Impact of Public Health Disasters: A Societal Point of View

For the past year and half, our society has been subjected to a public health emergency of a scale which few past tragedies can match. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted every tiny little aspect of how we functioned as a society. In one way or the other, it has altered the set norms that we have been following from time immemorial. While the Covid-19 pandemic has made all of us witnesses to scenarios unimagined by us, it is certainly not the first of its kind. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, our society has been subjected to several public health disasters, all of whom impacted and altered the former in multiple ways. This research aimed at finding the same. In this research, we have done a study of some of the most devastating public health emergencies and pandemics in the wake of whose, our society was left reeling and forced to give up its set norms. The methodology for the research included a study of the documented scenarios which arose post a major pandemic. We studied how and in what ways can a health emergency lead to changes in the ways of our living. To substantiate our findings, the researchers also conducted a survey in which responses to questions pertaining to the above mentioned themes were collected. Our research concluded that a society is bound to adapt and shift to new ways of functioning in the face of a public health emergency. While the adaption to a ‘new normal’ may not be absolute, it will still happen, with a few of the alterations to stay even after pre-emergency scenarios is restored. This has been observed in the past and holds true for the present Covid-19 pandemic.