Covid-19 will soon be over but the effects of the pandemic will not. Like it or loathe it, life has changed irrevocably for all of us.
e’ve all been social distancing, wearing face masks and using hand sanitiser for almost a year now. That’s all likely to continue for quite some time for the greater good.
At its most fundamental, coronavirus has given us the opportunity to examine our basic hygiene practices, which can’t be a bad thing. With sustained emphasis on washing our hands — the main conduit for a variety of germs — surely the days are gone forever of anyone using the loo without visiting the sink and soap afterwards?
Similarly, the concept of ‘not invading someone’s personal space’ will surely go unchallenged for evermore.
Gone too are the days of packed pubs and tables climbing on top of one another in restaurants.
New rules have required changes that could actually make the going out experience more enjoyable, and we now have the opportunity to demand that that remains the case going forward. No more overly busy bars or unpleasantly full eateries.
We’re often reminded that children are very resilient — but, in general, human beings are too. New models of business have emerged as part of the pandemic survival plan, as have new ways of working.
Many firms will be considering hybrid working regimes, whereby employees spend part of the week in the office and part working from home.
That provides us with an opportunity to revise our schedules so that we can make maximum use of the entirety of the time we have. It also gives us a chance to re-examine our work-life balance.
Could we even see a four day week coming into force? Perhaps now is the time to start that conversation.
In the post-Covid world, there can be no doubting that technology will be at the forefront.
Oxygen, water, food, clothing and the internet will become the five basic necessities of a human being. Mobile phones, internet connection and computers will be an integral part of daily life.
Zoom and Microsoft Teams — which have facilitated remote working apparently overnight — are here to stay.
Both employers and employees have an opportunity to acquire new skills to get through the working day. This could confer greater flexibility, raise worker well-being and productivity, and lower firms’ costs. We could see more gender-balanced career paths and fewer earnings inequalities.
Thanks to the pandemic, “parents have realised the value of schools and appreciated the hard work of teachers”, according to Malala Fund’s Lucia Fry.
“Governments have understood that the economy and society depends on education now and in the long term,” she told the BBC.
But in many ways, the virus has also been the great unequaliser. Low income households have suffered disproportionately.
Any responsible society should see an opportunity to redress some of the imbalances between rich and poor. Sandro Galea, a professor of Epidemiology at Boston University said: “We need to question why there are deep asset gaps between haves and have nots, and use this as an opportunity to ask why we continue to have entrenched marginalisation of minority racial and ethnic groups.”
Social problems, he added, are hard to tackle but Covid-19 should give us the reasons to restructure our world so that there are no health haves and health have nots.
It should also remind us of the importance of investing in “safe housing, good schools, liveable wages, gender equity, clean air, drinkable water,a fair economy”. It should be the biggest reminder of all that our health is our wealth. Without the vaccine — found at break-neck speed — there would’ve been no future.
It’s currently illegal to go on holiday abroad.
The pandemic has given us an opportunity to pay attention to and enjoy what’s on our doorstep rather than leave for foreign adventures that begin and end at a hotel and beach. It has allowed us to consider how we can best utilise what we have rather than chase an elusive dream.
If it’s too drastic to allow Covid to have put paid to holidays abroad, perhaps we should at least embrace the opportunity it has afforded us to be more selective in our choices, and to seek out experiences rather than empty vacations?
Or maybe we should consider travel with a conscience— such as charity work like building houses for those less fortunate than ourselves?
Mental health was a huge issue before the pandemic gave us a glimpse of a kinder society that understood how much we are connected and how deeply we depend on each other, according to Mark Rowland, boss of the Mental Health Foundation. Medication is not a way out of the mental-health crisis.
Post-pandemic, we now have an opportunity to, in his words, “create the conditions for good mental health and prevent mental ill health, by tackling inequality, trauma, isolation and stress”.
Indeed, we now have an opportunity to reimagine what we want society to be.
Long before Covid-19 struck, 40% of office workers globally felt lonely, according to author Noreena Hertz, who wrote The Lonely Century: Coming Together in a World That’s Pulling Apart.
She said: “The initial euphoria of remote working has already worn off: almost half of UK workers currently working from home feel lonely.” People are missing meaningful moments of connection with co-workers as well as friends.
Feeling connected to friends is “an important predictor of our physical health and emotional wellbeing”, and loneliness can be “toxic for our health” says clinical psychologist Miram Kirmayer.
The pandemic could serve as “a reminder of how precious our friendships are” and give us an opportunity to “cultivate more meaningful connections”. She added: “We will eventually resume our shared activities, playdates and events. But we can all benefit from cultivating closer, more fulfilling relationships.”
If nothing else the pandemic has exposed a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ modus operandi for many people in power.
We had PM Boris Johnson’s right hand man Dominic Cummings breaking his own rules by driving to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.
We had DUP MP Sammy Wilson’s constant refusal to wear a face mask properly. Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill who refused to apologise for attending Bobby Storey’s funeral.
It has given us the opportunity to see people for who they are and ultimately to hold power to account
At the height of the first lockdown in March 2020, shopfronts were boarded up, people had battened down the hatches and the streets were empty.
Many doubted that life would return to normal, although Steven Taylor, psychiatry professor at the University of British Colombia, said: “Research on catastrophic events shows that most people do bounce back”. The shops however will not.
Perhaps the biggest casualty during Covid was department store Debenhams which, more than any other, represents the end of an era on the Belfast high street.
Shopping has changed forever; ‘going down the town’ will never be the same again.
The online marketplace is here to stay but it brings certain opportunities with it. For starters, we can be more discerning shoppers and buy only what we need.
This is, after all, the new normal; the old one has gone, forever.
