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  • Writer's pictureJaweria Afreen Hussaini

Pandemic - Embracing the New Normal

A pandemic is basically a global epidemic -- an epidemic that spreads to more than one continent. The classification of “pandemic” comes when a disease affects the global population. Pandemics are usually caused by new infectious agents (bacteria or viruses) that spread quickly.

COVID-19 is the name given by the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 11, 2020 for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2. It started in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and has since spread worldwide. COVID-19 is an acronym that stands for coronavirus disease of 2019.


A “novel” corona-virus means that it is a new corona-virus that has not been previously identified in humans. This means it is different from corona viruses that cause the common cold, and those that caused SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012.





People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills

• Cough

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• Fatigue

• Muscle or body aches

• Headache

• New loss of taste or smell Sore throat

• Congestion or runny nose

• Nausea or vomiting

• Diarrhea

This list does not include all possible symptoms.


#Covid19 Emergency medical care.

If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:

• Trouble breathing

• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest

• Confusion status of mind

• Inability to wake or stay awake

• Pale, gray, or blue-colored skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone

*This list is not all possible symptoms. Please call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.


Important Ways to Slow the Spread of #Covid19

• Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth to help protect yourself and others.

• Stay 6 feet apart from others who don’t live with you.

• Get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you.

• Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. Use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available.


Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are circulating globally.

Covid-19 variant spreads more easily and quickly than other variants, which may lead to more cases of COVID-19. An increase in the number of cases will put more strain on health care resources, lead to more hospitalizations, and potentially more deaths.

Rigorous and increased compliance with public health mitigation strategies, such as vaccination, physical distancing, use of masks, hand hygiene, and isolation and quarantine, is essential to limit the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 and protect public health.

Public Health officials are studying to understand whether the variants:

• Spread more easily from person-to-person

• Cause milder or more severe disease in people

• Are detected by currently available viral tests

• Respond to medicines currently being used to treat people for COVID-19

• Change the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines



The school closings due to corona-virus concerns have turned a spotlight on those problems and how they contribute to educational and income inequality in the nation.

This school year will require schools and families to work together even more than before. Schools have to make changes to their policies and operations with several goals.

How Many Schools Are Managing These Daily Operations As Precautions?

• Masks in Schools

• Screening Students for Symptoms

• Cleaning, Disinfection, and Hand Hygiene

• Protecting the School Staff from COVID-19

• Ventilation in Schools and Child Care Programs

• Dividing students and teachers into distinct groups that stay together throughout an entire school day during in-person classroom instruction.





#Family_Model_Healthy_Behaviour during #pandemic It will be important for families to emphasize and model healthy behaviors at home and to talk to your children about changes to expect this school year. As a parent, staying informed and connected may reduce your feelings of anxiety and provide a way for you to express any concerns you may have about your child’s school. Check if your school has a plan to help students adjust to being back in school. Students might need help adjusting to how COVID-19 has disrupted their daily life. Support may include school counseling and psychological services (including grief counseling), social-emotional learning (SEL)-focused programs and curricula, and peer/social support groups.


How Responsible are we are as parents during the #Pandemic ?

Children may worry about themselves, their family, and friends getting ill with COVID-19. Parents, family members, school staff, and other trusted adults can play an important role in helping children make sense of what they hear in a way that is honest, accurate, and minimizes anxiety or fear.

• Make yourself available to listen and to talk.

• Avoid language that might blame others and lead to stigma.

• Pay attention to what children see or hear on television, radio, or online.

• Provide information that is truthful and appropriate for the age and developmental level of the child.

• Teach children everyday actions to reduce the spread of germs.

• If school is open, discuss any new actions that may be taken at school to help protect children and school staff.


Most of our big systems don’t have this sort of backup. Now, however, we’re not only going to have to construct a backup to get through this crisis, but we’re going to have to develop new, permanent systems, redesigned to meet the needs which have been so glaringly exposed in this crisis. There are things we can learn in the messiness of adapting through this crisis, which has revealed profound disparities in children’s access to support and opportunities. We should be asking: How do we make our school, education, and child-development systems more individually responsive to the needs of our students? Why not construct a system that meets children where they are and gives them what they need inside and outside of school in order to be successful? Let’s take this opportunity to end the “one size fits all” factory model of education. We are still a nation at risk. We need another paradigm shift, where we look at our goals and aspirations for education, which are summed up in phrases like - No Child Left Behind.



In order to learn, children need equal access to health care, food, clean water, stable housing, and out-of-school enrichment opportunities, to name just a few preconditions. We have to re-conceptualize the whole job of child development and education, and construct systems that meet children where they are and give them what they need, both inside and outside of school, in order for all of them to have a genuine opportunity to be successful.

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