Positive Impact Of COVID'19 Pandemic

As much as the Pandemic brought challenges, change in the lifestyle, loss of lives, distress, dis-ease or conspiracy theories that fogged a common man’s thinking or any other thing you can name, it did, however, it did bring some positive things along. Anyone might wonder how can something that was a source of suffering can bring good?

Well as they say that all challenges are blessings in disguise. So must this be?

Let's see what positive change did it bring that evidence supports?

Creative Ways To Spend Time: During lockdowns, people found new ways to spend their time, including indulging in activities such as arts/crafts, cooking, gardening, or home workouts.

People found creative ways to spend their time during the lockdowns, which otherwise would be spent in unhealthy activities such as watching TV or indulging in eating unhealthy fast foods etc.[1] 

Hygiene/decline in infectious diseases and decline in other infectious diseases:Good hygiene and clean environments are paramount to the health, and no doubt we have seen a decline in infections during this pandemic because of the practice of handwashing and sanitization of the environment that has made a positive impact.[2]

Empathy and Compassion: We have learned through this pandemic that the basic pillar of humanity is compassion, people did outstanding gestures of compassion for others from Healthcare workers , essential workers and many other people have made innumerous efforts for the community. So many people went out of the way to help their community, including healthcare workers, essential workers, and security forces.[6]

Innovation development: The pandemic has placed considerable demands on development and humanitarian organizations, which can also be seen as presenting a range of opportunities for innovation. Innovation in development and humanitarian responses to the pandemic have tended to focus on incremental improvements to repurpose existing aid approaches on the one hand, and on new biomedical and pharmaceutical product developments on the other.[5]

Real Heroes:  We learned that the real heroes don’t have capes, in fact, they are people in scrubs, uniforms, and PPE’s.This pandemic is an opportunity to reprioritize people and resources in life and turns out that the area that needs maximum priority is health. Resources must be diverted towards health care, rather than conflicts.

We are all one in this together: This pandemic has taught us that when one part of the world is affected it ultimately affects the entire planet earth. Helping us realize that our choices will always affect us and others around us. So we must be more considerate of others and develop traits of compassion.

Benefits Of Home Schooling: Though closing down of schools brought difficulty for working parents and or those who did not have the privilege of education themselves, studies have shown that three are quite a few benefits of homeschooling , especially strengthening parent child bond.
Pupils considered that they had learned more and done more work at home than at school than the teachers thought. Both pupils and parents/guardians were positive about teachers’ efforts, both in setting creative tasks and in maintaining contact with pupils. Many pupils reported positive experiences with flexible school days when they organized their own daily routines, worked at their own pace and experienced independence. It will be interesting to explore how schools develop this in the future.[4]

Responsible behaviors: The pandemic has encouraged people towards more responsible behaviors and preventive measures. Randy Mayer, chief of the Bureau of HIV, STD, and Hepatitis at the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the public has become more responsive to calls from the department’s partner services, which perform contact tracing for people who test positive for HIV, gonorrhea, and syphilis. “People are really interested in calling us back and finding out what information we have for them,” he said. That increased cooperation, Mayer said, maybe a benefit of people associating public health departments with trying to keep growing evidence suggests that more people are also heeding recent pleas by public health officials. Researchers in Portugal and the UK told The BMJ that they were beginning to see shifts in the incidence of venereal diseases but were still collecting data to support their observations.

Miguel Duarte Botas Alpalhão, a dermatologist and invited lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon, said that he expects to see a lower rate of venereal infections during the lockdown. The crisis has caused people to reflect on their priorities “and how much they are willing to give up protecting their lives and those of their loved ones,” he said. “People are now more aware that nothing really matters when health is lacking, and this raised awareness may be the driving force towards healthier habits. We will have to wait and see.[3]

Mindfulness: Now that the pace of life has slowed down we are able to be more present in the moment even. In the light of all the benefits mentioned it would be safe to say that it’s a reset moment for self-reflection, self-actualization, and reprioritization of life at large. Studies have shown that more people reverted to mediation and self-reflective techniques during this pandemic.