

The programme has three phases that may potentially overlap: (1) isolation (situation of individual cases and clusters), (2) safety (situation of further dissemination of pathogens and suspected causes of infection), (3) prevention (situation of widespread infection). So far, Germany has not set up border controls or common health condition tests at airports. Instead, while at the isolation stage-health officials are concentrating on recognizing contact individuals that are subject to specific quarantine and are tracked and checked. Specific quarantine is regulated by municipal health authorities. By doing so, the officials are seeking to hold the chains of infection small, contributing to decreased clusters. At the safety stage, the policy should shift to prevent susceptible individuals from being harmed by direct action. By the end of the day, the prevention process should aim to prevent cycles of acute treatment to retain emergency facilities.

United States

The very first case of coronavirus in the United States was identified in Washington on 21 January 2020 by an individual who flew to Wuhan and returned to the United States. The second case was recorded in Illinois by another individual who had travelled to Wuhan. Some of the regions with reported novel coronavirus infections in the US are California, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington [ 56 ].

As the epidemic increased, requests for domestic air travel decreased dramatically. By 4 March, U.S. carriers, like United Airlines and JetBlue Airways, started growing their domestic flight schedules, providing generous unpaid leave to workers and suspending recruits.

A significant number of universities and colleges cancelled classes and reopened dormitories in response to the epidemic, like Cornell University, Harvard University and the University of South Carolina.

On 3 March 2020, the Federal Reserve reduced its goal interest rate from 1.75% to 1.25%, the biggest emergency rate cut following the 2008 global financial crash, in combat the effect of the recession on the American economy. In February 2020, US businesses, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft, started to reduce sales projections due to supply chain delays in China caused by the COVID-19.

The pandemic, together with the subsequent financial market collapse, also contributed to greater criticism of the crisis in the United States. Researchers disagree about when a recession is likely to take effect, with others suggesting that it is not unavoidable, while some claim that the world might already be in recession. On 3 March, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reported a 0.5% (50 basis point) interest rate cut from the coronavirus in the context of the evolving threats to economic growth.

When ‘social distance’ penetrated the national lexicon, disaster response officials promoted the cancellation of broad events to slow down the risk of infection. Technical conferences like E3 2020, Apple Inc.’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Google I/O, Facebook F8, and Cloud Next and Microsoft’s MVP Conference have been either having replaced or cancelled in-person events with internet streaming events.

On February 29, the American Physical Society postponed its annual March gathering, planned for March 2–6 in Denver, Colorado, even though most of the more than 11,000 physicist attendees already had arrived and engaged in the pre-conference day activities. On March 6, the annual South to Southwest (SXSW) seminar and festival planned to take place from March 13–22 in Austin, Texas, was postponed after the city council announced a local disaster and forced conferences to be shut down for the first time in 34 years.

Four of North America’s major professional sports leagues—the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Soccer (MLS) and Major League Baseball (MLB) —jointly declared on March 9 that they would all limit the media access to player accommodations (such as locker rooms) to control probable exposure.

Emergency Funding to Fight the COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic has become a common international concern. Different countries are donating funds to fight against it [ 57 – 60 ]. Some of them are mentioned here.

China has allocated about 110.48 billion yuan ($15.93 billion) in coronavirus-related funding.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran has requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of about $5 billion in emergency funding to help to tackle the coronavirus epidemic that has struck the Islamic Republic hard.

President Donald Trump approved the Emergency Supplementary Budget Bill to support the US response to a novel coronavirus epidemic. The budget plan would include about $8.3 billion in discretionary funding to local health authorities to promote vaccine research for production. Trump originally requested just about $2 billion to combat the epidemic, but Congress quadrupled the number in its version of the bill. Mr. Trump formally announced a national emergency that he claimed it will give states and territories access to up to about $50 billion in federal funding to tackle the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

California politicians approved a plan to donate about $1 billion on the state’s emergency medical responses as it readies hospitals to fight an expected attack of patients because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plans, drawn up rapidly in reaction to the dramatic rise in reported cases of the virus, would include the requisite funds to establish two new hospitals in California, with the assumption that the state may not have the resources to take care of the rise in patients. The bill calls for an immediate response of about $500 million from the State General Fund, with an additional about $500 million possible if requested.

India committed about $10 million to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund and said it was setting up a rapid response team of physicians for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries.

South Korea unveiled an economic stimulus package of about 11.7 trillion won ($9.8 billion) to soften the effects of the biggest coronavirus epidemic outside China as attempts to curb the disease exacerbate supply shortages and drain demand. Of the 11,7 trillion won expected, about 3.2 trillion won would cover up the budget shortfall, while an additional fiscal infusion of about 8.5 trillion won. An estimated 10.3 trillion won in government bonds will be sold this year to fund the extra expenditure. About 2.3 trillion won will be distributed to medical establishments and would support quarantine operations, with another 3.0 trillion won heading to small and medium-sized companies unable to pay salaries to their employees and child care supports.

The Swedish Parliament announced a set of initiatives costing more than 300 billion Swedish crowns ($30.94 billion) to help the economy in the view of the coronavirus pandemic. The plan contained steps like the central government paying the entire expense of the company’s sick leave during April and May, and also the high cost of compulsory redundancies owing to the crisis.

In consideration of the developing scenario, an updating of this strategy is planned to take place before the end of March and will recognize considerably greater funding demands for the country response, R&D and WHO itself.

Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Technological Solutions Against COVID-19

These days, Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes a major role in health care. Throughout a worldwide pandemic such as the COVID-19, technology, artificial intelligence and data analytics have been crucial in helping communities cope successfully with the epidemic [ 61 – 65 ]. Through the aid of data mining and analytical modelling, medical practitioners are willing to learn more about several diseases.

Public Health Surveillance

The biggest risk of coronavirus is the level of spreading. That’s why policymakers are introducing steps like quarantines around the world because they can’t adequately monitor local outbreaks. One of the simplest measures to identify ill patients through the study of CCTV images that are still around us and to locate and separate individuals that have serious signs of the disease and who have touched and disinfected the related surfaces. Smartphone applications are often used to keep a watch on people’s activities and to assess whether or not they have come in touch with an infected human.

Remote Biosignal Measurement

Many of the signs such as temperature or heartbeat are very essential to overlook and rely entirely on the visual image that may be misleading. However, of course, we can’t prevent someone from checking their blood pressure, heart or temperature. Also, several advances in computer vision can predict pulse and blood pressure based on facial skin examination. Besides, there are several advances in computer vision that can predict pulse and blood pressure based on facial skin examination.

Access to public records has contributed to the development of dashboards that constantly track the virus. Several companies are designing large data dashboards. Face recognition and infrared temperature monitoring technologies have been mounted in all major cities. Chinese AI companies including Hanwang Technology and SenseTime have reported having established a special facial recognition system that can correctly identify people even though they are covered.

IoT and Wearables

Measurements like pulse are much more natural and easier to obtain from tracking gadgets like activity trackers and smartwatches that nearly everybody has already. Some work suggests that the study of cardiac activity and its variations from the standard will reveal early signs of influenza and, in this case, coronavirus.

Chatbots and Communication

Apart from public screening, people’s knowledge and self-assessment may also be used to track their health. If you can check your temperature and pulse every day and monitor your coughs time-to-time, you can even submit that to your record. If the symptoms are too serious, either an algorithm or a doctor remotely may prescribe a person to stay home, take several other preventive measures, or recommend a visit from the doctor.

Al Jazeera announced that China Mobile had sent text messages to state media departments, telling them about the citizens who had been affected. The communications contained all the specifics of the person’s travel history.

Tencent runs WeChat, and via it, citizens can use free online health consultation services. Chatbots have already become important connectivity platforms for transport and tourism service providers to keep passengers up-to-date with the current transport protocols and disturbances.

Social Media and Open Data

There are several people who post their health diary with total strangers via Facebook or Twitter. Such data becomes helpful for more general research about how far the epidemic has progressed. For consumer knowledge, we may even evaluate the social network group to attempt to predict what specific networks are at risk of being viral.

Canadian company BlueDot analyses far more than just social network data: for instance, global activities of more than four billion passengers on international flights per year; animal, human and insect population data; satellite environment data and relevant knowledge from health professionals and journalists, across 100,000 news posts per day covering 65 languages. This strategy was so successful that the corporation was able to alert clients about coronavirus until the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the public.

Automated Diagnostics

COVID-19 has brought up another healthcare issue today: it will not scale when the number of patients increases exponentially (actually stressed doctors are always doing worse) and the rate of false-negative diagnosis remains very high. Machine learning therapies don’t get bored and scale simply by growing computing forces.

Baidu, the Chinese Internet company, has made the Lineatrfold algorithm accessible to the outbreak-fighting teams, according to the MIT Technology Review. Unlike HIV, Ebola and Influenza, COVID-19 has just one strand of RNA and it can mutate easily. The algorithm is also simpler than other algorithms that help to determine the nature of the virus. Baidu has also developed software to efficiently track large populations. It has also developed an Ai-powered infrared device that can detect a difference in the body temperature of a human. This is currently being used in Beijing’s Qinghe Railway Station to classify possibly contaminated travellers where up to 200 individuals may be checked in one minute without affecting traffic movement, reports the MIT Review.

Singapore-based Veredus Laboratories, a supplier of revolutionary molecular diagnostic tools, has currently announced the launch of the VereCoV detector package, a compact Lab-on-Chip device able to detect MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV and COVID-19, i.e. Wuhan Coronavirus, in a single study.

The VereCoV identification package is focused on VereChip technology, a Lab-on-Chip device that incorporates two important molecular biological systems, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and a microarray, which will be able to classify and distinguish within 2 h MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV and COVID-19 with high precision and responsiveness.

This is not just the medical activities of healthcare facilities that are being charged, but also the corporate and financial departments when they cope with the increase in patients. Ant Financials’ blockchain technology helps speed-up the collection of reports and decreases the number of face-to-face encounters with patients and medical personnel.

Companies like the Israeli company Sonovia are aiming to provide healthcare systems and others with face masks manufactured from their anti-pathogenic, anti-bacterial cloth that depends on metal-oxide nanoparticles.

Drug Development Research

Aside from identifying and stopping the transmission of pathogens, the need to develop vaccinations on a scale is also needed. One of the crucial things to make that possible is to consider the origin and essence of the virus. Google’s DeepMind, with their expertise in protein folding research, has rendered a jump in identifying the protein structure of the virus and making it open-source.

BenevolentAI uses AI technologies to develop medicines that will combat the most dangerous diseases in the world and is also working to promote attempts to cure coronavirus, the first time the organization has based its product on infectious diseases. Within weeks of the epidemic, it used its analytical capability to recommend new medicines that might be beneficial.

Robots are not vulnerable to the infection, and they are used to conduct other activities, like cooking meals in hospitals, doubling up as waiters in hotels, spraying disinfectants and washing, selling rice and hand sanitizers, robots are on the front lines all over to deter coronavirus spread. Robots also conduct diagnostics and thermal imaging in several hospitals. Shenzhen-based firm Multicopter uses robotics to move surgical samples. UVD robots from Blue Ocean Robotics use ultraviolet light to destroy viruses and bacteria separately. In China, Pudu Technology has introduced its robots, which are usually used in the cooking industry, to more than 40 hospitals throughout the region. According to the Reuters article, a tiny robot named Little Peanut is distributing food to passengers who have been on a flight from Singapore to Hangzhou, China, and are presently being quarantined in a hotel.

Colour Coding

Using its advanced and vast public service monitoring network, the Chinese government has collaborated with software companies Alibaba and Tencent to establish a colour-coded health ranking scheme that monitors millions of citizens every day. The mobile device was first introduced in Hangzhou with the cooperation of Alibaba. This applies three colours to people—red, green or yellow—based on their transportation and medical records. Tencent also developed related applications in the manufacturing centre of Shenzhen.

The decision of whether an individual will be quarantined or permitted in public spaces is dependent on the colour code. Citizens will sign into the system using pay wallet systems such as Alibaba’s Alipay and Ant’s wallet. Just those citizens who have been issued a green colour code will be permitted to use the QR code in public spaces at metro stations, workplaces, and other public areas. Checkpoints are in most public areas where the body temperature and the code of individual are tested. This programme is being used by more than 200 Chinese communities and will eventually be expanded nationwide.

In some of the seriously infected regions where people remain at risk of contracting the infection, drones are used to rescue. One of the easiest and quickest ways to bring emergency supplies where they need to go while on an epidemic of disease is by drone transportation. Drones carry all surgical instruments and patient samples. This saves time, improves the pace of distribution and reduces the chance of contamination of medical samples. Drones often operate QR code placards that can be checked to record health records. There are also agricultural drones distributing disinfectants in the farmland. Drones, operated by facial recognition, are often used to warn people not to leave their homes and to chide them for not using face masks. Terra Drone uses its unmanned drones to move patient samples and vaccination content at reduced risk between the Xinchang County Disease Control Center and the People’s Hospital. Drones are often used to monitor public areas, document non-compliance with quarantine laws and thermal imaging.

Autonomous Vehicles

At a period of considerable uncertainty to medical professionals and the danger to people-to-people communication, automated vehicles are proving to be of tremendous benefit in the transport of vital products, such as medications and foodstuffs. Apollo, the Baidu Autonomous Vehicle Project, has joined hands with the Neolix self-driving company to distribute food and supplies to a big hospital in Beijing. Baidu Apollo has also provided its micro-car packages and automated cloud driving systems accessible free of charge to virus-fighting organizations.

Idriverplus, a Chinese self-driving organization that runs electrical street cleaning vehicles, is also part of the project. The company’s signature trucks are used to clean hospitals.

This chapter provides an introduction to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). A brief history of this virus along with the symptoms are reported in this chapter. Then the comparison between COVID-19 and other plagues like seasonal influenza, bird flu (H5N1 and H7N9), Ebola epidemic, camel flu (MERS), swine flu (H1N1), severe acute respiratory syndrome, Hong Kong flu (H3N2), Spanish flu and the common cold are included in this chapter. Reviews of online portal and social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, YouTube and WhatsApp concerning COVID-19 are reported in this chapter. Also, the preventive measures and policies enforced by WHO and different countries such as China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Germany and the United States for COVID-19 are included in this chapter. Emergency funding provided by different countries to fight the COVID-19 is mentioned in this chapter. Lastly, artificial intelligence, data science and technological solutions like public health surveillance, remote biosignal measurement, IoT and wearables, chatbots and communication, social media and open data, automated diagnostics, drug development research, robotics, colour coding, drones and autonomous vehicles are included in this chapter.

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