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The Impact of COVID-19

Theresa Gass-Williams

Bryant & Stratton College

The Impact of COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has crossed geographical boundaries, affecting people of all ages and backgrounds, and presenting challenges and implications in many areas. This article aims to explore and categorize four distinct perspectives that have been articulated in the scholarly literature, and to shed light on the general consequences of the epidemic. Areas of focus include mental health in the elderly, medical research concerns, impacts on agriculture, and socioeconomic development due to the epidemic. Understanding these nuances is important in ways to further mitigation, recovery and future rehabilitation.

Mental Health Impact on the Elderly

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of older people a lot. It's a big problem that needs to be looked into and fixed with good plans. Banerjee carefully studied this aspect in his article from 2020. He discovered that older people face problems that are often ignored when we talk about the virus. Older people are more likely to get very sick or die from COVID-19. But, besides the dangers to their body, the pandemic has really made their mind feel not so good. Feeling unsure, scared of getting sick, and having to stay away from others can make us feel really upset. This problem affects not just old people but also their families, who worry about their loved ones' health and happiness.

One big problem that makes mental health issues worse for older people is when they feel lonely and don't have many friends. The pandemic made people stay far away from each other and not go out much. This made it hard for old people to see their friends and family. The changes in daily life and being away from friends and family have made many people feel more worried, sad, and very alone. Some studies, like the one by Losada-Baltar et al. (2021), show that older people have mental health problems during the pandemic. These findings make it clear that we need to help these weak people by giving them extra support and help to improve their mental health and get healthier.

There are different ways to help older people with their mental health issues. First, we need to understand and accept that older people have different thoughts and feelings than younger people. Also, don't forget that taking care of their minds is just as important as their bodies. Next, it is extremely important to make and use mental health tools that are easy for older people to access. There are different ways to help people feel better emotionally. Some of these ways include talking to a doctor online, joining groups online where people can support each other, and programs in the community that reach out to help people.

It's also really important to have ways to help older people feel better and deal with things. These ways to help might include talking to someone who understands, doing calming exercises, or doing fun things that make you feel connected and important. Additionally, making friends and staying connected with others, even from a distance, can be really important for feeling less lonely and happier in our minds. When people work together, use technology, and create programs that bring young and old folks together, it helps fight loneliness and feeling alone.

Medical Research Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a big change in medical research, as explained by Harper and their team in their study from 2020. Scientists quickly shifted their focus and used a lot of resources to study COVID. This shows how they can adapt and stay strong when new health problems come up. But, this big change in focus makes us worry about what might happen to other medical research areas and what could happen in the future because of this new direction. But, while we focus on studying COVID-19, we might forget about other important medical research. People are focusing a lot on studying pandemics right now. But that means other important research, like studying cancer, heart health, brain disorders, and rare diseases, might not get as much attention. This change might make it harder to make progress and find new things in important medical areas. That could make it more difficult to solve health problems that go beyond just the pandemic.

The study by Harper and colleagues shows how scientists quickly adapt to changes. However, they didn't look at what might happen in the future because of this change. This makes us wonder if it's good to focus so much on COVID research and how it affects other medical areas. It's really important to find a good balance between dealing with the pandemic and keeping up with important medical research. We need to carefully decide how to use our resources to keep fighting COVID-19 and also make progress in other important medical areas. If we don't find the right balance, it could cause problems in healthcare. This might slow down progress and make it harder to find cures for diseases and health issues. Everyone in schools, organizations, and the world needs to work together to keep these bad things from happening. To handle the pandemic and still do other important medical studies, we need to make rules, find ways to get money, and work together.

Preferred Perspective and Its Implications

It's very important how we think about how mental health affects older people because it has a big effect on their lives and on public health in general. Those over 65 have had a really hard time during the COVID-19 outbreak. They've had to deal with a lot of new and hard things, like being afraid of getting sick, being alone, and not knowing what will happen. This 2020 piece by Banerjee talks about how a certain group of people are feeling very emotional and open. Help them right away and keep an eye on their mental health. If we don’t take care of the mental health of the elderly, bad things can happen. The researchers have found that the elderly are more likely to have problems during epidemics. They want us to help them immediately with their mental health. People over 65 can feel very scared, sad and lonely if we don’t meet these needs. In the long run, this can be detrimental to their health and unhappiness. Having a good system and a strong safety net to protect the mental health of the elderly is critical. This helps them to be strong and to survive despite their hardships.

Supporting Evidence

It has been shown in many studies, such as the study by Hussain et al. (2020), that older people are more ill during epidemics, sometimes even psychologically. All of this makes it clear that the elderly need help with their mental health. Research shows that the mental well-being of the elderly is of utmost importance to everyone. People over the age of 65 have suffered from the COVID-19 crisis. They are scared, sad and very lonely because they cannot be around other people because of the dangerous virus. Studies show the importance of ensuring that this group of people has access to appropriate mental health services. If these basic needs are not met, many problems can arise. Aged people might feel sad about it, which could hurt their health and the way they live their lives. That's why it's so important to help older people with their mental health. We need to check on them and make sure they're okay and strong even when things get tough.

Conclusion

COVID-19 has affected many aspects of society, so it's important to understand its consequences as a whole. Different viewpoints are helpful, but we should focus on how mental health affects older people. It's really important and needs our attention right away. It's really important to take care of older people's feelings by giving them special help and lots of support. This will help our society become strong and bounce back after this really big crisis that's happening all over the world.

References

Banerjee, D. (2020). The impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on elderly mental health. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 35(12), 1466.

Harper, L., Kalfa, N., Beckers, G. M. A., Kaefer, M., Nieuwhof-Leppink, A. J., Fossum, M., ... & ESPU Research Committee. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on research. Journal of pediatric urology, 16(5), 715.

Siche, R. (2020). What is the impact of COVID-19 disease on agriculture. Scientia Agropecuaria, 11(1), 3-6.

Yeyati, E. L., & Filippini, F. (2021). Social and economic impact of COVID-19. Brookings Institution.

Hossain, M. M., Tasnim, S., Sultana, A., Faizah, F., Mazumder, H., Zou, L., ... & Ma, P. (2020). Epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19: a review. F1000Research, 9.