When it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, everyone's lives and in one way or another have experienced changes that will stick with us perpetually. Covid-19 is a test like no other. Never before have the lives of so many people around the world been affected at this scale or speed. There are many legacies from the Covid-19 pandemic, all deriving from the unnatural and unpleasant circumstances imposed by the pandemic and the obligatory public health responses.
As 2020 went by, the prospect of “back to normal” kept moving further into the future. In the early fall, we worried about canceling large holiday gatherings. But as the holiday season approaches and the spread of the virus worsens, not only are large holiday gatherings canceled, but mere extended family get-togethers are too big to be safe. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention now say it’s safest to celebrate with just the people you live with.
With economic loss, illness, death and uncertainty, how do we “go back to normal” after this? It’s simply not possible to think we’ll all sweep this under the rug, forget about it and emerge unchanged. As the Great Depression and World War II shaped the attitudes and psyches of our grandparents and great-grandparents, living with COVID-19 will shape us.The virus may go, but COVID-19 will remain with us. The question is not, “When will this end?” It is, “Who will we be when the worst has passed?”
As said before, this virus has created drastic changes in our lives, many of which will stick with us forever; jobs were lost, and permanent damage was done. Many jobs which may have been important only a year ago or so, have now become non-essential due to the circumstances that all of humankind are in right now. An example of such a job would be any in the travel retail industry, and so on. Occupational and social immobility in this case has proved to be a very big challenge. People who have trained for many years for their jobs do not have the ability to retrain themselves and gain new professional skills. This is also a factor that contributes to the increase in the income gap, where people with lower incomes/socioeconomic statuses struggle even more than before, whereas rich companies and families will be able to gain even more money from businesses that are relevant and can be supported in times like these, for example companies to do with technology, in other words tech giants.
The psychological impact that the virus has had on people has been enormous and as a result, highly noticeable. A huge change in terms of how people socialise has occurred, because many people work at home now rather than in their office, therefore there is less face-to-face communication. This is also supported by the constant ongoing development of technology. This pandemic has made people more aware of their surroundings and the potential dangers that might occur to them; people understand more how much such pandemics and unusual dangers can impact their life. The experience which the virus has given humans is life changing, as not only have our values changed, but also the way we lead our lives. The consequences which we face later on because of Covid-19 will depend on the political and economical balance in the world. Over the past few months, our lives have taken drastic and unexpected turns, therefore right now we can do nothing but predict. I predict that life will never quite exactly go back to how it was before.
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