The Cultural Effects of COVID-19
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The Cultural Effects of COVID-19
The world is currently facing a global pandemic from the coronavirus whose inception was traced back to Wuhan Province in China. The first case was recorded on December 31 in 2019 from where the testing was done, and the virus confirmed on January 7. From there, the cases spread all over the world, and the World Health Organization declared it. Many countries formulated policies and implemented measures to deal with the virus in the best way they know best. The virus is highly contagious and has led to the deaths of more than half a million people all over the world. The virus attacks the respiratory system of people, leaving them with irreversible damage in the lungs when they moved to the full-blown stage. As a measure of safety, and to prevent more infections, nations decided to lock down their borders to prevent the movement of people from one place to another, thereby transporting the virus (Unproven, T. S. H. S. T., & Warnings, D. H. D. F, 2020). The virus nevertheless found its way into countries that were not affected before. The main transmitters having been the nationals who had to travel to their home countries amid the pandemic. The closure of the borders came with the banning of transport, specifically air transport. With safety, measures came banning universal joints and other social places where people used to have fun. The governments hoped to stop the spread as no cure has been found to cure the virus. In this paper, I aim to focus on how coronavirus pandemic has affected various cultures in the world.
Effects of Coronavirus on Entertainment
As observed above, one of the most affected sectors is the entertainment sector. It is a known fact that the modern source of entertainment revolves around social joints where crowds are inevitable. People go to places like bars, restaurants, and resorts to have fun and get drunk for those who drink. While in these places, they would get drunk and enjoy themselves, and interaction with one another will be so easy. Restaurants, where people go to eat, are also prone to increase the infection rates of the deadly virus. Also, places like social events and concerts would have increased the infection rates a great deal (Tucker & Yu, 2020). Places like football arenas where people go to watch football, and other forms of games have a lot of interaction that would have been inevitable to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
The coronavirus is mainly spread through human connection, and people interacting would form a better channel for the spread. The virus also has a longer lifespan and resilience. It is reported that it stays on metal surfaces for about seven days making it more enduring than most viruses. Its duration on surfaces makes it even more deadly. It stays on linen too, and not only after washing it would one get rid of the virus. Through their health dockets, the governments enforced some social distancing rules, including the closure of all the universal joints. The joints were closed to ensure everyone stays at home and maintains hygiene through the washing of hands. The only personnel who are supposed to be moving are the essential services people who have a pass for their work. As a result of banning social interactions at universal joints in a move to enforce social distancing, people have been forced to find alternative means of entertainment.
Many people have been forced to embrace staying at home as a way of following the directives of the government on social distancing. The government has come up with rules to deal with those that flout the rules set in place, with one risking facing jail time or fines. While staying at home, people have embraced a reading of books as a way to get entertained. That is an effect of banning social joints and entertainment joints, but it is all positive. A reading culture is slowly being cultivated in many people who could not read before because of many reasons. People have gone back to books they could not read before due to being busy with other life processes. There are even more strides towards employing healthy modes of entertainment, which is positive feedback as far as entertainment is concerned.
As a way to get rid of boredom, people have embraced watching shows that they could not watch in the past because of certain barriers from their daily activities. Television programs have been forced to incorporate healthy programs in their stations as more traffic and people are watching their shows. As a result, people are getting more informed on the issues that affect them apart from the worldwide pandemic. Psychological issues and how to deal with them is the more underlying issue as more people are forced to be alone in their homes. Many programs are thus geared toward providing more meaningful information on how to deal with the problems. More movies and shows teaching about various diverse topics are used to drive the agenda about the whole importance of staying at home and staying safe.
Effect on Access to Healthcare
It is important to note that the pandemic has affected access to healthcare by many people. Before the epidemic, many people did not have any problems going to the hospitals to look for medication. People would frequent the various healthcare centers with the hope of being attended to by the medical personnel available. That is not the case anymore, as most of the hospitals have been solely turned to the treatment of COVID-19 patients (Allcott et al., 2020). Various hospitals around the world have been equipped with the necessary tools for the treatment of the disease, and thus, visiting them becomes a difficult challenge. Many people are now seeking the services of pharmaceuticals to treat themselves of the various other ailments that they may contract during this period. There are also cases of pregnant women giving birth in their homes with the assistance of middle wives. There is a fear of visiting healthcare centers because of the risk of contracting the deadly virus. In addition, because of the existing lockdown and curfew policies, it has become close to difficult to access the services at night. People have embraced treating themselves at home, which has proven to work most of the time.
Effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic to Eating Habits
The modern world was accustomed to eating in restaurants and fast food joints. Many people would opt to eat at fast food joints or order the cooked foods and eat them at their homes. Eating at these fast food joints is not suitable for many people as fast food carries a lot of health risks and associated problems. The junk food from these places has led to an increase in obesity in most of the countries (Haleem et al., 2020). Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic that is not a problem anymore. People have embraced healthy eating from their homes, as they cannot access fast food joints anymore. Mainly people do not depend on fresh farm produce to sustain them as more of the restaurants are closed due to the pandemic and a bid to enforce social distancing. In addition to healthy dieting, people have taken to working out to keep fit and reduce their weight.
References
Allcott, H., Boxell, L., Conway, J., Gentzkow, M., Thaler, M., & Yang, D. Y. (2020). Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the Coronavirus pandemic. NBER Working Paper (w26946).
Haleem, A., Javaid, M., & Vaishya, R. (2020). Effects of COVID 19 pandemic in daily life. Current Medicine Research and Practice.
Tucker, C. E., & Yu, S. (2020). The early effects of coronavirus-related social distancing restrictions on brands. Available at SSRN 3566612.
Unproven, T. S. H. S. T., & Warnings, D. H. D. F. Coronavirus Pandemic. Recent Advances in Adjuvant Chemotherapy, 6, 7.