The World After COVID-19
And the resulting social developments
The world will forever be different after the Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. This is a review of what to expect with social changes.
People have experienced a completely different life structure during the pandemic in early 2020.
The words: shelter in place, lockdown, and social distancing have never been heard of before. At least not in the context of a Coronavirus. These are scary words and are psychologically difficult to deal with as an unusual kind of experience.
How will this change our behavior in future years? Will we return to our old way of life, or will we forever have new rules or new policies to follow, which we will need to respect in our society?
I gave this a lot of thought, and I’ll share what I came up with, with you. First, I’ll describe our immediate future.
Isolation From Friends and Family
We have a new kind of life with the Coronavirus. It’s mandatory to stay in seclusion to avoid spreading the virus. When doing that, some people tend to become detached from the world and fail to remain in contact with friends and family.
For that reason, it’s necessary to recognize withdrawal symptoms and do something about it as soon as you feel you are drifting into a state of abandonment.
No one is being abandoned. That’s just a feeling one has from the loneliness that develops with a lack of companions with whom to hang out.
We can do many things to overcome the side effects of isolation. I’ll discuss several ideas:
Alternative Exercise
Gyms have been closed to avoid large groups in close proximity. You can do other things to stay active.
Do some exercises at home. You don’t need expensive equipment. Do a Google search for “at-home workouts.”
Take a walk. You don’t need to go far. You can start from your front door and just stroll through your neighborhood. Continue to get exercise while keeping a distance from nearby people. For now, anyway.
Interaction With Neighbors
You may find others taking a local walk too, and you might make new friends from the practice.
Once the Coronavirus is history, I wouldn’t be surprised if neighbors continue a regiment of taking walks together, as well as other new endeavors that never happened before.
Shared Music and Song Among Neighbors
I heard of people singing together from their windows.
People living in apartment dwellings spoke of seeing dark windows among neighboring apartments. Now, due to the Coronavirus, people are opening their windows and sharing among themselves with song and happiness.
That is starting a new trend where neighbors who never knew one another are talking and checking in on one another.
Reaching Out by Phone
How often have people kept in touch with long lost friends? Now that most of us are sheltering in place and practicing social distancing, we have more time to make that phone call.
Love and Caring is Spreading Faster Than the Virus
Many people have been laid off from work to avoid spreading the virus. That may be temporary, but in the meantime, people are searching for things to do.
Some are developing a feeling of goodwill by volunteering to make deliveries for nearby older adults who need essentials.
Additional Job Opportunities
While many are laid off from work during these challenging times, other opportunities have been developing. Dominos Pizza, for example, needed to hire additional workers due to higher demand for home deliveries.
Walmart and Amazon hired thousands of additional workers to help with food delivery since people were avoiding going out to shop in stores.
Working From Home
Many other companies were setting up their personnel with in-home technology so they can work from home. I imagine that this may continue afterward. The lessons learned from this activity may be used to continue this practice.
With the technology we have today, setting up an at-home communications office using the Internet is trivial. It will also reduce the expense of providing costly office space for personnel that work in a communications environment anyway.
Stay At Home Moms
Parents are concerned that their children will miss a month of school. They aren’t considering the opportunity to teach them crucial life lessons that are never taught in school. Such as:
- How to do laundry.
- How to cook.
- How to clean the house.
- How to sew a torn shirt or a loose button.
- How to balance a checkbook.
- Learn to play an instrument.
- Have discussions with parents.
- Read a book.
Our Reliance on China
Our relationship with China will be changed forever. Americans will finally recognize how China has been taking advantage of us for decades.
Since President Nixon opened the doors with China in 1972, we have helped them grow to become a world power. Practically every sector of our economy is linked to China.
We have farmed out the development of technology to China because of its lower cost of labor. We have given China control of our pharmaceutical industry. We have sold them much of our real estate.
Those activities have given China powerful control over our future. It’s scary when China threatened on March 20, 2020, to cut off all pharmaceuticals. That’s a wake-up call!
These things have to change. We have to get our country back under our control. The result of the Coronavirus may initiate the driving force to achieve that strategy.
Finally, we will be taking responsibility for our own manufacturing of technology and medications. We will be ending our reliance on China for our essential goods.
Chinese Control Over Our Communications Technology
It was never a good idea to outsource our technology to China. The outcome of the disaster with Coronavirus will make the opposition to using 5G from China’s Huawei a no brainer. We don’t want China to be in control of our Internet any more than they already are.
I believe Apple will soon bring manufacturing to the United States. If Steve Jobs were still alive, I think he would have made that change by now. He was furious about the theft of Apple’s technology in China before he died.
Economic Distancing
In addition to social distancing, we now recognize that our economy should not be tied to that of China either. I call that economic distancing, and it’s something that should be considered.
More Jobs Will Be Brought to America
Not only Apple, and not only pharmaceuticals, but all outsourced development should be brought back to the U.S., creating more jobs than ever imagined.
Corporations thought they were saving money by outsourcing. However, they overlooked the cost of the risk involved with the loss of control. That will change, and unemployment will decrease to levels even lower than were reached before COVID-19.
Resources Aimed at Legal Asylum Seekers
A significant change occurred with control of illegal immigration due to the fear of Coronavirus. Congress has finally stopped fighting President Trump with his method of controlling illegal immigration.
When Trump first tried to return illegal asylum-seekers to their country of origin, the liberal judges opposed him. Those judges have suddenly recognized their fear for their own lives due to the Coronavirus, and are letting Trump protect America.
President Trump announced on March 20, 2020, that all who cross the border illegally, even if they claim asylum, will be returned to their country of origin immediately. That action will free up resources to support asylum seekers who cross legally, as my parents did when they came to America some 70 years ago.
Changes to Auto Industry and Commerce
The auto industry will be recognized as a crucial manufacturing business well beyond the development of automobiles. With the crisis of Coronavirus, they have offered to help.
When we were short of ventilators, Ford, GM, and Tesla offered to manufacture them by repurposing their plants. Besides supporting this needed development, it’s also another way to limit unemployment during the crisis.
The Word ‘Racist’ Will Regain Its Meaning
With the media calling President Trump a racist for calling the Coronavirus the China Virus, Americans are learning the truth of fake news. We all know it originated in Wuhan, China.
People recognize that we always named diseases by their origin. Such as:
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
- Spanish Flu from Spain
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
- The Hong Kong Flu from Hong Kong
- Lyme Decease from Lyme Connecticut
No one ever complained about those names being racist. In the world after Coronavirus, people will stop calling others racist just because they don’t agree with something one says.
America has always had a part of society that was racist. It was inappropriate to call everything one disagreed with as racist. That diminished the true meaning of the word.
Now, after Coronavirus, and the way the media has continued misguiding America, people will wake up and call it what it is. The misinformed that have actual racist attitudes will once again be recognized for what they are.
How to Maintain Your Health and Serenity
Permanent lifestyle changes may be a result of lessons learned from new activities that never would have occurred if it weren’t for the Coronavirus.
During these trying times, when most people are out of work and not knowing what will come next, creating an attitude of peacefulness is most crucial.
- Be in the present.
- Relax and focus on maintaining a presence of mind. Meditate.
- Become aware of thoughts that might have been deep in your subconscious by focusing on anything that comes to mind while meditating.
Better Recognition of Hygiene
Dentists and hair solons already canceled appointments.
These activities will continue once it’s safe. Coronavirus has alerted people to the extreme measures required to remain safe.
I always wipe down my steering wheel after leaving my car in the shop for an oil change because the workers touched it after working under it.
I even wash my hands after handling the mail delivered by the post office. Who knows how many people touched those envelopes.
I’m also one who uses a paper towel to open the door handle when leaving a public bathroom after washing my hands.
One might consider that a little OCD, but it helps maintain one’s health, and now people are learning that these activities are worth the effort.
The single thing that some people overlook is the proper method of washing hands. Do you wash your palms and forget your fingertips? You touch most items with your fingertips and can spread disease that way — elevator buttons, credit card checkout terminals, doorknobs, to name a few.
I’ll leave you with this useful video. Stay well, and look forward to reasonable life after COVID-19!
