Life after COVID

As 2021 winds to a close, and a new year lies ahead, many of us are thinking of the opportunities in a world without COVID.

Global COVID cases have been lowering, with restrictions and closures also easing in many countries.

So what’s next?

A post-COVID world might be hard to comprehend, but some changes are predicted for the future.

Here are four changes likely to be seen after the pandemic.

Working & studying from home:

After a forced trial of working and studying from home during lockdowns, many workplaces and universities have opted to keep this practice.

Photo: Steelcase

Whilst significant numbers of workers and students, expressed appreciation for being able to work at distance from their jobs and institutions, spend more time with family, and stay home from public transport and clinical work environments, this expression isn’t shared by everyone.

The pandemic has highlighted our need for social and physical interaction, interest in the outdoors and community involvement - which many people feel is unsatisfied in a virtual work environment.

Whilst on-site jobs and study still exist, these changes are seeing those in remote areas able to work and study virtually in cities, whilst keeping close to their families and friends.

These changes may adapt technology, international relations, economies, and family and social dynamics.

Healthcare:

During this pandemic the swiftness of finding ways to control COVID outbreaks has been praised by many countries.

The proof that many minds, working together can create astounding results on previously thought seemingly unbeatable health conditions, brings hope to the future of medicine.

Whilst working on COVID cures, other projects have been pushed aside, hospitals reached capacity and medical resources have been few and far between at times.

The realisation of the pressure hospitals can face has been noticed and may change the future of the healthcares size and reach; already having adapted to online and over the phone prescriptions and consultations.

Virtual experiences, work and healthcare, are also allowing those with disabilities to live with more independence that used to be unattainable due to distance, crowds or need of support.

Arts and culture:

Whilst many small businesses didn’t survive multiple lockdowns, the minds of artists and writers aren’t silent.

Tim Adams, a journalist from the Observer asks, “But what about the attitude and the focus of creativity. Will it be shadowed by the pandemic post-vaccine or will it celebrate liberation?”

“History suggests both. The terrible mortality, social distancing and economic hardship resulting from the 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic that followed the war were shaping forces in both the doom-laden experiments of modernism and the high hedonism of the jazz age.”

Whilst arts and culture and constantly changing, growing and adapting - coming to terms with a post-pandemic world will be rich with expression.

Social interaction:

The need for social interaction has become more evident than at any point in many of our lives over the past two years.

“The good news is that if research tells us anything, it’s that shared experiences of stress can actually bring communities together in way we may not have experienced prior to COVID-19,” says Black Dog Institute.

“When you read the academic literature on natural disasters, as horrible as they are, [in the aftermath] people help each other and there’s often a sense of shared humanity,” Manicavasagar says.

Photo: Very well mind

Not only is the need for interaction now highlighted, but the adaptability of humans to merge virtual-social situations and isolation into their daily lives, and come out the other side has been witnessed again and again during lockdowns.

COVID has shown us that every small (or very monumental) actions run-on-effect, creates big waves across many aspects of our lives, somehow appearing to change everything around us, but fundamentally showing us the humanity that has always been there.

The future has been changed by past pandemics and virus many times, changing and developing humanity into what it is today.

Though these changes will continue and may seem overwhelming, the adaptability and essence of humanity seems to remain.