Opinion

The pandemic consequences we should take a look at

A sick person with a bubble above their head with a clock, virus, sad face, graduation cap, and money.

Dylan Burkett/The Cougar

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic continue as people begin to go back to their normal lives. There are invisible consequences of the pandemic that have affected the minds of thousands of people around the world. 

Alongside the physical health concerns people have to go through because of the pandemic, people are showing higher signs of emotional distress. 

More than half of young adults in the country are reporting symptoms of an anxiety or depression disorder which is an increase compared to previous years. 

A part of this could be from the lack of time and introspection people took to process what the pandemic made them go through. 

The pandemic did not allow some people to take care of themselves. It forced people into an unnatural state of isolation and survival mode. 

With so many questions regarding employment, school, bills and health concerns, the problems were never-ending and required people to put their personal issues on pause. Many of these people have been on pause for over two years and counting. 

Alongside that, COVID-19 cases are constant with a daily average of 7,426 cases each day in Texas. With new variants showing up on the radar every few months, feeling like each one is more contagious than the next, these cases will only continue to rise. 

To add on, once people get vaccinated, they tend to get more relaxed with precautions. 

Vaccinated individuals can still get infected with the virus, however, their symptoms are usually mild or nonexistent. In fact, one in four vaccinated individuals who are infected shows no symptoms at all. 

This is concerning as vaccinated individuals with the virus can spread the virus to others. 

All this is to say that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over; there just have been fewer conversations surrounding it. 

In a way, wanting to move on from one of the darkest years of the 21st century is understandable. Nobody wants to dwell on the past when there’s so much to look forward to in the future. 

However, leaving things on the back burner is unhealthy. 

There are many things that are out of one’s control: the state of the economy, the outcome of the pandemic and the actions of others. 

With those in mind, there are also things that are in one’s control like choosing healthy coping mechanisms or even something as simple as taking a mental health break. Everything that has happened in the past two years has been tiring with no blueprint as a guideline 

Instead of ignoring it, it’s best to face it with a critical eye that wants to change things for the better, not the worse. 

Cindy Rivas Alfaro is a journalism sophomore who can be reached at [email protected]

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