With about 172 million people under lockdown in the U.S. alone, I think it’s safe to say that we are currently practicing the world’s largest social experiment in history. While COVID-19 was not a controlled variable, its ancillary impacts and result will be studied for years, and forever alter the course of our society. 

The onset of this pandemic made a mockery of life-as-we-know-it, thwarting all aspects of our daily routine. People everywhere were forced to forget all endeavors, whatever they may be, and trade them for a life of solitude in their homes. How are we supposed to cope with such a grand-scale change?

We didn’t. Well…we tried, however psychological impacts proved inevitable. Social isolation and loneliness have been linked with poor mental health through research time and time again. Recent data shows that “significantly higher shares of people who were sheltering in place (47%) reported negative mental health effects resulting from worry or stress related to coronavirus than among those not sheltering in place (37%),” (Panchal, Nirmita, et al.). Job loss and other economic challenges have also caused a rapid surge of declining mental health for the population. 

Among the most common of these mental health barriers are “symptoms of psychological stress and disorder, including low mood, insomnia, stress, anxiety, anger, irritability, emotional exhaustion, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms,” (Van Hoof, Elke). People everywhere are battling the sense of identity loss. The question, “Who am I?” continuously taking its circuitous route throughout the back of our minds. 

This exact question is the rising action leading up to the climax of our story. Who are you? Who will you be during this pandemic? Who will you be after? 

According to Shauna Springer, Chief Psychologist for Stella Center, if a potentially extended period of social distancing results in the loss of a productive role in society and extended isolation, “we can predict escalation of the very two risk factors that Joiner’s Interpersonal Model of suicide risk tell us we should be concerned about: thwarted belongingness and feelings of burdensomeness.” Unless we are aware of the helpless rage and initial shock that will incur. Unless we make it aware that psychological reactions are normal. Unless we address these challenges in a controlled and strategic way. 

Though it is no easy task to remain analytical about the stress in our lives during a time of   peak anxiety and sweeping change, sustaining a healthy mindset requires just this. Psychologists advise to “move our thoughts from fight-or-flight system into the highest plane of who we are,” (Springer, Shauna). We need to consider our deepest values and how we can make hard decisions for the good of all.   

Being as the coronavirus is an unprecedented obstacle, the inability of institutions to cope has warranted “experimenting with a social innovation approach that rapidly brings together government, civil society, and the private sector,” (Gegenhuber, Thomas). One example of the sort is Germany’s first government-hosted crisis hackathon: #WeVsVirus, consisting of 26,000 participants. The effort was not only in attempt to produce viable and useful technical solutions, but also to empower thousands of different people to take action, learn, and create alongside others. Technology can’t replace the urgent, collective decision-making needed to discipline the host of social issues we face, however, “coalescing around a common cause stirs hope in and empowers people, and can lead to new and viable solutions that ease the burden of social crises,” (Gegenhuber, Thomas). 

I want you to navigate back to the previous line and reread Gegenhuber’s quote. Duh—right? Isn’t it obvious that coming together as a unified group should ease the burdens to social change? Isn’t it obvious that the strength of one sole individual isn’t comparable to that of a group who stands together? “Yes!” the chorus bellows.

If that answer was always so clear, why did it take a pandemic for that sentence to be newsworthy? Why did it take a death toll for us to add validity to that statement? Consider these questions as you decide your stance on who you’ll be during this time…who you’ll be after.

As for who we were before—those people, they needed this virus. I wish it came without consequence— without loss of life, without a bruised economy—but sometimes consequence is the source of clarity. Because this virus, alongside all of its horror, has brought the spark of something, something that didn’t exist prior: a level playing field. 

For once, even if it’s just for this little blip in time, we are the same. We are one. And thank Lord Jesus, we are beginning to unify. For once, no matter who we are, our socioeconomic status, gender, sex, race and all other attributes of identity put aside, we are facing the same battle. Coronavirus doesn’t care who you are, and in this ‘Corona-World’ of spring 2020, neither does anyone else. 

So I hope for that previous version of us, this is a time of genuine self-reflection. I hope we can all be honest with ourselves about the mistakes we’ve made in the past in terms of social relations, and see clearer now, where we should head in the future. I hope as we reap these benefits of standing-together that we remind ourselves we must continue to sow. And Dear Lord, I’m not even religious, but I am praying that the people we have become, as we emerge from this pandemic will remember that single thread on hope we held onto, produced solely by simply forgetting our differences. We must retain the mindset that we are all equals despite our personal struggles, and strive to live for the harmony of all instead of in the selfish pursuit of personal gain at the expense of others. 

Works Cited

Gegenhuber, Thomas. “Countering Coronavirus With Open Social Innovation (SSIR).” Stanford Social Innovation Review: Informing and Inspiring Leaders of Social Change, 29 Apr. 2020, ssir.org/articles/entry/countering_coronavirus_with_open_social_innovation#.

Panchal, Nirmita, et al. “The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use.” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, KKF, 21 Apr. 2020, www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/.

Springer, Shauna. “The Psychological Impact of COVID-19.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 24 Mar. 2020, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/free-range-psychology/202003/the-psychological-impact-covid-19.

Van Hoof, Elke. “Lockdown Is the World’s Biggest Psychological Experiment – and We Will Pay the Price.” World Economic Forum, 9 Apr. 2020, www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/this-is-the-psychological-side-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-that-were-ignoring/.

Emma Charles