In late December of 2019, a peculiar case of pneumonia was detected in Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China. An upsurge in the cases of the Novel Corona-Virus was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in late January of 2020, when cases started emerging outside of China, rather unexpectedly. The declaration of a global pandemic led to a worldwide panic among people about the long term effects in the global economy while also affecting the social lives of individuals around the world.
Ever since the acknowledgement of the seriousness of the pandemic by the WHO, many countries have resorted to extreme measures to impede the spread of the virus. A halt to international flights was followed by a complete lock-down and practices of social distancing which rendered shutting down of businesses including schools, only allowing continuation of essential services.
Students are compelled to attend online classes with no consideration for their access to network and technology. The technical issues often encountered during video conferences and webinars takes up more time than allocated for a specific class, which quite often is a frustrating experience. Besides, the education system has less to no regard for students who cannot perform well in their online classes due to reasons which make them vulnerable to virus anxiety like preexisting health conditions, is forced to remain separated from families due to sudden lock-downs, financial concerns due to getting laid off from job, or being stuck with abusive member/s. For students who could barely concentrate in a physical classroom in the presence of classmates involved in the same activity as them with minimal disturbance, attending a virtual classroom in the presence of family members who are all up to their own chores has proven to be no less than a nightmare.
Meanwhile social medias have been swarming with messages and videos from students delineating their frustration with school work which is either unclear to them or takes too much time of their days which often adds to the anxiety.
There are measures that have been suggested to alleviate virus anxiety and emotional stress, and people have been advised to seek facts from trusted sources.
The World Health Organization suggests gathering information at regular intervals form the WHO website while reducing a constant stream of news about the outbreak which causes anxiety and distress. A risk analysis of an individual's vulnerability to infection and adoption of effective risk management measures has been admitted, to the very least, as constructive measures to battle spread of the virus and virus anxiety. The maintenance of social networks has been recommended for emotional support, and individuals have been requested to seek online/phone counselling services.
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