The COVID-19 pandemic, or, in other words, the coronavirus outbreak, has brought humanity to an all-time crisis. In the not-so-distant past, mankind suffered from a virus called COVID-19. It was a massive pandemic, with 7.7 billion of the world’s population (8 billion) suffering from COVID-19. In particular, about 7 million people around the world have died from COVID-19, of which about 35,000 have died in Korea and about 250,000 have died in India.
However, over time, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) outbreak of COVID-19 ended in May 2023. There were several problems, but in the end, humanity overcame COVID-19 to some extent. However, it is an undeniable fact that the various problems have had a significant negative impact on humanity. COVID-19 is causing various damages not only to health but also to humanity, such as education and human rights.
Because of COVID-19, many people suffered from mental health problems. The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted the government to advise people not to go outside, which has made it difficult to communicate directly with people. In addition, unemployment and various personal economic problems caused by the COVID-19 outbreak are adversely affecting people’s mental health.
As a result, people suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, which is a very dangerous disease for mankind. Unlike other physical illnesses, mental illnesses are more difficult to treat directly. About 39 percent of adults over the age of 18 in the U.S. showed symptoms of depression due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a three-fold increase from before. It is no wonder that human mental health conditions are highly related to the future of mankind. If the number of depressed patients increases, more people will commit suicide.
That would lead to a significant decrease in the world’s population. In addition, a significant decrease in the world’s population could lead to a global job shortage problem and later the butterfly effect, which could lead to economic deterioration. This vicious cycle could eventually lead to the destruction of humanity. In other words, we can realize that the mental impact of the Corona incident has had a non-negligible impact on humanity.
Humanity has been greatly affected, not only by health but also educationally, by the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 has negatively affected future human academic intelligence as students receive education at home. This effect is more difficult to cope with than ever before when humanity faces another crisis later due to its lower academic understanding compared to previous generations.
In addition, some subjects make it difficult to conduct classes through online education. For example, teachers cannot inform students of the importance of team sports in developing social skills in physical education classes. Even after the Corona incident, students who are accustomed to online classes may not be able to adapt to school life because classes at school are unfamiliar. This results in a repeat of the depression-related cycle I mentioned before. It can be said that it has become an inevitable fact that human education has been destroyed due to the COVID-19 incident.
The student’s human rights-related problems are also becoming a major issue due to the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, because of COVID-19, many people have had to live a life with fewer rights than before. Not only cannot people travel abroad and educate abroad as much as before, but many important events have been canceled.
As an example, the generation affected by the COVID-19 outbreak of high school students could not enjoy once-in-a-lifetime high school field trips, unlike other generations of high school students, due to the COVID-19 crisis. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high school students were unable to enjoy once-in-a-lifetime high school field trips due to the country’s entry ban and government policies.
Another example is a high school baseball tournament in Japan. For the Japanese, the Japanese high school baseball tournament, which is held twice a year, has great significance. It is a big issue not only for Japanese high school students to become Japanese professional baseball players but also for the entire Japanese population to watch it on TV. About 100 high schools participate in a high school prefectural baseball competition.
Among them, only the winners can participate in the Japanese high school baseball tournament. It was such a big competition, but it was canceled for the first time since World War II. Looking at these cases, it can be seen that the human rights and important opportunities of students have been damaged a lot due to the COVID-19 crisis.
In fact, mankind has experienced something that is similar to the COVID-19 crisis. There was a situation called the plague, or Black Death. The Black Death is a pandemic that occurred in the 14th century as a coronavirus outbreak. In particular, Eurasia and North Africa suffered greatly from the Black Death crisis. More specifically, not only did law and civilization collapse, but a third of Europe’s population died, and it took about 400 years to recover to pre-Black Death populations, and the Black Death forced individuals to stop their economic activities.
Curiously, similar to the COVID-19 crisis, the Black Death crisis had a negative effect on humanity’s mentality and economy. For example, people who suffered mentally from the Black Death outbreak committed hate crimes such as the massacre of Jews, and the Black Death forced individuals to stop their economic activities. On a side note, the cause of the Black Death is still unknown; there are mainly opinions that it was spread among many people due to the conquest war or trade such as the Silk Road. What is certain is that humanity still exists after the Black Death, thanks to medical technology and luck.
To sum up, mankind has consistently fought not only COVID-19 but also viruses such as MERS and SARS. To be specific, humanity has already completely overcome the plague. I have no doubt that humanity will ultimately win against COVID-19 by steadily improving human medicine and the future. This is because human growth is great and endless.
By: Seoyeon Kim
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