36 things that COVID-19 made clear to the world 

Written by Arubiyyah Qadir Balouch

USA

1. United States is not the world’s leading country. Under the leadership of Donald Trump, who himself took the virus lightly, and openly named it a Chinese virus, the USA today stands at a staggering 337,000 cases and around 9700 deaths. China took extreme precautions and the Chinese people showed their discipline and have less than half the deaths and 1/3 of infected people as compared to the USA.  
2. China won the 3rd world war without firing a missile and no one could handle it! A third world war had been predicted for years, and with the way the Chinese handled the Coronavirus situation, they are now in a position to help many countries battle this virus. China has sent help to Italy, Iran, Pakistan and other countries.  
3. The Coronavirus pandemic is a wake-up call to identify everything that is important to us. People spent time away from family before, always engulfed in work and the stress caused by work. Many hardly could take proper vacations. Staying indoors has taught people to stay with family and spend more time.  
   

   Prevention

4. Prevention is stronger than cure. Prevention saves more lives than acting at the last moment. This is again directed to China. China is a role-model country, from whom we could learn the art of self-discipline. Prevention is what helped them move forward. Today activities have begun in Wuhan, China and the city is slowly but surely getting back to normalcy.  
5. Health professionals are worth more than any Football Star or Hollywood Stars or any other celebrity! Even though, many a times, health professionals are not given their due credit, we must understand that our doctors, nurses and anyone working in the health industry should be regarded more than any entertainment or sports celebrity. They are the real heroes. It’s sad that in countries like India, doctors and nurses are beaten-up and harassed for doing their jobs.  
6. European nations are not as educated as they appear. Europe did not heed to any advice by the health professionals, which is why they are in dire need of help and have the highest numbers of deaths. One more thing to note is that many European countries kiss on the cheeks as a way of greeting, especially in France and Italy. This greeting gesture is a normal way of greeting and hence played an important role in spreading the virus.   
   

   War

7. We are not mistaken when we ask for more hospitals “and less war.” It is so easy to kill people in Syria, Kashmir, Palestine, Yemen and where ever war is active. It could have been so easy for the so-called world leaders to come together and find peaceful solutions for every nation. But instead, all the major world leaders chose to kill. Today we have more soldiers than nurses or doctors. It’s a sad reality! When one nation cries, the world does get effected, as it is part of this planet and we all live on this planet.  
8. Oil is worthless in a society without consumption. What will a world do with oil, when their movement is restricted due to the virus? It brings us back to understand that health is above and beyond wealth. No oil can save anyone in this pandemic!  
   

   Death

9. Death does not distinguish race, color, or social status! The list of celebrities revealing COVID-19 infections grew to include A-listers ranging from legendary actor Tom Hanks, 63, and England’s Prince Charles, 71, to Brooklyn Nets player Kevin Durant, 31, and late-night talk show host Andy Cohen, 51. This point is clear as clear can be. We lost many celebrities to the Coronavirus around the world.  
10. Human beings are opportunistic and despicable, no matter what their socio-economic positions, when raising prices. Any company that raises prices of their goods by taking advantage of a world-wide pandemic, should be fined and boycotted from the business world. How dare they take advantage of such a situation? This has happened all around the world.  
11. Toilet paper is more important than food. In countries like Canada, USA, Australia, and in Europe, hoarding toilet paper is prioritized over food. In Southasian countries, as well as the Middle-East, water and a towel is good enough to last forever!  
12. Social networks bring us closer, but it is also a means to create panic. Being socially active through the use of the internet has seen both the good, bad and ugly. It has created panic as well as we can see positive videos of people on social media.  
13. Now we know how animals feel in zoos! There should be no zoos existing in this world, as its sad to see animals caged up for the entertainment of humans. Just a 2-week semi-curfew is causing lots of people some sort of depression, imagine what must be going on with the animals. Respect to all the animal rights activists! 
    

    Children

14. Today’s children no longer know how to play without internet or TV. But staying indoors is a way to learn new things and get back to how the “good ole days were.” 
15. There are those who earn millions and do not serve humanity. Shame on them! Millionaires and Billionaires should do something for the hundreds of thousands that are affected. Any help on humanitarian grounds is much needed.  
16. Children are now educated by their parents at home. During a time like this, home schooling has become an option as well as virtual classes are preferred. An entire school has shifted online. Unbelievable!  
17. No Peer (holy man)/Pastor/Pandit can save coronavirus patients. Some people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and many other nations always spend a lot of money on holy men to help them get through life. Those Pandits, and/or Peers have no value at this moment.  
    

    No Handshake

18. We started to appreciate the great gesture of trust that means shaking hands are not necessary. Infact people don’t have to touch each other or even get in each other’s personal space. Respect and greetings can be done in many other ways. It’s funny to think that the Naqaab (Face Covering for Muslim Women) and the Hijab (Head Scarf to cover hair) were always criticized in the media, especially in Europe, USA and in Quebec, Canada. It’s ironic that today those same areas and countries are wearing Face Covers (Masks) as well as gloves.  
19. Humans are the real virus on this planet. This is true in many ways, especially when we see what’s happening on animal meat farms, dairy farms, fish industry, cutting down of trees, releasing of toxins, treatment of domestic animals, leather industry and the list never ends. The entire planet is hurting, yet we cannot change our ways of life to preserve life. 
20. The planet regenerates quickly without humans. Without the heaviness of humans out there, nature seems to return back to where it belonged. Deers are roaming freely, dolphins are back in canals, wild hogs & monkeys have been seen on streets and many such incidents have been reported. Nature seems to have given the animals, birds and the sea-life a little vacation.  
    

    Healthcare

21. We were never prepared for a pandemic. Humans totally forgot what their ancestors went through. We all thought that the abuse of animals, the wars going on, the cutting of trees as well as the animals going extinct, were not going to affect the world in our time. We all thought that our children’s children maybe seeing the actual devastation caused by people in the present time. However, nature took a different course. It surprised us, and hopefully we can learn and be prepared for the future.  
22.  More should be invested in health. We need health care for humans and animals. We need health care for our environment. We need to be real and understand that life is a gift and we should enjoy it. We also need to make our workplace understand that stress is the major cause of all health issues. We need less hours at work, and a happy environment. We need happy animals, happy nature and happy humans and no war.  
23. Humans discriminate, but viruses don’t discriminate. This goes back to the President of United States of America, Donald Trump. He openly discriminated the Chinese, by calling the Covid-19 a Chinese Virus. And today, ironically the USA surely stands as the number one country with the COVID-19 Virus. 
24. Mental health awareness is necessary and is something that should not be looked down upon. As people get cooped up in their homes, and are restricted in continuing their everyday lives that they were used to, mental health will be affected. After the coronavirus comes to a closure, mental health will be the next issue that the public may face. After all, the everyday negative news about death and disease is terrifying for a lot of people! 
25. Lifestyle influencers have no real influence. In reality, life style influencers seem to get free products to promote them, mostly make-up, clothes, wellness products, vitamins and so on. In the time of a pandemic influencers don’t really have much to influence people with. Everything boils down to materialism and materialism doesn’t matter during a pandemic. 
    

    Elders

26. Older generations can be wiped out sooner than we know it. Connect with your elders. The elders that are taken for granted. When we are young, no matter what happens, our parents and grandparents take care of us. However, the new trend for the young generation is to cage up their parents/grandparents when they get older as they are too busy enjoying life to take care of them. It’s a despicable reason to get rid of elders.  
27. Working from home is very possible, unnecessary meetings are now obsolete. Phones, and video calling or conferences are the way to go now! There is no need to work from designated offices. Work environments will drastically change and allow people to work from homes and spend more time with their families. 
28. Companies digital transformation became enforced for survival. A long line up in one of the popular stores, “Best Buy,” is proof that people rushed to buy laptops, computers, webcams or any other item that could help them work from home. It is the only way to survive the coming months. 
29. Luxury items are not a necessity. Back to the basics teaches us to live with what we really need. When it comes to self-quarantining and self-isolation, the luxury bags, the expensive clothes as well as the expensive make up, etc.. don’t matter! What matters is life and being alive! 
    

    Be happy!

30. Love thy neighbor, always. Charities and people helping each other did rise during the pandemic as governments and some of the well-off people realized that the lower middle class and the poor will be hit hard. So, even though photos of people doing charities are popping up on Facebook, however there are some people criticizing them for showing off, one must understand that the charity is still being done. 
31. Everything is temporary! On a happy note, as day becomes night and night becomes day. We know that everything is temporary and that everything will pass. However, the more we are aware and the more we take care and become disciplined in life, the more it will help us heal and pass this phase quickly. 
32. Even when we have time, we fall into the same bad habits. Humans love excuses! This time is to heal with families and love the time that has been given to that father who was always busy working and spent less time with his children, as well as the time given to a son or daughter to be with their parents, or for grandparents to be with their entire families. This is a time to cherish as well, rather than focus on the anxiety and stress. 
33. Running a household is a lot of work, any stay at home mom deserves endless gratitude. Whosoever is practicing self-isolation or even is working from home, will get to see that home is work as well. And that a lot of attention was needed at home in the first place.  
34. In the political world, leaders who are for their people will be remembered for their compassion and dedication, whereas some leaders will be known to be stupid and irresponsible. In the coming days, people will be able to know who those leaders were, and which leader made sure that he/she took steps as early as possible to help their people.  
    

    Social Distancing

35. A whole new respect has been created for home. Home is everything, and home sometimes is neglected. The cure for Covid-19 is staying home. Nothing else. If people want to live then, home is where they should stay.  
36. And finally, a new term for many of us to learn, “social distancing.” This was missing amongst people. We were always crammed up in offices, buses, trains, malls, schools, universities, concerts and restaurants. Social distancing allows us to give people their personal space and everyone maintains a respectful distance, which is much needed in today’s society. Sometimes, one has to think that all those rules and regulations made in the Holy books which we all thought were a bit too much, have kind of come in handy in this time of a pandemic.  

We don’t know if the world will go back to being crammed up again. But we really need to understand that keeping distances and giving everyone their personal space should be a priority from now onwards. Maybe the dynamics of being social will change and wearing masks, and gloves and social distancing will become the way life after this pandemic!