The coronavirus is a type of virus that has never been seen or recorded in history before. They are known to cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) as well as MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), which both caused epidemics with respective fatalities. The disease is spread through human-to-human contact, unlike other diseases that can be contracted through animals or insect bites. The world has changed drastically since that day, with the spread of the pandemic to two other parts of Asia and Africa (Ciotti et al., 2020). As a result, turmoil and anarchy plagued many countries, with their citizens turning on each other so that they could survive. Overall, the devastation this virus has caused would result in humanity reaching a new height in terms of discovering killer diseases such as the coronavirus as well as research into a cure for it as well.

Various remedies were identified that led to a decrease in infection rates. One of the remedies that helped contain the virus was the closure of many public places such as schools and universities. The virus was spread mainly through physical contact with infected individuals, and this method reduced infection rates by more than 70% (Watkins, 2020). WHO coordinated with many countries to create a global health alert system known as Code Red, which resulted in the notification of all countries within 12 hours after a positive case was found. This resulted in immediate quarantine around those infected and arresting anyone who did not comply with quarantine orders. People were also required to wear face masks while in public places. As a result of these measures, the number of cases were reduced by 50%.

 

Ciotti, M., Ciccozzi, M., Terrinoni, A., Jiang, W. C., Wang, C. B., & Bernardini, S. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic. Critical reviews in clinical laboratory sciences, 57(6), 365-388. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408363.2020.1783198

Watkins, J. (2020). Preventing a covid-19 pandemic. BMJ, 368.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m810  

 

Measures used to combat the pandemic are like historic instances of disease outbreaks. For instance, social distancing and isolation were used even in historic times to prevent spreading diseases like the bubonic plague. The same mechanism was used in this instance as well as people were expected to wear face masks in public to avoid infection and protect their health (Romagnani et al., 2020). Further, panic over potential disease cases led to complete lockdowns of economies and schools worldwide. Overall, these measures are quite like measures used in the past to prevent the prevalence of diseases.

The economic impact of the disease has been characterized by a slowdown in global economic growth, disruptions of trade and investment caused by reduced international travel, especially in Asia, and increases in the price of oil and other commodities. Specifically, countries already experiencing economic difficulties due to the global financial crisis saw a further decline in their GDP due to this pandemic (Jones, 2020). Moreover, austerity measures were put in place by most countries to mitigate the possible spread of the disease and to ensure that the remaining resources were utilized for the treatment of infected people and health care. As a result, there was a general economic decline due to this pandemic.

Overall, the trends observed during the covid 19 pandemic reflect those surveyed in previous historic pandemics. Many of the effects and measures adopted to combat its prevalence are like the effects of previous pandemics. In addition, the pandemic's impacts were felt in developed and developing countries. The economic results caused by this pandemic are likely to be seen as a precedent for future pandemics and can be used as a model for other infectious diseases such as Zika or Ebola, which has led to similar measures.

 

 

References

Romagnani, P., Gnone, G., Guzzi, F., Negrini, S., Guastalla, A., Annunziato, F., ... & De Palma, R. (2020). The COVID-19 infection: lessons from the Italian experience. Journal of public health policy, 41(3), 238-244. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41271-020-00229-y 

Jones, D. S. (2020). History in a crisis—lessons for Covid-19. New England journal of medicine, 382(18), 1681-1683. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2004361 

The immediate impact of the Epidemiology and spread of covid manifests through the adoption of apt precautionary countering the spread of the virus. Restrictions adopted in various covid hotspots were necessary after ascertaining the extent of the reach of the deadly virus. Such acts led to the closure of social halls, mandatory wearing of masks, and keeping a social distance (Huang et al., 2020). Vaccination and more strict social control measures got reinforced in areas where the spread of the disease was high such as major cities of Europe (Zawbaa et al., 2022). Therefore, the societal impacts of the epidemiology and spread of the covid virus were evinced by extreme control measures. 

Covid 19 got gauged as a pandemic and not an ordinary outbreak credit to the extensive destruction caused by the virus. The world health organization further classified the virus as a pandemic because of the high rate at which the virus spread. Therefore, the core rationales underpinning the virus as a pandemic are exhibited by the high death rates, destruction to the economy, and the rigor of controlling the spread of the disease. 

 

Zawbaa, H. M., Osama, H., El‐Gendy, A., Saeed, H., Harb, H. S., Madney, Y. M., ... & Abdelrahim, M. E. (2022). Effect of mutation and vaccination on spread, severity, and mortality of COVID‐19 disease. Journal of Medical Virology, 94(1), 197-204.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmv.27293

Huang, X., Wei, F., Hu, L., Wen, L., & Chen, K. (2020). Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of COVID-19. Archives of Iranian Medicine, 23(4), 268-271. http://aimjournal.ir/Article/aim-15538 

A pandemic is a broad term used for infectious diseases that spread across many countries at the same time. Ideally, it is a situation where there is a significant spread of the disease from one person to the next at different geographical locations simultaneously (Wang et al., 2020). The coronavirus disease fits this description perfectly as it spread from person to person and was observed at different geographical locations simultaneously. It also showed similar symptoms in different geographical locations, known as the spread of a pandemic (Rocklöv & Sjödin, 2020). The disease also caused large-scale disruption in society's social, economic, and political aspects. Thus it's classified as a pandemic instead of an epidemic or an outbreak.

 

Rocklöv, J., & Sjödin, H. (2020). High population densities catalyze the spread of COVID-19. Journal of Travel Medicine, 27(3), taaa038. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa038 

Rossi, F. S., Shankar, M., Buckholdt, K., Bailey, Y., Israni, S. T., & Iverson, K. M. (2020). Trying times and trying out solutions: Intimate partner violence screening and support for women veterans during COVID-19. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(9), 2728-2731. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-05990-0 

Singhal, T. (2020). A review of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 87(4), 281-286. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12098-020-03263-6 

Wang, S., Wen, X., Dong, Y., Liu, B., & Cui, M. (2020). Psychological influence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the general public, medical workers, and patients with mental disorders and its countermeasures. Psychosomatics, 61(6), 616-624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2020.05.005