Pandemias e COVID-19 transformam o mundo: uma análise de contextos

Introduction: Infectious diseases are part of human history and have brought many lessons that are used in the COVID-19 emerging pandemic. Objective: To describe the historical aspects of the main pandemics and the COVID-19 impacts on the world. Methods: This is a reflective study that was supported by recent publications related to this proposal, based on the context analysis framework, which presents four interactive aspects: historical contextual level, immediate contextual level, general contextual level, and meta-context. Results: At the historical contextual level, the historical conceptions of the main pandemics that affected humanity were described. Then, at the immediate contextual level, the current aspects of COVID-19 were addressed. At the general contextual level, the relevant impacts of the pandemic were reflected. In the end, at the meta-context level, some of the social challenges imposed by the coronavirus are analyzed. Conclusion: The historical aspects of pandemics subsidize preventive measures against COVID-19, especially to the social distancing concept. The challenge in facing the coronavirus and the need for training nursing professionals in the high complexity care environment are highlighted. Finally, the countless challenges imposed by COVID-19 represent learning opportunities to implement better strategies in future pandemics.