Five years ago, our lives changed drastically. 

COVID-19 killed millions of people, forcing society to adapt to a new way of life. I remember being told that I would have two weeks off of school. However, two weeks turned into almost two years of lockdown. I spent my days yearning for the outdoors and witnessing my loud, colorful city gradually grow dull.

Now, five years later, I find myself reflecting on the way that the pandemic has transformed healthcare, education, society, and our everyday lives. 

During the pandemic, the healthcare system faced extensive pressure. Several hospitals found themselves exceeding their capacities while exhausting their resources in attempts to save as many lives as possible. According to a study, “COVID-19 increased the demand for medical equipment and supplies, such as hospital beds and ventilators, and disrupted many supply chains.” Due to the influx of hundreds of thousands of patients who needed treatment, hospitals across the world struggled to acquire adequate medical resources to meet their needs. Due to this high demand coupled with a lack of supply, the cost of medical equipment rose, placing immense financial strain on almost fifty percent of hospitals.

However, finances weren’t the only obstacle hospitals faced; healthcare workers faced numerous challenges too. I interviewed a nurse at Westchester Medical Center, who preferred to stay anonymous, in order to get insight on the hardships that healthcare workers faced. “Health care workers experienced immense stress, which led to difficulty concentrating and changes in sleep patterns,” said the nurse. During COVID-19, healthcare workers had to account for an unprecedented number of patients, which resulted in longer, stressful hours.

Additionally, the nurse told me that, “Many nurses had reported sickness because of tiredness and infectious exposure.” Nurses often put the needs of their patients first, and no matter how many precautions were taken, they ended up getting sick. Due to so many healthcare workers getting sick, there were often large staff shortages, which put even more stress on the remaining nurses. The nurse stated that, “Many factors, such as a shortage of resources, have had a profound influence on our physical and mental health, resulting in the workforce’s reduction in the quality of patient care.” Since nurses weren’t being cared for enough, they weren’t able to provide patients with all the care that they needed.

Five years later, these issues persist. Not only is there a “high and rising cost of healthcare,” as the nurse at Westchester Medical Center told me, but nurses themselves are still being overlooked and are in the process of recovering from the effects of COVID-19.

However, healthcare was not the only field affected by COVID-19. Teachers and students also had to adapt to the abrupt changes. I remember transitioning from in-person school to remote learning on platforms such as Zoom. My unstable internet connection often caused me to get kicked out of meetings, and it was extremely difficult to concentrate in my home, due to the background noise. 

In my experience, being in a classroom setting allows me to be more engaged and more inclined to participate. However, when I was learning from my bedroom, I found myself easily distracted, which led me to pay less attention to lessons. I decided to interview Daniela De Silva, a math professor at Columbia University, because I was curious as to how some of the top students in the nation were affected by COVID-19, and I learned that a lot of students shared a similar experience to me. “Many of these students admitted that, having completed the course in an online format, they did not fully grasp the material and felt disengaged. As a result, they expressed insecurity and a tendency to second-guess themselves,” said De Silva.

Before the pandemic, I often participated in my classes. However, once I returned, I was reluctant to answer even the simplest of questions. While speaking to De Silva, I learned that a nearly identical trend had unfolded among her students. “In the past, during breaks, I would step out briefly and return to a classroom filled with lively conversations that I had to quiet down. Now, however, most students are typically on their phones, and the atmosphere feels much quieter and less interactive,” she said. The reality is that COVID-19 caused students to become less social, as the majority of our classroom interactions came from quietly sitting in a Zoom meeting, and occasionally typing in the chat or unmuting ourselves to answer questions. 

The pandemic severely changed students’ attitudes towards learning, attendance, and engagement. De Silva stated that, “many students assume that lecture recordings can fully replace in-person classes, leading them to believe attendance is unnecessary.” Student attendance has changed significantly after the pandemic. According to the New York Times, “an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic.” An increase in anxiety, as well as a habit of staying at home on school days, has led to a major attendance issue across the nation. 

This attitude is also reflected in the types of classes that students choose to take. According to De Silva, “True learning thrives on interaction and discussion. Despite this, students frequently undervalue courses that lack Zoom options or recorded lectures.” Students often believe that they can get away with taking courses that require minimum in-person learning. However, the quality of learning is much different online than in person. 

Personally, I find that I grasp the material more when I participate and interact with others. For example, physics is a class that I often find myself struggling with, but despite that, I find that when I participate and ask questions, the material becomes easier. Nevertheless, students still find themselves relying on online resources. “Rather than engaging in class or attending office hours, students often rely on YouTube videos, Khan Academy, or MIT OpenCourseWare for explanations,” De Silva explained. While online resources can be helpful, engaging with the class and the professor is necessary to better understand the course.

However, students faced additional challenges beyond academics. For example, a lot of us were stuck inside all day, which made some of us feel empty and unfulfilled. Trapped inside, I felt my childhood years slipping away. However, after the pandemic, I was able to go outside, and I felt better. While interviewing Nabil Majumder ’26, he stated that he “went from living in constant fear to now being able to be free.” 

COVID-19 didn’t just impact our state of mind, but it also impacted our relationships with our family and friends. “When I was stuck at home, I was forced to spend more time with my family, which led me to get closer to them. However, being away from my friends led me to grow apart from them, as we spent years without much contact,” said Majumder. During COVID-19, I only got to communicate with my friends through text, which caused us to drift away from each other, as we didn’t hang out like we used to.

We have recovered from the pandemic for the most part, but there are still some lingering effects. “The pandemic has caused many people to have this new built-in fear of whether something like this may happen again,” Majumder observed. While this is a reasonable fear to have, seeing as how much of a drastic impact COVID-19 had on us, COVID-19 is not a major threat anymore. When looking at COVID-19 trends in the New York Times, it is clear that the hospitalization, death, and test positivity rates have all continued to decline since the peak of the pandemic.

Throughout these five years, COVID-19 has taught us many lessons. Majumder said, “Although we may not have forever, we should make the most of what we have.” While the Coronavirus pandemic was a difficult time period for a lot of us, it has taught us to adapt quickly, to always care for others, and most of all, to appreciate our loved ones and spend as much time with them as possible. 

I remember the day when I returned to school. Seeing my best friend after two years of only texting her was such a relief, and I remember wanting to spend every second I had with her.

It’s very surprising that the pandemic was only five years ago. I wonder where we’ll be five years from now.

Now, five years later, I find myself reflecting on the way that the pandemic has transformed healthcare, education, society, and our everyday lives.