The Economy, Society, and COVID-19

Research suggests that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global gross domestic product (GDP) will fall by 3% \citep{Mou2020}. However, the drop is not equal to all countries, with developing countries’ GDP dropping by 4%, with some countries having a drop of >6.5%. Because of this, there is a need for international cooperation in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which will help the economy in the long run \citep{Ahmad2020}.
Because of this, many countries had implemented lockdowns and health protocols. One of the rapidly growing economies of the world, India has implemented a 21-day lockdown, with the country experiencing a drop in its GDP growth forecast, from 5.3% to 2.5% \citep*{Sharma2020}. In the same study by Sharma and Mahendru, they had suggested that the Indian government to balance the intensity of lockdowns and economic development during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discussed that economic stimuli are useful in keeping people inside because when people have no food to eat, they will resort to finding jobs outside, which will endanger more lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, economic inequality is not the only inequality that is exacerbated by the pandemic. Gender differences are also intensified, as shown in a study that shows that female caregivers are more likely to contract SARS-CoV-2 because of increased exposure risk \citep{Connor2020}. In drug development trials, some researchers failed to include pregnant people in their studies, which might lead to possible risks not being researched enough. Another point made in the study is the increase in the partner and gender-based violence because of the lockdowns that are in place. Through this, there are multiple factors that cause stress in women, which are exacerbated by COVID-19. The researchers suggest that policies that consider the unique experiences of women must be implemented in order to lessen the inequalities that women experience during the pandemic.

Incidence and Mortality Rates

Incidence and mortality rates are important in understanding the extent of a pandemic. A beta regression model was developed in a study to understand the epidemiological indicators of morbidity (incidence rate) and mortality (mortality rate by cause and case-fatality rate) \citep{DeOliveira2020}. In another article, researchers identified different health indicators that might correlate with the case fatality rates of COVID-19 \citep{Ergonul2021}. Some factors that are of interest that decrease the case-fatality rate are the COVID-19 test rate, hospital bed density, and the rural population ratio.
Incidence and mortality rates from COVID-19 are also found to be directly proportional to the Human Development Index \citep*{Shahbazi2020}. The Human Development Index or HDI is measured from a 0 to 1 scale, with 1 having a very high human development and 0 having a low human development \citep{UnitedNationsDevelopmentProgramme2020} It is interesting to note that countries with a high and very high HDI have high incidence and mortality rates. Because of this, the authors of the article suggested that health programs must be instituted in order to decrease the incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 in these countries.

Methodology

Research Design

The research design of the study is solely quantitative, with the data being sourced from the World Health Organization's Data Table of COVID-19 \citep{WorldHealthOrganization2021}, The World Bank's GDP (current US$) \citep{TheWorldBank2021a}, The World Bank's GDP per capita (current US$) \citep{TheWorldBank2021a}, and The World Bank's total population data \cite{TheWorldBank2021b}. The data are collected from the latest release as of September 15, 2021 for the COVID-19 and population data. For the GDP and GDP per capita, they are accurate as of July 30, 2021.
The sample contains all of the countries that have data from both the World Health Organization and The World Bank, which allows for a wide economic range of countries being sampled. Most of these countries have experienced a year and a half of the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases goes from 0 cumulative cases from countries such as Kiribati and Micronesia to 40,804,998 cases from the United States last September 30, 2021 \citep{WorldHealthOrganization2021}. Population sizes are different too, with Nauru having the smallest population (10,764 people) and China having the largest population (1,397,715,000 people) last 2019 \citep{TheWorldBank2021b}.