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COVID-19 was initially reported by The World Health Organization on December 31st, 2019, and became a sweeping Global Pandemic by January 30th, 2020. COVID-19’s extensive virus came unannounced and unprepared for it. WHO also deemed this virus as originally spreading through mucus or spit with anyone in proximity, when later discovered this virus is easily spread through the air to anyone within 6 feet of another person, which seemed scary. COVID-19 is known with all the symptoms to be seen that are fever, chills, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, as well as extreme fatigue and so many more. With all of these symptoms coming to the surface it might have been confused as a cold, or the flu and some may just find the cure to be pain medicine and some over the counter cough medicine and continued to go to their daily jobs or going to school without realizing that they had caught the COVID-19 virus and was affecting everyone around them. It was then released that this virus could also make a person appear and be asymptomatic which stunned a lot of people, especially with guilt or passing the virus without knowing they were affected. By the release of school and sending kids home for two weeks and sending people home from their jobs to go into lockdown, also known as the stay-at-home order, people were prepared to go back after these weeks and continue life as it was before. Students celebrated it as an extended spring break, when the numbers began to rise and people became terrified of where it would go from there. When these two weeks extended by weeks into months it sent people into a panic, and left them wondering, “How long will this last?”. This pandemic has caused many psychological stressors from isolation, economic struggles, and individual consequences and impacts. According to Richard Shader, “The COVID-19 pandemic embodies many overwhelming stresses. A few of the obvious ones are loss of employment; deaths of family members, friends, or colleagues; financial insecurity; and isolation from others, particularly in those who live alone,” which is a good introduction and example of the many ways the pandemic has affected people around the world. COVID-19 has been around for over a year now, even though there is a vaccine finally approaching and half of the population is vaccinated, there is some hope for the future and a regular day again approaching society, but the struggles faced could haunt people for hundreds of years and will go down in history. Isolation and quarantine is a huge factor in reducing the spread of the virus but with its ups, it also has many downs. Isolation involved working from home, both involving students and regular jobs because of the general spread and the concern for general health, working from home was instated so people could stay in their home to stay protected from catching the virus this was a whole new way of communication and caused many learning curves, According to Bhattacharya, Sonali; Smark, Ciorstan; and Mir, Monir (Volume 15, No.1, 2021), “Another aspect of work which is going to be impacted significantly is the communication process, which virtual meetings becoming the reality, the need of transparent and continuance communication will be more than ever,” which is a whole new world that many people were introduced to. In regular jobs and the schooling system, Zoom calls are where classes and meetings often take place now. Zoom was also a huge learning curve because it was a system many people were unaware of, people were so unaware of how it works that there were tutorials made or teaching segments so people who were confused, could learn how to use it. Zoom is a huge part of people’s isolation because it was a good way to communicate from home without being in person. Isolation has also impacted people significantly since we were nationally sent into a lockdown, which can be extremely mentally tolling. Isolation is defined as, “The action of isolating; the fact or condition of being isolated or standing alone; separation from other things or persons; solitariness,” (“Isolation, n”) which for a long enough period can be detrimental to anyone mentally and as much as social media was used throughout this period but it was never enough to satisfy the needs of in-person contact. It was a struggle to find the balance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as well as dealing with anxiety and depression from the lack of positivity in people's lives. Many lived at home with their families, which was detrimental to someone who was trying to grow apart by themselves or trying to separate themselves from a toxic household. For many students especially school was an escape, those 8 hours spent learning and communicating with friends, or counselors saved so many kids because it was their freedom from an unpleasant household. As bad as a toxic household maybe, people who shared a loving home life still faced the struggle of quarantining, because of the tight space in a household it was inevitable to have time to yourself unless you lock yourself in your room. It was determined that quarantine led to high anxiety and stress as well as depression because of many of these factors. Quarantine kept us from our regular daily functioning lives, while some people are dependent on socialization to make themselves feel wanted and to feel full at the end of the day, human contact and in-person communication are what keeps a lot of people stable. Another heavy impact on society dealing with the virus is individual consequences, which fall into the category of depression and loss. High-functioning depression comes with a loss of motivation, interest, and insomnia. With the need to perform well to make your income through your job or go to school to get a job, it is hard to wake up happy to join a Zoom call meeting. Originally waking up would be more enjoyable because you could always find something to look forward to, whether it be seeing friends, a big game, or a big social event. These events have become untouched or carefully and rarely dabbled in due to the pandemic and the easy transfer of the virus. Many kids are struggling to find themselves in these years that the pandemic fell upon us, kids graduating high school to enter college, and college students who are not sure where they go from here. The pandemic hit these kids hard, especially with a wave of depression, before there was an excitement to enter college and make new friends, looking forward to enjoying a new place, a new campus, new subjects, and just preparing for their future to be shot down and either having to stay home or locked in their dorm room with little to no interaction. This anxiety about the future or loss of excitement in life brought many high school and college students to a deviant reaction to their workload, life, or school in general. College students and adults were trying to cope which led to abuse of alcohol because of the large spike in stress. In the article on Alcohol and Isolation Knopf says, One of the prime motivations for excessive drinking is “negative emotional states,” said Koob. And isolation leads to a negative emotional state for many. “Were primates, and primates need to interact with each other,” said Koob. “It’s our natural reward system — a smile, an eyebrow going up, being near another person — these are powerful reinforcers.” Without them, there is stress, and that can trigger depressive episodes in vulnerable people. Drinking during this time is abused because of the endless stressors indicated, and it is used as a way to temporarily relieve problems caused by COVID-19. Alcohol is not a good way to cope because once it wears off, you may be left in a lower depressive state than you were before, and it becomes abused because the happiness alcohol cause is trying to be continuously achieved. Along with College and High school students, It also affects young kids in kindergarten or preschool because, at such a young age, the school helps form a schedule and to keeps them on the right path. Telling a kid that is so young that they can't go to school because of a pandemic is very hard for that kid to process as it is a part of their daily life now, and it’s where they grow the most. Kids in their young years are learning letters, numbers, and words and these years must be highly focused on moving on. Daily crafts are created because creativity helps kids use their knowledge and imagination in a fun way, where they are inspired to learn. Crafts and DIYS are the positive reinforcement used on kids, but when doing them at home they often need a parent to help them and physically demonstrate what they need to do, this is hard because at the same time many parents are also working from home trying to get their work done, meanwhile their child is struggling to ask questions or get the individual help they need for an assignment. When kids have to stay home due to this pandemic it’s detrimental to their learning because they are told to sit in front of a screen for hours trying to listen to a teacher, when kids are known to have a short attention span. This short attention span causes short tempers or acting out because they simply can’t focus or push themselves to listen.