Everything about our lives was changed by the Pandemic. It was a mental challenge to deal with so many changes at once. As Covid-19 fades out, some of the pressures will ease as life becomes more recognisable. The beginning of the epidemic required an adjustment.
We are not the same people that we were then, and we are not the same ones now. Some of us will face mental health problems, like those who have developed chronic grief over the loss of loved ones, or people who have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder because of their experiences with the disease.
A new vocabulary of psychological terms has arisen during the Pandemic. The labels provided by these neologisms helped people better understand their experiences. The terms have served their purpose and will probably be replaced with more conventional psychiatric labels once the pandemic is over.
Pandemics don't usually have clean, neat endings. It is unlikely that you will wake up one morning to news reports that Covid has left. It may take months or longer for some people to be reassured that the Pandemic is over, and even longer for others to relax into activities that were fraught with risk for two years.
Many may think that the end of the Pandemic is more a political construct than anything else. People became tired and frustrated with the restrictions on travel and socialisation that were imposed by the government. Some people see the threat as overblown and are motivated to protest against remaining restrictions. Governments initially crack down on people who break the rules, but it gets harder to enforce them when politicians ignore them. Government decisions to lift restrictions and allow people to live their lives as before are likely to be a result of community-wide fatigue with Covid.
The promised post-pandemic party time seems increasingly unlikely as a result of all this. People will return to their previous lives as the current epidemic fades.
When the WHO declares that we have entered a vaguely defined post-pandemic period, there will be celebrations. In the past, the WHO has wrongly declared an outbreak over, for example, in 2015 and 2016 it wrongly declared an outbreak over. Covid can look forward to entering a post-pandemic period with all the uncertainty the term implies. People will have to decide for themselves, based on their risk tolerance, whether they should wear masks, go to crowded social gatherings or not, as covid will still be circulating in communities. The status quo will have to be adjusted, just as it did during the end of the 1918 Spanish flu and 1889 Russian flu.
The emotional legacy of Covid will become clearer in the months and years to come. The mental health toll may not be apparent for a while. The research shows that most people will bounce back, and some will grow up as human beings. This involves growing through adversity as people learn to become more resilient and develop a deeper appreciation for everyday things in life, such as our connections to friends and family.
The ability to manage stressors, large and small, in our lives has been taught by the Pandemic. A tough couple of years may have left a positive legacy.
Steven Taylor is a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia.
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