ESSAY ON THE IMPACT OF PANDEMICS IN SOCIETY

Name : Anggresti Ninda Praditha

NIM : 1910505064

Class : A3

Study Program : D3 Radiology

DIII RADIOLOGY STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF AISYIYAH YOGYAKARTA

2021
 ESSAY ON THE IMPACT OF PANDEMICS IN SOCIETY

The world is currently facing a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Corona virus) and
its infection called COVID-19. The virus infection was originally discovered in Wuhan,
China in December 2019 and has spread rapidly to various parts of the world. This pandemic
affects various changes in the socioeconomic sector of the entire affected region, and not just
China alone. Based on data reported from the COVID-19 Task Force, dated April 21, 2020, it
has been confirmed that COVID-19 has infected 6760 people in Indonesia with a death rate
of 590 people and 747 people declared to have successfully recovered.

At the beginning of its appearance, the virus received a variety of responses that
emerged from the People of Indonesia. Some begin to be cautious and adopt a healthy
lifestyle, but more do not care and seem to underestimate; even make this virus as a joke. Not
only ordinary people, officials also underestimated the existence of this virus and did not
prepare or anticipate the emergence of this outbreak in Indonesia. Even as COVID-19 began
to spread rapidly to various regions and some countries have closed access in and out, the
government and Indonesians still seem relaxed and lack prevention of this virus.

In fact, people who behave stupidly with the appearance of corona virus number less
than people who care about the prevention of this virus. However, it is their indifference that
then accelerates the spread of the virus. People in this group are usually people who feel
themselves immune and people who consider that science is not entirely true (Ghaemi, 2020).

Uncertainty, confusion, and emergencies caused by corona virus can be stressors for
many people. Uncertainty in knowing when the outbreak will end makes many groups of
people, especially the lower middle class confused about their fate. Life that goes on as usual
without a livelihood makes it difficult for them to meet the needs of life. The presence of
Corona virus that threatens everyone has the opportunity to become a stressor for most
people, and the impact can be just as severe as the impact caused if infected with corona virus
itself (Taylor, 2019).

Fear of death is a basic psychological conflict in humans (Knoll, 2020) and according
to terror management theory, the fear of an uncertain death makes man do things to sustain
his life (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon, 1986). The presence of COVID-19 certainly
makes the perceived terror more intense. Of course, there are some positives and negatives
that people do to survive.
 To reduce anxiety in the community, it is fitting that we do various things to increase
public optimism in the midst of this pandemic. People who are still able to provide for their
lives are many who raise their concerns by contributing to help the poor by raising funds,
making donations. There are also other groups that help tailor PPE to health workers as well
as producing masks in large quantities to distribute to people who still have to work outside.
Because of the Corona virus, people also become more concerned and live a healthy lifestyle.
These are a small part of the self-defense efforts made by the community to avoid COVID-19
infection.

COVID-19 also encourages some people to act wrongly in order to survive. The
phenomenon of panic buying is one example. Panic buying and hoarding of daily necessities
is a form of inability of some of us to tolerate stress arising from uncertainty arising from the
Corona virus. Self-isolation as a preventive measure against COVID-19 infection is also a
psychological driving factor for some of us to finally do hoarding (Norberg &Rucker, 2020).

As is well known, the reason they do hoarding is just in case, but they are instead
encouraged to buy unnecessary items. In fact, such an action would be detrimental to other
groups of people who cannot afford to shop on a large scale so that they will have difficulty
to meet the needs of their lives. The phenomenon of panic buying is also then utilized by
some who are only looking for profit by raising prices to irrational figures and also
committing fraud that is usually done through online stores.

To control such behavior, we must strive to remain rational thinking even though it is
difficult to do in times like this. In situations like this, we can use the Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy (CBT) method to avoid decision-making based on momentary emotions and hasty
actions (Norberg &Rucker, 2020). This method can help us to improve the ability to regulate
emotions, help us not to get caught up in wrong thinking, and develop our ability to solve a
problem (Beck, 2011 &Benjamin, et al. 2011). CBT method can help us to reduce anxiety
and fear arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Example of this method application we can apply to avoid panic buying by making a
list of items that we do need to survive for the next 2-3 weeks. In addition, we can use this
method to analyze the news we receive related to COVID-19, so that we are not easily
consumed by hoaxes that will increase our anxiety.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our daily lives. The anxiety
and insecurity that most of us experience must be rationally addressed in order for us to
survive and also help others survive. The implementation of a healthy lifestyle and following
the recommendations of the government should also be done as an effort to prevent the
spread of COVID-19.