As the fourth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic approaches, it is time to reflect on the impact it had on the world and the change it made to everyone’s lives. The global crisis put the world on pause for months, halting lives, relationships and education. Looking back on the past four years, there have been a lot of change in society through these unprecedented times. 

The COVID-19 virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, first appeared in late 2019, in Wuhan, China. It rapidly spread around the world, sending most people into quarantines, resulting in remote learning and working. Since then, over 700 million cases have been recorded, and nearly 7 million died. However, even after most lockdowns ended, the effects were not left behind. 

“Honestly, it’s made me a bit more anti-social,” FHS senior Rohan Seth said. “It was a lot harder to make connections with people.” 

Many also had a hard time dealing with the isolation brought about by the pandemic, and it resulted in lots of people spending time playing video games, reading books and listening to copious amounts of Taylor Swift.

For most students and teachers, getting used to online learning via video call was a huge challenge, as there was a lack of connection between students, teachers and classmates, making it more difficult for students to participate actively. Furthermore, students were more distracted by the limitless sources of entertainment available to them while in class.

“Some of the learning from those years was a little shaky, especially in math. But again, once we came back to in-person school, it was a lot better,” Seth said.

Students were not alone in facing challenges in online school. Teachers also saw teaching challenges. 

“The pandemic affected all of us in a very negative way. I think teaching and being a student is best done in person,” FHS Spanish teacher Cristina DeRuiter said. “Students were not as motivated to learn the way they learned in a classroom, and everything was affected adversely by having to teach remotely.”