Abstract: The subject of this study is to exam- ine how the COVID-19 epidemic is experienced by people living in the city of Trabzon. The COVID-19 epidemic is a pandemic that affects the whole world. The pandemic, which means that epidemic diseases are effective in large ge- ographies, has affected Turkey as well as the world and infected thousands of people. Trab- zon, one of the metropolitan cities in the North Eastern Region of Turkey, is a city where the effects of the pandemic are greatly experienced due to the number of cases being above Tur- key’s average at certain periods. In sociological thought, functionalism and symbolic interac- tionism theories focus on the experience of ill- ness and conceptualize illness as a lived expe- rience. Accordingly, the main theoretical per- spective of the study is functionalist theory. In the study, the COVID-19 epidemic was consid- ered as a lived experience. Illness experience includes all actions and emotions experienced and performed during the period from the on- set of disease symptoms to recovery, rehabili- tation or death. In this study, a functionalist perspective was adopted and the transfor- mation caused by the pandemic in the social system as a risk was discussed and the effects of the transformation were problematized through the experiences of people living in Trabzon. In this context, the aim of the study is to examine the reactions of the system to re- store harmony and balance against the pan- demic that threatens the social system, through the experiences of individuals. The study was designed as survey research and the data was obtained by survey technique. Questionnaire; It consists of questions covering themes such as demographic information, economic situation, social life, thoughts about the future, causes of the pandemic and ways to protect it, govern- ment support during the pandemic and dis- tance education. The sample of the research consists of 391 adults (182 women and 209 men) living in Trabzon (rural and city center). The data obtained from the study were ana- lyzed through the SPSS program. As a result, the pandemic is a risk for the social system, and the risk has caused dysfunctions in the social system. Against this, the institutional structure (especially the health institution) has protected itself with practices such as "HES code" and "cleaning, mask, distance" discourse in the con- text of the new normal, in order to ensure har- mony and balance against risk. As a result of the research, 30.9% of the participants said that they attended social events less, 29.9% said that the time they spent at home increased, and 53.1% said that social interaction was lim- ited during the epidemic. Therefore, in the new normal order, precautions were taken against the risk of contamination by limiting contact and interaction, and the health institution em- phasized the importance of individual respon- sibilities (paying attention to distance, getting vaccinated and using a mask, etc.). In this con- text, as a result of the research, 78.7% of the participants stated that they would be vac- cinated.