The Social Impact of Covid 19 in Hungary

The covid-19 epidemic has posed a major challenge to society as a whole. At the same time, the changes brought about by the pandemic may have affected the lives of people living in different types of settlements in different ways. The aim of this presentation is to show how different levels of the settlement hierarchy in Hungary have been affected. Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that unfolded in 2020 and minimising losses required the introduction of new rules and restrictions that changed people's everyday lives. The requirement to remain physically distant has resulted in fewer social encounters, and many economic and cultural activities have been relegated to the online space (physically within the home, the household). While learning and many intellectual tasks have become home-based activities, some of the work that requires presence (physical work, some services) is done temporarily.
All these processes may have reassessed the advantages and disadvantages of urban and rural spaces.
Using the results of a qualitative research, we show how the inhabitants of different types of settlements experienced the new rules of the pandemic, how it changed the patterns of action of local communities and families, and how it affected the valorisation of rurality and localism.