The COVID-19 lockdown was unlike anything anyone had seen. People were unsure about how they were supposed to react to it, and without a cure, they were not even sure about the changes they were supposed to make. Since the virus was spreading through human contact, the Government implemented laws that forced people to stay indoors, including rules about wearing masks in public and maintaining social distance in public. They also used them at offices, so offices that once supported a large staff now had to spread them across different rooms. Smaller offices could not call in all their employees since they would not be able to social distance.

While there were no rules about who could catch the virus, everyone had to stay as safe as possible. Additionally, they did have findings that stated that younger people had a higher success rate of recovering. However, there were a lot of factors to consider.

What are some of the steps people could take to get through the pandemic?

Since the pandemic could infect anyone and everyone, there were a few changes that everyone had to follow to make sure they were not spreading the virus. Governments implemented various rules saying that people were not allowed to leave their homes. These were so strict that companies and businesses temporarily shut. Additionally, there were rules about wearing masks and using hand-sanitisers whenever possible, especially if they were coordinating in public areas.

Other than the Government rules, people had to make sure they were as careful as possible, and businesses had to learn to adapt to changes. They had to get the bulk of their work remotely because they did not have any other option. There were changes on the work front, and many

companies who could not keep up had to let their staff go or had to shut shop. According to Yelp, around 150000 companies marked themselves as temporarily closed at the start of the pandemic, and a few months into it, a little less than 100000 permanently shut down.

With work moving online, people were making changes about other aspects of their lives online as well. Streaming services started picking up, and most were spending their time-consuming content digitally from their homes. Additionally, people were spending time working on hobbies.

Changes in the health of people

Since people were not leaving their homes due to varying rules based on the country or state, morning and evening walks and jogs in the park significantly subsided. People were no longer frequenting gyms since that would increase the chance of them catching the virus again.

Everyone had to be additionally cautious since there was no cure for the virus, and people who caught it were unsure of the long term implications of a virus.

People had to get exercise since they were already eating unhealthy and had to circumvent the health issues they could face. Online and virtual classes and courses were picking up and were the best that people could do when it came to getting exercise from their homes, along with professional trainers.

Other than staying fit, they had to make sure they were mentally healthy as well. Mental health was taking a massive toll throughout the pandemic. People were not just dealing with their work and their personal lives anymore, but in most cases, the two were mixing into one another with deadlines, meetings, and submissions were becoming quite stressful.

Moving to remote therapy seemed like the next best idea, but they were unsure about getting it done. Firstly and most importantly, it was not the same as therapy where people would be talking to a therapist in person, but it was the only option that most had. Another reason was the lack of personal interaction that many were missing out on, with too many changes taking place.

Coping through a pandemic

Video calls were the best option when it came to connecting with people who were living in a separate household. Whenever the number of cases in a state or country began spiking to the

point that it would overwhelm the hospitals, the Government would push for a statewide or national lockdown. People could only leave their homes if they were planning on getting groceries, essential services or other medical requirements.

People were using delivery services to get all of their stuff sent to their house, whether it was food, information or even documents from their offices. Additionally, people were pushing big and small investments, if not urgent, to the back burner until things were better since they were quite uncertain about the future. People were reducing their interactions to bring down the chances of catching the virus. People were also delaying getting their health checkups since they did not want to head to the hospital in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Changes when hiring people

Companies wanted to make sure they were picking people they could trust and would be a good fit for their team. They wanted a peek into the past lives to make sure everything was in order with nothing major to worry about. Simply put, with large scale unemployment, companies wanted to make sure they were picking people who would stay for the long run and who did not have a criminal background or o utstanding records from the past. Most of them were even asking for this information during the interview so applicants could connect with various third party companies and platforms capable of providing the information in a week or two. Depending on the job position that they were applying for, the tests that they have to get through would vary.