For a lot of us, the pandemic has been a pain in the neck. We can’t travel, so celebrating Christmas with our relatives is out of the question. So instead, we use calls, emails and messages to celebrate–but online. And we had online learning last year, and a little last year, which I think the majority of us found a little odd or disconcerting, but there are always exceptions.
Claire Ooi
So we can identify the ways in which COVID-19 has affected us. We can’t travel to other faraway countries, or spend holidays with our relatives across the world. But one problem that has consequences that will likely last much longer than the pandemic is child poverty. In some other developing countries, prior to the pandemic, about one in three children lived in poor households, according to Unicef. This number is likely to rise as more families lose their sources of income due to COVID-19. And this means that more children could be losing basic needs, such as a steady source of income, education and clean food and water. While in Vietnam, many of us could be oblivious to this, our host country having dealt with the virus rather well compared to some other areas of the world. The number of children living in poorer households in poorer countries could increase by over a hundred million after COVID-19. School closure also makes it harder for these children to get a basic education, as many countries aren’t planning to implement learning catch-up strategies that could help repair the damage done to these children’s education.
The coronavirus could affect us–and everyone else in other ways too. Behind the panic and disruption lies another problem, one we can’t dismiss forever. Climate change is still something we need to deal with. You might think that the quiet streets and fewer cars may greatly decrease our carbon emissions, or stop them altogether, but while we consume more and more electricity at home, the problem is only reduced, not completely eradicated, still lingering. However, the numbers have been lowered, transportation being one of the main causes of climate change. But while the fresher air and quieter streets allow us a peek at what a cleaner Earth could be like, will we take any action on it, or will we keep it in a pile of growing problems where it’ll stay until it’s close to truly destroying our planet?
Many people have shown different opinions on the COVID pandemic, and not all are negative. The global problem we’re all stuck with is also bringing us together, and the SARS-COV-2 vaccine has been the fastest ever developed. Thank you for reading this article, and if you’d like to find out more about how the coronavirus has had an impact on our world, maybe take a look at the November 2020 issue of National Geographic in the library, A World Gone Viral.
Comments