As the multiple agendas that dominate contemporary news crowd out reports focused on COVID-19, including its religious dimensions, several accounts have begun to sandwich COVID-19 and/or its faith aspects within broader stories. For instance, a recent monthly Catholic report on migrants and refugees describes how “The COVID-19 pandemic placed those already at high risk of exploitation even deeper in harm’s way. On one hand, the crisis has amplified major drivers of modern slavery, such as poverty and financial crisis. On the other hand, migrant workers, already in a vulnerable situation, had their already-constrained movement restricted further, were exposed to isolation and exclusion from adequate healthcare and welfare services, and experienced layoffs and cuts in wages.” Within the broader context of migrant worker crises, the report’s account of specific initiatives, including by Pope Francis and by other groups worldwide, refer in passing to COVID-19 responses. Another example of this content-couching trend occurred during the 2022 United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (July 5-15). One side event (one among many) focused on “Religious and interfaith best practices in Latin America and the Caribbean in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while advancing the implementation of the SDGs and the application of the Istanbul Principles.” Further, a global review of Christian nationalism mentions a lasting COVID-19 impact in order to reinforce the article’s central point of the rise of nationalism.

The diversity of COVID-19 challenges and responses across world regions is evidenced by reports from various cultural and religious contexts. In Indonesia, a New York Times article highlights vaccine resistance among the Baduy indigenous group. Meanwhile in India, different congregations of Catholic sisters are helping women entrepreneurs recover from COVID-19 shocks. Also, over in Kenya, a Jesuit-organized Indaba focused on protecting children in a post-COVID era. One research article focuses on Palestine, finding that a “factor that has greatly affected the community’s behaviors, attitudes, and practices in Palestine has been religious beliefs.” In the United States, a judge ruled in Wisconsin that the state’s COVID-19 visitor policy that barred Catholic clergy from meeting with inmates for more than a year violated state law and the state constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom.