COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND PHYSICAL DISTANCING IN THE MODERN WORLD: A CHALLENGE TO GLOBAL HUMANISM

Abstract

December 2019 brought a negative turn in the global health sector. This is as it marked the emergence of an infectious pandemic known as COVID-19. Spreading from Wuhan, in Hubei province of China, this infectious virus direly affected the global health sector and became a huge challenge to global humanism. This challenge emerged as global emphasis among other remedies dwell on physical distancing among people in to order minimize infections. As such, human relationship; social and personal contact on which humanism depends was hindered. Analytically therefore, this paper examines how COVID-19 and its remedy of physical distancing have become a challenge to global humanism. This study finds that COVID-19 and present physical distancing tend to separate people from one another. Yet, both are paradoxically uniting humanity and enhancing human capability and responsibility towards a common front in addressing global challenges. As such, this paper concludes that difficulties naturally foster the growth of humanism which now thrives more than before. This growth has been visible in human ingenuity towards discovery of COVID-19 vaccines, action plans like regular washing of hands, wearing of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) that stand as reflection of humanism in the modern world.