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Leah Adkins

Professor Reynolds

English 1201

27 March 2022

How has Covid-19 negatively impacted people's lives?

A little over two years ago the world took on a new problem. I remember

sitting in class hearing about a new illness that was supposedly going around.

The story was it came from China and started spreading to other countries. The

illness was Covid-19 also known as the coronavirus. Nobody really thought much

of it, but little did we know it was very dangerous and even deadly. Schools started

shutting down right before spring break of 2020. Trips were being canceled and

people were being told not to travel. Not long after states were going on lockdown

and masks started becoming the new thing. Masks were always known to only be

worn by doctors, dentists, surgeons, etc. not by people during their everyday lives.

Life started to take a turn. Things weren't normal and we were quite literally stuck

inside, also known as quarantined. It wasn't till a year later that things started

slowly getting better. Masks were still required at a lot of places and we had to

wear them at school, but states were not on lockdown anymore. It is a worldwide

illness that has caused many negative issues. Covid-19 affected and still does with

our everyday lives. Between mental health, physical health, sporting events,

school, and jobs. For me, each of those aspects has been negatively impacted by
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Covid-19. Maybe this isn't the same for everyone, but it is still important to express

why Covid-19 has been draining people. The graph below shows us how before

Covid-19 people were doing better.

COVID-19 is a well-known disease found in December 2019. It orginated

out of Wuhan, China. Bats and other mammals were believed to be what first

carried the virus. Coronavirus started with the spread from bats to pangolins. As

crazy as it sounds, Covid-19 has been around longer than two years, but it was

only found in some animals and didn´t affect humans. The transfer of Covid-19
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happened from an animal to a human. The article ¨The history and science behind

COVID-19¨ says, ¨When the disease transferred from animal to human in late

2019, the outbreak progressed quickly through human-to-human contact. Like

influenza, respiratory droplets containing coronavirus are thought to be the mode

of transmission. Whether through coughing, sneezing, or talking, virus-laden

droplets can drift through the air up to six feet in distance¨ (Fauzia). The name

coronavirus originated from the word corona. In Latin, corona means crown.

Crown relates to coronaviruses because it represents the spike proteins sticking

out of them. The spike protein is the part of the virus that attaches to a human cell

to infect it. This allows the virus to spread between multiple cells (Basics of

COVID-19). This illness includes common viruses such as headaches, respiratory

problems, sore throat, cold, and tiredness. Covid-19 tends to affect older people/

adults more severely but it is still dangerous and mentally draining to teens/

children.

Let's talk about how it has had such a negative impact on humans. First of

all, Covid-19 has poorly affected people's mental health. In the article, ¨COVID-19

pandemic impacts mental, physical health of people with obesity¨, author

Henderson says, ¨The study revealed that nearly 73% of patient experience

increased anxiety and close to 84% had increased depression¨ (Henderson).

Results of anxiety and depression may occur from things like isolation, and

financial burden, due to the pandemic (Boldrini). I can relate personally to this fact.

During the heaviest part of the outbreak when millions were becoming sick and we

were all on lockdown I was not happy one bit and was so down. Online school was
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mentally draining for me because I did not have my teachers there to help me. I

was only with my family and didn't see any friends or other family members.

Because I didn't see other people when we got out of lockdown I had anxiety

about seeing everyone again, going back to in-person learning, and going out.

Also, many of us have experienced a death of a loved one due to Covid-19. This

really weighs heavy on your mind and messes with your mental health. It is hard

losing someone you love and knowing they are gone forever because of an illness.

Maura Boldrini, MD, Ph.D., a professor at Columbia University Vagelos College of

Physicians and Surgeons explained in an article that systemic inflammation can

release chemicals that trigger symptoms, depending on which part of the brain is

affected. The systoms includeed are hallucinations, anxiety, depression, and

suicidal thinking (Boldrini). Covid-19 can activate systemic inflammation, which

then the side effects may occur. It is important that we have therapists or even just

trusted others to go talk to if we are dealing with these problems not only from

Covid-19 but in general.

Not only mental health but also physical health has been impacted by

Covid-19. During the lockdown, people could not go out and work out. Lots of

individuals snacked more and spent their time sitting around all day. A study done

showed, ¨Nearly 70% reported more difficulty in achieving weight loss goals, while

48% had less exercise time, and 56% had less intensity in exercise¨ (Henderson).

Even if it's hard to exercise, eating healthy benefits your health. Many patients with

obesity already with healthy eating. Some areas where people live there is a lack

of grocery stores. This then causes them to depend on fast food or processed
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foods from places like gas stations or convenience stores (Henderson). Yet, some

grocery stores were shutting down, so fast food was people's only resort. People

were also losing their jobs which caused them to struggle affording meals. Luckily,

my grocery store did not shut down, so we were able to buy groceries. The bad

part was that when people went to the grocery they whipped out all the groceries

and but lots so that they would be set just in case the groceries shut down too.

Adding on, sporting events and sporting facilities were being shut down.

During the spring when Covid first came my club soccer team was shut down. We

were not able to have any practices or games. It was hard not being able to do

what I love and seeing my teammates. Later on in the year when things slowly got

better high school soccer started up. We were allowed to practice but we had to

wear masks to practice and could only take them off when we were doing

conditioning and drills. We had to also wear masks during all the bus rides to

games and on the bench while sitting out during the game. During games, there

was a limit on tickets being sold so not everyone could come to support the

games. Some games had to be canceled due to teams being quarantined. It was

emotional for the ones who couldn't play their sport during their senior season

because of Covid-19. Lots of students lost their senior seasons and senior nights

without expecting it. Even big named sporting events were being canceled. At the

time the NCAA couldn't hold games which ended up causing them to lose money:

¨The NCAA, for example, makes almost $1 billion annually from their media rights

deal with March Madness alone, which will not take place. The NCAA has also

responded to the crisis, calling off its 2020 winter and spring championships. That
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means the league will not be able to distribute their annual payout to all the

member schools. This financial setback could hurt every NCAA athletic

department in a major way next season¨(¨How Covid-19 is affecting sports and

fans who love the games¨). It took a while for events to slowly start coming back.

Now, most things have gone back to normal, but some athletes still prefer to wear

masks and some schools have to wear them on the bus.

Schooling was majorly changed due to Covid-19 and still for some schools

learning is not back to how it was. Most schooling was done only during the

pandemic. In the article, ¨Nearly 93% of Households With School-Age Children

Report Some Form of Distance Learning During COVID-19¨ it was said, ¨From

May 28 to June 2, when many school districts across the country are normally in

session, 80% of people living with children distance learning reported the children

were using online resources¨ (Mcelrath). It was tough for some students who live

in a home with not much income because they did not have the right technology. I

did have the technology to complete online schooling, but that doesn't mean my

wifi was always working or there were no technical difficulties. It was definitely a

struggle and hard to adjust to being online. You did not have the everyday

guidance of class like normal. You had to make sure you were on time to zoom

class every day. As an older sibling, it was hard when my parents were not home

because I had to help my younger siblings with their work and zoom calls while

trying to do my own. Not only were students affected but some teachers struggled

with online school. A lot of teachers were laid off during Covid-19, especially

college professors. One of the EBSCO ebooks, ¨Survey of College Counseling &
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Mental Health Services During the Pandemic¨, wrote about a survey that was

done. It was said, ¨The mean number of staffers (apart from students) full

time+part time was 6.24. Staffs were generally fewer than three except for the

largest colleges, those with 15,000 or more students, averaged 16. Staff size fell

significantly in 2020-21 to a mean of 4.7 from last year’s mean of 6.24, a drop of

24.68%. For colleges with more than 15,000 enrolled students, staff size dropped

to 10.56 from 16, a decline of more than a third¨ ( Primary Research Group, Inc).

Private college professors were not hit as badly as public colleges, but both

struggled with being released. Additionally, because we were not allowed at school

and not allowed to mass gather, assemblies went away and still aren't a big thing

anymore. We use to have multiple assemblies and pep rallies at the high school

for grades 9-12. We would play multiple games, have challenges, and do cheers

to help build up the school spirit. Now, it has died down and we cannot all gather in

the gym to do these fun activities.

Lastly, many businesses especially smaller ones started losing business.

The SBA reported that preliminary economic data indicate small businesses have

been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic (Clovis). Clovis also

wrote in his book, ¨Small Business Issues During the Covid-19 Pandemic,

¨Congressional interest, however, has become especially acute in the wake of the

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic’s widespread adverse economic

impact on the national economy, including productivity losses, supply chain

disruptions, major labor dislocation, and significant financial pressure on both

businesses and households¨ (Clovis). Just like the last paragraph mentioned,
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people were losing their jobs because of Covid and there was a low amount of

staff. Stores were desperate for employees and advertising lots about hiring. Even

car dealerships are struggling because car shipments are not coming in. There is

a lack of cars being made and the car lots are whipped out. I realized here in my

hometown lots of small businesses downtown were losing staff and customers.

More importantly, they weren't receiving the supply they needed to sell. For

example, one of the Boutiques went out of business because they were losing so

much money. It is safe to say now businesses are doing better, but most are still

hiring.

Covid-19 has actually been helpful to some people though. It has been said

Covid-19 has helped the environment and brought peace and gratitude.

Manufacturing and air trivial have been paused allowing the planet to have time to

rejuvenate. Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal said, ¨China recorded an 85

percent increase in days with good air quality in 337 cities between January and

March. With tourists gone from Italy, the long-polluted canals of Venice now

appear clear as fish and other wildlife start returning¨ (Seven positive outcomes of

COVID-19). There has been more peace around the world with fewer battles going

on: ¨The United Nations called to end all wars in the face of COVID-19 as the

world confronts a common enemy: ´It’s time to put armed conflict on lockdown,´

stated Secretary-General António Guterres¨ (Seven positive outcomes of

COVID-19). Gratitude has been the biggest positive outcome. Due to Covid-19

happening people started realizing to not take things for granted and appreciate

more. As Haski-Leventhal wrote, ¨It has offered us a new perspective on

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everything we have taken for granted for so long – our freedoms, leisure,

connections, work, family, and friends. We have never questioned how life as we

know it could be suddenly taken away from us¨ (Seven positive outcomes of

COVID-19). I do have to agree with gratitude being a positive outcome. I myself

have learned to not take things like seeing friends and family, school, and sports

for granted and notice how important they are to me. This still does not override

that Covid-19 has mainly had a negative effect on lives and the world. Between

the impact it had on mental and physical health, sports, school, jobs, and our

everyday lives, it will never be something that we benefited from.

Overall, Covid-19 has had a powerful impact on people but not in a positive

way. Covid- 19 messed with many people and their personal lives. With mental

health and physical health problems increasing and many activities being shut

down we can agree it was stressful. Now, Covid has been slowing down spreading

and people are recovering from illness and life problems. We have vaccines,

well-trained doctors, and even therapists for those who need help recovering from

mental problems. Covid-19 will not be something we can forget about and it is

important to understand how dangerous it was.

Works Cited
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“Basics of Covid-19.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention,

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basi

cs-covid-19.html. Accessed March 23, 2022

Boldrini, Maura. “How Does Covid Affect Mental Health?” Columbia University

Irving Medical Center, 19 July 2021,

www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/how-does-covid-affect-mental-health.

Accessed March 23, 2022

Clovis Lalonde. Small Business Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic. SNOVA,

2020. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=25798

78&site=ehost-live. Accessed March 23, 2022

Fauzia, Miriam. “The History and Science behind COVID-19.” The Daily Free

Press, 16 Mar. 2020,

https://dailyfreepress.com/2020/03/16/the-history-and-science-behind-covid

-19/. Accessed March 23, 2022

Henderson, Emily. “Covid-19 Pandemic Impacts Mental, Physical Health of People

with Obesity.” News, 11 June 2020,

www.news-medical.net/news/20200610/COVID-19-pandemic-impacts-ment

al-physical-health-of-people-with-obesity.aspx. Accessed March 23, 2022

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“How Covid-19 Is Affecting Sports and the Fans Who Love the Games.” University

of Miami News and Events, 27 Feb. 2022,

news.miami.edu/stories/2020/03/how-covid-19-is-affecting-sports-and-the-f

ans-who-love-the-games.html. Accessed March 23, 2022

Mcelrath, Kevin. “Nearly 93% of Households with School-Age Children Report

Some Form of Distance Learning during COVID-19.” Census.gov, 21 Dec.

2021,

www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/08/schooling-during-the-covid-19-pand

emic.html. Accessed March 23, 2022

Primary Research Group, Inc. Survey of College Counseling & Mental Health

Services During the Pandemic. Primary Research Group, Inc, 2020.

EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e900xww&AN=26

68959&site=eds-live. Accessed March 23, 2022