TACKLING POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC CHALLENGES THROUGH HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION FOR FAMILY SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious
disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
The origin of the coronavirus is said to have been
traced to the Wuhan seafood market in Wuhan,
China in late 2019 (Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2020). The outbreak was declared a
Public Health Emergency of International Concern
on 30 January 2020 and on 11th of February 2020,
the World Health Organization (WHO) announced
COVID-19 as the name of this new disease.
On March 11 2020, the World Health
Organization (WHO) (2020) officially declared a
global pandemic. Since then, the Covid-19
pandemic has had a dramatic effect, not least of
which is the clear demonstration of the fragility of
human life, with more than 170 million infections
and 3.5 million deaths in just over a year
(Worldometer, 2021) and with no end in sight. The
advent of this global pandemic is not without
precedent, with many pandemics changing the
course of human history over centuries, including
leprosy; the Black Death, plagues, cholera, measles,
the Russian, Spanish and Asian flus, HIV/AIDS and,
in the 21st century, SARS (History.com, 2020). One
of the key strategies for reducing the spread of the
virus has been to maintain a safe distance from others to avoid transmission, and to that end, since the pandemic was declared, most people around the world have been directed to isolate at home for a
period, alongside employing personal protective
behaviours such as wearing masks, washing hands
frequently, and avoiding crowds for the individual
and family safety.