At the outset, the received wisdom was that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was an old person killer. Young people would be spared the ravages of this pestilence. Anyone in excess of seven decades was especially vulnerable. Our knowledge of this virus has since grown. No longer is it just some flu-like epidemic, but a highly contagious viral pandemic that has (officially) hit all but 15 countries. The global public needs to forget some of these early assumptions. Perfectly fit and healthy young people have tragically died from the virus. Your birth date offers far from total protection, so we all must take the threat seriously. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a first analysis that showed that, of those hospitalized in the US, 38 percent of COVID-19 patients were under 55, while 20 percent were between the ages 20 of 44. But underneath this is another misleading assumption: It is not the elderly who will pay the heaviest price for this pandemic, it is the young. Perhaps the young may not lose their lives in so great numbers as the 70-plus age group, but they will have to bury their loved ones, or have them buried on their behalf in some anonymous ceremony nobody can attend. They will have to handle the loss and the grief. Our mental health is and will continue to be under massive pressure. Studies demonstrated that about 10 to 29 percent of people in quarantine during the 2003 SARS outbreak suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The World Health Organization has even published a guide to safeguarding your mental health during the outbreak. And who knows how many more pandemics we may face in the decades to come? Is this going to become a more regular feature of our lives, alongside challenges from antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the impact of climate change? Children are not immune. They are suffering from acute anxiety and parents cannot shield them from the news of what is going on outside their homes. Isolation, grief and fear will haunt them. They may miss out on months of vital schooling, even exams. All this will disrupt the vital process of learning social skills and making friends. Schools are closed and many cannot substitute this with online alternatives. What about families who do not have computers or sufficient bandwidth. In any event, this is no substitute to face-to-face learning. But also imagine being stuck in a house with abusive parents or one where domestic violence is escalating. Such abuse traumatizes children for decades. However, there are unexpected upsides. The US has just experienced its first March since 2002 without a school shooting. Hillary Clinton tweeted: “It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic to make this possible.” The economic depression this pandemic is producing will, of course, hit the future of the younger generations. The International Monetary Fund has estimated that the global economy will shrink by 3 percent in 2020. Unemployment is escalating everywhere and we do not know how and when this will end. With economies in freefall, the certainties of a comfortable upbringing will be ripped up. Small businesses are going under, but big brand names are also struggling, not least in the leisure and hospitality sector. Few consider how the extra government spending will be paid for. Consider the scale of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package in the US — it will saddle the nation with debt for decades. But the US is not alone. It is unlikely that we will ever return to life as it was on Jan. 1, 2020. In all likelihood, this pandemic will impact how we run our lives in ways we cannot yet predict. This may include our relationships with our governments and the outside world. People may also have a different attitude to travel. Countries will want to have greater domestic production of essential goods and more self-reliance. Globalization may have fewer fans. The supporters of closed borders may also win more plaudits and more votes. This will have a negative impact on the more open and cosmopolitan world young people have tended to aspire to. Dangerously, the pandemic has shown how vital international cooperation is, given the shocking and debilitating collective effort. Maybe, while being stuck at home, some people will thrive and learn new skills. An opportunity beckons and some are taking it. In Britain, one survey showed that the under-35s’ favorite lockdown pastimes — aside from using social media — are trying out new forms of exercise, reading books and playing board games. Most parents would be thrilled to see their children reading more books. A collective effort could mitigate all long-term negatives if we can learn the lessons. Human arrogance has been well and truly burst, not least in Europe and the US, which, at the end of February, seemed far less concerned than those in Asia or the Middle East. People realize that we may have to take greater care of our planet and not always dismiss things as scare stories and overreactions. Perhaps we could all tap into the collective efforts so well exemplified by health and front-line workers, who have kept people alive, our fridges stocked, our parcels delivered and our services running. Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding. Twitter: @Doylech