It has been around four months since the Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic spread all over the World like a jungle fire. Bringing everything to still, this minute yet sturdy particle did discriminate between the rich and the poor or the mighty and the feeble.
With around five million cases all over the World, the coronavirus pandemic has gravely tested Mankind. Although we still seem somewhat clueless as to how it originated, this kind of viral onslaught is not unprecedented.
We have endured the havocs of Black Death in the 14th century that took the lives of nearly half of the population of Europe. The calamitous demeanor of smallpox during the Yester-century is not over our minds yet too.
It is now for us to comprehend what is to come next. What is there at the end of the tunnel? How will the World shape up once the pandemic is over? Would it ever end, or do we just have to learn to live with it like HIV? These are some of the questions that boggle our minds nowadays.
The blatant truth is that the previous World is gone. Covid-19 pandemic has changed the course of things altogether, and here’s what to expect next.
The Era of Remote Jobs
One thing that the prevalent virus has made clear is that being confined in a room on the 14th floor of a sky-kissing building is not the only way to run a business or an office. You can carry out dealings, look after your job at home too.
We might have known the comforts of remote work pre-pandemic, but we were too reluctant to adopt it. By the time virus is vanished, many businesses would have gone virtual.
The virtual businesses would not only benefit the businessmen but also free up building spaces that would, as a result, reduce the pressure of housing demands.
With many people losing their jobs, the freelance market is expected to flourish.
According to the International Labor Organization (IL0), around 148 million full-time jobs are feared to suffer amidst the pandemic.
This severe condition would shift the trend toward online work.
Social-Distanced Eating
In the countries where the lockdown is eased off or lifted altogether; the layout of restaurants and eating places is not the same as before.
Most of the food chains like McDonald’s are as of now just entertaining takeaways/drive-throughs with their dine-in services still under lockdown.
The restaurants which have started functioning, their tables are observing social distancing too. The setting of tables at a maintainable distance means no more crowding over of restaurants. Fewer people would now be able to savor food inside the restaurant at a time.
You can wait in the queue for your turn to enter a food place or you can order at home. This will make online food ordering luxury a necessity.
The culture of having coffee on a roadside café might vanish away. Online businesses will flourish nonetheless.
Virtual Education
Oxford University has recently announced to go online until the summer of 2021.
The recent pandemic has, in a way, revolutionized the education systems all over the World. We will see an increased fashion of virtual education after everything is back to its standard.
Students are experiencing some problems due to not being accustomed to online learning. However, this hesitant and hasty measure would turn out to be a wise decision in the longer run.
For the time being, almost every school, college, and university took advantage of technology and has started online classes. The online lectures are not just confined to degree programs, but at the highest most level, too, it is being called to help.
Virtual education is being applied with the full flow; nonetheless, the real question here is that whether the system of online courses will sustain after the virus has gone, or conventional structure will be resuscitated?
Focus on Healthcare
Covid-19 pandemic has taken the World by the storm, undeniably. No one anticipated it coming.
Nonetheless, it has made nations realize how intrinsic it is to invest more in the health sector. If your health system collapses, your country will collapse.
There is no denying the fact that we are in a “war-zone” presently. A soldier must be fully equipped with ammunition to fight.
But in the war at hand, our frontline soldiers (doctors, nurses) lack Proper gear. There is an acute shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in most countries.
Anyhow, this global crisis has made us realize the importance of a robust healthcare system. What we expect post-pandemic is that countries making improvisations in health institutions their foremost priority. The current disaster is a lesson to learn.
End of Globalization?
The pandemic has unfolded ahead of us that we take things for granted most of the time. Pre–pandemic, we thronged almost every place with absolute freedom and no fear. This has changed entirely since the current viral outbreak.
As the people would now be more confined in their relations and dealings with other people, countries in the international arena would exercise the same.
Voices are already attaining pace that the pandemic is in itself an outcome of globalization. World trade has almost come to a still. Foreign investment is nowhere to be seen.
Despite all this, many people are optimistic that the world would be back to its standard co-operating procedures once we are over this crisis.
Bottom Line
Every storm passes, no matter how mighty it is. Likewise, this pandemic shall also be over sooner or a bit later. But how would we line up our preferences post-virus will determine the future.
We need to implement policies that would be most robust not only in fighting the virus but push us in the right direction once the suffering is over.
“This storm will pass. But the choice we make now could change our lives for the years to come.”
Yuval Noah Harari
Umair is a Final Semester Law student at Punjab University Law College Lahore. He loves exploring nature and he’s a freelance content writer too.
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