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Essay On Covid-19: 100, 200 and 300 Words

Updated on
Apr 30, 2024

COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus, is a global pandemic that has affected people all around the world. It first emerged in a lab in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and quickly spread to countries around the world. This virus was reportedly caused by SARS-CoV-2. Since then, it has spread rapidly to many countries, causing widespread illness and impacting our lives in numerous ways. This blog talks about the details of this virus and also drafts an essay on COVID-19 in 100, 200 and 300 words for students and professionals.

Table of Contents

1 Essay On COVID-19 in English 100 Words
2 Essay On COVID-19 in 200 Words
3 Essay On COVID-19 in 300 Words
4 Short Essay on Covid-19

Essay On COVID-19 in English 100 Words

COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, is a global pandemic. It started in late 2019 and has affected people all around the world. The virus spreads very quickly through someone’s sneeze and respiratory issues.

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our lives, with lockdowns, travel restrictions, and changes in daily routines. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, we should wear masks, practice social distancing, and wash our hands frequently.

People should follow social distancing and other safety guidelines and also learn the tricks to be safe stay healthy and work the whole challenging time.

Also Read: National Safe Motherhood Day 2023

Essay On COVID-19 in 200 Words

COVID-19 also known as coronavirus, became a global health crisis in early 2020 and impacted mankind around the world. This virus is said to have originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019. It belongs to the coronavirus family and causes flu-like symptoms. It impacted the healthcare systems, economies and the daily lives of people all over the world.

The most crucial aspect of COVID-19 is its highly spreadable nature. It is a communicable disease that spreads through various means such as coughs from infected persons, sneezes and communication. Due to its easy transmission leading to its outbreaks, there were many measures taken by the government from all over the world such as Lockdowns, Social Distancing, and wearing masks.

There are many changes throughout the economic systems, and also in daily routines. Other measures such as schools opting for Online schooling, Remote work options available and restrictions on travel throughout the country and internationally. Subsequently, to cure and top its outbreak, the government started its vaccine campaigns, and other preventive measures.

In conclusion, COVID-19 tested the patience and resilience of the mankind. This pandemic has taught people the importance of patience, effort and humbleness.

Essay On COVID-19 in 300 Words

COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, is a serious and contagious disease that has affected people worldwide. It was first discovered in late 2019 in Cina and then got spread in the whole world. It had a major impact on people’s life, their school, work and daily lives.

COVID-19 is primarily transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets produced and through sneezes, and coughs of an infected person. It can spread to thousands of people because of its highly contagious nature. To cure the widespread of this virus, there are thousands of steps taken by the people and the government.

Wearing masks is one of the essential precautions to prevent the virus from spreading. Social distancing is another vital practice, which involves maintaining a safe distance from others to minimize close contact.

Very frequent handwashing is also very important to stop the spread of this virus. Proper hand hygiene can help remove any potential virus particles from our hands, reducing the risk of infection.

In conclusion, the Coronavirus has changed people’s perspective on living. It has also changed people’s way of interacting and how to live. To deal with this virus, it is very important to follow the important guidelines such as masks, social distancing and techniques to wash your hands. Getting vaccinated is also very important to go back to normal life and cure this virus completely.

Also Read: Essay on Abortion in English in 650 Words

Short Essay on Covid-19

Please find below a sample of a short essay on Covid-19 for school students:

Also Read: Essay on Women’s Day in 200 and 500 words

to write an essay on COVID-19, understand your word limit and make sure to cover all the stages and symptoms of this disease. You need to highlight all the challenges and impacts of COVID-19. Do not forget to conclude your essay with positive precautionary measures.

Writing an essay on COVID-19 in 200 words requires you to cover all the challenges, impacts and precautions of this disease. You don’t need to describe all of these factors in brief, but make sure to add as many options as your word limit allows.

The full form for COVID-19 is Corona Virus Disease of 2019.

Simran Popli

An avid writer and a creative person. With an experience of 1.5 years content writing, Simran has worked with different areas. From medical to working in a marketing agency with different clients to Ed-tech company, the journey has been diverse. Creative, vivacious and patient are the words that describe her personality.

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Covid 19 Essay in English

Essay on Covid -19: In a very short amount of time, coronavirus has spread globally. It has had an enormous impact on people's lives, economy, and societies all around the world, affecting every country. Governments have had to take severe measures to try and contain the pandemic. The virus has altered our way of life in many ways, including its effects on our health and our economy. Here are a few sample essays on ‘CoronaVirus’.

100 Words Essay on Covid 19

200 words essay on covid 19, 500 words essay on covid 19.

COVID-19 or Corona Virus is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in 2019. It is similar to other coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but it is more contagious and has caused more severe respiratory illness in people who have been infected. The novel coronavirus became a global pandemic in a very short period of time. It has affected lives, economies and societies across the world, leaving no country untouched. The virus has caused governments to take drastic measures to try and contain it. From health implications to economic and social ramifications, COVID-19 impacted every part of our lives. It has been more than 2 years since the pandemic hit and the world is still recovering from its effects.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the world has been impacted in a number of ways. For one, the global economy has taken a hit as businesses have been forced to close their doors. This has led to widespread job losses and an increase in poverty levels around the world. Additionally, countries have had to impose strict travel restrictions in an attempt to contain the virus, which has resulted in a decrease in tourism and international trade. Furthermore, the pandemic has put immense pressure on healthcare systems globally, as hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. Lastly, the outbreak has led to a general feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, as people are fearful of contracting the disease.

My Experience of COVID-19

I still remember how abruptly colleges and schools shut down in March 2020. I was a college student at that time and I was under the impression that everything would go back to normal in a few weeks. I could not have been more wrong. The situation only got worse every week and the government had to impose a lockdown. There were so many restrictions in place. For example, we had to wear face masks whenever we left the house, and we could only go out for essential errands. Restaurants and shops were only allowed to operate at take-out capacity, and many businesses were shut down.

In the current scenario, coronavirus is dominating all aspects of our lives. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc upon people’s lives, altering the way we live and work in a very short amount of time. It has revolutionised how we think about health care, education, and even social interaction. This virus has had long-term implications on our society, including its impact on mental health, economic stability, and global politics. But we as individuals can help to mitigate these effects by taking personal responsibility to protect themselves and those around them from infection.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Education

The outbreak of coronavirus has had a significant impact on education systems around the world. In China, where the virus originated, all schools and universities were closed for several weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Many other countries have followed suit, either closing schools altogether or suspending classes for a period of time.

This has resulted in a major disruption to the education of millions of students. Some have been able to continue their studies online, but many have not had access to the internet or have not been able to afford the costs associated with it. This has led to a widening of the digital divide between those who can afford to continue their education online and those who cannot.

The closure of schools has also had a negative impact on the mental health of many students. With no face-to-face contact with friends and teachers, some students have felt isolated and anxious. This has been compounded by the worry and uncertainty surrounding the virus itself.

The situation with coronavirus has improved and schools have been reopened but students are still catching up with the gap of 2 years that the pandemic created. In the meantime, governments and educational institutions are working together to find ways to support students and ensure that they are able to continue their education despite these difficult circumstances.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Economy

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had a significant impact on the global economy. The virus, which originated in China, has spread to over two hundred countries, resulting in widespread panic and a decrease in global trade. As a result of the outbreak, many businesses have been forced to close their doors, leading to a rise in unemployment. In addition, the stock market has taken a severe hit.

Effects of CoronaVirus on Health

The effects that coronavirus has on one's health are still being studied and researched as the virus continues to spread throughout the world. However, some of the potential effects on health that have been observed thus far include respiratory problems, fever, and coughing. In severe cases, pneumonia, kidney failure, and death can occur. It is important for people who think they may have been exposed to the virus to seek medical attention immediately so that they can be treated properly and avoid any serious complications. There is no specific cure or treatment for coronavirus at this time, but there are ways to help ease symptoms and prevent the virus from spreading.

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Paragraph Writing
Paragraph Writing On Covid 19

Paragraph Writing on Covid 19 - Check Samples for Various Word Limits

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a deadly pandemic that has affected the whole world. It was a viral infection that affected almost everyone in some way or the other. However, the effects have been felt differently depending on various factors. As it is a virus, it will change with time, and different variants might keep coming. The virus has affected the lifestyle of human beings. The pandemic has affected the education system and the economy of the world as well. Many people have lost their lives, jobs, near and dear, etc.

Paragraph writing on covid-19 in 100 words, paragraph writing on covid-19 in 150 words, paragraph writing on covid-19 in 200 words, paragraph writing on covid-19 in 250 words, frequently asked questions on covid-19.

Check the samples provided below before you write a paragraph on Covid-19.

Coronavirus is an infectious disease and is commonly called Covid-19. It affects the human respiratory system causing difficulty in breathing. It is a contagious disease and has been spreading across the world like wildfire. The virus was first identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China. In March, WHO declared Covid-19 as a pandemic that has been affecting the world. The virus was spreading from an infected person through coughing, sneezing, etc. Therefore, the affected people were isolated from everyone. The affected people were even isolated from their own family members and their dear ones. Other symptoms noticed in Covid – 19 patients include weariness, sore throat, muscle soreness, and loss of taste and smell.

Coronavirus, often known as Covid-19, is an infectious disease. It affects the human respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It’s a contagious disease that has been spreading like wildfire over the world. The virus was initially discovered in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March. The virus was transferred by coughing, sneezing, and other means from an infected person. As a result, the people who were affected were isolated from the rest of society. The folks who were afflicted were even separated from their own family members and loved ones. Weariness, sore throat, muscle stiffness, and loss of taste and smell are among the other complaints reported by Covid-19 individuals. Almost every individual has been affected by the virus. A lot of people have lost their lives due to the severity of the infections. The dropping of oxygen levels and the unavailability of oxygen cylinders were the primary concerns during the pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic was caused due to a man-made virus called coronavirus. It is an infectious disease that has affected millions of people’s lives. The pandemic has affected the entire world differently. It was initially diagnosed in 2019 in Wuhan, China but later, in March 2020, WHO declared that it was a pandemic that was affecting the whole world like wildfire. Covid-19 is a contagious disease. Since it is a viral disease, the virus spreads rapidly in various forms. The main symptoms of this disease were loss of smell and taste, loss of energy, pale skin, sneezing, coughing, reduction of oxygen level, etc. Therefore, all the affected people were asked to isolate themselves from the unaffected ones. The affected people were isolated from their family members in a separate room. The government has taken significant steps to ensure the safety of the people. The frontline workers were like superheroes who worked selflessly for the safety of the people. A lot of doctors had to stay away from their families and their babies for the safety of their patients and their close ones. The government has taken significant steps, and various protocols were imposed for the safety of the people. The government imposed a lockdown and shut down throughout the country.

The coronavirus was responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. It is an infectious disease that has affected millions of people’s lives. The pandemic has impacted people all across the world in diverse ways. It was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in 2019. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed it a pandemic in March 2020, claiming that it has spread throughout the globe like wildfire. The pandemic has claimed the lives of millions of people. The virus had negative consequences for those who were infected, including the development of a variety of chronic disorders. The main symptoms of this disease were loss of smell and taste, fatigue, pale skin, sneezing, coughing, oxygen deficiency, etc. Because Covid-19 was an infectious disease, all those who were infected were instructed to segregate themselves from those who were not. The folks who were affected were separated from their families and locked in a room. The government has prioritised people’s safety. The frontline personnel were like superheroes, working tirelessly to ensure the public’s safety. For the sake of their patients’ and close relatives’ safety, many doctors had to stay away from their families and babies. The government had also taken significant steps and implemented different protocols for the protection of people.

What is meant by the Covid-19 pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic was a deadly pandemic that affected the lives of millions of people. A lot of people lost their lives, and some people lost their jobs and lost their entire families due to the pandemic. Many covid warriors, like doctors, nurses, frontline workers, etc., lost their lives due to the pandemic.

From where did the Covid-19 pandemic start?

The Covid-19 pandemic was initially found in Wuhan, China and later in the whole world.

What are the symptoms of Covid-19?

The symptoms of Covid-19 have been identified as sore throat, loss of smell and taste, cough, sneezing, reduction of oxygen level, etc.

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A guide to writing the covid-19 essay for the common app.

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Students can use the Common App's new Covid-19 essay to expand on their experiences during the ... [+] pandemic.

Covid-19 has heavily impacted students applying to colleges in this application cycle. High schools have gone virtual, extracurricular activities have been canceled and family situations might have changed. Having recognized this, the Common App added a new optional 250-word essay that will give universities a chance to understand the atypical high school experience students have had. The prompt will be:

“Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces.”

Should I Write About The Coronavirus Pandemic?

For many high schoolers, the pandemic will have had a lasting impact on their education and everyday lives. Some students might have had a negative experience: a parent laid off or furloughed, limited access to online classes or a family member (or the student) having fallen ill from the virus.

Other students might have had the opposite experience. Even though they might have undergone a few negative events or stressful times, they might have learned something new, started a new project or gained a new perspective that changed their future major or career choice.

If you fit into either of these categories, writing the optional essay might be a good idea.

Remember, the admission officers have also been dealing with the crisis and understand the situation students are going through. They are well aware that the AP exams were administered remotely, SAT/ACT test dates were canceled and numerous schools transitioned to a virtual learning model. There is likely no need to reiterate this in an essay unless there was a direct impact on an aspect of your application.

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As with every college essay you write, it is important to think about the tone and word choice. You want to remain sensitive to the plight of other students during this global crisis. While every student has likely been affected by the pandemic, the level of impact will vary greatly. For some, classes moved online, but life remained more or less the same. For these types of students, it might not be a strategic move to write about the coronavirus if you don’t have anything meaningful, unique or personal to say. If you only have a limited time to impress the admission officer, you want to ensure that each word is strategically thought out and showcases a new aspect of your personality.

Using this space as a time to complain about how you weren’t able to go to the beach, see friends or eat out could be seen as you flaunting your privilege. Careful consideration of how you portray yourself will be key.

Nearly every student has had an activity or event canceled. It likely won’t be a good use of your word count lamenting on the missed opportunities. Instead, it would be more illuminating to talk about how you remained flexible and pivoted to other learning opportunities.

How To Write The Covid-19 Essay

The Covid-19 essay was introduced so universities could gain a better understanding of how their applicants have had their lives and education disrupted due to the pandemic. You’ll want to give the admission officers context to understand your experiences better.

Here are some examples of how to write this optional essay.

Outline any extenuating circumstances related to Covid-19. Some students might find themselves crammed in a small apartment or home with their entire family. This disruptive environment might have made it difficult for the student to concentrate on their classes. Some students might be required to care for younger siblings during the day. In many areas of the country, lack of access to high-speed internet or smart devices meant that students couldn’t participate in online learning. Now is the time to share those details.
Include the impact. Ultimately, this essay is about you. Things likely happened to family members, friends or your community, but you need to show how it altered your life specifically.
Provide specific details. Give the admission officers a peek into your everyday life. Including specific details can help make your story come alive. For example, don’t just say that it was hard dealing with the emotional trauma of seeing friends and family fall ill. Instead, be specific and talk about how your friend was diagnosed with Covid-19 and had to be hospitalized. Seeing the long-term effects caused you to take the pandemic much more seriously and moved you to take action. Perhaps you were inspired to start a nonprofit that makes masks or to help your neighbors through this difficult time.

Covid-19 Essay for School Counselors

It’s not just students who will get to submit an additional statement regarding the impact of the coronavirus: Counselors will also get a chance to submit a 500-word essay. Their prompt will be:

Your school may have made adjustments due to community disruptions such as COVID–19 or natural disasters. If you have not already addressed those changes in your uploaded school profile or elsewhere, you can elaborate here. Colleges are especially interested in understanding changes to:

Grading scales and policies
Graduation requirements
Instructional methods
Schedules and course offerings
Testing requirements
Your academic calendar
Other extenuating circumstances

The counselor’s response will populate to all the applications of students from the high school. They will cover any school or district policies that have impacted students. No specific student details will be included.

Students can ask to see a copy of this statement so they know what information has already been shared with colleges. For example, if the school states that classes went virtual starting in March, you don’t need to repeat that in your Covid-19 essay.

Should I Write About The Covid-19 In My Personal Statement?

The world before Covid-19 might seem like a distant memory, but you did spend more than 15 years engaging in a multitude of meaningful activities and developing your passions. It’s important to define yourself from more than just the coronavirus crisis. You likely will want to spend the personal statement distinguishing yourself from other applicants. With the Covid-19 optional essay and the additional information section, you should have plenty of space to talk about how you’ve changed—for better or for worse—due to the pandemic. Use the personal statement to talk about who you were before quarantining.

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Writing about COVID-19 in a college admission essay

by: Venkates Swaminathan | Updated: September 14, 2020

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Writing about COVID-19 in your college admission essay

For students applying to college using the CommonApp, there are several different places where students and counselors can address the pandemic’s impact. The different sections have differing goals. You must understand how to use each section for its appropriate use.

The CommonApp COVID-19 question

First, the CommonApp this year has an additional question specifically about COVID-19 :

Community disruptions such as COVID-19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. Please use this space to describe how these events have impacted you.

This question seeks to understand the adversity that students may have had to face due to the pandemic, the move to online education, or the shelter-in-place rules. You don’t have to answer this question if the impact on you wasn’t particularly severe. Some examples of things students should discuss include:

The student or a family member had COVID-19 or suffered other illnesses due to confinement during the pandemic.
The candidate had to deal with personal or family issues, such as abusive living situations or other safety concerns
The student suffered from a lack of internet access and other online learning challenges.
Students who dealt with problems registering for or taking standardized tests and AP exams.

Jeff Schiffman of the Tulane University admissions office has a blog about this section. He recommends students ask themselves several questions as they go about answering this section:

Are my experiences different from others’?
Are there noticeable changes on my transcript?
Am I aware of my privilege?
Am I specific? Am I explaining rather than complaining?
Is this information being included elsewhere on my application?

If you do answer this section, be brief and to-the-point.

Counselor recommendations and school profiles

Second, counselors will, in their counselor forms and school profiles on the CommonApp, address how the school handled the pandemic and how it might have affected students, specifically as it relates to:

Grading scales and policies
Graduation requirements
Instructional methods
Schedules and course offerings
Testing requirements
Your academic calendar
Other extenuating circumstances

Students don’t have to mention these matters in their application unless something unusual happened.

Writing about COVID-19 in your main essay

Write about your experiences during the pandemic in your main college essay if your experience is personal, relevant, and the most important thing to discuss in your college admission essay. That you had to stay home and study online isn’t sufficient, as millions of other students faced the same situation. But sometimes, it can be appropriate and helpful to write about something related to the pandemic in your essay. For example:

One student developed a website for a local comic book store. The store might not have survived without the ability for people to order comic books online. The student had a long-standing relationship with the store, and it was an institution that created a community for students who otherwise felt left out.
One student started a YouTube channel to help other students with academic subjects he was very familiar with and began tutoring others.
Some students used their extra time that was the result of the stay-at-home orders to take online courses pursuing topics they are genuinely interested in or developing new interests, like a foreign language or music.

Experiences like this can be good topics for the CommonApp essay as long as they reflect something genuinely important about the student. For many students whose lives have been shaped by this pandemic, it can be a critical part of their college application.

Want more? Read 6 ways to improve a college essay , What the &%$! should I write about in my college essay , and Just how important is a college admissions essay? .

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A Pandemic College Essay That Probably Won’t Get You Into Brown

By Michael Ian Black

Community disruptions such as COVID -19 and natural disasters can have deep and long-lasting impacts. If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. — The 2020-21 college-admissions Common Application.

COVID -19 is a very destructive respiratory disease that has caused much pain and suffering for millions of people around the world. Although my heart grieves for all the lives lost, each of us has suffered in our own unique ways. For me, that suffering took the form of not getting an opportunity to play the lead in our spring drama, which was, so tragically, cancelled.

For years, I have been working toward this goal. As a freshman, I auditioned for the role of Laura in the Tennessee Williams famous American drama “The Glass Menagerie.” While I did not win the role, I find it very ironic that now, only three years later, we have all become aware that life is as precious as those fateful glass figurines due to COVID -19.

As a sophomore, my efforts to secure the role of the wrongly accused Desdemona in William Shakespeare’s important play “Othello” were, once again, thwarted. Our drama coach, Ms. Wilkie, told me during the audition process that sophomores would be considered for leading roles, but the parts of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona all went to upperclassmen, even though none of them had taken private acting classes, as I have, with Leonard Michaels (Broadway credits include “Company,” “Starlight Express,” “Pump Boys and Dinettes”), at the Willows Dramatic Academy for Young Performers.

This experience taught me that authority figures do not always have “the answers,” a lesson reinforced when Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is a very respected medical adviser to many Presidents of the United States of America, said at first that masks should not be worn but then said that they should.

When discussing masks these days, it is impossible not to conjure in one’s mind images of the famous “Comedy and Tragedy” masks, which were worn in ancient Greece during the classical period, from approximately 500 to 300 B.C.

Junior year was a turning point for my high-school theatrical career. I auditioned to portray Abigail Williams in “The Crucible,” a play that on the surface purports to be about the Salem witch trials but is in fact a parable about McCarthyism, which was a terrible episode of American history that itself had a long-lasting impact on American history. Although I did not receive the part of Abigail Williams, I did play the pivotal role of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has several lines. Our school newspaper declared my presentation “dramatic” (review attached).

This year, my senior year, Ms. Wilkie said that we would be doing the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Our Town.” Never could I have foreseen that “our town” would be affected by the respiratory disease only a few short months later.

Needless to say, I watched in horror in January and February of last year as news reports emerged from China about a new respiratory ailment that threatened to sicken people and shut down vast portions of the economy. In March, we received word that our very high school would be closing its mahogany doors. The curtain on my high-school theatrical career, tragically, fell forever, before I even had the chance to audition for the central role of the Stage Manager, which I planned to reinterpret as a strong, independent woman in the wake of #MeToo.

Perhaps Fate is the real Stage Manager.

The Stanislavski method of acting teaches us to incorporate our actual experiences into our Craft. Should I have the great honor of studying at the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University, I vow to incorporate the suffering of this past year into my Art as a tribute to all those, including myself, who have experienced such tremendous loss.

It is believed that the immortal bard, William Shakespeare, said, “Instead of weeping when a tragedy occurs in a songbird’s life, it sings away its grief.” My time at Brown will be my chance to “sing away grief,” except that, unlike the tragedies of Shakespeare and other playwrights, my tragedy is real and therefore more tragic.

Please find attached a video of me in a scene from Herb Gardner’s “A Thousand Clowns” (performed with J. Leonard Mitchell, member, Actors’ Equity). ♦

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How to write an essay on coronavirus (COVID-19)

(Last updated: 10 November 2021)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

With the coronavirus pandemic affecting every aspect of our lives for the last 18 months, it is no surprise that it has become a common topic in academic assignments. Writing a COVID-19 essay can be challenging, whether you're studying biology, philosophy, or any course in between.

Your first question might be, how would an essay about a pandemic be any different from a typical academic essay? Well, the answer is that in many ways it is largely similar. The key difference, however, is that this pandemic is much more current than usual academic topics. That means that it may be difficult to rely on past research to demonstrate your argument! As a result, COVID-19 essay writing needs to balance theories of past scholars with very current data (that is constantly changing).

In this post, we are going to give you our top tips on how to write a coronavirus academic essay, so that you are able to approach your writing with confidence and produce a great piece of work.

1. Do background reading

Critical reading is an essential component for any essay, but the question is – what should you be reading for a coronavirus essay? It might seem like a silly question, but the choices that you make during the reading process may determine how well you actually do on the paper. Therefore, we recommend the following steps.

First, read (and re-read) the assignment prompt that you have been given by the instructor. If you write an excellent essay, but it is off topic, you’ll likely be marked down. Make notes on the words that explain what is being asked of you – perhaps the essay asks you to “analyse”, “describe”, “list”, or “evaluate”. Make sure that these same words actually appear in your paper.

Second, look for specific things you have been instructed to do. This might include using themes from your textbook or incorporating assigned readings. Make a note of these things and read them first. Remember to take good notes while you read.

Once you have done your course readings, the question then becomes: what types of external readings are you going to need? Typically, at this point, you are going to be left with newspapers/websites, and a few scholarly articles (books on coronavirus might not be readily available at this stage, but could still be useful!). If it is a research essay, you are likely going to need to rely on a variety of sources as you work through this assignment. This might seem different than other academic writing where you would typically focus on only peer-reviewed articles or books. With coronavirus essays, there is a need for a more diverse set of sources, including;

Newspaper articles and websites

Just like with academic articles, not all newspaper articles and/or websites are created equal. Further, there are likely to be a variety of different statistics released, as the way that countries calculate coronavirus cases, deaths, and other components of the virus are not always the same.

Try to pick sources that are reputable. This might be reports done by key governmental organisations or even the World Health Organisation. If you are reading through an article and can identify obvious areas of bias, you may need to find alternate readings for your paper.

Academic articles

You may be surprised to discover the variety of articles published so far on COVID-19 - a lot can be achieved over multiple lockdowns! The research that has been done has been fairly extensive, covering a broad range of topics. Therefore, when preparing to write your academic essay, make sure to check the literature frequently as new publications are being released all the time.

If you do a search and you cannot find anything on the coronavirus specifically, you will have to widen your search. Think about the topic more widely. Are there theories that you have learned about in your classes that you can link to academic articles? Surely the answer must be yes! Just because there is limited research on this topic does not mean that you should avoid academic articles all together. Relying solely on websites or newspapers can lead you to a biased piece of writing, which usually is not what an academic essay is all about.

2. Plan your essay

Brainstorming.

Taking the time to brainstorm out your ideas can be the first step in a super successful essay. Brainstorming does not have to take a lot of time, and can be done in about 20 minutes if you have already done some background reading on the topic.

First, figure out how many points you need to identify. Each point is likely to equate to one paragraph of your paper, so if you are writing a 1500-word essay (and you use 300 words for the introduction and conclusion) you will be left with 1200 words, which means you will need between 5-6 paragraphs (and 5-6 points).

Start with a blank piece of paper. In the middle of the paper write the question or statement that you are trying to answer. From there, draw 5 or 6 lines out from the centre. At the end of each of these lines will be a point you want to address in your essay. From here, write down any additional ideas that you have.

It might look messy, but that’s OK! This is just the first step in the process and an opportunity for you to get your ideas down on paper. From this messiness, you can easily start to form a logical and linear outline that will soon become the template for your essay.

Creating an outline

Once you have a completed brainstorm, the next step is to put your ideas into a logical format The first step in this process is usually to write out a rough draft of the argument you are attempting to make. In doing this, you are then able to see how your subsequent paragraphs are addressing this topic (and if they are not addressing the topic, now is the time to change this!).

Once you have a position/argument/thesis statement, create space for your body paragraphs, but numbering each section. Then, write a rough draft of the topic sentence that you think will fit well in that section. Once you have done this, pull up the coronavirus articles, data, and other reports that you have read. Determine where each will fit best in your paper (and exclude the ones that do not fit well). Put a citation of the document in each paragraph section (this will make it easier to construct your reference list at the end).

Once every paragraph is organised, double check to make sure they are all still on track to address your main thesis. At this point you are ready to write an excellent and well-organised COVID-19 essay!

3. Structure your paragraphs

When structuring an academic essay on COVID-19, there will be a need to balance the news, evidence from academic articles, and course theory. This adds an extra layer of complexity because there are just so many things to juggle.

One strategy that can be helpful is to structure all your paragraphs in the same way. Now, you might be thinking, how boring! In reality, it is likely that the reader will appreciate the fact that you have carefully thought out your process and how you are going to approach this essay.

How to design your essay paragraphs

Create a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a sentence that presents the main idea for the paragraph. Usually it links back to your thesis, argument, or position.
Start to introduce your evidence. Use the next sentence in your introduction as a bridge between the topic sentence and the evidence/data you are going to present.
Add evidence. Take 2-4 sentences to give the reader some good information that supports your topic sentence. This can be statistics, details from an empirical study, information from a news article, or some other form of information.
Give some critical thought. It is essential to make a connection for the reader between your evidence and your topic sentence. Tell the reader why the information you have presented is important.
Provide a concluding sentence. Make sure you wrap up your argument or transition to the next one.

4. Write your essay

Keep it academic.

There is a lot of information available about the coronavirus, but because much of it is coming from newspaper articles, the evidence that you might use for your paper can be skewed. In order to keep your paper academic, it is best to maintain a professional and academic style.

Present statistics from reputable sources (like the World Health Organisation), rather than those that have been selected by third parties. Furthermore, if you are writing a COVID-19 essay that is about a specific region (e.g. the United Kingdom), make sure that your statistics and evidence also come from this region.

Use up-to-date sources

The information on coronavirus is constantly changing. By now, everyone has seen the exponential curve of cases reoccurring all over the world at different times. Therefore, what was true last month may not necessarily be the case now. This can be challenging when you are planning an essay, because your outline from a previous week may need to be modified.

There are a number of ways you can address this. One way is, obviously, to continue going back and refreshing the data. Another way, which can be equally useful, is to outline the scope of the problem in your paper, writing something like, “data on COVID-19 is constantly changing, but the data presented was accurate at the time of writing”.

Avoid personal bias or opinion (unless asked!)

Everybody has an opinion – this opinion can often relate to how you or your family members have been affected by the pandemic (and the government response to this). People have lost jobs, have had to avoid family/friends, or have lost someone as a result of this pandemic. Life, for many, is very different.

While all of this is extremely important, it may not necessarily be relevant for an academic essay. One of the more challenging components of this type of academic paper is to try and remove yourself from the evidence you are providing. Now… there are exceptions. If you are writing a COVID-19 reflective essay, then it is your responsibility to include your opinion; otherwise, do your best to remain objective.

Avoid personal pronouns

Along the same lines as avoiding bias, it is also a good idea to avoid personal pronouns in your academic essay (except in a reflection, of course). This means avoiding words like “I, we, our, my”. While you may agree (or disagree) with the sentiment you are presenting, try and present your information from a distanced perspective.

Proofread carefully

Finally (and this is true of any essay), make sure that you take the time to proofread your essay carefully. Is it free from spelling errors? Have you checked the grammar? Have you made sure that your references are correct and in order? Have you carefully reviewed the submission requirements of your instructor (e.g. font, margins, spacing, etc.)? If the answer is yes, it sounds as if you are finally ready to submit your essay.

Final thoughts

Writing an essay is not easy. Writing an essay on a pandemic while living in that same pandemic is even more difficult.

A good essay is appropriately structured with a clear purpose and is presented according to the recommended guidelines. Unless it is a personal reflection, it attempts to present information as if it were free from bias.

So before you start to panic about having to write an essay about a pandemic, take a breath. You can do this. Take all the same steps as you would in a conventional academic essay, but expand your search to include relevant and up-to-date information that you know will make your essay a success. Once you have done this, make sure to have your university writing centre or an academic at Oxbridge Essays check it over and make suggestions! Now, stop reading and get writing! Good luck.

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How to Write About the Impact of the Coronavirus in a College Essay

The global impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, means colleges and prospective students alike are in for an admissions cycle like no other. Both face unprecedented challenges and questions as they grapple with their respective futures amid the ongoing fallout of the pandemic.

Colleges must examine applicants without the aid of standardized test scores for many -- a factor that prompted many schools to go test-optional for now . Even grades, a significant component of a college application, may be hard to interpret with some high schools adopting pass-fail classes last spring due to the pandemic. Major college admissions factors are suddenly skewed.

"I can't help but think other (admissions) factors are going to matter more," says Ethan Sawyer, founder of the College Essay Guy, a website that offers free and paid essay-writing resources.

College essays and letters of recommendation , Sawyer says, are likely to carry more weight than ever in this admissions cycle. And many essays will likely focus on how the pandemic shaped students' lives throughout an often tumultuous 2020.

[ Read: How to Write a College Essay. ]

But before writing a college essay focused on the coronavirus, students should explore whether it's the best topic for them.

Writing About COVID-19 for a College Application

Much of daily life has been colored by the coronavirus. Virtual learning is the norm at many colleges and high schools, many extracurriculars have vanished and social lives have stalled for students complying with measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

"For some young people, the pandemic took away what they envisioned as their senior year," says Robert Alexander, dean of admissions, financial aid and enrollment management at the University of Rochester in New York. "Maybe that's a spot on a varsity athletic team or the lead role in the fall play. And it's OK for them to mourn what should have been and what they feel like they lost, but more important is how are they making the most of the opportunities they do have?"

That question, Alexander says, is what colleges want answered if students choose to address COVID-19 in their college essay.

But the question of whether a student should write about the coronavirus is tricky. The answer depends largely on the student.

"In general, I don't think students should write about COVID-19 in their main personal statement for their application," Robin Miller, master college admissions counselor at IvyWise, a college counseling company, wrote in an email.

"Certainly, there may be exceptions to this based on a student's individual experience, but since the personal essay is the main place in the application where the student can really allow their voice to be heard and share insight into who they are as an individual, there are likely many other topics they can choose to write about that are more distinctive and unique than COVID-19," Miller says.

[ Read: What Colleges Look for: 6 Ways to Stand Out. ]

Opinions among admissions experts vary on whether to write about the likely popular topic of the pandemic.

"If your essay communicates something positive, unique, and compelling about you in an interesting and eloquent way, go for it," Carolyn Pippen, principal college admissions counselor at IvyWise, wrote in an email. She adds that students shouldn't be dissuaded from writing about a topic merely because it's common, noting that "topics are bound to repeat, no matter how hard we try to avoid it."

Above all, she urges honesty.

"If your experience within the context of the pandemic has been truly unique, then write about that experience, and the standing out will take care of itself," Pippen says. "If your experience has been generally the same as most other students in your context, then trying to find a unique angle can easily cross the line into exploiting a tragedy, or at least appearing as though you have."

But focusing entirely on the pandemic can limit a student to a single story and narrow who they are in an application, Sawyer says. "There are so many wonderful possibilities for what you can say about yourself outside of your experience within the pandemic."

He notes that passions, strengths, career interests and personal identity are among the multitude of essay topic options available to applicants and encourages them to probe their values to help determine the topic that matters most to them -- and write about it.

That doesn't mean the pandemic experience has to be ignored if applicants feel the need to write about it.

Writing About Coronavirus in Main and Supplemental Essays

Students can choose to write a full-length college essay on the coronavirus or summarize their experience in a shorter form.

To help students explain how the pandemic affected them, The Common App has added an optional section to address this topic. Applicants have 250 words to describe their pandemic experience and the personal and academic impact of COVID-19.

[ Read: The Common App: Everything You Need to Know. ]

"That's not a trick question, and there's no right or wrong answer," Alexander says. Colleges want to know, he adds, how students navigated the pandemic, how they prioritized their time, what responsibilities they took on and what they learned along the way.

If students can distill all of the above information into 250 words, there's likely no need to write about it in a full-length college essay, experts say. And applicants whose lives were not heavily altered by the pandemic may even choose to skip the optional COVID-19 question.

"This space is best used to discuss hardship and/or significant challenges that the student and/or the student's family experienced as a result of COVID-19 and how they have responded to those difficulties," Miller notes. Using the section to acknowledge a lack of impact, she adds, "could be perceived as trite and lacking insight, despite the good intentions of the applicant."

To guard against this lack of awareness, Sawyer encourages students to tap someone they trust to review their writing , whether it's the 250-word Common App response or the full-length essay.

Experts tend to agree that the short-form approach to this as an essay topic works better, but there are exceptions. And if a student does have a coronavirus story that he or she feels must be told, Alexander encourages the writer to be authentic in the essay.

"My advice for an essay about COVID-19 is the same as my advice about an essay for any topic -- and that is, don't write what you think we want to read or hear," Alexander says. "Write what really changed you and that story that now is yours and yours alone to tell."

Sawyer urges students to ask themselves, "What's the sentence that only I can write?" He also encourages students to remember that the pandemic is only a chapter of their lives and not the whole book.

Miller, who cautions against writing a full-length essay on the coronavirus, says that if students choose to do so they should have a conversation with their high school counselor about whether that's the right move. And if students choose to proceed with COVID-19 as a topic, she says they need to be clear, detailed and insightful about what they learned and how they adapted along the way.

"Approaching the essay in this manner will provide important balance while demonstrating personal growth and vulnerability," Miller says.

Pippen encourages students to remember that they are in an unprecedented time for college admissions.

"It is important to keep in mind with all of these (admission) factors that no colleges have ever had to consider them this way in the selection process, if at all," Pippen says. "They have had very little time to calibrate their evaluations of different application components within their offices, let alone across institutions. This means that colleges will all be handling the admissions process a little bit differently, and their approaches may even evolve over the course of the admissions cycle."

Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.

Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We are still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

A syllabus for the end of the world

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus. Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote Walk/Adventure! on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

What day is it today?

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of Retreat is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

Vox is starting a book club. Come read with us!

In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we don’t do is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly. Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

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Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Covid 19 — My Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

My Experience During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Categories: Covid 19

About this sample

Words: 440 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 440 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Introduction, physical impact, mental and emotional impact, social impact.

World Health Organization. (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/
American Psychiatric Association. (2020). Mental health and COVID-19. https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2020/03/mental-health-and-covid-19
The New York Times. (2020). Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/well/family/coronavirus-anxiety-mental-health.html

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Paragraph Writing on Covid 19

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COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, significantly impacted global health and daily life. Action plans focused on prevention, treatment, and vaccination. Some sought religious exemptions from mandates. A health thesis statement might explore the pandemic’s effects on mental health. The tone is informative and serious. This paragraph highlights the comprehensive response to COVID-19.

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Short Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19 is a global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. It has significantly impacted daily life, with governments worldwide implementing lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to curb the virus’s spread. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of healthcare systems and the need for vaccines. It has also emphasized global cooperation and resilience in facing unprecedented challenges.

Medium Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has had a profound impact on the world since its outbreak. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing measures, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent the virus’s spread. Healthcare systems were overwhelmed, emphasizing the need for robust medical infrastructure and preparedness. The development and distribution of vaccines became a global priority, showcasing the importance of scientific research and international cooperation. Economies faced significant challenges, with businesses closing and unemployment rates rising. Despite these hardships, the pandemic also brought communities together, highlighting resilience, adaptability, and the critical role of healthcare workers in combating the crisis.

Long Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the globe, leading to an unprecedented pandemic. The virus’s high transmission rate prompted governments worldwide to implement stringent measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to control its spread. These measures, while necessary, significantly disrupted daily life, impacting economies, education, and social interactions. Healthcare systems were strained, underscoring the need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development and global distribution of vaccines became a beacon of hope, demonstrating the power of scientific collaboration and innovation. The pandemic also highlighted the disparities in healthcare access and the importance of public health initiatives. Despite the immense challenges, communities showed resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support each other. The dedication of healthcare workers and the collective effort to combat the virus underscored the importance of global solidarity. Covid-19 has reshaped our world, teaching valuable lessons about preparedness, the significance of science, and the strength of human resilience in the face of adversity.

Tone-wise Paragraph Examples on Covid-19

Formal tone.

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, represents an unprecedented global health crisis. The pandemic has led to widespread implementation of public health measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask usage to mitigate the virus’s transmission. Healthcare systems worldwide faced significant strain, highlighting the critical need for robust medical infrastructure and emergency preparedness. The rapid development and distribution of vaccines have been pivotal in controlling the spread of the virus, underscoring the importance of scientific research and international cooperation. The pandemic has also revealed existing disparities in healthcare access and emphasized the necessity of coordinated global public health strategies to effectively manage such crises.

Informal Tone

Covid-19 has really shaken things up since it started spreading in late 2019. Caused by a new coronavirus, it led to lockdowns, social distancing, and everyone wearing masks. Daily life changed a lot, with schools and businesses shutting down, and everyone trying to stay safe. The healthcare system was hit hard, showing us just how important it is to be prepared. Vaccines were developed super quickly, giving us hope to get back to normal. Even though it was tough, people came together, supported each other, and adapted to the new normal. Covid-19 taught us a lot about resilience and the importance of healthcare.

Persuasive Tone

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has highlighted the urgent need for better healthcare systems and global cooperation. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, disrupting daily life and economies. Our healthcare systems were overwhelmed, underscoring the critical need for robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development of vaccines showcased the power of scientific research and international collaboration. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to support and strengthen our healthcare systems, invest in scientific research, and promote global cooperation to ensure we are better prepared for future health crises. Let’s learn from this pandemic and build a stronger, healthier world together.

Reflective Tone

Reflecting on the impact of Covid-19, it’s clear that the pandemic has reshaped our world in profound ways. The novel coronavirus led to unprecedented global lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, dramatically altering daily life. Our healthcare systems were tested like never before, revealing both strengths and weaknesses. The rapid development and distribution of vaccines highlighted the importance of scientific innovation and international cooperation. Amid the challenges, communities showed remarkable resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support one another. Covid-19 has taught us valuable lessons about preparedness, the significance of healthcare, and the power of human resilience in the face of adversity.

Inspirational Tone

Covid-19 has been a challenging journey, but it has also shown the incredible strength and resilience of humanity. The novel coronavirus led to global lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, changing our daily lives dramatically. Despite these hardships, the rapid development and distribution of vaccines brought hope and showcased the power of scientific innovation and global cooperation. Communities came together, supporting each other and adapting to new realities. Healthcare workers became heroes, showing unparalleled dedication and bravery. Covid-19 has taught us the importance of unity, resilience, and the ability to overcome even the toughest challenges. Together, we can build a brighter, healthier future.

Optimistic Tone

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, brought significant challenges, but it also highlighted the resilience and adaptability of people worldwide. The pandemic led to lockdowns, social distancing, and mask-wearing, changing our daily routines. Despite these difficulties, the rapid development of vaccines brought hope and demonstrated the power of scientific progress. Communities came together, supporting one another and finding new ways to connect. Healthcare workers showed incredible dedication, and the world witnessed the strength of human spirit. Covid-19 has been a tough journey, but it also reinforced our ability to overcome adversity and work towards a healthier, more connected future.

Urgent Tone

The Covid-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus, demands our immediate attention and action. Since its outbreak, the virus has led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask usage, significantly disrupting daily life. Healthcare systems have been overwhelmed, highlighting the urgent need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development of vaccines has been crucial, but we must continue to prioritize public health measures and global cooperation to combat this crisis. Now is the time to invest in healthcare, support scientific research, and work together to overcome this pandemic. Immediate action is essential to protect lives and prevent further devastation.

Word Count-wise Paragraph Examples on Covid-19

Text prompt

Instructive
Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

I Thought We’d Learned Nothing From the Pandemic. I Wasn’t Seeing the Full Picture

M y first home had a back door that opened to a concrete patio with a giant crack down the middle. When my sister and I played, I made sure to stay on the same side of the divide as her, just in case. The 1988 film The Land Before Time was one of the first movies I ever saw, and the image of the earth splintering into pieces planted its roots in my brain. I believed that, even in my own backyard, I could easily become the tiny Triceratops separated from her family, on the other side of the chasm, as everything crumbled into chaos.

Some 30 years later, I marvel at the eerie, unexpected ways that cartoonish nightmare came to life – not just for me and my family, but for all of us. The landscape was already covered in fissures well before COVID-19 made its way across the planet, but the pandemic applied pressure, and the cracks broke wide open, separating us from each other physically and ideologically. Under the weight of the crisis, we scattered and landed on such different patches of earth we could barely see each other’s faces, even when we squinted. We disagreed viciously with each other, about how to respond, but also about what was true.

Recently, someone asked me if we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, and my first thought was a flat no. Nothing. There was a time when I thought it would be the very thing to draw us together and catapult us – as a capital “S” Society – into a kinder future. It’s surreal to remember those early days when people rallied together, sewing masks for health care workers during critical shortages and gathering on balconies in cities from Dallas to New York City to clap and sing songs like “Yellow Submarine.” It felt like a giant lightning bolt shot across the sky, and for one breath, we all saw something that had been hidden in the dark – the inherent vulnerability in being human or maybe our inescapable connectedness .

More from TIME

Read More: The Family Time the Pandemic Stole

But it turns out, it was just a flash. The goodwill vanished as quickly as it appeared. A couple of years later, people feel lied to, abandoned, and all on their own. I’ve felt my own curiosity shrinking, my willingness to reach out waning , my ability to keep my hands open dwindling. I look out across the landscape and see selfishness and rage, burnt earth and so many dead bodies. Game over. We lost. And if we’ve already lost, why try?

Still, the question kept nagging me. I wondered, am I seeing the full picture? What happens when we focus not on the collective society but at one face, one story at a time? I’m not asking for a bow to minimize the suffering – a pretty flourish to put on top and make the whole thing “worth it.” Yuck. That’s not what we need. But I wondered about deep, quiet growth. The kind we feel in our bodies, relationships, homes, places of work, neighborhoods.

Like a walkie-talkie message sent to my allies on the ground, I posted a call on my Instagram. What do you see? What do you hear? What feels possible? Is there life out here? Sprouting up among the rubble? I heard human voices calling back – reports of life, personal and specific. I heard one story at a time – stories of grief and distrust, fury and disappointment. Also gratitude. Discovery. Determination.

Among the most prevalent were the stories of self-revelation. Almost as if machines were given the chance to live as humans, people described blossoming into fuller selves. They listened to their bodies’ cues, recognized their desires and comforts, tuned into their gut instincts, and honored the intuition they hadn’t realized belonged to them. Alex, a writer and fellow disabled parent, found the freedom to explore a fuller version of herself in the privacy the pandemic provided. “The way I dress, the way I love, and the way I carry myself have both shrunk and expanded,” she shared. “I don’t love myself very well with an audience.” Without the daily ritual of trying to pass as “normal” in public, Tamar, a queer mom in the Netherlands, realized she’s autistic. “I think the pandemic helped me to recognize the mask,” she wrote. “Not that unmasking is easy now. But at least I know it’s there.” In a time of widespread suffering that none of us could solve on our own, many tended to our internal wounds and misalignments, large and small, and found clarity.

Read More: A Tool for Staying Grounded in This Era of Constant Uncertainty

I wonder if this flourishing of self-awareness is at least partially responsible for the life alterations people pursued. The pandemic broke open our personal notions of work and pushed us to reevaluate things like time and money. Lucy, a disabled writer in the U.K., made the hard decision to leave her job as a journalist covering Westminster to write freelance about her beloved disability community. “This work feels important in a way nothing else has ever felt,” she wrote. “I don’t think I’d have realized this was what I should be doing without the pandemic.” And she wasn’t alone – many people changed jobs , moved, learned new skills and hobbies, became politically engaged.

Perhaps more than any other shifts, people described a significant reassessment of their relationships. They set boundaries, said no, had challenging conversations. They also reconnected, fell in love, and learned to trust. Jeanne, a quilter in Indiana, got to know relatives she wouldn’t have connected with if lockdowns hadn’t prompted weekly family Zooms. “We are all over the map as regards to our belief systems,” she emphasized, “but it is possible to love people you don’t see eye to eye with on every issue.” Anna, an anti-violence advocate in Maine, learned she could trust her new marriage: “Life was not a honeymoon. But we still chose to turn to each other with kindness and curiosity.” So many bonds forged and broken, strengthened and strained.

Instead of relying on default relationships or institutional structures, widespread recalibrations allowed for going off script and fortifying smaller communities. Mara from Idyllwild, Calif., described the tangible plan for care enacted in her town. “We started a mutual-aid group at the beginning of the pandemic,” she wrote, “and it grew so quickly before we knew it we were feeding 400 of the 4000 residents.” She didn’t pretend the conditions were ideal. In fact, she expressed immense frustration with our collective response to the pandemic. Even so, the local group rallied and continues to offer assistance to their community with help from donations and volunteers (many of whom were originally on the receiving end of support). “I’ve learned that people thrive when they feel their connection to others,” she wrote. Clare, a teacher from the U.K., voiced similar conviction as she described a giant scarf she’s woven out of ribbons, each representing a single person. The scarf is “a collection of stories, moments and wisdom we are sharing with each other,” she wrote. It now stretches well over 1,000 feet.

A few hours into reading the comments, I lay back on my bed, phone held against my chest. The room was quiet, but my internal world was lighting up with firefly flickers. What felt different? Surely part of it was receiving personal accounts of deep-rooted growth. And also, there was something to the mere act of asking and listening. Maybe it connected me to humans before battle cries. Maybe it was the chance to be in conversation with others who were also trying to understand – what is happening to us? Underneath it all, an undeniable thread remained; I saw people peering into the mess and narrating their findings onto the shared frequency. Every comment was like a flare into the sky. I’m here! And if the sky is full of flares, we aren’t alone.

I recognized my own pandemic discoveries – some minor, others massive. Like washing off thick eyeliner and mascara every night is more effort than it’s worth; I can transform the mundane into the magical with a bedsheet, a movie projector, and twinkle lights; my paralyzed body can mother an infant in ways I’d never seen modeled for me. I remembered disappointing, bewildering conversations within my own family of origin and our imperfect attempts to remain close while also seeing things so differently. I realized that every time I get the weekly invite to my virtual “Find the Mumsies” call, with a tiny group of moms living hundreds of miles apart, I’m being welcomed into a pocket of unexpected community. Even though we’ve never been in one room all together, I’ve felt an uncommon kind of solace in their now-familiar faces.

Hope is a slippery thing. I desperately want to hold onto it, but everywhere I look there are real, weighty reasons to despair. The pandemic marks a stretch on the timeline that tangles with a teetering democracy, a deteriorating planet , the loss of human rights that once felt unshakable . When the world is falling apart Land Before Time style, it can feel trite, sniffing out the beauty – useless, firing off flares to anyone looking for signs of life. But, while I’m under no delusions that if we just keep trudging forward we’ll find our own oasis of waterfalls and grassy meadows glistening in the sunshine beneath a heavenly chorus, I wonder if trivializing small acts of beauty, connection, and hope actually cuts us off from resources essential to our survival. The group of abandoned dinosaurs were keeping each other alive and making each other laugh well before they made it to their fantasy ending.

Read More: How Ice Cream Became My Own Personal Act of Resistance

After the monarch butterfly went on the endangered-species list, my friend and fellow writer Hannah Soyer sent me wildflower seeds to plant in my yard. A simple act of big hope – that I will actually plant them, that they will grow, that a monarch butterfly will receive nourishment from whatever blossoms are able to push their way through the dirt. There are so many ways that could fail. But maybe the outcome wasn’t exactly the point. Maybe hope is the dogged insistence – the stubborn defiance – to continue cultivating moments of beauty regardless. There is value in the planting apart from the harvest.

I can’t point out a single collective lesson from the pandemic. It’s hard to see any great “we.” Still, I see the faces in my moms’ group, making pancakes for their kids and popping on between strings of meetings while we try to figure out how to raise these small people in this chaotic world. I think of my friends on Instagram tending to the selves they discovered when no one was watching and the scarf of ribbons stretching the length of more than three football fields. I remember my family of three, holding hands on the way up the ramp to the library. These bits of growth and rings of support might not be loud or right on the surface, but that’s not the same thing as nothing. If we only cared about the bottom-line defeats or sweeping successes of the big picture, we’d never plant flowers at all.

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Coronavirus: The world has come together to flatten the curve. Can we stay united to tackle other crises?

Watching the world come together gives me hope for the future, writes mira patel, a high school junior..

Mira Patel and her sister Veda. (Courtesy of Dee Patel)

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Coronavirus Pandemic

A Narrative Review of COVID-19: The New Pandemic Disease

Kiana shirani, md.

1 Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Erfan Sheikhbahaei, MD

2 Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Zahra Torkpour, MD

Mazyar ghadiri nejad, phd.

3 Industrial Engineering Department, Girne American University, Kyrenia, TRNC, Turkey

Bahareh Kamyab Moghadas, PhD

4 Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran

Matina Ghasemi, PhD

5 Faculty of Business and Economics, Business Department, Girne American University, Kyrenia, TRNC, Turkey

Hossein Akbari Aghdam, MD

6 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Athena Ehsani, PhD

7 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Saeed Saber-Samandari, PhD

8 New Technologies Research Center, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Amirsalar Khandan, PhD

9 Department of Electrical Engineering, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

10 0Technology Incubator Center, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Nearly every 100 years, humans collectively face a pandemic crisis. After the Spanish flu, now the world is in the grip of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). First detected in 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19 causes severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. Despite the initial evidence indicating a zoonotic origin, the contagion is now known to primarily spread from person to person through respiratory droplets. The precautionary measures recommended by the scientific community to halt the fast transmission of the disease failed to prevent this contagious disease from becoming a pandemic for a whole host of reasons. After an incubation period of about two days to two weeks, a spectrum of clinical manifestations can be seen in individuals afflicted by COVID-19: from an asymptomatic condition that can spread the virus in the environment, to a mild/moderate disease with cold/flu-like symptoms, to deteriorated conditions that need hospitalization and intensive care unit management, and then a fatal respiratory distress syndrome that becomes refractory to oxygenation. Several diagnostic modalities have been advocated and evaluated; however, in some cases, diagnosis is made on the clinical picture in order not to lose time. A consensus on what constitutes special treatment for COVID-19 has yet to emerge. Alongside conservative and supportive care, some potential drugs have been recommended and a considerable number of investigations are ongoing in this regard

What’s Known

Substantial numbers of articles on COVID-19 have been published, yet there is controversy among clinicians and confusion among the general population in this regard. Furthermore, it is unreasonable to expect physicians to read all the available literature on this subject.

What’s New

This article reviews high-quality articles on COVID-19 and effectively summarizes them for healthcare providers and the general population.

Introduction

A pathogen from a human-animal virus family, the coronavirus (CoV), which was identified as the main cause of respiratory tract infections, evolved to a novel and wild kind in Wuhan, a city in Hubei Province of China, and spread throughout the world, such that it created a pandemic crisis according to the World Health Organization (WHO). CoV is a large family of viruses that were first discovered in 1960. These viruses cause such diseases as common colds in humans and animals. Sometimes they attack the respiratory system, and sometimes their signs appear in the gastrointestinal tract. There have been different types of human CoV including CoV-229E, CoV-OC43, CoV-NL63, and CoV-HKU1, with the latter two having been discovered in 2004 and 2005, respectively. These types of CoV regularly cause respiratory infections in children and adults. 1 There are also other types of these viruses that are associated with more severe symptoms. The new CoV, scientifically known as “SARS-CoV-2”, causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). 2 A newer type of the virus was discovered in September 2012 in a 60-year-old man in Saudi Arabia who died of the disease; the man had traveled to Dubai a few days earlier. The second case was a 49-year-old man in Qatar who also passed away. The discovery was first confirmed at the Health Protection Agency’s Laboratory in Colindale, London. The outbreak of this CoV is known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), commonly referred to as “MERS-CoV”. The virus has infected 2260 people and has killed 912, most of them in the Middle East. 3 - 5 Finally, in December 2019, for the first time in Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, a new type of CoV was identified that caused pneumonia in humans. 6 SARS-CoV-2 has affected 5404512 people and killed more than 343514 around the world according to the WHO situation report-127 (May 26, 2020). 3 , 7 - 10 The WHO has officially termed the disease “COVID-19”, which refers to corona, the virus, the disease, the year 2019, and its etiology (SARS-CoV-2). This type of CoV had never been seen in humans before. The initial estimates showed a mortality rate ranging from between 1% and 3% in most countries to 5% in the worst-hit areas ( Figure 1 ). 9 Some Chinese researchers succeeded in determining how SARS-CoV-2 affects human cells, which could help to develop techniques of viral detection and had antiviral therapy potential. Via a process termed “cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM)”, these scientists discovered that CoV enters human cells utilizing a kind of cell membrane glycoprotein: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Then, the S protein is split into two sub-units: S1 and S2. S1 keeps a receptor-binding domain (RBD); accordingly, SARS-CoV-2 can bind to the peptidase domain of ACE2 directly. It appears that S2 subsequently plays a role in cellular fusion. Chinese researchers used the cryo-EM technique to provide ACE2 when it is linked to an amino acid transporter called “B0AT1”. They also discovered how to connect SARS-CoV-2 to ACE2-B0AT1, which is another complex structure. Given that none of these molecular structures was previously known, the researchers hoped that these studies would lead to the development of an antiviral or vaccine that would help to prevent CoV. Along the way, scientists found that ACE2 has to undergo a molecular process in which it binds to another molecule to be activated. The resulting molecule can bind two SARS-CoV-2 protein molecules simultaneously. The scientists also studied different SARS-CoV-2 RBD binding methods compared with other SARS-CoV-RBDs, which showed how subtle changes in the molecular binding sequence make the coronal structure of the virus stronger.

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Most cases with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or have mild clinical pictures such as influenza and colds. This group of patients should be detected and isolated in their homes to break the transmission chain of the disease and adhere to the precautionary recommendations in order not to infect other people. The screening process will help this group and suppress the outbreak in the community. Patients with the confirmed disease who are admitted to hospitals can contaminate this environment, which should be borne in mind by healthcare providers and policymakers.

Transmission

While the first mode of the transmission of COVID-19 to humans is still unknown, a seafood market where live animals were sold was identified as a potential source at the beginning of the outbreak in the epidemiologic investigations that found some infected patients who had visited or worked in that place. The other viruses in this family, namely MERS and SARS, were both confirmed to be zoonotic viruses. Afterward, the person-to-person spread was established as the main mode of transmission and the reason for the progression of the outbreak. 11 Similar to the influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2 spreads through the population via respiratory droplets. When an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, the respiratory secretions, which contain the virus, enter the environment as droplets. These droplets can reach the mucous membranes of individuals directly or indirectly when they touch an infected surface or any other source; the virus, thereafter, finds its ways to the eyes, nose, or mouth as the first incubation places. 11 - 15 It has been reported that droplets cannot travel more than two meters in the air, nor can they remain in the air owing to their high density. Nonetheless, given the other hitherto unknown modes of transmission, routine airborne transmission precautions should be considered in high-risk countries and during high-risk procedures such as manual ventilation with bags and masks, endotracheal intubation, open endotracheal suctioning, bronchoscopy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, sputum induction, lung surgery, nebulizer therapy, noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (eg, bilevel positive airway pressure and continuous positive airway pressure ), and lung autopsy. In the early stages of the disease, the chances of the spread of the virus to other persons are high because the viral load in the body may be high despite the absence of any symptoms ( Figure 2 ). 11 - 13 The person-to-person transmission rates can be different depending on the location and the infection control intervention; still, according to the latest reports, the secondary COVID-19 infection rate ranges from 1% to 5%. 13 - 23 Although the RNA of the virus has been detected in blood and stool, fecal-oral and blood-borne transmissions are not regarded as significant modes of transmission yet. 19 - 26 There have been no reports of mother-to-fetus transmission in pregnant women. 27

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SARS-CoV-2 mode of transmission and clinical manifestations are illustrated in this figure. The potential source of this outbreak was identified to be from animals, similar to MERS and SARS, in epidemiologic studies; nonetheless, person-to-person transmission through droplets is currently the important mode. After reaching mucous membranes by direct or indirect close contact, the virus replicates in the cells and the immune system attacks the body due to its nature. Afterward, the clinical pictures appear, which are much more similar to influenza. However, different patients will have a spectrum of signs and symptoms.

Source Investigation

Recently, the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in society shocked the healthcare system. 28 - 32 Veterinary corona virologists reported that COVID-19 was isolated from wildlife. Several studies have shown that bats are receptors of the CoV new version in 2019 with variants and changes in the environment featuring various biological characteristics. 33 - 36 The aforementioned mammals are a major source of CoV, which causes mild-to-severe respiratory illness and can even be deadly. In recent years, the virus has killed several thousands of people of all ages. 37 - 39 The mutated alternative of the virus can be transmitted to humans and cause acute respiratory distress. 40 , 41 One of the main causes of the spread of the virus is the exotic and unusual Chinese food in Wuhan: CoV is a direct result of the Chinese food cycle. The virus is found in the body of animals such as bats, 42 and snake or bat soup is a favorite Chinese food. Therefore, this sequence is replicated continuously. Almost everyone who was infected for the first time was directly in the local Wuhan market or had indirectly tried snake or bat soup in a Chinese restaurant. An investigation stated that the Malayan pangolin (Manis javanica) was a possible host for SARS-CoV-2 and recommended that it be removed from the wet market to prevent zoonotic transmissions in the future. 43 , 44

Pathogenesis

The important mechanisms of the severe pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 are not fully understood. Extensive lung injury in SARS-CoV-2 has been related to increased virus titers; monocyte, macrophage, and neutrophil infiltrations into the lungs; and elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Thus, the clinical exacerbation of SARS-CoV-2 infection may be in consequence of a combination of direct virus-induced cytopathic and immunopathological effects due to excessive cytokinesis. Changes in the cytokine/chemokine profile during SARS infection showed increased levels of circulating cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C–X–C motif chemokine 10 (CXCL10), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8 levels, in conjunction with elevated levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-12, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Nevertheless, constant stimulation by the virus creates a cytokine storm that has been related to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes (MODS) in patients with COVID-19, which may ultimately lead to diminished immunity by lowering the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and natural killer cells (crucial in antiviral immunity) and decreasing cytokine production and functional ability (exhaustion). It has been shown that IL-10, an inhibitory cytokine, is a major player and a potential target for therapeutic aims. 45 - 51 Severe cases of COVID-19 have respiratory distress and failure, which has been linked to the altered metabolism of heme by SARS-CoV-2. Some virus proteins can dissociate iron from porphyrins by attacking the 1-β chain of hemoglobin, which decreases the oxygen-transferring ability of hemoglobin. Research has also indicated that chloroquine and favipiravir might inhibit this process. 52

Clinical Manifestations

SARS-CoV-2, which attacks the respiratory system, has a spectrum of manifestations; nonetheless, it has three main primary symptoms after an incubation period of about two days to two weeks: fever and its associated symptoms such as malaise/fatigue/weakness; cough, which is nonproductive in most of the cases but can be productive indeed; and shortness of breath (dyspnea) due to low blood oxygenation. Although these symptoms appear in the body of the affected person over two to 14 days, patients may refer to the clinic with gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea/vomiting-diarrhea) or decreased sense of smell and/or taste. More devastatingly, however, patients may refer to the emergency room with such coagulopathies as pulmonary thromboembolism, cerebral venous thrombosis, and other related manifestations. The WHO has stated that dry throat and dry cough are other symptoms detected in the early stages of the infection. 53 , 54 The estimations of the severity of the disease are as follows: mild (no or mild pneumonia) in 81%, severe (eg, with dyspnea, hypoxia, or >50% lung involvement on imaging within 24 to 48 hours) in 14%, and critical (eg, with respiratory failure, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction) in 5%. In the early stages, the overall mortality rate was 2.3% and no deaths were observed in non-severe patients. Patients with advanced age or underlying medical comorbidities have more mortality and morbidity. 55 Although adults of middle age and older are most commonly affected by SARS-CoV-2, individuals at any age can be infected. A few studies have reported symptomatic infection in children; still, when it occurs, it has mild symptoms. The vast majority of cases have the infection with no signs and symptoms or mild clinical pictures; they are called “the asymptomatic group”. These patients do not seek medical care and if they come into close contact with others, they can spread the virus. Therefore, quarantine in their home is the best option for the population to break the transmission of the virus. It should be considered that some of these asymptomatic patients have clinical signs such as chest computed tomography scan (CT-Scan) infiltrations. Similar to bacterial pneumonia, lower respiratory signs and symptoms are the most frequent manifestations in serious cases of COVID-19, characterized by fever, cough, dyspnea, and bilateral infiltrates on chest imaging. In a study describing pneumonia in Wuhan, the most common clinical signs and symptoms at the onset of the illness were fever in 99% (although fever might not be a universal finding), fatigue in 70%, dry cough in 59%, anorexia in 40%, myalgia in 35%, dyspnea in 31%, and sputum production in 27%. Headache, sore throat, and rhinorrhea are less common, and gastrointestinal symptoms (eg, nausea and diarrhea) are relatively rare. 7 , 42 , 43 , 45 - 48 , 56 , 57 According to our clinical experience in Iran, anosmia, atypical chest pain, diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, and hemoptysis are other presenting symptoms in the clinic. It should be noted that COVID-19 has some unexplained potential complications such as secondary bacterial infections, myocarditis, central nervous system injury, cerebral edema, MODS, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (ADEM), kidney injury, liver injury, new-onset seizure, coagulopathy, and arrhythmias.

Laboratory data : Complete blood counts, which constitute a routine laboratory test, have shown different results in terms of the white blood cell count: from leukopenia and lymphopenia to leukocytosis, although lymphopenia appears to be the most common. Fatal cases have exhibited severe lymphopenia accompanied by an increased level of D-dimer. Liver function enzymes can be increased; however, it is not sufficient to diagnose a disease. The serum procalcitonin level is a marker of infection, especially in bacterial diseases. Patients with COVID-19 who require intensive care unit (ICU) management may have elevated procalcitonin. Increased urea and creatinine, creatinine-phosphokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and C-reactive protein are other findings in some cases. 7 , 56 , 57

Imaging studies : Routine chest X-ray (CXR) is widely deemed the first-step management to evaluate any respiratory involvement. Although negative findings in CXR do not rule out the viral disease, patients without common findings do not have severe disease and can, consequently, be managed in the outpatient setting. 58 , 59 Another modality is chest CT-Scan. It can be ordered in suspected cases with typical symptoms at the first step, or it can be performed after the detection of any abnormalities in CXR. The most common demonstrations in CT-Scan images are ground-glass opacification, round opacities, and crazy paving with or without bilateral consolidative abnormalities (multilobar involvement) in contrast to most cases of bacterial pneumonia, which have locally limited involvement. Pleural thickening, pleural effusion, and lymphadenopathy are less common. 58 - 61 Tree-in-bud, peribronchial distribution, nodules, and cavity are not in favor of common COVID-19 findings. Although reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is used to confirm the diagnosis, it is a time-consuming procedure and has high false-negative/false-positive findings; hence, in the emergency clinical setting, CT-Scan findings can be a good approach to make the diagnosis. It is deserving of note, however, that false-positive/false-negative cases were reported by one study to be high and other differential diagnoses should be in mind in order not to miss any other cases such as acute pulmonary edema in patients with heart disease.

Suspected cases should be diagnosed as soon as possible to isolate and control the infection immediately. COVID-19 should be considered in any patient with fever and/or lower respiratory tract symptoms with any of the following risk factors in the previous 2 weeks: close contact with confirmed or suspected cases in any environment, especially at work in healthcare places without sufficient protective equipment or long-time standing in those places, and living in or traveling from well-known places where the disease is an epidemic. 61 - 66 Patients with severe lower respiratory tract disease without alternative etiologies and a clear history of exposure should be considered having COVID-19 unless confirmed otherwise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sending tests to check SARS-CoV-2 in suspected cases is based on physicians’ clinical judgment. Although there are some positive cases without clinical manifestations (ie, fever and/or symptoms of acute respiratory illness such as cough and dyspnea), infectious disease and control centers should take action in society to limit the exposure of such patients to other healthy individuals. The CDC prioritizes the use of the specific test for hospitalized patients, symptomatic patients who are at risk of fatal conditions (eg, age ≥65 y, chronic medical conditions, and immunocompromising conditions) and those who have exposure risks (recent travel, contact with patients with COVID-19, and healthcare workers). 61 - 66 Although treatment should be started after the confirmation of the disease, RT-PCR for highly suspected cases is a time-consuming test; accordingly, a considerable number of clinicians favor the use of a combination of clinical manifestations with imaging modalities (eg, CT-Scan findings) and their clinical judgment regarding the probability of the disease in order not to lose more time. 61 - 66

Treatment of COVID-19

There is no confirmed recommended treatment or vaccine for SARS-CoV-2; prevention is, therefore, better than treatment. Nevertheless, the high contagiousness of COVID-19, combined with the fact that some individuals fail to adhere to precautionary measures or they have significant risk factors, means that this infectious disease is inevitable in some people. Beside supportive treatments, many types of medications have been introduced. These medications come from previous experimental studies on SARS, MERS, influenza, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); hence, their efficacy needs further experimental and clinical approval. Patients with mild symptoms who do not have significant risk factors should be managed in their home like a self-made quarantine (in an isolated room); still, prompt hospital admission is required if patients exhibit signs of disease deterioration. 25 , 67 , 68 Isolation from other family members is an important prevention tip. Patients should wear face masks, eat healthy and warm foods similar to when struggling with influenza or colds, do the handwashing process, dispose of the contaminated materials cautiously, and disinfect suspicious surfaces with standard disinfectants. 69 Patients with severe symptoms or admission criteria should be hospitalized with other patients who have the same disease in an isolated department. When the disease is progressed, ICU care is mandatory. 25 , 67 , 68 SARS-CoV-2 attacks the respiratory system, diminishing the oxygenation process and forcing patients with low blood oxygen saturation to take extra oxygen from different modalities. Nasal cannulae, face masks with or without a reservoir, intubation in severe cases, and then extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in refractory hypoxia have been used; however, the safety and efficacy of these measures should be evaluated. As was mentioned above, impaired coagulation is one of the major complications of the disease; consequently, alongside all recommended supportive care and drugs, anticoagulants such as heparin should be administered prophylactically ( Table 1 ). Although it is said that all the clinical signs and symptoms of COVID-19 are induced by the immune system, as other research on influenza and MERS has revealed, glucocorticoids are not recommended in COVID-19 pneumonia unless other indications are present (eg, exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and refractory septic shock) due to the high risk of mortality and delayed viral clearance. Earlier in the national and international guidelines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen were recommended on the strength of their antipyretic and anti-inflammatory components; however, the guideline has been revised recently and acetaminophen with or without codeine is currently the favored drug in patients with COVID-19. 25 , 67 , 68 According to the pathogenesis of the disease, whereby cytokine storm and immune-cell exhaustion can be seen in severe cases, selective antibodies against harmful interleukins such as IL-6 and IL-10 or other possible agents can be therapeutic for fatal complications. Tocilizumab, an IL-6 inhibitor, albeit with limited clinical efficacy, has been introduced in China’s National Health Commission treatment guideline for severe infection with profound pulmonary involvement (ie, white lung). 70 , 87

Summary of possible anti-COVID-19 drugs

Drug Name	Mechanism of Action	Regimen	References
Hydroxychloroquine sulfate	Antigen-presenting cell lysosomal pH modulator; toll-like receptor family inhibitor; hemozoin biocrystalization inhibitor; altering the ACE2 glycosylation, which inhibits S-protein binding and phagocytosis	First day, 400 mg BD and then, 200 mg BD	, -
Chloroquine phosphate	Late endosomal and lysosomal pH enhancer, zinc ionophore (RdRP inhibitor)	First day 500 mg BD and then, 250 mg BD	, -
Lopinavir/Ritonavir	Combined protease inhibitor	400 mg/100 mg BD	, , , - , ,
Atazanavir/Ritonavir	Combined protease inhibitor	300 mg/100 mg once daily	,
Atazanavir	Protease inhibitor	400 mg once daily	,
Favipiravir	RdRP inhibitor	Loading dose, 1600 mg and then, 600 mg TDS	, ,
Remdesivir	RdRP inhibitor	First day, 200 mg IV daily and then, 100 mg IV daily	, , - ,
Ribavirin	RdRP inhibitor	1200 mg BD	-
Oseltamivir	Neuraminidase inhibitors	75 mg BD	,
Interferon-β-1a	Antiviral cytokine	22 or 44 μg 3 times/week	, , ,

mg, Milligrams; BD, Every 12 hours; RdRP, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase; TDS, Every 8 hours; IV, Intravenous; IL, Interleukin; μg, Micrograms

RNA synthesis inhibitors (eg, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and 2’-deoxy-3’-thiacytidine [3TC]), neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), nucleoside analogs, lopinavir/ritonavir, atazanavir, remdesivir, favipiravir, INF-β, and Chinese traditional medicine (eg, Shufeng Jiedu and Lianhuaqingwen capsules) are the major candidates for COVID-19. 26 , 70 , 85 , 88 - 96 Antiviral drugs have been investigated for various diseases, but their efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 is under investigation and several randomized clinical trials are ongoing to release a consensus result on the treatment of this infectious disease. Moderate-to-severe SARS-CoV-2 disease needs drug therapy. Favipiravir, a previously validated drug for influenza, is a drug that has shown promising results for COVID-19 in experimental and clinical studies, but it is under further evaluation. 70 , 79 , 80 Remdesivir, which was developed for Ebola, is an antiviral drug that is under evaluation for moderate-to-severe COVID-19 owing to its promising results in in vitro investigations. 70 , 73 - 75 , 81 Remdesivir was shown to have reduced the virus titer in infected mice with MERS-CoV and improved lung tissue damage with more efficiency compared with a group treated with lopinavir/ritonavir/INF-β. 67 , 70 Another investigation studied the potential efficacy of INF-β-1 in the early stages of COVID-19 as a potential antiviral drug. 86 Although there is some hope, an evidence-based consensus requires further clinical trials. 70 , 77 A combined protease inhibitor, lopinavir/ritonavir, is used for HIV infection and has shown interesting results for SARS and MERS in in vitro studies. 73 - 75 The clinical effectiveness of lopinavir/ritonavir for SARS-CoV-2 was also reported in a case report. 70 , 71 , 74 , 76 Atazanavir, another protease inhibitor, with or without ritonavir is another possible anti-COVID-19 treatment. 77 , 78 NAIs, including oseltamivir, zanamivir, and peramivir, are recommended as antiviral treatment in influenza. 68 Oral oseltamivir was tried for COVID-19 in China and was first recommended in the Iranian guideline for COVID-19 treatment; nevertheless, because of the absence of strong evidence indicating its efficacy for SARS-CoV-2, it was eliminated from the subsequent updates of the guideline. 85 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitors with anti-hepatitis C effects such as ribavirin have shown satisfactory results against SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase; however, they have limited clinical approval. 82 - 84 The well-known drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and an antimalarial drug, chloroquine 71 and hydroxychloroquine 21 are other potential drugs for moderate-to-severe COVID-19 but with limited or no clinical appraisal. Hydroxychloroquine has exhibited better safety and fewer side effects than chloroquine, which makes it the preferred choice. 70 Furthermore, the immunomodulatory effects of hydroxychloroquine can be used to control the cytokine precipitation in the late phases of SARS-CoV-2 infections. There are numerous mechanisms for the antiviral activity of hydroxychloroquine. A weak base drug, hydroxychloroquine concentrates on such intracellular sections as endosomes and lysosomes, thereby halting viral replication in the phase of fusion and uncoating. Additionally, this immunosuppressive and antiparasitic drug is capable of altering the glycosylation of ACE2 and inhibiting both S-protein binding and phagocytosis. 72 A recent multicenter study showed that regarding the risks of cardiovascular adverse effects and mortality rates, hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide (eg, azithromycin) was not beneficial for hospitalized patients, although further research is needed to end such controversies. 97

Disease Duration

It is not easy to quarantine the patients who have fully recovered because there is evidence that they are highly infectious. 81 The recovery time for confirmed cases based on the National Health Commission reports of China’s government was estimated to range between 18 and 22 days. 73 As indicated by the WHO, the healing time seems to be around two weeks for moderate infections and 3 to 6 weeks for the severe/ serious disease. 75 Pan Feng and others studied 21 confirmed cases with COVID-19 pneumonia with about 82 CT-Scan images with a mean interval of four days. Lung abnormalities on chest CT showed the highest severity approximately 10 days after the initial onset of symptoms. All patients became clear after 11 to 26 days of hospitalization. From day zero to day 26, four stages of lung CT were defined as follows: Stage 1 (first 4 days): ground-glass opacities; Stage 2 (second 4 days): crazy-paving patterns; Stage 3 (days 9–13): maximum total CT scores in the consolidations; and Stage 4 (≥14 d): steady improvements in the consolidations with a reduction in the total CT score without any crazy-paving pattern. 74 Nevertheless, there are also rare cases reported from some studies that show the recurrence of COVID-19 after negative preliminary RT-PCR results. For example, Lan and othersstudied one hospitalized and three home-quarantined patients with COVID-19 and evaluated them with RT-PCR tests of the nucleic acid. All the patients with positive RT-PCR test results had CT imaging with ground-glass opacification or mixed ground-glass opacification and consolidation with mild-to-moderate disease. After antiviral treatments, all four patients had two consecutive negative RT-PCR test results within 12 to 32 days. Five to 13 days after hospital discharge or the discontinuation of the quarantine, RT-PCR tests were repeated, and all were positive. An additional RT-PCR test was performed using a kit from a different manufacturer, and the results were also positive. Their findings propose that a minimum percentage of recovered patients may still be infection carriers. 76

Supplements for COVID-19

Since the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, there have been reports of the unreliable and unpredictable use of mysterious therapies. Some recommendations such as the use of certain herbs and extracts including oregano oil, mulberry leaf, garlic, and black sesame may be safe as long as people do not utilize their hands for instance. 98 According to data released by the CDC, vitamin C (VitC) supplements can decrease the risk of colds in people besides preventing CoV from spreading. The aforementioned organization states that frequent consumption of VitC supplements can also decrease the duration of the cold; however, if used only after the cold has risen, its consumption does not influence the disease course. VitC also plays an important role in the body. One of the main reasons for taking VitC is to strengthen the immune system because this vitamin plays a significant part in the immune system. Firstly, VitC can increase the production of white blood cells (lymphocytes and phagocytes) in the bone marrow, which can support and protect the body against infections. Secondly, VitC helps immune cells to function better while preserving white blood cells from damaging molecules such as free oxidative radicals and ions. Thirdly, VitC is an essential part of the skin’s immune system. This vitamin is actively transported to the skin surface, where it serves as an antioxidant and helps to strengthen the skin barrier by optimizing the collagen synthesis process. Patients with pneumonia have lower levels of VitC and have been revealed to have a longer recovery time. 69 , 99 In a randomized investigation, 200 mg/d of VitC was applied to older patients and resulted in improvements in the respiratory symptoms. Another investigation reported 80% fewer mortalities in a controlled group of VitC takers. 73 However, for effective immune system improvement, VitC should be consumed alongside adequate doses of several other supplements. Although VitC plays an important role in the body, often a balanced diet and the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables can quickly fill the blanks. While taking high amounts of VitC is less risky because it is water-soluble and its waste is eliminated in the urine, it can induce diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal spasms at higher concentrations. Too much VitC may cause calcium-oxalate kidney stones. People with genetic hemochromatosis, an iron deficiency disorder, should consult a physician before taking any VitC supplements as high levels of VitC can lead to tissue damage. Some studies have evaluated the different doses of oral or intravenous VitC for patients admitted to the hospital for COVID-19. Although they used different regimens, all of them demonstrated satisfactory results regarding the resolution of the compilations of the disease, decreased mortality, and shortened lengths of stay in the ICU and/or the hospital. 100 , 101 Immunologists have also recommended 6 000 units of vitamin A (VitA) per day for two weeks, more than twice the recommended limit for VitA, which can create a poisoning environment over time. According to the guidance of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), middle-aged men and women should take 1 and 2 mg of VitA every day, respectively. The safe upper limit of this vitamin is 6000 mg or 5000 units, and overdose can have serious outcomes such as dizziness, nausea, headache, coma, and even death. Extreme consumption of VitA throughout pregnancy can lead to birth anomalies.

Similar to VitC, vitamin D (VitD) has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulatory effects in our body such as reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibiting viral replication according to experimental studies. 83 The VitD state of our body is checked through 25 (OH) VitD in the serum. VitD deficiency is pandemic around the world due to multifactorial reasons. It has been shown that VitD deficient patients are prone to SARS-CoV-2 and, accordingly, treating VitD deficiency is not without benefits. Grant and others recommended 10 000 units per day for two weeks and then 5 000 units per day as the maintenance dose to keep the level between 40 and 100 ng/mL. 102 VitD toxicity causes gastrointestinal discomfort (dyspepsia), congestion, hypercalcemia, confusion, positional disorders, dysrhythmia, and kidney dysfunction.

James Robb, 103 a researcher who detected CoV for the first time as a consultant pathologist with the National Cancer Institute of America, suggested the influence of zinc consumption. Oral zinc supplements can be dissolved in the nback of the throat. Short-term therapy with oral zinc can decrease the duration of viral colds in adults. Zinc intake is also associated with the faster resolution of nasal congestion, nasal drainage, sore throats, and coughs. Researchers 104 , 105 have warned that the consumption of more than 1 mg of zinc a day can lead to zinc poisoning and have side effects such as lowered immune function. Children and old people with zinc insufficiency in developing nations are extremely vulnerable to pneumonia and other viral infections. It has also been determined that zinc has a major role in the production and activation of T-cell lymphocytes. 106 , 107

And finally, for high-risk people or those who work in high-risk places such as healthcare providers, hydroxychloroquine has been mentioned to be effective as a prophylactic regimen ( Table 2 ). Although different doses have been investigated so far, Pourdowlat and others recommended 200 mg daily before exposure, and for the post-exposure scenario, a loading dose of 600-800 mg followed by a maintenance dose of 200 mg daily. 74

Possible prophylactic regimens against SARS-CoV-2 infection

Agent	Mechanism of Action	Regimen	Reference
VitA	Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-regulatory agent	6 000 IU/d for 2 weeks	-
VitC		1)intravenous 200 mg/kg body weight/d, divided into 4 doses for ICU-care patients 2)oral 6 g/d 3)one 10–20 g IV (max: 1.5 g/kg)	-
VitD		10 000 IU/d for 2 weeks until the 25(OH)Vit D level reaches 40–60 ng/mL and then 5 000 IU/d
Zinc	Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-regulatory agent, intracellular signal molecule in immune cells, RdRP inhibitor	Max: 1 mg/d	-
Hydroxychloroquine sulfate	Antigen-presenting cell lysosomal pH modulator; toll-like receptor family inhibitor; hemozoin biocrystalization inhibitor; altering the ACE2 glycosylation, which inhibits S-protein binding and phagocytosis	200 mg/d

IU, International unit; mg, Milligrams; kg, Kilograms; ICU, Intensive care unit; g, Grams; IV, Intravenous; Vit, Vitamin; ng, Nanograms; mL, Milliliter

COVID-19 Kits and Deep Learning

COVID-19 has threatened public health, and its fast global spread has caught the scientific community by surprise. 108 Hence, developing a technique capable of swiftly and reliably detecting the virus in patients is vital to prevent the spreading of the virus. 109 , 110 One of the ways to diagnose this new virus is through RT-PCR, a test that has previously demonstrated its efficacy in detecting such CoV infections as MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. Consequently, increasing the availability of RT-PCR kits is a worldwide concern. The timing of the RT-PCR test and the type of strain collected are of vital importance in the diagnosis of COVID-19. One of the characteristics of this new virus is that the serum is negative in the early stage, while respiratory specimens are positive. The level of the virus at the early stage of the illness is also high, even though the infected individual experiences mild symptoms. 111 For the management of the emerging situation of COVID-19 in Wuhan, various effective diagnostic kits were urgently made available to markets. While a few different diagnostics kits are used merely for research endeavors, only a single kit developed by the Beijing Genome Institute (BGI) called “Real-Time Fluorescent PCR” has been authenticated for clinical diagnostics. Fluorescent RT-PCR is reliable and able to offer fast results probably within a few hours (usually within two hours). Besides RT-PCR, China has successfully developed a metagenomic-sequencing kit based on combinatorial probe-anchor synthesis that can identify virus-related bacteria, allowing observation and evaluation during the transmission of the virus. Furthermore, the metagenomic-sequencing kit based on combinatorial probe-anchor synthesis is far faster than the abovementioned fluorescent RT-PCR kit. Apart from China, a Singapore-based laboratory, Veredus, developed a virus detection kit (Vere-CoV) in late January. It is a portable Lab-On-Chip used to detect MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2, in a single examination. This kit works based on the VereChip™ technology, the lines of code (LOC) program incorporating two different influential molecular biological functions (microarray and PCR) precisely. Several studies have focused on SARS-CoV diagnostic testing. These papers have presented investigative approaches to the identification of the virus using molecular testing (ie, RT-PCR). Researchers probed into the use of a nested PCR technique that contains a pre-amplification step or integrating the N gene as an extra subtle molecular marker to improve on the sensitivity. 112 - 115 CT-Scan is very useful for diagnosing, evaluating, and screening infections caused by COVID-19. One recommendation for scanning the disease is to take a scan every three to five days. According to researchers, most CT-Scan images from patients with COVID-19 are bilateral or peripheral ground-glass opacification, with or without stabilization. Nowadays, because of a paucity of computerized quantification tools, only qualitative reports and sometimes inaccurate analyses of contaminated areas are drawn upon in radiology reports. A categorization system based on the deep learning approach was proposed by a study to automatically measure infected parts and their volumetric ratios in the lung. The functionality of this system was evaluated by making some comparisons between the infected portions and the manually-delineated ones on the CT-Scan images of 300 patients with COVID-19. To increase the manual drawing of training samples and the non-interference in the automated results, researchers adopted a human-based approach in collaboration with radiologists so as to segment the infected region. This approach shortens the time to about four minutes after 3-time updating. The mean Dice similarity coefficient illustrated that the automatically detected infected parts were 91.6% similar to the manually detected ones, and the average of the percentage estimated error was 0.3% for the whole lung. 116 , 117

Prevention Considerations

In the healthcare setting, any individual with the manifestations of COVID-19 (eg, fever, cough, and dyspnea) should wear a face mask, have a separate waiting area, and keep the distance of at least two meters. Symptomatic patients should be asked about recent travel or close contact with a patient in the preceding two weeks to find other possible infected patients. The CDC and WHO have announced special precautions for healthcare providers in the hospital and during different procedures. Wearing tight-fitting face masks with special filters and impermeable face shields is necessary for all of them. 11 , 18 , 65 , 66 , 76 , 118 - 124 Other people should pay attention to the CDC and WHO preventive strategies, which recommend that individuals not touch their eyes, mouth, and nose before washing or disinfecting their hands; wash their hands regularly according to the standard protocol; use effective disinfection solutions (ie, containing at least 60% ethylic alcohol) for contaminated surfaces; cover their mouth when coughing and sneezing; avoid waiting or walking in crowded areas, and observe isolation protocols in their home. Postponing elective work and decreasing non-urgent visits and traveling to areas in the grip of COVID-19 may be useful to lessen the risk of exposure. If suspected individuals with mild symptoms are managed in outpatient settings, an isolated room with minimal exposure to others should be designed. Patients and their caregivers should wear tight-fitting face masks. 11 , 18 , 65 , 66 , 76 , 118 - 124 Substantial numbers of individuals with COVID-19 are asymptomatic with potential exposure; accordingly, a screening tool should be employed to evaluate these cases. In addition to passport checks, corona checks have been incorporated into the protocols in airports and other crowded places. The use of a remote thermometer to measure body temperature leads to an increase in the number of false-negative cases. It is, thus, essential that everyone pay sufficient heed to the WHO and CDC recommendations in their daily life. Traveling is not prohibited, but it should be restricted and passengers from any country should be monitored. 11 , 18 , 65 , 66 , 76 , 118 - 124

SARS-CoV-2 is the new highly contagious CoV, which was first reported in China. While it had a zoonotic origin in the beginning, it subsequently spread throughout the world by human contact. COVID-19 has a spectrum of manifestations, which is not lethal most of the time. To diagnose this condition, physicians can avail themselves of laboratory and imaging findings besides signs and symptoms. RT-PCR is the gold standard, but it lacks sufficient sensitivity and specificity. Although there are some potential drugs for COVID-19 and some vitamins or minerals for prophylaxis, the best preventive strategies are quarantine (staying at home) and the use of personal protective equipment and disinfectants.

Acknowledgement

The authors express their gratitude toward the Supporting Organizations for Foreign Iranian Students, Islamic Azad University Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, and Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

7 Personal Statement Examples That Survive COVID-19

Sam Benezra

As summer approaches, rising seniors across the United States have college applications on their mind. This time around, however, things are a little different. The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted daily life around the world, and many students are concerned about how it will affect their chances of getting accepted to the school of their choice.

Don’t fret too much about cancelled internships and extracurricular activities or postponed SAT dates. A number of colleges, including Yale , Harvard , and Emory University have released statements assuring applicants that their admissions will not be affected by any disruptions caused by COVID-19. Universities know what students are going through right now, and are understanding of the constraints.

Nevertheless, the coronavirus will surely alter what college applications look like over the next couple of years. Without the opportunity to make their extracurricular activities stand out, students will have to lean on other parts of their application, including the personal statement or essay.

The personal statement or essay is the soul of a college application. It is your opportunity to talk directly to colleges in your own voice. It is a space to tell admissions officers who you are, what you’re interested in, and maybe even to charm them a little bit. When admissions officers read your essay, they want to get a sense of your personality, your passions, and the way you see the world.

Under the current circumstances, the role of the personal statement is even more important than in an average year.

“The reality is, the way that college admissions is going to go in the fall is not going to be based on numbers and scores the way it might have been in the past,” Nicole Hurd, founder and CEO of College Advising Corps, told TUN . “Everybody is going to have to be able to tell a story that is going to be much more based on experiences and aspirations and narrative than just on numbers.”

With that in mind, here is a guide to writing your personal statement during and after the coronavirus outbreak.

What do colleges want to see in personal statements or essays?

First and foremost, when admissions officers read your personal statement, they want to get a sense of who you are, not only as a student, but as a person. They want to know about the things that matter to you, the way you think, and how you respond to challenges.

“You may be surprised to hear this, but one of the reasons we enjoy reading your essays and stories every year is because we get to understand what a generation is thinking about,” Emory University Director of Recruitment and Talent Giselle F. Martin said in an open letter to juniors and sophomores in April. “We encourage you to take this time to think about what matters most to you. After all, there is no greater gift than time.”

Colleges are still looking for the same qualities in applicants that they always have — intelligence, leadership, creativity, passion, curiosity, and maturity.

In your personal statement, be true to yourself and your experiences. Tell a story from the heart, not one cut out from a college applications handbook.

What are the qualities that define a strong personal statement or essay?

Personal statements should be personal — It’s called a personal statement for a reason. Your personal statement should first and foremost be a story about you. Find inspiration in the big moments in your life, but also in the small moments — dinners with family, laughs with friends, etc.

Personal statements should be meaningful — You don’t have to write your college essay about a profound, life-changing moment. However, whatever topic you do choose should carry some meaning to you or else your readers will be asking themselves, “so what?”

Personal statements should be tight — Your personal statement should be tightly edited and have a strong narrative flow. Common App essays are restrained to a meager 650 words. It can be difficult to pack a whole lot of meaning into such a small space, so make sure every word counts and have a teacher or parent proofread.

Personal statements should be engaging — Hook your reader in and don’t let go. The goal of a personal statement is to make a lasting impression on whoever reads it. Boring essays simply won’t cut it!

What are the personal statement topics and questions?

The Common App allows students to respond to one of seven different personal essay prompts, including an open prompt that allows students to choose their own topic, or even write in their own prompt.

Identity and passions : “Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.”
Overcoming challenges, setbacks, and failures: “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”
Thinking critically: “Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?”
Solving problems: “Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything of personal importance no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.”
Personal growth: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”
Inspiration and curiosity: “Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?”
Anything at all: “Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.”

You can access Common App essay prompts for the 2020-2021 application period here .

When brainstorming, try to come up with at least one idea for each prompt.

Are there tips for brainstorming personal statement topics?

The most challenging part of writing your personal statement is settling on a topic to write about or a story to tell. But while brainstorming can be difficult, it can also be a fun process. Here are a few tips to help you generate ideas:

Ask yourself questions — To start generating ideas, it can be helpful to start looking inward and asking some introspective questions, such as:

What are you passionate about?
What do you want colleges to know about you?
What are some impactful moments in your life?
Who are some meaningful people in your life?
What’s a story you will never forget? Why will you never forget it?
How do you spend your free time? Why?
What are you looking forward to?
What do you want to get out of your college experience?

Don’t feel the need to impress — Crazy stories do not necessarily make better stories. Don’t get caught up in the idea that you need to tell an overly exciting or dramatic story. Likewise, don’t use your personal statement to list off achievements and awards. The point of the essay is to shine a light on who you are, not what you’ve done.

Think about the small things — Oftentimes, the most personal essays are those that focus on the details of life. Think about your favorite movies, books, and music. Reminisce on conversations and disagreements, sports events and camping trips, road trips, and walks around your neighborhood.

Avoid clichés — College admissions officers read thousands of personal statements every year and, as a result, are experts in picking out clichéd essays. While any topic can make a great essay, it is harder for yours to stand out when it sounds similar to many others. Topics like sports championships and eye-opening travel experiences can make great essays, but they are also a little overplayed, so it might be harder for them to stand out.

Should you write about the coronavirus?

Probably not. While the COVID-19 pandemic has surely been an impactful moment in many of our lives, writing your personal statement about the pandemic may not be the best choice, simply because so many others will likely also be writing about it.

Virtually everyone in the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in some capacity and has a unique story about the event. Unfortunately, admissions officers who have to read through thousands of college essays each year will likely have a difficult time differentiating between yours and two hundred others on the same topic.

The best college essays are memorable and unique. They have the ability to stand out amongst a crowd and leave a lasting impression. As a result, the most out-of-the box essays are often the most compelling. Writing on a common topic can make it more difficult to catch your reader’s attention.

Furthermore, when you are writing about mass events like the coronavirus, it can be easy to write more about the event and about others than about yourself, which is what admissions officers really want to know about.

That doesn’t mean that the coronavirus is completely off-limits as a topic. If you think you have a powerful story to tell, by all means, tell it. However, you should keep in mind that any essay on the coronavirus will have to be outstanding to catch the eye of an admissions officer.

A better alternative would be to use the Common App’s added question for fall 2020 admissions on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected you personally.

“That’s definitely an opportunity for (applicants) to talk about what they were planning on doing and how that was taken away,” said Joe Korfmacher , a college counselor at Collegewise. “But it also gives them an opportunity to talk about what they did instead.”

Are there personal statement examples?

These personal statement examples illustrate what works for the students who wrote them.

Prompt #1: Identity and Passions — Rocio’s “Facing the Hot Griddle”

In this essay, Rocio makes a tortilla, and in doing so, finds herself reflecting on her Guatemalan heritage and current life in the United States. She recounts some of the obstacles that she has faced as an immigrant and how, like masa harina being made into a tortilla, has been molded by her experiences and challenges.

Prompt #2: Overcoming a Challenge — Heqing “Amy” Zhang’s “On the day my first novel was rejected, I was baking pies.”

In this essay, Amy Zhang recounts the experience of having her first novel rejected by a publishing house on the day of her church’s annual bake sale. With a unique narrative voice that highlights her storytelling skills, Zhang relates her feelings of disappointment and grief, and how these emotions helped her spin her next novel, which she would end up selling within three days.

Prompt #3: Thinking Critically — Callie’s “Bridging Polarity”

In this essay, Callie reckons with the difference in beliefs between her friends that she grew up with in Texas and those in her new home of San Francisco. She recounts how a visit from a childhood friend led her to value different perspectives and to listen to those with opposing views.

Prompt #4: Solving Problems — Seena’s “Growing Strawberries in a High School Locker”

Seena assigns himself a unique challenge: to grow strawberries inside an empty high school locker. What seemed initially like a simple task quickly grew into a complex project involving a solar-powered blue LED light, an automated plant watering system, and a 3-D printed, modified lock system that increased airflow into the locker. As Seena recounts this experiment, his innate curiosity, problem-solving, and disposition toward mechanical engineering are on full display.

Prompt #5: Personal Growth — Anna’s “Returning to Peru”

Anna remembers how a trip to her father’s homeland in Peru helped instill in her a passion for protecting the environment. She recounts witnessing pollution, lack of clean water, and environmental degradation in impoverished areas of Lima and how it motivated her interest in environmental science and conservation.

Prompt #6: Inspiration and Curiosity — Jillian Impastato’s quest to find women with tatt oos

Jillian Impastato dives into her fascination with the art of tattoos and the lives of women who have them. Intrigued by the symbology and the meaning attached to them, Impastato has embarked on something of an informal anthropology project in which she asks women she sees with tattoos questions. She hears their stories and learns about the relationships they have with the art on their bodies. All at once, this essay displays Impastato’s natural curiosity, her interest in art, her outgoing personality, and her willingness to pursue answers.

Prompt #7: Anything At All — Madison’s “On Potatoes”

Madison presents herself with a not-so-simple question: “If you had to choose one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?” After weighing the options, she settles on the nutritious and versatile potato. She uses this as a jumping-off point to discuss her own disposition to variance and diversity. The potato becomes a clever metaphor for her innate curiosity and openness to new ideas.

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Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Points

By Alina Chan

Dr. Chan is a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, and a co-author of “Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19.”

This article has been updated to reflect news developments.

On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci returned to the halls of Congress and testified before the House subcommittee investigating the Covid-19 pandemic. He was questioned about several topics related to the government’s handling of Covid-19, including how the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he directed until retiring in 2022, supported risky virus work at a Chinese institute whose research may have caused the pandemic.

For more than four years, reflexive partisan politics have derailed the search for the truth about a catastrophe that has touched us all. It has been estimated that at least 25 million people around the world have died because of Covid-19, with over a million of those deaths in the United States.

Although how the pandemic started has been hotly debated, a growing volume of evidence — gleaned from public records released under the Freedom of Information Act, digital sleuthing through online databases, scientific papers analyzing the virus and its spread, and leaks from within the U.S. government — suggests that the pandemic most likely occurred because a virus escaped from a research lab in Wuhan, China. If so, it would be the most costly accident in the history of science.

Here’s what we now know:

1 The SARS-like virus that caused the pandemic emerged in Wuhan, the city where the world’s foremost research lab for SARS-like viruses is located.

At the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a team of scientists had been hunting for SARS-like viruses for over a decade, led by Shi Zhengli.
Their research showed that the viruses most similar to SARS‑CoV‑2, the virus that caused the pandemic, circulate in bats that live r oughly 1,000 miles away from Wuhan. Scientists from Dr. Shi’s team traveled repeatedly to Yunnan province to collect these viruses and had expanded their search to Southeast Asia. Bats in other parts of China have not been found to carry viruses that are as closely related to SARS-CoV-2.

The closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2 were found in southwestern China and in Laos.

Large cities

Mine in Yunnan province

Cave in Laos

South China Sea

The closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2

were found in southwestern China and in Laos.

philippines

The closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2 were found

in southwestern China and Laos.

Sources: Sarah Temmam et al., Nature; SimpleMaps

Note: Cities shown have a population of at least 200,000.

There are hundreds of large cities in China and Southeast Asia.

There are hundreds of large cities in China

and Southeast Asia.

The pandemic started roughly 1,000 miles away, in Wuhan, home to the world’s foremost SARS-like virus research lab.

The pandemic started roughly 1,000 miles away,

in Wuhan, home to the world’s foremost SARS-like virus research lab.

The pandemic started roughly 1,000 miles away, in Wuhan,

home to the world’s foremost SARS-like virus research lab.

Even at hot spots where these viruses exist naturally near the cave bats of southwestern China and Southeast Asia, the scientists argued, as recently as 2019 , that bat coronavirus spillover into humans is rare .
When the Covid-19 outbreak was detected, Dr. Shi initially wondered if the novel coronavirus had come from her laboratory , saying she had never expected such an outbreak to occur in Wuhan.
The SARS‑CoV‑2 virus is exceptionally contagious and can jump from species to species like wildfire . Yet it left no known trace of infection at its source or anywhere along what would have been a thousand-mile journey before emerging in Wuhan.

2 The year before the outbreak, the Wuhan institute, working with U.S. partners, had proposed creating viruses with SARS‑CoV‑2’s defining feature.

Dr. Shi’s group was fascinated by how coronaviruses jump from species to species. To find viruses, they took samples from bats and other animals , as well as from sick people living near animals carrying these viruses or associated with the wildlife trade. Much of this work was conducted in partnership with the EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based scientific organization that, since 2002, has been awarded over $80 million in federal funding to research the risks of emerging infectious diseases.
The laboratory pursued risky research that resulted in viruses becoming more infectious : Coronaviruses were grown from samples from infected animals and genetically reconstructed and recombined to create new viruses unknown in nature. These new viruses were passed through cells from bats, pigs, primates and humans and were used to infect civets and humanized mice (mice modified with human genes). In essence, this process forced these viruses to adapt to new host species, and the viruses with mutations that allowed them to thrive emerged as victors.
By 2019, Dr. Shi’s group had published a database describing more than 22,000 collected wildlife samples. But external access was shut off in the fall of 2019, and the database was not shared with American collaborators even after the pandemic started , when such a rich virus collection would have been most useful in tracking the origin of SARS‑CoV‑2. It remains unclear whether the Wuhan institute possessed a precursor of the pandemic virus.
In 2021, The Intercept published a leaked 2018 grant proposal for a research project named Defuse , which had been written as a collaboration between EcoHealth, the Wuhan institute and Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina, who had been on the cutting edge of coronavirus research for years. The proposal described plans to create viruses strikingly similar to SARS‑CoV‑2.
Coronaviruses bear their name because their surface is studded with protein spikes, like a spiky crown, which they use to enter animal cells. T he Defuse project proposed to search for and create SARS-like viruses carrying spikes with a unique feature: a furin cleavage site — the same feature that enhances SARS‑CoV‑2’s infectiousness in humans, making it capable of causing a pandemic. Defuse was never funded by the United States . However, in his testimony on Monday, Dr. Fauci explained that the Wuhan institute would not need to rely on U.S. funding to pursue research independently.

The Wuhan lab ran risky experiments to learn about how SARS-like viruses might infect humans.

1. Collect SARS-like viruses from bats and other wild animals, as well as from people exposed to them.

2. Identify high-risk viruses by screening for spike proteins that facilitate infection of human cells.

2. Identify high-risk viruses by screening for spike proteins that facilitate infection of

human cells.

In Defuse, the scientists proposed to add a furin cleavage site to the spike protein.

3. Create new coronaviruses by inserting spike proteins or other features that could make the viruses more infectious in humans.

4. Infect human cells, civets and humanized mice with the new coronaviruses, to determine how dangerous they might be.

While it’s possible that the furin cleavage site could have evolved naturally (as seen in some distantly related coronaviruses), out of the hundreds of SARS-like viruses cataloged by scientists, SARS‑CoV‑2 is the only one known to possess a furin cleavage site in its spike. And the genetic data suggest that the virus had only recently gained the furin cleavage site before it started the pandemic.
Ultimately, a never-before-seen SARS-like virus with a newly introduced furin cleavage site, matching the description in the Wuhan institute’s Defuse proposal, caused an outbreak in Wuhan less than two years after the proposal was drafted.
When the Wuhan scientists published their seminal paper about Covid-19 as the pandemic roared to life in 2020, they did not mention the virus’s furin cleavage site — a feature they should have been on the lookout for, according to their own grant proposal, and a feature quickly recognized by other scientists.
Worse still, as the pandemic raged, their American collaborators failed to publicly reveal the existence of the Defuse proposal. The president of EcoHealth, Peter Daszak, recently admitted to Congress that he doesn’t know about virus samples collected by the Wuhan institute after 2015 and never asked the lab’s scientists if they had started the work described in Defuse. In May, citing failures in EcoHealth’s monitoring of risky experiments conducted at the Wuhan lab, the Biden administration suspended all federal funding for the organization and Dr. Daszak, and initiated proceedings to bar them from receiving future grants. In his testimony on Monday, Dr. Fauci said that he supported the decision to suspend and bar EcoHealth.
Separately, Dr. Baric described the competitive dynamic between his research group and the institute when he told Congress that the Wuhan scientists would probably not have shared their most interesting newly discovered viruses with him . Documents and email correspondence between the institute and Dr. Baric are still being withheld from the public while their release is fiercely contested in litigation.
In the end, American partners very likely knew of only a fraction of the research done in Wuhan. According to U.S. intelligence sources, some of the institute’s virus research was classified or conducted with or on behalf of the Chinese military . In the congressional hearing on Monday, Dr. Fauci repeatedly acknowledged the lack of visibility into experiments conducted at the Wuhan institute, saying, “None of us can know everything that’s going on in China, or in Wuhan, or what have you. And that’s the reason why — I say today, and I’ve said at the T.I.,” referring to his transcribed interview with the subcommittee, “I keep an open mind as to what the origin is.”

3 The Wuhan lab pursued this type of work under low biosafety conditions that could not have contained an airborne virus as infectious as SARS‑CoV‑2.

Labs working with live viruses generally operate at one of four biosafety levels (known in ascending order of stringency as BSL-1, 2, 3 and 4) that describe the work practices that are considered sufficiently safe depending on the characteristics of each pathogen. The Wuhan institute’s scientists worked with SARS-like viruses under inappropriately low biosafety conditions .

In the United States, virologists generally use stricter Biosafety Level 3 protocols when working with SARS-like viruses.

Biosafety cabinets prevent

viral particles from escaping.

Viral particles

Personal respirators provide

a second layer of defense against breathing in the virus.

DIRECT CONTACT

Gloves prevent skin contact.

Disposable wraparound

gowns cover much of the rest of the body.

Personal respirators provide a second layer of defense against breathing in the virus.

Disposable wraparound gowns

cover much of the rest of the body.

Note: Biosafety levels are not internationally standardized, and some countries use more permissive protocols than others.

The Wuhan lab had been regularly working with SARS-like viruses under Biosafety Level 2 conditions, which could not prevent a highly infectious virus like SARS-CoV-2 from escaping.

Some work is done in the open air, and masks are not required.

Less protective equipment provides more opportunities

for contamination.

Some work is done in the open air,

and masks are not required.

Less protective equipment provides more opportunities for contamination.

In one experiment, Dr. Shi’s group genetically engineered an unexpectedly deadly SARS-like virus (not closely related to SARS‑CoV‑2) that exhibited a 10,000-fold increase in the quantity of virus in the lungs and brains of humanized mice . Wuhan institute scientists handled these live viruses at low biosafet y levels , including BSL-2.
Even the much more stringent containment at BSL-3 cannot fully prevent SARS‑CoV‑2 from escaping . Two years into the pandemic, the virus infected a scientist in a BSL-3 laboratory in Taiwan, which was, at the time, a zero-Covid country. The scientist had been vaccinated and was tested only after losing the sense of smell. By then, more than 100 close contacts had been exposed. Human error is a source of exposure even at the highest biosafety levels , and the risks are much greater for scientists working with infectious pathogens at low biosafety.
An early draft of the Defuse proposal stated that the Wuhan lab would do their virus work at BSL-2 to make it “highly cost-effective.” Dr. Baric added a note to the draft highlighting the importance of using BSL-3 to contain SARS-like viruses that could infect human cells, writing that “U.S. researchers will likely freak out.” Years later, after SARS‑CoV‑2 had killed millions, Dr. Baric wrote to Dr. Daszak : “I have no doubt that they followed state determined rules and did the work under BSL-2. Yes China has the right to set their own policy. You believe this was appropriate containment if you want but don’t expect me to believe it. Moreover, don’t insult my intelligence by trying to feed me this load of BS.”
SARS‑CoV‑2 is a stealthy virus that transmits effectively through the air, causes a range of symptoms similar to those of other common respiratory diseases and can be spread by infected people before symptoms even appear. If the virus had escaped from a BSL-2 laboratory in 2019, the leak most likely would have gone undetected until too late.
One alarming detail — leaked to The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by current and former U.S. government officials — is that scientists on Dr. Shi’s team fell ill with Covid-like symptoms in the fall of 2019 . One of the scientists had been named in the Defuse proposal as the person in charge of virus discovery work. The scientists denied having been sick .

4 The hypothesis that Covid-19 came from an animal at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan is not supported by strong evidence.

In December 2019, Chinese investigators assumed the outbreak had started at a centrally located market frequented by thousands of visitors daily. This bias in their search for early cases meant that cases unlinked to or located far away from the market would very likely have been missed. To make things worse, the Chinese authorities blocked the reporting of early cases not linked to the market and, claiming biosafety precautions, ordered the destruction of patient samples on January 3, 2020, making it nearly impossible to see the complete picture of the earliest Covid-19 cases. Information about dozens of early cases from November and December 2019 remains inaccessible.
A pair of papers published in Science in 2022 made the best case for SARS‑CoV‑2 having emerged naturally from human-animal contact at the Wuhan market by focusing on a map of the early cases and asserting that the virus had jumped from animals into humans twice at the market in 2019. More recently, the two papers have been countered by other virologists and scientists who convincingly demonstrate that the available market evidence does not distinguish between a human superspreader event and a natural spillover at the market.
Furthermore, the existing genetic and early case data show that all known Covid-19 cases probably stem from a single introduction of SARS‑CoV‑2 into people, and the outbreak at the Wuhan market probably happened after the virus had already been circulating in humans.

An analysis of SARS-CoV-2’s evolutionary tree shows how the virus evolved as it started to spread through humans.

SARS-COV-2 Viruses closest

to bat coronaviruses

more mutations

Source: Lv et al., Virus Evolution (2024) , as reproduced by Jesse Bloom

The viruses that infected people linked to the market were most likely not the earliest form of the virus that started the pandemic.

Not a single infected animal has ever been confirmed at the market or in its supply chain. Without good evidence that the pandemic started at the Huanan Seafood Market, the fact that the virus emerged in Wuhan points squarely at its unique SARS-like virus laboratory.

5 Key evidence that would be expected if the virus had emerged from the wildlife trade is still missing.

In previous outbreaks of coronaviruses, scientists were able to demonstrate natural origin by collecting multiple pieces of evidence linking infected humans to infected animals.

Infected animals

Earliest known

cases exposed to

live animals

Antibody evidence

of animals and

animal traders having

been infected

Ancestral variants

of the virus found in

Documented trade

of host animals

between the area

where bats carry

closely related viruses

and the outbreak site

Infected animals found

Earliest known cases exposed to live animals

Antibody evidence of animals and animal

traders having been infected

Ancestral variants of the virus found in animals

Documented trade of host animals

between the area where bats carry closely

related viruses and the outbreak site

For SARS-CoV-2, these same key pieces of evidence are still missing , more than four years after the virus emerged.

For SARS-CoV-2, these same key pieces of evidence are still missing ,

more than four years after the virus emerged.

Despite the intense search trained on the animal trade and people linked to the market, investigators have not reported finding any animals infected with SARS‑CoV‑2 that had not been infected by humans. Yet, infected animal sources and other connective pieces of evidence were found for the earlier SARS and MERS outbreaks as quickly as within a few days, despite the less advanced viral forensic technologies of two decades ago.
Even though Wuhan is the home base of virus hunters with world-leading expertise in tracking novel SARS-like viruses, investigators have either failed to collect or report key evidence that would be expected if Covid-19 emerged from the wildlife trade . For example, investigators have not determined that the earliest known cases had exposure to intermediate host animals before falling ill. No antibody evidence shows that animal traders in Wuhan are regularly exposed to SARS-like viruses, as would be expected in such situations.
With today’s technology, scientists can detect how respiratory viruses — including SARS, MERS and the flu — circulate in animals while making repeated attempts to jump across species . Thankfully, these variants usually fail to transmit well after crossing over to a new species and tend to die off after a small number of infections. In contrast, virologists and other scientists agree that SARS‑CoV‑2 required little to no adaptation to spread rapidly in humans and other animals . The virus appears to have succeeded in causing a pandemic upon its only detected jump into humans.

The pandemic could have been caused by any of hundreds of virus species, at any of tens of thousands of wildlife markets, in any of thousands of cities, and in any year. But it was a SARS-like coronavirus with a unique furin cleavage site that emerged in Wuhan, less than two years after scientists, sometimes working under inadequate biosafety conditions, proposed collecting and creating viruses of that same design.

While several natural spillover scenarios remain plausible, and we still don’t know enough about the full extent of virus research conducted at the Wuhan institute by Dr. Shi’s team and other researchers, a laboratory accident is the most parsimonious explanation of how the pandemic began.

Given what we now know, investigators should follow their strongest leads and subpoena all exchanges between the Wuhan scientists and their international partners, including unpublished research proposals, manuscripts, data and commercial orders. In particular, exchanges from 2018 and 2019 — the critical two years before the emergence of Covid-19 — are very likely to be illuminating (and require no cooperation from the Chinese government to acquire), yet they remain beyond the public’s view more than four years after the pandemic began.

Whether the pandemic started on a lab bench or in a market stall, it is undeniable that U.S. federal funding helped to build an unprecedented collection of SARS-like viruses at the Wuhan institute, as well as contributing to research that enhanced them . Advocates and funders of the institute’s research, including Dr. Fauci, should cooperate with the investigation to help identify and close the loopholes that allowed such dangerous work to occur. The world must not continue to bear the intolerable risks of research with the potential to cause pandemics .

A successful investigation of the pandemic’s root cause would have the power to break a decades-long scientific impasse on pathogen research safety, determining how governments will spend billions of dollars to prevent future pandemics. A credible investigation would also deter future acts of negligence and deceit by demonstrating that it is indeed possible to be held accountable for causing a viral pandemic. Last but not least, people of all nations need to see their leaders — and especially, their scientists — heading the charge to find out what caused this world-shaking event. Restoring public trust in science and government leadership requires it.

A thorough investigation by the U.S. government could unearth more evidence while spurring whistleblowers to find their courage and seek their moment of opportunity. It would also show the world that U.S. leaders and scientists are not afraid of what the truth behind the pandemic may be.

More on how the pandemic may have started

Where Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling.

Even if the coronavirus did not emerge from a lab, the groundwork for a potential disaster had been laid for years, and learning its lessons is essential to preventing others.

By Zeynep Tufekci

Why Does Bad Science on Covid’s Origin Get Hyped?

If the raccoon dog was a smoking gun, it fired blanks.

By David Wallace-Wells

A Plea for Making Virus Research Safer

A way forward for lab safety.

By Jesse Bloom

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Alina Chan ( @ayjchan ) is a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, and a co-author of “ Viral : The Search for the Origin of Covid-19.” She was a member of the Pathogens Project , which the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists organized to generate new thinking on responsible, high-risk pathogen research.

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Masks Strongly Recommended but Not Required in Maryland, Starting Immediately

Due to the downward trend in respiratory viruses in Maryland, masking is no longer required but remains strongly recommended in Johns Hopkins Medicine clinical locations in Maryland. Read more .

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COVID-19 Vaccine: What You Need to Know

The COVID-19 vaccine is very good at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. Because the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to change, vaccines are updated to help fight the disease. It is important to check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 vaccine information for the latest details. (Posted 11/22/23)

What is the COVID-19 vaccine?

The COVID-19 vaccine lessens the severity of COVID-19 by teaching the immune system to recognize and fight the virus that causes the disease.

For fall/winter 2023–2024, the updated COVID-19 vaccine is based on the XBB.1.5 variant. The updated vaccine is made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax. This season, only one shot of the vaccine is needed for most people, and there are no boosters. (People who are immunocompromised or ages 6 months to 4 years may need more than one 2023–2024 vaccine.)

How is the 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccine different from previous COVID-19 vaccines?

The 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccine targets XBB.1.5, a subvariant of Omicron. While none of the variants currently circulating are exact matches to the vaccine, they are all closely related to the XBB.1.5 strain. Studies show that the updated vaccine is effective against the variants currently causing the majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

Who should get a COVID-19 vaccine?

Because the 2023–2024 vaccine is effective for recent strains of COVID-19, it is recommended that everyone stay up to date with this vaccine. Previous vaccines or boosters were not developed to target the more recent strains. For 2023–2024, the CDC recommends:

Everyone age 5 and older receive one shot of the updated vaccine.
Children ages 6 months to 4 years may need more than one shot to be up to date.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may need more than one shot.

You can review the full recommendations on the CDC’s Stay Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines webpage . Be sure to talk to your primary care doctor or pediatrician if you are unsure about vaccine recommendations.

What are the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine?

Side effects vary and may last one to three days. Common side effects are:

Soreness at the injection site

COVID-19 Vaccine and Pregnancy

COVID-19 vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are safe and recommended for people who are pregnant or lactating, as well as for those r intending to become pregnant.

People who are pregnant or were recently pregnant are at a greater risk for severe COVID-19. Having a severe case of COVID-19 while pregnant is linked to a higher risk of pre-term birth and stillbirth and might increase the risk of other pregnancy complications.

What should parents know about the COVID-19 vaccine and children?

The CDC recommends the 2023–2024 vaccine for adolescents and teenagers ages 12 and older, and for children ages 6 months through 11 years.

Children age 5 and older need one shot of the updated vaccine.

Children are less likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 than adults, although serious illness can happen. Speak with your pediatrician if you have questions about having your child vaccinated.

If I recently had COVID-19, do I need a 2023–2024 vaccine?

If you recently had COVID-19, the CDC recommends waiting about three months before getting this updated vaccine. If you encounter the virus again, having the updated vaccine will:

Lessen your risk of severe disease that could require hospitalization
Reduce the chance that you infect someone else with COVID-19
Help keep you protected from currently circulating COVID-19 variants

How long should I wait to get this vaccine if I recently had an earlier version of a COVID-19 vaccine or booster?

People age 5 years and older should wait at least two months after getting the last dose of any COVID-19 vaccine before receiving the 2023–2024 vaccine, according to CDC guidance .

Is natural immunity better than a vaccine?

Natural immunity is the antibody protection your body creates against a germ once you’ve been infected with it. Natural immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 is no better than vaccine-acquired immunity, and it comes with far greater risks. Studies show that natural immunity to the virus weakens over time and does so faster than immunity provided by COVID-19 vaccination.

Do I need a COVID-19 booster?

The 2023–2024 vaccine is a one-shot vaccine for most people, and there is no booster this season. (People who are immunocompromised or ages 6 months to 4 years may need more than one 2023–2024 vaccine.)

The FDA calls this an updated vaccine (not a “booster” like previous shots) because it builds a new immune response to variants that are currently circulating. This change reflects the current approach of treating COVID-19 similarly to the flu, with preventive measures such as an annual vaccination.

When should I get a COVID-19 vaccine?

Like the flu and other respiratory diseases, COVID-19 tends to be more active in the fall and winter, so getting a vaccine in the fall is recommended.

How quickly does the COVID-19 vaccine become effective?

It usually takes about two weeks for the vaccine to become effective. The CDC website provides more information on how the COVID-19 vaccines work .

How long does the COVID-19 vaccine last?

Studies suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are most effective during the first three months after vaccination.

Is it safe to get a flu and COVID-19 vaccine at the same time?

Yes, it safe to get both shots at the same time. Keep in mind that each has similar side effects and you may experience side effects from both.

Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?

Yes. COVID-19 vaccines approved by the FDA meet rigorous testing criteria and are safe and effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. Millions of people have received the vaccines, and the CDC continues to monitor their safety and effectiveness as well as rare adverse events.

Where can I get a COVID-19 vaccine?

The COVID-19 vaccine is available at pharmacies. See vaccines.gov to find a convenient location.

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