What will the world be like after COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world as many of us know it and life in quarantine may not be the only change that we will experience moving forward. The chaos that the virus has created has touched every aspect of life and life may not be the same even after everything is back under control. Individuals, the economy and the ways that things have been done for years have been affected and only time will tell how the world rebounds from this disaster.

For years, there have been many vaccine skeptics with worries of getting sick and there being lasting effects on children. At this point in time, the development of a vaccine is our greatest hope of controlling the virus to a degree that life may be able to return to normal. COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on all of humanity and I wonder if vaccine opposers feel differently now or will think differently about vaccines in the future.

The pandemic may have a lasting on individual behavior, in both positive and negative ways. Preventive actions such as proper hand-washing and sanitizing have become such important parts of people’s daily routines when many may not have been washing their hands at all previously. As long as it is not done excessively, it will nice to know that people around us are exercising more hygienic practices both for themselves and for others around them.

In terms of impact on healthcare, people may become hyperaware and concerned with their health, almost to a fault, which could lead to excessive use of resources that inevitably lead to dead ends. Aside from increased costs, those who are hyperaware may experience higher levels of stress, which could also have a psychological impact. A potential positive could be increasing use of telemedicine for conditions that do not require touch for examination. This could also lessen the burden on patients and physicians if people make appointments stemming from hypochondriasis. These same individuals may contribute to higher drug sales, which will bode well for some and not for others.

Social and economic differences may follow as well, such as people going out of their ways to sit further away from others in restaurants and in movie theaters. This could result in reduced capacity and revenue for these businesses, which is bound to have an additive impact on the economy. People who preferred to visit stores in person to shop instead of using delivery services, like Amazon, may opt for the alternative.

It is not yet clear what the lasting impact of current events will have on our lives, but the hope is that we see more positive outcomes than negative ones. This is one of the first times in history that the entire world in dealing with a shared issue. Therefore, the future will depend on a collaborative effort from all of humanity to repair what has been broken and to come out stronger as a whole.