On March 11, 2020, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic due to its spread and severity. With this single announcement, the way we had lived, worked, and interacted has changed in a blink of an eye. Face masks have become one of the most used items, grim graphs of cases and deaths have crowded our news channels, jobs and school classes have been carried out from home, and words and phrases that most of us have never heard of or used before such as Zoom, social distancing, quarantine, and lockdown have suddenly become part of our jargon. Our global world has suddenly stopped being so “global” as international flights have been almost completely shut down in decades. Even now when flights are more available than at the start of the pandemic as a result of vaccination, it is still much more complicated to fly out due to mandatory quarantines and travel restrictions. Fast forward to today, almost two whole years after our “normal” has changed, the pandemic still has a substantial impact on our world, one that will very likely be with us for the years to come.
According to a study conducted by Stanford University, “After the pandemic, employers are planning for about 23 percent of paid days to be spent working from home, a four-fold increase relative to before the pandemic.” This means that many people will still continue to be working from home instead of getting back to in-person, work mode. This allows for increased employees’ autonomy that might have been absent in physical workplaces and more work flexibility which is beneficial for parents and collaborations. However, working from home could potentially mean increased isolation; being inside the house in front of a laptop all day long can lead to decreased social interactions and opportunities to speak face-to-face with coworkers. It can also lead to reduced productivity given the difficulty to focus and lack of an external control system. While some individuals prefer the work-from-home mode and believe it works better with their other responsibilities, other people face many struggles with staying at home for long hours and not being as social as they used to, thus making them feel burned out and unmotivated very quickly.
Aside from work, the pandemic will continue to affect education around the world. Even though many people have by now been vaccinated and many students are likely to attend in-person classes next school year, low-income families and communities continue to bear the brunt of the educational crisis. Research shows that low-income students are substantially further behind in English and mathematics after more than a year of continuous lack of reliable access to the internet, parents who were unable to stay home and support them, and financial hardships. According to the National Institutes of Health, “A team of researchers at Stanford University … estimated that the average student had lost one-third of a year to a full year’s worth of learning in reading, and about three-quarters of a year to more than 1 year in math since schools closed in March 2020.” And according to a study done by McKinsey & Company, “… Students, on average, could be behind by up to nine months in math, for example. For students of color, it increased to 12 months.” Even before the pandemic, there was already a huge learning gap between students from different social classes. Therefore, if more financial and educational assistance is not provided to low-income communities, this educational equity crisis will only continue to grow. When my senior year was almost fully all online, I have to admit that I did not like it, but I am so grateful that I had access to reliable resources such as a laptop, Wi-Fi, and continuous support from my teachers. We held online classes, had online office hours, and if needed we could reach our counselors at any time. My school’s funding allowed it to provide us with plentiful resources, and though there were definitely challenges along the way, my classmates and I were very lucky to have the support we had. Unfortunately, this is not true for much of the United States and countless countries around the world. Now more than ever, low-income students are at risk not only academically, but also psychologically as their well-being and health are compromised due to the COVID-19’s financial hardships.
One additional impact the pandemic has on the world relates to employment, particularly on low-income families. While employment in the US is rising as more and more people get vaccinated, it is still low, and millions report that they do not have enough to eat or are behind on rent payments. This situation hurts low-income families financially and psychologically, as constant stress and anxiety about money, food, and making sure you can take care of your family cause a dramatic increase in mental health issues and substance abuse cases.
A different issue that related to employment and is connected to COVID-19 is a phenomenon that we have come to identify as ‘The Great Resignation’. Now that the pandemic is more controlled and our lives are beginning to return to normalcy, a record-number of people are leaving their jobs. Many are resigning because they are burned out and some are resigning due to the time they had to reflect on their current job and their future aspirations. Most individuals, though, are resigning because as we are returning towards normalcy, they do not want to go back to the work-from-the-office-only option they once had. They would rather quit their current job (even if they had a pretty good paying job) and look for one that offers both in-person and remote or only remote option, depending on what fits their lifestyle better. Currently, The Great Resignation is seen especially in mid-career employees and those in the technology and healthcare industries. In order to combat this unusual resignation rate, companies must re-evaluate how to keep their employees from moving to different companies and learn to navigate and succeed despite the high amount of people quitting.
Overall, although the pandemic has been more manageable ever since the vaccines came out and the term ‘COVID-19’ no longer appears on every news headline, it still continues to impact individuals, businesses, and nations around the world. From work and income to education and mental health, the impacts of the pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future.
Sources:
The Effect of COVID-19 on Education (nih.gov)
How serious is the COVID “learning gap”? (umdearborn.edu)
The rise of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
What is The Great Resignation and what can we learn from it | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)
I recently went to a speaker event that covered the topic of COVID-19 and burnout in the frontline workforce. The exhaustion they experience is not unique, though. While secondary workers, such as those in offices that have to decide what mix of remote and in-person work would suit their employees, don’t face the trauma that medical workers have, that shouldn’t downplay their struggles throughout this time. And as people struggle with their work, they may have less energy for their families, further contributing to the struggles of students at this time.
I agree with all your points. In my blog for this week, I also talked about how low-income families are being heavily impacted by the wrath of COVID-19. I think it is important to provide a helping-hand to these families and offer resources as much as we can. This is something that we have not experienced before, so it is hard for our generation to comprehend the actuality of it all. When my high school went virtual, a handful of the low-income families had a lot to think about. How were their kids going to get free school lunches? Who was going to watch the younger kids? What if we do not have the resources to provide our children with a stable learning environment at home?
Hi Oren, you shed light on an important aspect of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the educational inequity that has been created. The next generation of students and learners are already at a disadvantage when it comes to learning academically and socially. Additionally, the families who are unable to pay their bills and lead to financial stress and burdens overall place strains the child and individual. Creating an environment for individuals who are behind to catch up and help them academically can make the difference for this educational inequity.
I really liked how you talked about the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of education and how “on-track” students are in their academic paths. It’s definitely interesting how, in some ways, the pandemic made the barriers to a proper educational experience far higher than before, as students now needed resources like computers, WiFi, and ways to communicate and stay in touch with teachers and peers. I’m definitely interested to see how education as a whole continues to evolve as a result of the lasting effects of the pandemic.
I really loved this post! You covered a lot of important topics that have been affected because of COVID-19. I also talked about the affects of covid, specifically on students’ mental health. Like you stated, since the news and media aren’t talking about this virus 24/7 anymore, important topics are now being ignored because it isn’t seen as an “issue” anymore. Great job bringing this to light with your post!