Coronavirus Creates Social Divide

Currently, coronavirus (COVID-19) is the big thing that everyone is talking about. Because of it, social gatherings are being shut down nationwide, and many people are completely stuck at home. At this point, the U.S. has the most cases in the world, and many deaths are occurring everyday.

According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, more than a million cases of coronavirus have been registered globally - another grim milestone that the world faces as it grapples with the spreading pandemic.

“We continue with an increase of [daily infections of] around 8 percent. This points, as we have already seen, to a stabilisation in the data that we are registering,” María José Sierra of the Spanish Health Ministry's Emergency Coordination Unit said.

Spain’s residents, as the country is the third worst-hit nation in terms of deaths, have lost up to 900,000 jobs since mid-March, but Spain is not the only country struggling with job loss. Many people who are not considered “essential,” including restaurant waiters and hair stylists, are being laid off, giving them absolutely no source of income. The coronavirus crisis could see up to 37 million jobs lost by its end. Business activity in cities along with municipalities and states are being brought to complete halts in an attempt to lessen the spread of the pandemic.

“There is a subset of these workers, in jobs often offering substantially less income than the above average, who are particularly vulnerable to cessation of economic activity due to the spreading pandemic,” officials at the private-sector job quality index, created by researchers at Cornell Law School, said.

COVID-19 was originally identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has since infected more than 110,000 people in at least 210 countries and territories globally, according to the World Health Organization. This outbreak has become one of the biggest threats to the global economy and financial markets, shaking up markets worldwide and making stock prices and bond yields plunge downwards like nothing seen ever before.

China was the original source of the infection, but now sitting at just over 80,000 reported infections, China has been able to contain the spread of the disease. To contain the outbreak, Chinese authorities locked down cities, restricted movements and suspended business operations, thus greatly slowing down not only the Chinese economy, but the global economy as a whole.

This is a confusing and unpredictable time for people all around the world as we never know what can happen next. However, it is important to stay safe and positive so that we can slowly get through it.