ABSTRACT
The purpose of this essay is two-fold. First, it examines constraints on leisure imposed by the global pandemic, how people responded to them, and the lessons it taught us about the place of leisure in contemporary society. Second, it explores the roles of leisure in coping with stress and isolation brought by the COVID-19 outbreak. The essay reveals constraints on travel, social contacts, use of public recreation resources, and access to natural environments imposed by countries, states, and municipalities across the world to control the outbreak of the disease. It then discusses interpersonal and work-leisure relations in the context of leisure in the time of the crisis, and lastly, it examines problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies employed by people to deal with the effects of the pandemic.
