It Is Not Just A Pandemic: How The COVID-19 Mega-Crisis Affects Grief

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated all aspects of society. Globally, the coronavirus disease has infected and killed millions of people, resulting in a lockdown that disrupted all major financial markets and economies, healthcare systems, and most social opportunities. As attention and resources have been allocated to address these immediate challenges, little is discussed about their impacts on grief, suicide, and mental health. While recent studies show correlations between financial loss and overall psychosocial well-being as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been little exploration into how these factors drive and impact other interconnected crises. Grounded on system thinking, this paper examines the psychosocial consequences of COVID-19 on marginalized individuals, many of whom have been disproportionately affected by additional and often compounding economic, social, political, and health challenges since the onset of COVID-19. To untangle the complexities and interactions between and across these challenges, it is argued that impacts of COVID-19 far exceed the boundaries of taxonomy used in prior events such as the 2008 financial crisis, or the 2003 SARS epidemic. Therefore, the term mega-crisis is used to classify COVID-19 as a system that consists of numerous crises; with each part deeply interconnected to one another, consisting of unique drivers, responses, and impacts.