Top 12 things that have been screwed up by the pandemic, more than you think
“The Covid is taboo, we will all overcome it! Don’t ask me why this hook, a simple creative movement, led by my creativity, my imagination, and my love of beautiful words, quite simply. Covid is not just taboo. It’s also and above all gross fkjrgdkfgj (I can’t write big words, but you have it?). In addition to taking lives, destroying economic sectors (strength and courage in catering and caregivers) and putting our lives under glass, the pandemic has also screwed up many other things. The things we tell you about in this top. Courage, to those who recognize themselves in it.
1. Social anxiety
The figures are instructive: according to l’OMS, cases of anxiety and depression have increased by 25% globally, due to Covid-19. A rise in cases of anxiety that the World Health Organization attributes to social isolation experienced during lockdowns, restrictions that have kept some people from working or forced them to telecommute, fear of infection that led to social cuts, and estrangement from loved ones. And anxiety is just one facet of all the mental health damage caused by Covid-19.
2. The notion of time
Do you also have the impression that the first confinement was a long time ago and not a long time ago? That the presidential announcements are dated, but that the memory of the locked hours seems only a few months old? Well, you are not alone! Studies carried out on the perception of time during periods of quarantine have shown that, by staying at home, the notion of time changes. The confinement marked the abrupt interruption of daily activities, and disrupted a whole series of benchmark schedules. In addition to the hectic days of the week, Friday and Saturday evenings, often marked by outings, have started to look like other days. In this way, the perception of time has changed for many people. (Source)
3. Cinema
The cinema is one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic. At the end of June 2022, the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) communicated quite dramatic figures: in Europe, the Covid-19 caused cinemas to lose… 19 billion euros, in Europe. The most worrying thing is that these figures do not only concern the year of confinement: European cinemas lost 6.2 billion euros in 2020, and an additional 5.1 billion in 2021. According to them, even if the admissions started to rise again in 2021, they remained 70% lower than the peak in 2019.
4. Theater
Performance halls faced a number of restrictions during the crisis, and months of extended closures, from one confinement to another. Despite a reopening in May 2021, the cultural field is struggling to recover. In June 2022, the Association for the Support of Private Theater went through Médiamétrie to carry out a survey on “the French and their perception of theatre”. The results are clear: attendance is in freefall. Between June 2021 and the same month a year later, 71% of respondents said they had gone to the theater less since the reopening. 48% of them even declared that they no longer go there at all. Why ? Well, two things: the change in cultural habits, linked to quarantine, and the issue of purchasing power.
5. The cost of living (goodbye purchasing power, we liked you anyway)
I may not be telling you anything (most certainly) but the Covid-19 has had catastrophic effects on our purchasing power. Between the pause of many companies, the increase in demand in the face of a pause in supply, or even the money advanced by the State, the Covid-19 has an impact (not pleasant) on our economy, and this, on the long term. To make matters worse, to the fallout of the pandemic, there is also inflation (which is not only linked to the Covid). In short, everything increases, except our wages. And it stings. Strong. Courage.
6. Students
The Belgian magazine Moustique.be has communicated several figures regarding education during the pandemic. The least we can say is that they send shivers down your spine! In total, and according to the UN, 1.6 billion students have been affected by the closure of their schools. That’s equivalent to 94% of the world’s students. According to the UN director general, without help from other states, “in developing countries, the share of children leaving school who cannot read could rise from 53% to 70%”. Not to mention, of course, the difficulty in staying focused and learning at a distance, school phobias developed or increased during periods of confinement, and the psychological state of teachers.
7. Certain relationships, both friendly and family
The pandemic has brought into public opinion debates and sources of conflict or opposition that we would not have suspected, in 2019. Vax VS antivax; masks vs. anti-masks; Covid deniers VS advocates of containment and restrictions; … The examples are plural, and the conflicts between people on these subjects, numerous. A little advice not to screw up the atmosphere at Christmas: we don’t talk politics, we don’t talk religion, we don’t talk about the end of the world, and we don’t talk about Covid. So talk about the last Christmas movie watched under a blanket, and rank the best of them. It’s TV movies. That makes everyone agree.
8. Couples in the Thousands
In July 2021, and according to a survey conducted by the Ifop institute, 11% of French people have experienced a change in marital status since the first confinement, and 27% of the population (more than a quarter) admitted to having wanted to break during periods of confinement and/or curfews. We were expecting a baby boom, we’re having a “rupture boom”. Really rotten this pandemic.
9. Many Life Projects
This point echoes the previous one, but it is not just about divorce. Many testimonials tell how the pandemic has ruined a dream professional opportunity, travel or expatriation plans, weddings (postponed in abundance, and sometimes canceled), real estate purchase plans, children’s plans (we already talked about it), retraining, first jobs canceled,… The list is long. As long as the number of disappointments. Courage.
10. Kiss
Since the Covid, we no longer know how to say hello to people. Before, we slapped a good kiss and basta. Now, we say hello from afar or we ask “Are you kissing? “. Clearly one of the only positive effects of the Covid! It was really time to stop this. It’s deg.
11. A Haloween with a “blue moon”
But keskesékesa? Normally, a year has 12 full moons. However, these taking place every 29.5 days, it can happen that, in rare years, a 13th full moon lights up the sky. In 2020, we had two full moons in October: one at the beginning of the month, and another on Halloween night: it’s the blue moon. (It’s not really blue, huh. This expression simply refers to something that almost never happens.) We could have had the scariest Halloween of our lives, eh no! We were locked in our apartment, with an old blanket and pumpkin soup. Less fun.
12. Being able to cough freely in public
There was a time when we coughed to cover up a fart. From now on, you have to fart, to camouflage a cough. Funny people.
