Month: March 2022

Categories
Pandemic Art

“You’re Not Imagining It”

The title of this post is the opening line to Donna Ashworth’s poem that she published on February 26, 2021. She hails from Scotland and is a famous author and poet.

This poem echoed how many of us felt during the height of the pandemic when many countries were under lockdown and people were restricted to working from home and only being allowed out to buy groceries and attend medical appointments. The poem went viral and appeared in memes, though sadly the meme did not credit the author.

You’re not imagining it, nobody seems to want to talk right now.
Messages are brief and replies late.
Talk of catch ups on zoom are perpetually put on hold.
Group chats are no longer pinging all night long.

It’s not you.
It’s everyone.
We are spent.
We have nothing left to say.
We are tired of saying ‘I miss you’ and ‘I cant wait for this to end’.
So we mostly say nothing, put our heads down and get through each day.

You’re not imagining it.
This is a state of being like no other we have ever known because we are all going through it together but so very far apart.

Hang in there my friend.
When the mood strikes, send out all those messages and don’t feel you have to apologise for being quiet.

This is hard.


Social Media Trends as of April 29, 2022

Facebook #yourenotimaginingit: people are posting about this
Instagram #yourenotimaginingit: 39 posts


Sources:

“You’re Not Imagining It.” Donna Ashworth. February 26, 2021. URL: https://donnaashworth.com/2021/02/26/youre-not-imagining-it/.

Categories
Employment Pandemic Remote Working

Remote working

Since the widespread adoption of the Internet, people have been remote working for years, though this mainly applied to tech workers. Once the pandemic started in 2020 many states and countries began the process of lock-down and asked workers, where possible, to do their work from home. As a result, meeting apps like Zoom took off in popularity as more and more business meetings were conducted virtually. As of the date of this blog post, more companies have asked their workers to go back to the office, though it seems the full time 9-5 workweek has disappeared in favor of hybrid working arrangements.

On March 12, 2020 my office closed and we were all told to work from home with the expectation we would be back after two weeks of quarantine. Well, two weeks turned into two years and I am still working remotely though I’m now on a hybrid schedule. When I went back to the office in 2021 I was the only person there. The silence was deafening and the atmosphere felt like something from the movie I am Legend starring Will Smith. Everyone’s desk calendar was still open to March 2020. It was as if time had stood still.

Back at the office: a year after lock-down, everyone’s desk calendar was still open to March 2020.

Social Media Trends as of March 14, 2022

Google Trends: remote working is not a new term, but during the pandemic it reached its peak during the week of March 15, 2021. It dipped for a while but started to increase during March 2022 as the effects of the pandemic waned and more employees were asked to go back to the office.

Remote working search term


Categories
Virus

Breakthrough case

Shortly after vaccines became available, some vaccinated individuals were still contracting Covid-19. These were called “breakthrough cases” or “breakthrough infections.”

Concerning breakthrough cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says: “Some people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get sick and have a vaccine breakthrough infection because no vaccine is 100% effective.”


Social Media Trends as of April 27, 2022

Facebook #breakthroughcase: people are posting about this
Instagram #breakthroughcase: 285 posts
TikTok #breakthroughcase: 7.8 million views
YouTube #breakthroughcase: less than 100 videos and channels

Google Trends: “breakthrough case” started to appear during the week of February 7, 2021 reaching its peak during the week of August 8, 2021. A second spike in activity was reached during the week of December 19, 2021 when the Omicron variant was the dominant strain.

breakthrough case search term

Sources:

“Breakthrough case.” Google Trends. URL: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2019-11-30%202022-03-14&geo=US&q=%22breakthrough%20case%22.

“COVID-19 Vaccines are Effective.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dec 23, 2021. URL: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/effectiveness/index.html.

Categories
Virus

Contact Tracing

The first use of the phrase “Contact Tracing” dates back to 1910. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Contact Tracing as “the practice of identifying, notifying, and monitoring individuals who may have had close contact with a person having a confirmed or probable case of an infectious disease as a means of controlling the spread of infection.”

During the pandemic era, many individuals who contracted Covid-19 have been asked by the authorities to provide names and contact details of any person they may have come into contact with so these contacts can be asked to quarantine.

For the most part, contact tracing has ended in many countries. NBC News reported on April 26, 2022 that New York State’s “last day of COVID-19 contact tracing will be Friday, April 29 [and that] counties Tuesday began notifying people that those who test positive for COVID-19 after April 29 will not receive a text message.“

Social Media Trends as of April 27, 2022

Facebook #contacttracing: 21,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #contacttracing: 20,820 posts
TikTok #contacttracing: 14.6 million views
YouTube #contacttracing: 860 videos; 536 channels

Google Trends: contact tracing reached its peak during the week of May 10, 2020.

contact tracing search term

Sources:

castleski. “Contact tracing app concept on generic mockup smartphone for Covid-19 pandemic to trace people who have got infected by the virus.” Shutterstock.com. Standard License. Royalty-free stock vector ID: 1758976982.

“Contact tracing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. URL: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contact%20tracing?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld.

“NYSDOH ending contact tracing Friday. Here’s how to self-report case to counties.” WHEC-TV, LLC. A Hubbard Broadcasting Company. April 26, 2022. URL: https://www.whec.com/coronavirus/nysdoh-ending-contact-tracing-friday-what-counties-are-doing/6456108/.

Categories
Virus

B.C. (before Corona)

I first heard the phrase “Before Corona” in the middle of 2020. The abbreviation “B.C.” has also been referred to as “Before Covid.”

The March 17, 2020 online edition of the New York Times published an opinion written by Thomas L. Friedman where he says: “There is the world B.C. – Before Corona – and the world A.C. – After Corona. We have not even begun to fully grasp what the A.C. world will look like.”

The phrase appeared in a meme depicting a black and white photo of a restaurant scene “before Corona”. This reflects the general thoughts and feelings during lockdown when restaurants were forced to close and people could no longer go out to eat and mingle freely.

A popular meme that appeared in social media

Social Media Trends as of April 27, 2022

Facebook #beforecorona: 24,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #beforecorona: 151,032 posts
TikTok #beforecorona: 77.2 million views
YouTube #beforecorona: 426 videos; 327 channels

Google Trends: before Corona reached its peak in March 2020.

Before Corona search term

Sources:

“A Photo Of People Eating In A Restaurant 2019 BC (Before Corona).” Shut Up And Take My Money. URL: https://www.shutupandtakemymoney.com/a-photo-of-people-eating-in-a-restaurant-2019-bc-before-corona-meme/.

Friedman, Thomas L. “Our New Historical Divide: B.C. and A.C. — the World Before Corona and the World After.” The New York Times. March 17, 2020. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-trends.html.

Categories
Virus

Covid-19

A press conference held on February 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization announced the origins of the virus name COVID-19:

“First of all we now have a name for the disease and it is CoViD-19 and I will spell it; C O V I D – 19. Co – C O – stands for corona, as you know; V I stands for virus; D for disease so CoViD. Under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Health Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organisation – meaning WHO, OAE and FAO of the United Nations; we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease. Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.”

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Covid-19 as “a mild to severe respiratory illness that is caused by a coronavirus (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Betacoronavirus), is transmitted chiefly by contact with infectious material (such as respiratory droplets) or with objects or surfaces contaminated by the causative virus, and is characterized especially by fever, cough, and shortness of breath and may progress to pneumonia and respiratory failure.”


Social Media Trends as of April 24, 2022

Facebook #covid19: 15 million people are posting about this
Instagram #covid19: 46.4 million posts
TikTok #covid19: 98.6 billion views
YouTube #covid19: 2.5 million videos; 629,000 channels

Google Trends: covid19 reached its peak during the week of March 22, 2020.

Covid19 search term

Sources:

“Coronavirus press conference.” World Health Organization. 11 February 2020. URL: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/who-audio-emergencies-coronavirus-full-press-conference-11feb2020-final.pdf.

“COVID-19.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. URL: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/COVID-19.