If you had described the events of 2020 to someone in 2019 it would have sounded more like the plot to a movie than the actual events. Unfortunately, it is not a movie. In 2020 we have seen a devastating loss of life due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and seen our way of life completed shift into this “new norm” we find ourselves in. Not being able to visit loved ones, online video calls with friends, working from home, self-isolating and even virtual funerals. We have almost become desensitized by the amount of deaths we are seeing daily and weekly as we may only interpret these as figures, we forget connected to every one of these figures is a: loving mother, father, daughter or son. You need not look far for the impacts on people’s lives from this pandemic, they now have to continue their lives without having this member of family in their life. We are also seeing impacts that we may necessarily have not expected. We’ve seen an increase in divorce rates and calls about domestic violence, many mental health charities give damning reports about the isolation and loneliness people may be experiencing as a result of isolating and distancing themselves from others. We are also seeing thousands of people across the country being furloughed or even let go from their work as people are financially struggling. It is easy to focus on the negative effects the lockdown and pandemic are having on us, but there may be some positive outcomes and reactions. Scientists are recording positive changes to our climate. Parents who may not always have time for their kids because of working away etc. are able to connect and spend some quality family time together. In this essay I will be asking what the short and long term changes and impacts we will see after the pandemic ends. I will be looking at both positive and negative changes. I will also look at historical pandemics and how we can use them to maybe help predict the future. I will also talk about the media I have consumed relating to the pandemic whether that is the news or informational sources, or even fictional pieces of work relating to diseases that have made a return.
A look back in history to find another similar severity of virus takes us to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, or as it is more commonly called “The Spanish Flu”. The origin of this particular virus is still up to a lot of debate, with historians struggling to meet a consensus. What we do know of the Spanish Flu is it infected over 500 million people, one-third of the population at the time over the 1918-1919 period and there is estimated to have been at least 50 million deaths globally attributed to the flu (1918 Pandemic / H1N1 Virus, March 20, 2019).
Due to poor sanitation and lack of knowledge there were many small influenza outbreaks throughout the 1800s however what made the Spanish Flu different was the high mortality of healthy 20-40 year olds who would usually have not been greatly affected by said viruses. Another difference of this virus to many other was the outbreak in the Northern Hemisphere was largely in summer and autumn, whereas most other influenzas are worse in winter. The H1N1 strain of the Influenza A virus was also attributed to the Swine Flu pandemic in 2009 as well. Another interesting development of the Spanish flu that we can even witness nowadays with the Coronavirus pandemic is the politization of the virus. Despite the name of the H1N1 strain being The Spanish Flu, many scientists have found that it is “unlikely” that the virus even originated in Europe never mind Spain. The first observations of the illness and subsequent mortality was in the United States in various Military camps and in the United Kingdom, however censors were still in place from the First World War and to avoid panic and keep moral high these countries failed to report their first cases. However, in neutral Spain there was no censorships in place and their newspapers could report freely the effects of the pandemic on their country, as well as the highly publicised illness of King Alfonso XIII. This led to the virus being coined “The Spanish Flu” a common myth still believed to this day. This politization of the virus can be very easily compared to nowadays, one of the more famous examples being US president Donald Trump recently coining it the “Chinese Virus” the danger this can cause was outlined by the Guardian recently “Trump has repeatedly tried to term Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus” which has prompted outrage from many civil liberties groups, who have warned that such language can inspire racism and violence against Asian Americans.” Various Guardian Staff, Guardian (21 June 2020) It is a useful exercise comparing the reactions of politicians and the public of these earlier pandemics to nowadays, a prime example of this was the poor leadership shown by Henry Gage in the early 20th Century. In San Francisco at the time experienced a Bubonic Plague outbreak in their Chinatown, it took 2 years for Governor Henry Gage to acknowledge its existence resulting in a further 4 years of the outbreak. This incompetence shown is echoed nowadays with Brazil’s president Bolsonaro and his blasé attitude has resulted in at the time of me writing this, 50,000 deaths as a result from Covid-19. Brazil becomes second country to pass 50,000 deaths, BBC News (June 22, 2020). This in conjunction with some of his quotes highly the incompetence he and his government have shown and the negative effect poor leadership can have. Bolsonaro when questioned in late April about the fact that Brazil’s death figures had overtaken China just gave the flippant responses “so what” and “My name’s Messiah, but I can’t work miracles” ‘So What?’: Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil’s rising death toll, Tom Phillips, The Guardian(29 April, 2020)
One of the main things experts today and analysts use the example of the Spanish Flu is the second wave. Experts have warned about coming out of lockdown too quickly using the historical context of the Spanish Flu as it is wildly publicised that its second wave in the autumn of 1918 was far deadlier than the original outbreak of the spring of that year. This was one of the first times in recordable history we could see the devastating effects of a second wave. A common response nowadays for government officials and members of public who want to come out of lockdown early to preserve the economy is to just look at the disastrous consequences of the second wave in 1918. This is a useful insight into how looking at the past can give us insights into the future, despite being around 100 years ago a lot of the same fears and thought processes can be applied nowadays and become a useful vehicle to help us out of this pandemic.
Throughout this pandemic the popular culture that we consume has underwent a radical change. Musical artists, sports, tv and movies are all having to adapt to the new norm. Some services that aren’t struggling though is streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime as people desperately search for new content to keep themselves occupied. One of the more surreal resurgences is that of the Steven Soderbergh 2011 movie Contagion about a pandemic saw a huge spike of interest on Netflix culminating in it comfortably sitting in the most popular movies on the site for a long period of time. The pandemic is also resulting in a huge amount of event cancelations some of the more famous ones being: Glastonbury Euro 2020 and many movie premieres like James Bond. The closure of the cultural sector mixed with the home-isolation of people has become almost the perfect storm for streaming companies already mentioned, Netflix reported during the first 3 months of the year (beginning of lockdown as well) over 16 million people have created new accounts over double the new sign-ups of the previous 3 months before that. Netflix gets 16 million new sign-ups thanks to lockdown, BBC News(22nd April 2020). Many experts and theorists even going as far to suggest that many of Netlix’s new shows or movies such as Spenser Confidential, a movie starring Mark Wahlberg, or Tiger King a documentary exploring a big cat owner in Oklahoma are receiving as much attention as they are due to the home-isolation many countries are enforcing, with both respectively garnering 85 million viewers and 64 million as of April 2020. Even virtual conferencing sites such as Zoom are experiencing a monumental influx of users with Zoom reporting a jump from 10 million users in December to 300 million as of April 2020, Zoom grows to 300 million meeting participants despite security backlash, Tom Warren, The Verge(23rd April 2020). These huge figures come as people search for new ways to stay connected with each other, with many companies adopting these virtual conferencing sites even down to groups of friends who look for new ways to stay connected with each other. Even dating throughout lockdown has changed significantly as it is impossible to meet new people, dating applications like Tinder have reaped the rewards of this with Tinder users making 3 billions swipes on Sunday 29th March, the most the app has had in one day. Daily conversations also rose on the app by 12% between mid-February and the end of March. Tinder Boss says ‘dramatic’ changes to dating, Dougal Shaw, BBC News(21st May 2020). However despite all these “positive” cultural effects of the pandemic there is a vast amount of negatives, many of which relating to finances. For example since lockdown in the UK began, some of the largest companies have announced cuts which would result in over 60,000 jobs losses, the companies with the largest number of jobs being cut are Rolls Royce who announced that they would cut 3,000 jobs in the UK 700 of them coming in Inchinnan near Glasgow, BP announcing they would cut 2,000 jobs in the UK and Centrica the owners of British Gas are intending to let go 5,000 of their 27,000 workforce. Which UK companies are cutting jobs in the coronavirus crisis, Joanna Partridge, The Guardian (16th June, 2020). The information we are consuming during this pandemic has become very important as well. As people panic and search for more information the spread of false information or “fake news” has become rifer. From President Donald Trump suggesting that bleach’s virus killing powers could be harnessed by injecting it “And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” BBC News (24th April 2020) It isn’t difficult to see how information like this can be incredibly dangerous for the general public. There has even been more severe cases of false information spreading, an example being footage of Chinese Vlogger Wang Mengyun eating a bat in Palau, Micronesia in 2017 during a travel segment of one of her vlogs. Due to bats being identified recently as a possible carrier of the virus which was first detected in a Chinese wetmarket in Wuhan, this led to some social media accounts and even newspapers such as the Daily Mail spreading the video to “sponge off the heat and fan out malicious panic” this led to Mengyun receiving multiple death threats resulting in Mengyun releasing a statement condemning the spread of the footage and accusing these multiple newspapers and commentators of using the pandemic to sell newspapers. Bat Soup, dodgy cures and ‘diseasology’: the spread of coronavirus misinformation, Josh Taylor, The Guardian (31st Jan, 2020).