It has been has been almost four years since the world changed due to COVID-19. For the first time in our generation, the world stopped fighting among themselves and they united against the fight of the virus.
Therefore, let’s start with a brief summary of what happened. As you know, the virus started in Wuhan China and by 31st December 2019 the WHO (World Health Organization) was alerted.
By January 2020, this new virus was identified as part of the coronavirus family and was called COVID-19 (CO – corona, VI – virus, D – disease, 19 – 2019). Scientist identified that the virus spread by inhaling droplets generated by cough or sneeze produced by an infected person.
By March 2020, most countries around the world decided because of the level of infection in Europe to apply their own version of self-isolation to stop the spreading of the virus which limited the gathering of people and stopped them leaving their houses.
By May 2020, the level of infection reduced drastically thanks for the self-isolation and many countries started considering opening the economy and slowly returning to normality.
By September 2020, the world’s economy started to reactivate slowly giving some sectors that were completely shut a big booster. UK prioritise the kid’s socialisation so schools opened, while Mexico allowed non-essential business to open up to 30% capacity including open spaces.
By November 2020, the new infection (Delta variant) which started in September kept increasing and another mandatory self-isolation was imposed to keep the most people safe with the promise of the vaccine getting closer.
By December 2020, the vaccination programme started by deploying the vaccine for emergency use by 84 countries. The hope was for the infection rate to drop significantly within the next few months.
By May 2021, due to the aggressive vaccination programme imposed by all the countries the infection rate reduce by 85% as they prioritized the vulnerable group and with poor health.
By June 2021, every country was implementing a vaccination programme and every person older of 18 years was vaccinated, reducing drastically the infection rate.
By November 2021, the new infection (Omicron variant) was detected and turned out to have the highest infection rate of all. However, due to the huge amount of people vaccinated the death rate was not as high as before. The scientific community discovered that the effectiveness of the vaccine wore down at the six-month mark, therefore, the recommendation was that the population to take a 3rd dose of the vaccine (booster).
By September 2022, the Omicron variant was still active while the infection continued, the death were reduced due to the application of the vaccine. The amount of people death by this time was around 6.5 million with the case fatality rate (CFR – number of people death in comparison with the number of case) of 1.07%.
By May 2023, the WHO downgraded the situation from being a global health emergency to an established and ongoing health issue, but it has been continued to be referred as a pandemia. The WHO downgraded it because of the reduction of deaths and hospitalization as the level of general immunity increase due to vaccinations.
By September 2023, the Omicron variant is still active, still very contagious, however, the vaccination is still very efficient against the reduction of symptomatic disease.
However, it is mindful to remember that this is a very contagious disease and up to today there is no cure and the only method of prevention is the vaccine. The table below depicts the number of deaths according to the WHO source.
The cases in Western Pacific (from Mongolia to New Zealand) spike to 42,226,724 increased in December 2022 while the rest of world has been reducing their cases since their highest pike in January 2022. The highest increase in cases was seen that region was closed during the first two years of the pandemia, when they opened their boundaries at the beginning of 2023 the cases spike, as it happened with all other countries after their self-isolation.
Although the deaths caused by COVID-19 have reduced, this is because most of the countries have more than 99% of the population at least with one vaccine and this has helped reduced the severity of the disease. However, according to WHO 66.1% of the global population has been vaccinated, because Africa still is missing.
Although the global pandemia has ended and every country has returned to a new normality. It is important to remember that COVID-19 is an infectious disease and the vaccine allows to reduce the symptoms but you still can caught it and if unvaccinated, it could be deadline.
Therefore, it is important to identify what are the symptoms and what to do. The symptoms are (source: NHS UK):
1. A high temperature or shivering (hot to touch),
2. A new and continuous cough (more than an hour),
3. A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste,
4. Shortness of breath,
5. Feeling tired or exhausted,
6. An aching body,
7. A headache,
8. A sore throat,
9. A blocked or runny nose,
10. Loss of appetite,
11. Diarrhoea, and
12. Feeling sick or being sick.
Remember that these symptoms are similar to other illness like colds and flu, so what to do if you tested positive (source: NHS UK):
1. Stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day the test was taken,
2. Stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days after the day you took your test, and
3. Avoid meeting people with weak immune system for 10 days after the day you took the test.
However, do not forget to call your emergency department if the symptoms are getting worse or you are not getting better. It is important to remember that if you get COVID-19, this can be treated with medication. The treatment is based in four medicines (source: NHS UK).
1. Nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir (Paxlovid),
2. Sotrovimab (Xevudy),
3. Remdesivir (Veklury),
4. Molnupiravir (Lagevrio).
Nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir, remdesivir and molnupiravir are antiviral medicines. Sotrovimab is a neutralising monoclonal antibody (nMAb). Most medication come as capsules or tablets that you can swallow (home treatment) and other as a drip in your arm (hospital or local health centre).
You need to remember that you can still catch or spread COVID-19 even if you do not have symptom, are fully vaccinated, and have the virus before. And remember that you can be infectious for up to 10 days.
Therefore, it is better to avoid catching and spreading COVID-19 (source: NHS UK), so you should:
1. Get vaccinated against COVID-19,
2. Wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitiser regularly, after you cough, sneeze or blow your nose, and before you eat or handle food,
3. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze,
4. Regularly clean surface you touch often and in shared spaces,
5. Consider wearing a face cover with more than 1 layer.
Currently, the NHS UK is running an autumn booster to get the COVID-19 vaccine through their clinic as you cannot buy the vaccine privately. This programme is for adults above 65 years, for frontline health and social workers, for people aged 12 to 64 with weak immune system and working in care homes, and all pregnant women.
Be mindful of the side effect of the vaccine. Most people present mild side effect and the most common side effects include a sore arm, headaches, chills, fatigue and nausea. However, remember that this is the normal immune response to all types of vaccination and they solve within couple of day.
The COVID-19 pandemia lasted almost 4 years and affected every person in the world. Even if you did not get infected, you knew someone that died because of this disease. Also the world changed, there is a before and after COVID-19 as many people are still wearing facemask in public, and now we are more conscious about any changes to our health and more vigilant to avoid catching it.
In my case, I learnt a lot about the vaccination process and how fast something can be achieved to solve a problem when everyone is focused on the same problem.
I am grateful to be alive after the pandemia, as I used my time during lockdown to reconnect with my family in Mexico, to conclude all my projects of my previous life, and to dream of new projects for my new life which are still under development.
I hope that you use everything that you learnt during the pandemia, during the lockdown to become a better version of yourself and to value everything that you have and everything that you are. I wish you a long and healthy life.
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