After the Pandemic…
January 19, 2021
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I reached out to a number of friends and asked them to write down 5 or 10 things that they thought would never be the same again after the world gets back to the ‘new normal.’ Here is a compilation of some of those thoughts, including a few less common observations:
The use of telemedicine will take off and increase access to medical care, especially in underserved areas.
Online education will also grow, leading to more and more affordable educational options for those desiring further education.
Online grocery delivery is here to stay and will rise significantly as a percentage of total spending.
Telecommuting and video conferencing will continue and flourish, especially as the technology around it improves.
Increased adoption of working from home, but not on a full-time basis. There will no longer be a stigma associated with working from home.
Office space will be less important due to more employees working from home.
A reduction of formal clothing in wardrobes.
Having a cough/cold and coming into the office or public spaces will become socially unacceptable.
Much wider adoption of face masks by the general public.
We will be very slow to return to handshakes, hugging acquaintances, and physical contact in general with anyone other than our family and close friends.
A return to homes with larger outdoor space, replacing hip urban condos.
Less travel abroad with those funds now put into vacation homes in the US.
Less corporate travel for face-to-face meetings, particularly within the same company.
Airlines suffer with reduced business travel in the US and abroad.
A hastened end to movie theaters as streaming services become the norm.
Global supply chains will become more diversified with less reliance on a single source of supply or manufacturing location. There will be much more on-shoring of some manufacturing – particularly those things considered of importance to national security/self-sufficiency e.g. key medical supplies and pharma.
There will continue to be an increase in people getting outside to enjoy all nature has to offer in terms of beauty, exercise and relaxation.
Accelerated adoption of EV powered cars after experiencing clean air with reduced CO2 in major cities.
Around the world there will be an increased focus on disaster preparedness, especially pandemic preparedness so that hopefully the next time this happens we will react more quickly and not get so far behind the curve in response time.
Recognition and appreciation of knowledge and expertise may increase.
People will be surprised by how little daily life actually changes rather than by how much.
And a final touching thought was that:
Ideally this pandemic will allow us to recognize our shared humanity instead of digging in so stubbornly to our differences. Among all the death and despair of these past few months there have been many beautiful, compassionate and joyous moments. Hopefully, we will not forget those, but instead allow them to inspire us to create a better future for all.
Nick Hoffman
