Kanishtrayen Baskaran

Roles of Technology During Covid-19 Kanishtrayen Baskaran

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on every functional aspect of society, with hundreds of thousands dead and millions more infected in just a few short months. Although many countries and regions, such as Canada and most of Europe, have shown significant decreases in the number of active cases, the pandemic is far from over and, on a global level, the peak has yet to even be reached as of July 2020 (Neustaeter, 2020). What started as a small outbreak in Wuhan, China back in late 2019 quickly snowballed into a "public health emergency of international concern" by the end of January before being declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020a). Within an instant, countries were scrambling to close borders, shut down public spaces and workplaces, and draft new regulations to reduce the spread of COVID-19; the world was in a state of limbo and it seemed as if nobody knew what to do next. For many, this was their first time experiencing a global crisis to this degree and concerns from citizens and governments alike rapidly formed. What will happen to the economy? How will children receive an education? When can families reunite once again? These are just some of the questions that dominated citizens as this "new normal" began to set in. Despite taking some time to adjust, however, solutions to almost all of these concerns began to be put in place largely because of advancements in modern technology.