In the Aftermath of the Pandemic, Will Daily Life Be Any Different?

Hint: Not As Much As You Think.

Everybody seems to think that COVID-19 would drastically change the way we all live. From predictions to how the work place would be permanently change, to how remote schooling is here to stay. I think, the aftermath of this pandemic will paint a totally different picture.

The majority of people who are not able to work from home have been furloughed -or even worse - fired. Most companies do not have the systems in place to allow working from home. When you consider that the highest employer of labor is the service industry, which actually requires you to be at work for you to work, you then realize how easy it is for those who make a living using computers to misrepresent what the actual situation is.

While schools have also been giving distance learning (online, radio, TV etc), a whirl, the results have been inconsistent at best. Children from low income families are a lot less likely to have computers, smart phones and tablets, as well as internet to be able to access the lessons. A lot of them have parents and guardians who are not equipped to handle the demands a technologically-enhanced educational system would require from them. The result is that they are very quickly being left behind.

For the pandemic to make a permanent change to work and educational lifestyles, we are going to have to ignore the largest portion of society, let them know that their jobs and education don't matter. Either that or we'll have to sink in trillions upon trillion upon trillions of dollars into infrastructure and training to ensure that everybody has an equal chance at earning a living or gaining an education.

Even if we were able to solve the aforementioned problems easily and quickly, we are still left with the fact that most people have grown weary of staying indoors. People are protesting stay-at-home orders while openly carrying assault rifles and such weaponry. You also have government officials openly questioning the validity of social distancing, despite the fact that their very own governments are the ones that gave those guidelines. If it comes down to the police ensuring everybody wears protective gear and obeys social distancing, it would only work if the vast majority of the populace are willing to comply. If up to 30% of the people in any country reject the authority of the police, there would be very little the police can do to enforce the law.

When the curve finally flattens, businesses and schools would open. People would go about their daily businesses as usual. Very soon bars and sport centers would be crowded again, because they'll need to make money, and the only way that would work is if those places are full of people. Life would resume, eventually, but it would not be that different from what it was like on January 1, 2020.