Plagues And Pestilence: How Pandemic Changes The World

The virus that hit the world in the early months of 2020 has led to scenes like above everywhere. These are the things that no person on earth had expected. But, yet here we are amidst a pandemic.

With all the facilities that the world has, no one could have imagined that a virus could bring an entire world to a standstill! The last time such a pandemic broke was back in the 19th century – In 1968 the pandemic was caused by the influenza virus, the flu.

As the spread of the COVID-19 virus was at different times in different parts of the world, many countries were prepared for containing the virus. But the pandemic was so ferocious that human beings were overrun by the pandemic. This virus is highly transmissible like other coronaviruses, which would normally cause the common cold. But the problem with this virus is it does not stop in the nose, it does not stop in the lungs, it spreads rapidly into the rest of the body. And this is why this is such a dramatic disease.

The new norms – like social distancing, wearing masks, and many more, that are laid out by the national government are to be followed for quite some time now. It is not like after a few months everything will be normalized. According to experts, it could take a few years before everything goes back to normal, frustrating, isn’t it?

Diseases and viruses such a Smallpox, Bubonic Plague, Tuberculosis, and Influenza are some of the most brutal killers in human history. The outbreak of these diseases across international borders are defined as pandemics.

In the past as well, whenever there were pandemics humans looked at someone to blame for. In antiquity, that someone was often God. But during the bubonic plague – the second deadliest plague in human history, migrants especially Jews were blamed. This plague killed between a third to half of Europe’s then population. The fatalities because of this plague were around 75 million. It took 200 years for Europe’s population to recover to its previous level, yes, you read that right! In the past, pandemics have changed the way in which the world once conducted itself and it shouldn’t be surprising to know that the COVID-19 pandemic will once again change things around us.

How will the pandemic change the world again?

Apart from the loss of life, the pandemic affects the world in ways a normal person can’t think of! The Demographic impacts of any pandemic can be very severe. As seen in the case of Novel Coronavirus, a huge chunk of the population has migrated. People moved from cities to their villages – as they didn’t have the money to survive in the city. Now, there is a fair chance that these people may never come back to the cities. This can also lead to severe social, economical, and religious upheavals.

Also, such pandemics completely defeat the confidence that we had in our biological research and healthcare facilities.