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The Societal Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Where Do We Go From Here?

SUMMARY: Extreme social pressure, psychological and physical trauma, and isolation are outcomes of mainstream society’s response to the COVID-19 “pandemic.” Let’s break down the details in order to make wise decisions for ourselves, and inform friends, family, and acquaintances.

By Janey Bibolet Ward

In October 2019, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Health Security (CFHS), in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the The Gates Foundation held an exercise simulating a SARS global pandemic, Event 201. According to the Hopkins HUB, this simulation was the first of its kind to include private industry as part of the exercise. 

The organizers said

“The players’ responses to the scenario illuminated the need for cooperation among industry, national governments, key international institutions, and civil society, to avoid the catastrophic consequences that could arise from a large-scale pandemic.”

Social Control

An important question to ask is how close were they to accurately predicting the outcome of the most devastating pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918? Now that our global society is over two years into an actual lived experience that is eerily similar to this exercise, it’s worth investigating the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown of millions of people worldwide. 

“With some 2.6 billion people around the world in some kind of lockdown, we are conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment ever….”.   Isolating people from work, school, and community caused widespread destruction, fear, and despair that broke down the populace to accept a new level of government and social control resulting in a great loss of personal freedoms

The stay at home orders, mass business and school closures, travel bans, prohibition of religious gatherings, sports games, and entertainment events have disrupted daily life for weeks, then months into years. People lost jobs in record numbers and the stress of economic insecurity was catastrophic to many families, businesses and communities.

Division and Isolation on Children, Teens, and Elders

The collective psychological trauma affected various age subgroups differently. Isolation was most difficult for those living alone, the elderly in nursing homes, and children not able to socialize and develop normally, lacking interaction with peer groups. The very young experienced this in their formative years. Development for the youngest not able to read facial expressions and emotions instilled extreme fear/’stranger danger” from even close neighbors and friends. 

School-aged children and adolescents were kept from in person learning and forced to engage on screens; barred from activities with peer groups. We will see a whole generation of children with stunted social emotional growth and psychological impacts that will be difficult to measure. 

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledges the rise in teen attempted suicides throughout the COVID-19 pandemic:

“In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ED visits for suspected suicide attempts began to increase among adolescents aged 12–17 years, especially girls. During February 21–March 20, 2021, suspected suicide attempt ED visits were 50.6% higher among girls aged 12–17 years than during the same period in 2019; among boys aged 12–17 years, suspected suicide attempt ED visits increased 3.7%.”

Under constantly changing directives, there was increasing social pressure to adhere to mandates that limited social contact between select populations. This led to fear of others and a polarization in communities that politicized and divided people based on adherence to the rules of the “new normal.”

A New Variety of Tension and Distress

The propaganda in the media created a hyper state of frenzy, increasing stress and fear for a very long period of time. This created a state of torpor, almost a catatonic society unwilling to ask questions or be able to go on with daily life for over 2 years.

The extreme stress on essential workers and front line healthcare providers is currently the subject of multiple studies and is difficult to quantify. The psychological impacts from the prolonged duration of the pandemic calls for new crisis intervention models and therapies to treat post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and extreme depressive disorders in this population. While society returns to “normal,” front line and essential workers continue to serve under the duress of not knowing when this will end.

The Rich Got Richer

As the general population suffered, large corporations realized massive profit gains and the distribution of wealth shifted rapidly to the top economic tier. While the elites were able to weather the hardships by fleeing to second homes and even other countries, the middle class and lower socio-economic groups were forced to suffer the consequences. 

To add further distress, supply chain shortages and massive rates of inflation raised the costs of basic goods and services. Food shortages were evident in markets serving the low to medium income populations whereas markets in wealthier areas were better stocked. 

Farmers and ranchers suffered from restaurant and store closures to the extent that many had to cull herds to the point that they could not provide supply when businesses finally did reopen. Many small businesses have permanently closed and lacked the capital to reopen after months of lost revenue. 

The Masses Were Fooled

It became clear there was no scientific basis for the extended lockdowns. The virus would continue to mutate into multiple new strains. And yet, the government and public health agencies continued to implement these restrictive measures at great cost to the populace. 

In order to participate in society as the stay at home orders eased, widespread mask mandates were instituted despite the evidence that masking would not stop transmission or prevent infection. In fact, masking could increase the severity of infection and incidence of death. 

Despite these facts on the inefficacy of masking, false positives on testing, and widespread transmission of COVID-19 by the vaccinated, the “Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board readopted the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) for the third time.” This puts pressure on employers to abide by these guidelines regardless of their beliefs or the beliefs of their employees, and even greater stress on employees to get vaccinated, agree to testing, and suffer the adverse effects of daily masking.

A recent study in the Lancet showed no significant relationship between mask mandates and case rates in schools. The directives were geared toward social conditioning to control the population to comply, in order to participate in society again in advance of the vaccine rollout. 

Once the vaccines were granted Emergency Use Authorization (EAU), vaccine mandates were instituted by federal agencies, corporations, small businesses, and schools. There is currently enormous pressure to conform or lose one’s livelihood and status/position in the economy and community. Requiring these vaccines will be never ending due to new variants emerging. A new booster rollout has been announced for September 2022 to target B5 and 6 without adequate time for clinical trials to test for safety and efficacy.

Life Under Their Observation

Of grave concern, in concert with these societal restrictions and mandates, is the future of sovereignty. The rise of a new form of technocratic totalitarianism is increasing mass surveillance and normalizing digital tracking, contact tracing, and facial recognition. 

Digital IDs are currently being developed to link to banking/financial transactions and future vaccine passports. Private industry profiting on AI technology is eroding our human and constitutional rights, yet being readily accepted since the government is not the main culprit, only a driver. 

The growing mistrust and lack of confidence in institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services  (HHS), The World Health Organization (WHO), and the now dissolved Office of Misinformation/Disinformation is presenting society with brave new questions and choices. Censorship and collusion by government and media is coming to light after a recent discovery request was filed by Attorneys General Schmidt and Landry.

Run Don’t Walk

In light of constant fear mongering, continually changing information, and unsustainable protocols and restrictions, the world is faced with new challenges, and how society responds will determine the future of our children. How you respond will influence your peace of mind or lack thereof. Now more than ever, it’s an opportune time to build your support systems, solidify your food supply chain, and strengthen your bonds with like-minded neighbors and communities.

~

Published on August 04, 2022

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