Social Work Students' Experiences of Loss and Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Study

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with significant impacts to daily life and diverse experiences of loss among college and university students. The aim of the current study is to describe social work students' experiences of loss and grief following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and explore the ways these experiences may have differed by program degree, modality, and background characteristics. Method: A cross-sectional survey (N=354) administered with social work students across degree programs during April–May 2020 provided both quantitative and qualitative open-ended responses. We used a convergent mixed-methods design to merge inductively analyzed qualitative data and quantitative demographic and background data. Results: Key findings highlight students' varied and compounded experiences of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, with differences in loss experienced by program modality (traditional, hybrid, or online) and age. Conclusion: Findings suggest the need for social work education programmatic responses for students' overlapping experiences of loss and grief from the COVID-19 pandemic and future academic disruptions, with particular attention to students of younger age and differing program modality.

Odzivi socialnega dela na ukrepe za zajezitev epidemije covida-19 v domovih za stare ljudi

V prvem delu prispevka je prikazano, kako je epidemija covida-19 obudila ideje o razvoju socialnega dela s starimi ljudmi. Pogostejše kršitve človekovih pravic, povečevanje diskriminacije starih ljudi in iskanje odgovorov na vse hujše stiske ob socialni izolaciji starih ljudi so teme, ki kar kličejo po vzpostavitvi specializacije za socialno delo s starimi ljudmi. Razvoj specializiranega znanja pa koristi tudi razvoju socialnega dela v domovih za stare ljudi. Prikazane so nekatere ključne prakse za razvoj novih področij socialnega dela v domovih. V osrednjem delu prispevka je opisana raziskava s socialnimi delavkami slovenskih domov in predstavljeni so rezultati o vplivu epidemije na socialno delo. Prikazano je, kateri so ključni izzivi za socialno delo, kako socialno delo ohranja vlogo pri organizaciji oskrbe v domu in katere so najbolj žgoče etične dileme socialnega dela. Predstavljene so tako pomanjkljivosti kot prednosti socialnega dela, da bi obstoječa tveganja za socialno delo prepoznali kot priložnost za nadaljnji razvoj stroke.Alternate abstract:The first part of the article shows how the covid-19 epidemic revived ideas about the development of social work with old people. More frequent violations of human rights, increasing discrimination of old people, and searching for answers to the increasingly severe hardships of the social isolation of the old people - these are topics that call for the establishment of specialization for social work with old people. The development of specialized knowledge also benefits the development of social work in homes for old people. Some key practices for the development of new areas of social work in homes are shown. In the central part of the paper, research with social workers in Slovenian homes is described and the results of the epidemic's impact on social work are presented. The article presents the key challenges forsocial work, howsocial work maintains its role at organizing institutional care and what are the most pressing ethical dilemmas of social work. Both the shortcomings and advantages of social work are shown in order to recognize the existing risks for social work as an opportunity for further development of the profession.

COVID-19 racism and the perpetual foreigner narrative: the impacts on Asian American students

Asian Americans are the targets of COVID-19 racism across the United States, suffering verbal attacks, physical assaults, and online harassment. Based on an analysis of in-depth interviews and social media posts, this study foregrounds the experiences of students at a predominately white, public California university in order to explore COVID-19 racism as it affects Asian Americans. We find that COVID-19 has intensified discriminatory treatment that preceded the pandemic. In particular, in the context of the ‘perpetual foreigner' narrative, Asian American students are defined as carriers of disease and as foreigners. We explore the process by which Asian Americans are cast as so-called ‘perpetual foreigners', alongside other primary themes including the particular role of zoombombings in creating and cementing fear, and Asian-American students' and community responses to COVID-19 racism.

Society in Front of a COVID-19 Pandemic: India Versus Ukraine

The article deals with the problem of personal reaction to the danger of COVID-19 virus infection and its influence on social processes. Based on the results, the survey proposes the answers to the central questions of public health services development: what is the correlation between the trust of citizens in a national healthcare system, the government's decision, and the effectiveness of lockdown measures taken to stop the coronavirus spreading with reference of Ukraine and India. This research analyses focus on personal and social attitude towards the immediate danger and the ways how different cultural environments react to the new factors of development and risk in general. It proves that personal and social responsibility is directly connected with a level of trust in the national healthcare system and government decisions. Indian and Ukrainian societies before a face of equal danger and experiencing similar personal emotions show the different social behaviour due to the opposite attitude to national healthcare policy and different social and personal evaluations of the government response. The comparison of the answers of Indian and Ukrainian respondents showed a higher level of passive social reaction and obedience in the Indian group and the lower level of obedience and a higher level of active-controlled and uncontrolled reaction in the Ukrainian group. The research paper proposes some conclusions and recommendations about effective social management of personal and public healthcare challenges. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canadian Social Connections: A Thematic Analysis

Background On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. Responses to the pandemic response disrupted Canadian social connections in complex ways;because social connections are determinants of health and well-being, their disruption could adversely affect health and well-being. Moreover, understanding how pandemics and public health responses affect social connections could inform pandemic recovery strategy and public health approaches designed for future pandemics. The purpose of this study is to understand experiences of pandemic impact on social connections over the pandemic. Methods A sample of 343 Canadian adults was recruited through Athabasca University and social media. Participants were predominantly White (81%) and female (88%). After the pandemic onset, participants responded to open-ended questions about the impact of the pandemic on and any changes to social connections at three time points (baseline, and three- and 6 months from study entry). Responses were categorized into epochs by date (April-June 2020 [Spring];July-August 2020 [Summer];September 2020-January 2021 [Fall/Winter]). Qualitative thematic analysis was used to code themes for each epoch. Results Negative impact of the pandemic (37–45%), loss of social connections (32–36%), and alternative means of connection (26–32%) were prominent themes across the epochs. Restrictions to face-to-face connections were largest in spring (9%) and lowest in the Summer (4%). Conversely, participants increasingly reported limited contact or communication into the Fall and Winter (6–12%) as pandemic restrictions in Canada were reinstated. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic threatens social connections, with negative impacts that fluctuated with COVID-19 case rates and subsequent pandemic restrictions. These findings could be used to identify targets for social supports during the pandemic recovery, and to adjust public health strategies for future pandemics that minimize impact on social connections.

RUSSIAN SOCIETY'S RESPONSES TO THE SOCIAL CHALLENGES OF THE PANDEMIC

The purpose of the article is to determine the national characteristics of overcoming the social consequences of the pandemic in the Russian society. The planetary spread of the COVID-19 virus, which takes place regardless of state national borders, has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of world integration on a global scale and, at the same time, has shown the reserves of a national solution to economic, political and cultural problems in a pandemic situation. The author proposes the author's solution to the problem of Russia's place in the world civilizationalprocess, determines the specifics of the country's civilizational development, which determines decision-making in the management of social processes, using civilizational approach, historical and comparative methods. The result of the study is the substantiation of the position on the crisis of the globalization project, the signs of which are the inability of the world community to ensure intercultural interaction and consolidate in solving the problem of the pandemic, as well as the refusal to recognize Russian achievements in the fight against the virus. It was concluded that only national-state localization and tough government decisions can have positive consequences in an extreme situation. The practical value of the results of scientific research lies in the possibility of using the conclusions that we justified to assess the social situation and develop specific political and economic measures to overcome the negative social consequences of the pandemic in Russian society, to organize tolerant intercultural communication in the world community.

Society in Front of a COVID-19 Pandemic: India Versus Ukraine

The article deals with the problem of personal reaction to the danger of COVID-19 virus infection and its influence on social processes. Based on the results, the survey proposes the answers to the central questions of public health services development: what is the correlation between the trust of citizens in a national healthcare system, the government's decision, and the effectiveness of lockdown measures taken to stop the coronavirus spreading with reference of Ukraine and India. This research analyses focus on personal and social attitude towards the immediate danger and the ways how different cultural environments react to the new factors of development and risk in general. It proves that personal and social responsibility is directly connected with a level of trust in the national healthcare system and government decisions. Indian and Ukrainian societies before a face of equal danger and experiencing similar personal emotions show the different social behaviour due to the opposite attitude to national healthcare policy and different social and personal evaluations of the government response. The comparison of the answers of Indian and Ukrainian respondents showed a higher level of passive social reaction and obedience in the Indian group and the lower level of obedience and a higher level of active-controlled and uncontrolled reaction in the Ukrainian group. The research paper proposes some conclusions and recommendations about effective social management of personal and public healthcare challenges. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Жизненный мир помогающей профессии в период пандемии: переосмысление символических границ

В статье представлены теоретические ракурсы рассмотрения символических границ в практике помогающей профессии, раскрытые и интерпретированные на основе анализа интервью с социальными работниками и маломобильными получателями услуг в трех российских городах. Авторы рассматривают уровни и свойства символических границ в отношениях, складывающихся в практике повседневности социальной работы под влиянием вызовов пандемии, когда усложняются противоречия повседневной практики, растут риски и уязвимость участников взаимодействий. Показано, что конструирование символических границ становится практической задачей, которую решают в своей трудовой рутине работники социальных служб. Жизненный мир социальных работников рассмотрен в триединстве представлений, опыта и средовых условий, рассматриваются реакции работников социальных служб на основные вызовы в период пандемии: рост барьеров в контактной и удаленной работе;противоречивость организационных нововведений;новые риски в условиях растущих потребностей и уязвимости клиентов;риски выгорания, управление эмоциями и стрессом. Показано, что изменения символических границ, ведущие к нарушению целостности профессиональной идентичности, требуют особых усилий «пограничной работы». По результатам анализа интервью выделено несколько типов пограничной работы: кристаллизация, закрытие, страдание, компромисс, нарушение, творчество.Alternate :The article presents the results of a qualitative study of symbolic boundaries in social work during the COVID‑19 pandemic revealed and interpreted in the narrative interviews with practitioners and service users in three Russian cities. The authors consider features of symbolic boundaries in relationships developing in the everyday life of social work under the influence of the pandemic challenges, when contradictions in everyday practice become more complicated, while risks and vulnerability of communication with the clients increase. It is demonstrated that the construction of symbolic boundaries becomes a practical task that social service workers solve in their work routine. The life world of social workers is considered in the triangle of views, experience, and environmental conditions. Social workers' responses to the main challenges during the pandemic are considered: the growing barriers in contact and remote work;inconsistency of organizational innovations;new risks in the face of growing needs and vulnerability of clients;burnout risks, emotion and stress management. It is shown that changes in symbolic boundaries, leading to a violation of professional identity integrity, require special efforts in boundary work. According to the results of the interview analysis, several types of boundary work are identified: crystallization, closure, suffering, compromise, violation, creativity.

I FELT GUILTY [THAT] I DIDN’T DO ENOUGH. ORGANIZATIONAL AND POLICY RESPONSES EXACERBATED FRONTLINE SOCIAL WORKER DISTRESS

This study explores urban social workers’ experiences working the front lines during COVID-19’s first wave. It aims to uncover social workers’ shifts in roles and responsibilities across the health and social service network, to illuminate how these shifts impacted them, and ultimately to derive meaning from these experiences to inform future directions for the profession. Eight social workers from a range of contexts were interviewed. Our analyses revealed that, while all participants described some negatives of front-line pandemic work, the frequency and intensity of these moments were exacerbated by organizational and policy responses. When social workers were expected to work outside of their scope of practice, when their skills were overlooked or underutilized, and when their organizational contexts focused on individual distress rather than collective support, they reported intensified periods of distress. If we hope to retain the health and wellbeing of our workforce and preserve the value of the profession, systemic preventative responses must take priority. Building opportunities for collective on-going peer support and debriefing, leveraging the expertise of social workers to address psychosocial issues, and including the voices of front-line workers in the development of solutions to pandemic-related hardships may help reduce social work distress and improve front-line workers’ responses to social issues.Alternate :Cette étude explore les expériences des travailleuses sociales et des travailleurs sociaux de première ligne en milieu urbain durant la première vague de COVID-19. Elle vise à mettre en lumière les changements de rôles et de responsabilités dans le réseau de la santé et des services sociaux, afin de montrer comment ces changements les ont affectés et prendre en compte ces expériences pour les orientations futures de la profession. Huit travailleuses sociales et travailleurs sociaux de différents milieux ont été interviewés. Nos analyses suggèrent que bien que tous les participants aient vécu des expériences négatives dans le cadre du travail de première ligne durant la pandémie, la fréquence et l’intensité de ces expériences ont été exacerbées par les politiques et le contexte organisationnel. Les travailleuses sociales et les travailleurs sociaux ont signalé des périodes de détresse plus importantes lorsqu’ils devaient oeuvrer en dehors de leur champ de pratique, que leurs compétences n’étaient pas prises en compte ou qu’elles étaient sous-utilisées et que les contextes organisationnels priorisaient la détresse individuelle plutôt que le soutien collectif. Si nous voulons maintenir la santé et le bien-être de nos travailleuses et travailleurs, et préserver la valeur de notre profession, il importe d’interventir de manière systémique et préventive. Des strategies telles que le soutien collectif par les pairs, le debriefing, la mobilisation de l’expertise des travailleuses sociales et des travailleurs sociaux pour intervenir au plan psychosocial, et l’inclusion des voix des travailleuses et travailleurs de première ligne dans le développement de solutions pour répondre aux difficultés reliées à la pandémie pourraient aider à réduire la détresse et améliorer leur réponse aux problèmes sociaux.

Fighting Poverty in Times of Crisis in Europe: Is Resilience a Hidden Resource for Social Policy?

The debt crisis sparked a growing interest in resilience as a means to address socioeconomic hardship in Europe. This research used qualitative secondary analysis of three emblematic cases to examine resilience processes in countries with diverse welfare regimes: Poland, Portugal and Ireland. The goal is to undertake a comparative analysis of the lived experiences of households in situations of hardship, while addressing the influence of sociopolitical frameworks on social agency. Under an economic recession and reduced social investment, findings show that resilience processes had only marginal positive effects, consisting mostly of survival practices to cope with increased levels of poverty and social risk, regardless of national setting. Instead of leading to sustained improvements in their lives, resilience processes increased the vulnerability of individuals. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors discuss why policy-makers remain attracted to resilience as a social response to crises and how it is shaping the European Union's social policy.

The Conditions of Resilience: Families, Social Services and Social Workers Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article draws on empirical evidence from a study that explored the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on families and social services. During the first wave of the pandemic, an online survey was administered to Italian social workers. The aim was to give voice to the perspective of frontline professionals, analysing the transformation of families' needs, and practices activated by social services to respond to emerging issues. Our study reveals the dynamic interplay of individual characteristics, family networks, and measures deployed by policies and social services to cope with the crisis. Through common themes that emerged from the analysis, this article shows how resilience of professionals and informal social networks can be enhanced before and after severe stressors arise, as well as the influence of organizational and structural conditions that can foster or hinder resilient responses. Social work can be strategic to anticipate critical developments, as well as to be prepared in fostering adaptive transformations, involving people and institutions in a process of collective learning. The pandemic has shown the effectiveness of more flexible and creative practices: the challenge is now to coconstruct cultural and structural changes that allow incorporating them into new routines of social work practices, and to orient the renewal of welfare models and social interventions.

How do community responses from global south contribute to climate justice and resilience debate?

Torres, Pedro Henrique Campello;Jacobi, Pedro Roberto. Towards a just climate change resilience: Developing resilient, anticipatory and inclusive community response. Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021Alternate : “Towards a just climate change resilience: Developing resilient, anticipatory and inclusive community response” fills an important gap in literature about climate justice and community responses by focusing its lenses in the global south. Designedly, the chapters cover the issue in all the continents where territories and their populations are located in the global south: Brazil and Uruguay (South America), Bangladesh (Asia), Mozambique (Africa) and Solomon Islands (Oceania). The biggest lesson learned from the cases is that strengthening the role of communities and multi-stakeholder coalitions is essential to reduce the injustices and inequalities inherent in anthropogenic climate change, in the face of deforestation, water contamination, declining catches, political instabilities and other economic impacts.Alternate : “Towards a just climate change resilience: Developing resilient, anticipatory and inclusive community response” preenche uma lacuna importante na literatura sobre justiça climática e respostas da comunidade, concentrando suas lentes no sul global. De maneira planejada, os capítulos cobrem o tema em todos os continentes onde os territórios e suas populações estão localizados no sul global: Brasil e Uruguai (América do Sul), Bangladesh (Ásia), Moçambique (África) e Ilhas Salomão (Oceania). A maior lição aprendida com os casos é que fortalecer o papel das comunidades e coalizões de múltiplas partes interessadas é essencial para reduzir as injustiças e desigualdades inerentes às mudanças climáticas antropogênicas, diante do desmatamento, contaminação da água, diminuição da pesca, instabilidades políticas e outros impactos econômicos.Alternate : “Towards a just climate change resilience: Developing resilient, anticipatory and inclusive community response” llena un vacío importante en la literatura sobre la justicia climática y las respuestas comunitarias al enfocar sus lentes en el sur global. Diseñados, los capítulos cubren el tema en todos los continentes donde los territorios y sus poblaciones se encuentran en el sur global: Brasil y Uruguay (América del Sur), Bangladesh (Asia), Mozambique (África) e Islas Salomón (Oceanía). La mayor lección aprendida de los casos es que fortalecer el papel de las comunidades y las coaliciones de múltiples partes interesadas es esencial para reducir las injusticias y desigualdades inherentes al cambio climático antropogénico, frente a la deforestación, la contaminación del agua, la disminución de las capturas, la inestabilidad política y otros impactos económicos.

Racismo, migración y discriminación. El trabajo de la re/presentación

En el otoño de 2019, un año después del otoño migrante en el que miles de familias centroamericanas atravesaron México para quedarse atrapadas en la franja fronteriza norte, nos dimos a la tarea de convocarnos primero entre nosotras: una estudiosa de las migraciones, la otra de los racismos y la última, de la interculturalidad, para pensar en qué sentido las múltiples formas de movilidad humana, los éxodos de desplazados y las respuestas sociales dadas al respecto, transformaban el debate siempre vigente sobre el racismo institucional y el racismo social. Nos interesaba dialogar sobre los debates y el estado de la cuestión en torno a las formas institucionalizadas de odio, ya sea mediante leyes que extranjerizan, criminalizan o infantilizan a los migrantes. A la vez deseábamos discutir las narrativas académicas en torno a la discriminación y los racismos ante al fenómeno migratorio, sin perder de vista el discurso de los propios migrantes y de los actores sociales u organizaciones que se suman a su objetivo el desplazamiento humano. Cuando publicamos la convocatoria para este dossier apostamos por enriquecernos de las literaturas y narrativas en torno a las fronteras y la racialización de los cuerpos que deciden cruzarlas;para entonces el pueblo estadounidense no había dado muestras de rebelión contra el racismo institucional, y el Covid 19 no había paralizado social y económicamente el planeta. Un año más tarde, escribimos esta presentación confinadas cada una en nuestros espacios familiares, y a escasos días de las votaciones en Estados Unidos, en donde se definirán los años venideros en materia de geopolítica, impactando con ello a millones de migrantes. Desde ese contexto es que “curamos” este número 45 de Andamios, con un cuidado especial, como preservando los restos de una época que ya dejó de existir. Un ejercicio de reflexión teórica a muchas voces que se tejió desde la incertidumbre más extrema, como esa que habitan los migrantes y sus familias para transitar de la pobreza a una realidad donde la vida se pueda preservar, procurar y celebrar.

COVID-19 as America’s Stress Test

COVID-19 exposed and tested many dimensions of the support system for vulnerable groups and communities. The convergence of racial, political, and economic upheaval amplified and complicated the effects of the pandemic. Social science demonstrated impressive responses in data collection, real-time analyses, and policy guidance. Articles in this volume demonstrate many of these innovations in data and methods. Despite their diversity, these articles also demonstrate consistent themes in the geographical and population targeting of the pandemic, the underlying social vulnerability of particular groups and communities, and the residual population consequences that will occupy researchers and policy-makers for the foreseeable future. Long-term social and economic impacts, from the mental health consequences of death and tragedy to the setbacks in education, job mobility, household financial security, and health, need to become the focus of an ongoing program of research and policy development.

Voluntary Behavior Modification during a Pandemic: Perceptions and Behaviors toward COVID-19 in Japan

This study examines social measures meant to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Japan, where COVID-19 control relies heavily on the voluntary compliance of citizens. We examine how the government's campaign for controlling COVID-19 is perceived by people, and how these measures influenced people's attitudes and behavior. This paper specifically discusses how people's perceptions regarding COVID-19 control measures temper orthodox understandings of behavior modification, such as perceived threats, and how it influences their attitude and behavior. Qualitative data collected from an online open-ended questionnaire was cross-sectionally analyzed. This study argues that high risk perception is actually just one of many triggers of behavior modification. That is, people responsive to risk perception had to match actual hazards to perceived real risk. Furthermore, popular sources of information on COVID-19, like news and social media, were found to substantially influence people's behavior. In particular, whether campaigns were easy to understand, whether there were societal expectations for people to follow behavior modifications, and whether people thought measures were effective at preventing COVID-19 infection had a strong impact on the adoption of behavior modification. These findings thus fill in lacuna in existing scholarship concerning the rationality behind people's decision to voluntary adopt behavior modification measures.

Trabajo territorial y micropolítica en la pandemia: entre inmunidad y comunidad

El presente artículo expone el trabajo territorial que surgió con motivo de la revuelta social del 18 de octubre del 2019 en Chile. A partir de este contexto, la autora aborda formas de respuesta comunitaria a la crisis social y sanitaria por el COVID-19, como las asambleas, espacios que sostienen la organización comunitaria y el cuidado de la vida mediante el enfoque de la micropolítica. Finalmente se analiza la relación entre inmunidad y comunidad, términos antagónicos que operan simultáneamente como dispositivos para abordar la pandemia actual. Alternate : This paper exposes the territorial work that arose on the occasion of the social revolt of October 18 in Chile. It addresses forms of community response to the social and health crisis caused by Covid-19. In this context, assemblies are presented as spaces that sustain organization and care for life through the micropolitics approach. Finally, the relationship between immunity and community is analyzed, as antagonistic terms that operate simultaneously as devices to address the current pandemic.

The Tipping Effect of Delayed Interventions on the Evolution of COVID-19 Incidence.

We combine infectious disease transmission and the non-pharmaceutical (NPI) intervention response to disease incidence into one closed model consisting of two coupled delay differential equations for the incidence rate and the time-dependent reproduction number. The model contains three parameters, the initial reproduction number, the intervention strength, and the response delay. The response is modeled by assuming that the rate of change of the reproduction number is proportional to the negative deviation of the incidence rate from an intervention threshold. This delay dynamical system exhibits damped oscillations in one part of the parameter space, and growing oscillations in another, and these are separated by a surface where the solution is a strictly periodic nonlinear oscillation. For the COVID-19 pandemic, the tipping transition from damped to growing oscillations occurs for response delays of about one week, and suggests that, without vaccination, effective control and mitigation of successive epidemic waves cannot be achieved unless NPIs are implemented in a precautionary manner, rather as a response to the present incidence rate. Vaccination increases the quiet intervals between waves, but with delayed response, future flare-ups can only be prevented by establishing a post-pandemic normal with lower basic reproduction number.

Soundscape in Times of Change: Case Study of a City Neighbourhood During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown meant a greatly reduced social and economic activity. Sound is of major importance to people's perception of the environment, and some remarked that the soundscape was changing for the better. But are these anecdotal reports based in truth? Has traffic noise from cars and airplanes really gone down, so that more birdsong can be heard? Have socially distanced people quietened down? This article presents a case study of the human perception of environmental sounds in an urban neighborhood in the Basque Country between 15 March and 25 May 2020. The social restrictions imposed through national legislation divided the 69-day period into three phases. We collected observations, field audio recordings, photography, and diary notes on 50 days. Experts in soundscape and architecture were presented with the recordings, in randomized order, and made two separate perceptual analyses. One group (N = 11) rated the recordings for pleasantness and eventfulness using an adapted version of the Swedish Soundscape Quality Protocol, and a partly overlapping group (N = 12) annotated perceived sound events with free-form semantic labels. The labels were systematically classified into a four-level Taxonomy of Sound Sources, allowing an estimation of the relative amounts of Natural, Human, and Technological sounds. Loudness and three descriptors developed for bioacoustics were extracted computationally. Analysis showed that Eventfulness, Acoustic Complexity, and Acoustic Richness increased significantly over the time period, while the amount of Technological sounds decreased. These observations were interpreted as reflecting changes in people's outdoor activities and behavior over the whole 69-day period, evidenced in an increased presence of Human sounds of voices and walking, and a significant shift from motorized vehicles toward personal mobility devices, again evidenced by perceived sounds. Quantitative results provided a backdrop against which qualitative analyses of diary notes and observations were interpreted in relation to the restrictions and the architectural specifics of the site. An integrated analysis of all sources pointed at the temporary suspension of human outdoor activity as the main reason for such a change. In the third phase, the progressive return of street life and the usage of personal mobility vehicles seemed to be responsible for a clear increase in Eventfulness and Loudness even in the context of an overall decrease of Technological sounds. Indoor human activity shared through open windows and an increased presence of birdsong emerge as a novel characteristic element of the local urban soundscape. We discuss how such changes in the acoustic environment of the site, in acoustic measurements and as perceived by humans, point toward the soundscape being a crucial component of a comprehensive urban design strategy that aims to improve health and quality of life for increasingly large and dense populations in the future.