Issues in the United States Generated by the Pandemic, Essay Example

Introduction

Hook

The covid-19 pandemic is a vital global health catastrophe connected to diverse social, political, and economic impacts in all regions. The virus is commonly spread through contact with an infected individual or through airborne means.

Relevance

The United States has a massive population globally has been affected broadly, and in efforts to overcome the pandemic, the nation has implemented various strategies and techniques to withstand the calamity. Several quarantine procedures and nationwide lockdown is executed to curb the spread of the covid-19 virus. Consequently, it has led the United States of America to instill social distancing practices in all aspects of daily living. These strategies have greatly affected the region’s social practices, economic welfare, and political aspects (Abouk et al., 2021). The pandemic has led to a relatively high mortality rate causing self-isolation techniques to be implemented; the stock markets have sunk approximately 24% of the nation’s economy, and over three million citizens have registered for unemployment benefits.

Thesis

This speech will describe the resultant issues of the covid-19 pandemic and the impacts caused by the catastrophe in the economic and social aspects. In addition, the speech will outline the negative effects based on inconsistent normalization of issues presented by the pandemic in the United States.

Review

The pandemic has caused significant impacts on the labor aspects of the region associated with employment discharge and a drastic increase in online marketing strategies. It has led to inconsistency in the daily routine of education institutions for children and students due to the subsequent closure of schools; children have limited access to daycare facilities. The pandemic has also caused inconsistency in the health systems since access to nursing homes has been difficult; families are denied the capacity to visit and care for their elderly and sick relatives. Social relationships have downsized due to the consequent self-isolation practices. Below are the effects of the pandemic described comprehensively and the resultant impacts.

Labor Issues Generated by the Pandemic

Drawing a survey from the labor statistics, the unemployment rate has recently declined to 5.2%. This data is collected based on two significant surveys that include the household survey and the establishment surveys. The household survey entails the unemployed individuals regarding the demographic features. On the other hand, the establishment survey involves the nonfarm enrollment, hours, and income related to commercial industries. Recent studies prove that amidst the unemployed individuals in the labor context, approximately two million individuals lost their permanent jobs while approximately 1.2 million individuals lost their temporary work shifts. On the other hand, the unemployment rates for the elderly decreased by 5%, while those of the youths increased by 10%.

Moreover, the number of individuals involved in job applications dropped by approximately 1.5 million based on recent surveys during the pandemic period. Approximately 5 million individuals have experienced hardships in resuming duties due to work closure or lost businesses by their employers due to the pandemic (Pei et al., 2020). Otherwise, other departments that major in online marketing strategies have experienced significant growth in supply and demand, such as Amazon, due to the massive population that spends much time at their homes and opt to purchase goods and services through online techniques that involve delivery to their respective locations.

These statistics are drawn from the measures implemented to curb the spread of the covid-19 virus. Many industries and small businesses were closed down to uphold the social distancing law that was set to uphold the health of individuals. There was a significant decrease in incomes due to the supply and demand shortage cycle, especially for industries and businesses that involve retailer-to-consumer interaction. Organizations with physical stores that rely on physical consumer relations had to cut down on the number of employees to sustain the operations and functionality within the organization. Consequently, it led to the loss of jobs by a significant number of employees in the region. Business activities in some regions such as New York were terminated due to the full-blown incident of the covid-19 pandemic. It resulted in a decline in job opportunities and means of earning income (Abouk et al., 2021). Areas that depend on tourism and leisure suffered greater drawbacks due to the lockdown that prevented flights in and out of the region. The variation depends on the extent of the spread of the virus. Another issue related to the pandemic is the inconsistent normalization of institutions for children, especially schools, and accessibility to daycare.

Education Issues Generated by the Pandemic

A decrease in the amount of physical education has hindered effective student learning and overall child development. Recent studies exhibit that approximately 65% of students and children that spend much time out of school have lost educative aspects during the pandemic compared to a normal study year. Studies prove that less than 50% of mathematic students have had typical gains in studying the subject during calamity (Son et al., 2020). Research proves that absence in contingency organization intensifies the negative effects of stagnation in learning for children and students. Persistent inadequate attendance of institutional education centers may lead to student dropouts or enhance the risk of detachment. The online teaching and learning technique depends on the availability of resources to attain effectiveness, which has been an obstacle to several students (Dunton et al., 2020). The pandemic has also intensified the limitations of standardized assessment; students that require special attention based on their capacity to acquire knowledge tend to stagnate when it comes to educative online learning.

The resultant school closures to uphold self-isolation and limit the spread of the virus led to most students and children having limited time to access study resources and being involved in educative measures. This has also led to teachers losing their jobs since they are unable to go to school and work as employed personnel (Son et al., 2020). Remote learning has failed to attain effectiveness and efficiency. Student or child assessment is a difficult task regarding individual skills and the ability for remote learning. Tutors are having difficulty coping with their earnings since they have lost their source of income which involved physical teaching at school before the pandemic. Another issue that arises from the pandemic is the inconsistent healthcare structures such as nursing homes.

Healthcare Issues Generated by the Pandemic

Data drawn from surveys prove a 15% increase in the pervasiveness of depression symptoms during the pandemic. The lack of self-control and reduced cognitive function rose by 4%. Approximately 10% of the elderly with the covid-19 virus had an outstanding weight loss. The nursing homes had a significantly higher risk of an increased mortality rate during the pandemic. Recently, an estimation of 35000 deaths is recorded surfacing from nursing homes, which is approximately 40% of the covid-19 related deaths (Boserup et al., 2020).Over 80% of the older people in nursing homes are at higher risk of contracting the virus and its resultant synonyms.

These statistics have made it difficult for families to visit and spend time with their loved ones in nursing homes. Consequently, the nurses and doctors working at nursing homes have lost their jobs since most of them had to be released to maintain balance when it comes to services and income strategies. It is due to taking precautions of not infecting them with the virus as they have a weak immune system. The self-isolation technique has made it difficult for families to interact with the elderly in nursing homes and curbed social interaction within the nursing home setting (Lange et al., 2020). Therefore, this has affected the employment schemes in such nursing homes as many individuals have lost a chance of employment due to the pandemic strategy to prevent the spread of the virus by reducing employee numbers in such institutions.

Conclusion

The pandemic has led to several impacts that include both economic and social. Some of the impacts have been outlined that include the labor issues regarding unemployment in the United States, Education issues regarding the closure of schools that affect children and students learning ability, and healthcare issues, especially in nursing homes whereby families have limited accessibility to the elderly who are susceptible to contracting the virus. This has led to many individuals losing their job opportunities resulting from the current economic crisis, numbers of employees had to be deducted to sustain the income rate; and also to adhere to the social distancing rules and regulations. These impacts should be carefully assessed to develop methods that can help overcome the various challenges caused by the pandemic.

References

Abouk, R., & Heydari, B. (2021). The immediate effect of COVID-19 policies on social-distancing behavior in the United States. Public health reports, 136(2), 245-252.

Boserup, B., McKenney, M., &Elkbuli, A. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department visits and patient safety in the United States. The American journal of emergency medicine, 38(9), 1732-1736.

Dunton, G. F., Wang, S. D., Do, B., & Courtney, J. (2020). Early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity locations and behaviors in adults living in the United States. Preventive Medicine Reports, 20, 101241.

Lange, S. J., Ritchey, M. D., Goodman, A. B., Dias, T., Twentyman, E., Fuld, J., … & Yang, Q. (2020). Potential indirect effects of the COVID?19 pandemic on use of emergency departments for acute life?threatening conditions—United States, January–May 2020.

Pei, S., Kandula, S., & Shaman, J. (2020). Differential effects of intervention timing on COVID-19 spread in the United States. Science advances, 6(49), eabd6370.

Son, C., Hegde, S., Smith, A., Wang, X., &Sasangohar, F. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health in the United States: An interview survey study. Journal of medical internet research, 22(9), e21279.