How COVID-19 Affects Our Lifestyle
By: Amna Sarwar
Tags: Covid Diaries, Coronavirus, Covid 19 Crisis, Covid-19

COVID-19 appears to be universal as it treats privileged and unprivileged the same. The first case was reported in China last year around this time, and until now, it has turned the whole world upside down. Every aspect of human life, i.e., social, political, and economic, is hit in the head by the international lockdown because of the pandemic. If the situation gets more complicated, post-COVID life will be the most difficult times to live in, with the rising inequality (read poverty) and global unemployment.

COVID has proved “Nobody likes change” right. The changes are diverse as all the businesses are affected, which led to the loss of cash flow. The change worth mentioning here would be the inclusion of masks and social distancing into our lives. As we know, our lifestyle is not the same as before, and some of these changes are here to stay forever.

L ifestyle is the amalgam of social, work, health, learning, and spiritual aspects of one’s life.

How each of these was affected by COVID is discussed below:

Social

For some of us, COVID-19 might have been the reason to bring our relationships back to life, but the statistics suggest otherwise. With the rise of domestic violence cases over the lockdown, it is apparent that economic insecurity brings out the worst in people. Moreover, the social activities like postponement of sports tournaments, closure of restaurants, movie theatres, and traveling were all changed due to COVID-19.

Work

If the situation isn’t handled responsibly by the local governments, work could shift from 9–5 to work-from-home with flexible hours permanently. That could undoubtedly save lots of resources like fuel, electricity. But it will bring downfall to so many industries like real estate and will be a significant reason for unemployment and poverty.

Despite the inconveniences caused by COVID-19 in our lifestyle, the work from home option could help stop climate change.

Learning

Distance learning in quarantine has helped lots of people as so many companies offered free courses online. People who couldn’t do it just because of the lack of time took advantage of the opportunity to the fullest.

Some adopted hobbies they never had the time before, like cooking. Being home day and night, has awakened our sleeping creativity, which is pretty apparent when we head to social media.

Health

COVID-19 has upended our lives, and the health aspect of our lifestyle is significantly struck by the lockdown being a health issue itself. People with weakened immunity, like the elderly and children, are more vulnerable to the virus. The number of people coping with acute hunger will be double by the end of the year as they don’t have access to basic hygiene practices and the fact that they are uninsured. Most of them are unemployed and homeless, making them the most vulnerable to catch the virus and die from it.

Our lifestyle completely changed after the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and it may have our focus on the more immediate extortions. The real issues to discuss here are the climate crisis and environmental degradation, especially in developing and emerging countries in post-COVID life. Local governments of the countries facing the COVID-19 challenges need administrative level changes to cope with the pandemic's impact.