Life After Corona

[harley]

TV dinners fit the bill, they are filled by machine, and sealed. Plus the cooking you do will kill most bad stuff.

True, but I think he was talking about food.

 

[foxcreek9]

I would hope we would stop worrying about inconsequential stuff like single use plastic bags, straws, minuscule amounts of chemicals in your food, and if the earth will warm 1 degree over the next 100 years. Take the wasted tax money on windmills and solar panels to develop long-term vaccinations for this and potentially other zootonic diseases.

 

[frances]

hand sanitizer

You can also use peroxide for sanitizing things. It's just not as fast as 70%+ alcohol. Be careful though. Some people think you can mix it with things like vinegar - NOPE. It gets dangerous when you do that.

Be safe y'all.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I would hope we would stop worrying about inconsequential stuff like single use plastic bags, straws, minuscule amounts of chemicals in your food, and if the earth will warm 1 degree over the next 100 years. Take the wasted tax money on windmills and solar panels to develop long-term vaccinations for this and potentially other zootonic diseases.

Some folks have trouble seeing the seriousness long term problems because they are not in-our-faces in the media. But they are important, too.

 

[MichaelB]

I would hope we would stop worrying about inconsequential stuff like single use plastic bags, straws, minuscule amounts of chemicals in your food, and if the earth will warm 1 degree over the next 100 years. Take the wasted tax money on windmills and solar panels to develop long-term vaccinations for this and potentially other zootonic diseases.

This is not the time or place to vent about public policy choices.

 

[street]

Well, life after Covid 19 will change or better change our world forever. It will make us a stronger and wiser country in just about every aspect of business and life.

Anyway that is my hope it takes us to a new level to better our country in every way.

 

[atmsmshr]

IMHO short and long run impacts.

- People will be more cautious about travel both for business and pleasure - to the point of forgoing a percentage of trips. Hospitality and mega ship cruise industries will contract to adjust. Ripple effect to oil industry.

- Handshaking? I am personally done with that and suspect others feel the same way.

- More businesses will adopt a full / partial work at home telecommuting routine. Internet usage and tech gear / software sales increase. Commercial occupancy rates fall. Look out for ripple effect on commercial REITs as small and mid size businesses go virtual. Ripple effect to oil industry as fewer people drive.

- Decline in oil demand knocks USA off the top tier producer nation. Unless someone else intervenes, Russia and Saudi Arabia stay cage match for a few years and both lose.

- Big businesses (that survive bankruptcy) will have a solid pandemic strategy put in place that is periodically exercised. (As opposed to flying by the seat of their pants today). Same with the sleepy headed federal government, state and local governments.

- Five years after the pandemic peaks, nut jobs will get a public platform in the USA and call for the dismantlement or at least removal of independence of the Federal Reserve; completely ignoring that the Fed has been the only part of the federal government to quickly inject trillions of dollars into the economy at this point while both houses of congress have yet to find the knob on the bathroom door. Senators and Congressmen will break their own arms patting themselves on the back for getting a measly $1,200 to some of the hardest hit Americans THREE MONTHS after China told the world there was a problem.

- Blowback by the people. Once loved ones die, survivors live with impaired lung capacity, and personal bankruptcies peak - the people will want accountability for poor responses by governments around the world. The next election cycle will be very interesting. Revolution will now more possible in some countries whose national government lied or fumbled. (e,g, Iran, China)

- In particular, China is going to get a swift kick in the pants from other nations as they redistribute supply chains. Finish the Silk Road? Think again.

- Saving for the future? All of the millennials are getting a good lesson on what and what not to do. Hopefully they are paying attention.

- Pension funding? The grim reality is that pension liabilities will be less.

 

[Gkk2001]

To predict life post Covid19, I look at myself first. I have learned many times over, the majority of my peers at least are thinking like me. So collectively, those of us changing will have an affect on the future. I cannot speak for the new millennials and younger generations, no way.
When SARS was rampant, I paid little attention to it. But I was in my early 50s then and now late 60s, am feeling much more vulnerable. So my future activities will be directed toward less exposure to people where these diseases can spread. Many have said, banking on line every way possible, no movie theaters, no cruises, and maybe the biggest change... far less dining out. No telling how many times in my life I contracted illnesses that way.

 

[GravitySucks]

In the after times the people that handle our food will be treated with respect and given sick paid time off.

Sorry, thought we were crowd writing science fiction.

 

[Aerides]

MLB tweeted out a short composite video last night of touching moments of kids getting balls from players (catching foul balls or tossed to them during warm ups and stuff). And all I could see was everyone touching stuff and being so close together and thinking "social spread!" But most people commenting were all "aww so great!" etc.

So, I'm not holding out much expectation for human behavior to change. Policy and industry yes, people, not so much.

 

[mystang52]

I've mentioned a gazillion times, here, that I am immuno compromised so I have always taken extra precautions. One thing that will change for me, post Corona, will be no shows or lectures between November and March.

 

[ncbill]

Businesses will figure out they can indeed use telecommuters to cut their payroll...fewer white collar jobs in the future.

 

[6miths]

A great article in the Smithsonian Magazine about the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals. The only Stanley Cup Finals that went unfinished - tied 2-2-1 between Seattle and Montreal. Ironic as Seattle is about to get an NHL franchise in 2021. It illustrates that it actually may be some time before we are actually through with the Coronavirus. The series was halted due to the 'second wave' of the Spanish flu which was actually more deadly than the first wave in 1918.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...-pandemic-180974439/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[jt999]

Universal Flu Vaccine

I saw a documentary on TV recently regarding a small group of scientists who are working on a universal flu vaccine as the variants in the flu hamper the flu vaccine's effectiveness each year They seemed to be very optimistic and they are in early test phase. The Gates Foundation is helping support their efforts and GSK is helping with the testing phases.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I saw a documentary on TV recently regarding a small group of scientists who are working on a universal flu vaccine as the variants in the flu hamper the flu vaccine's effectiveness each year They seemed to be very optimistic and they are in early test phase. The Gates Foundation is helping support their efforts and GSK is helping with the testing phases.

That was a focus of part of the Netflix miniseries documentary "Pandemic". It was quite good.

 

[Murph]

My husband and I were talking about this today... What is life going to look like once the virus is gone? Are we going back to normal or will there be a "new normal" and what will that look like?

I'm concerned that every time a new virus comes along we are going to shut down and throw the world into a tailspin, for the sake of the "science" and letting doctors run the world. I don't recall this type of panic and lemming-like behavior when ebola, swine flu, SARS and MERS, etc., yet somehow we survived.

OK, go!

 

[Lcountz]

I think.....the usual short attention span of people today will help...

No more "press conferences" for me. Enough. Dont' need half hour of back slapping and crowing about simply doing one's job one was paid/elected to do (Imagine your manager doing this day after day...) I've attended hundred of meetings in MegaCorp before I retired and NEVER had a manager stand there for half an hour telling everyone how great a job THEY are doing...ding ding ding....that's what you were hired to do.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I'm concerned that every time a new virus comes along we are going to shut down and throw the world into a tailspin, for the sake of the "science" and letting doctors run the world. I don't recall this type of panic and lemming-like behavior when ebola, swine flu, SARS and MERS, etc., yet somehow we survived.

OK, go!

Um...the reason we didn't feel much or any impact from ebola, SARS, and MERS is because measure like this or more drastic were put into place where there were outbreaks. If you watch the Netflix documentary "Pandemic", they cover some of the more recent Ebola outbreaks and how they are containing them.

 

[Rianne]

I think people will resume their prior habits and life will return to “normal”. This too shall pass and the media will flock to the next big story and beat that to death. I recall the hysteria from 1999 and everyone panicking that technology couldn’t handle the switch over to the year 2000. People hoarded and overreacted then as well. This seems worse because of social media and 24/7 media.

I watched the documentary "1918 Influenza" that affected 500 million people, 1/3 of the world population at that time. The above is exactly what happened after it passed. The world quickly went back to normal and it was soon forgotten. The survivors were interviewed and were saddened by the loss of loved ones, but wanted to forget the horror and move on.

 

[6miths]

Transmission of Ebola is quite different as well. There would have been a massive effort if it had been airborne as this virus is. And agree that the measures taken for SARS were dramatic in the areas where there were outbreaks. One of them was here and 40 percent of the cases were in health care workers looking after those infected. Case fatality rate was 10%. Hospitals were totally locked down with temporary 2x4 walls sheathed in plastic. Good news is that this current cornoavirus appears to have a much lower case fatality rate except in the over 70 population.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

My prediction FWIW is that higher education will realize that most of the college classes can be delivered very effectively via online platforms. I also predict that the business of higher education will fight this realization and attempt to keep people paying thousands of unnecessary dollars for four years of a high school repeat. This is a pet peeve of mine - our high schools today do a very good job of preparing graduates with all of the AP classes etc. Liberal arts college is a repeat performance of high school.

I teach college level computer science (community college, but with articulation agreements with many four year schools). Of my six class sections, three are already distance learning, three in the classroom. (All three of the classroom sections have now been moved on-line, which for me is easy to do as it was easier to set up all the classes as if they were online only.)

I also agree with your second idea (for the most part). Many students are there to learn a specific skill set, not to explore liberal arts. For them, the system could be much better and tailored to get those skills (for example, intensive boot camps for programmers). On the other side, there are students who have no idea of their likes/what they want to do - or find out after trying it for a bit it isn't for them (and that they find something else that is).

Somewhat unrelated, I can't tell you how many kids want to become "game designers" or a "game programmer". Why? Because they like to PLAY games and think of it as a cool job. But they fail because playing something that someone else created is not the same skill set as making (creating) something. I saw that in my own child - he wants to figure out how to beat a level - while I look at it and want to figure out how they (the game designers) did something - i.e. how did they make it work that way. (And I care little about mastering the gameplay.)

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I watched the documentary "1918 Influenza" that affected 500 million people, 1/3 of the world population at that time. The above is exactly what happened after it passed. The world quickly went back to normal and it was soon forgotten. The survivors were interviewed and were saddened by the loss of loved ones, but wanted to forget the horror and move on.

There is a possibility that we as a society are forced to 'move on' sooner rather than later. Eventually, the conclusion will be that the long run survival of the country is more important than the lives saved by keeping the economy shut down for a prolonged period of time. I say this with great sadness, and can only imagine the social unrest..but I think it is going to happen.

 

[Midpack]

Some interesting guesses here. I’d only add the actions people take in the months after we begin our return to a new normal, some will fade within a few years. Some people and businesses will be permanently changed, but many people can have short memories and they’ll “relax” again in some if not all ways.

For generations we’ve accepted on average 36,000 flu deaths in the USA every year, so I don’t believe we’ll continue with every reasonable precaution.

On the bright side, genomics may make us better able to more quickly combat viruses along with other illnesses, concerns, etc.

There is a possibility that we as a society are forced to 'move on' sooner rather than later. It may start with civil disobedience before politicians or health officials sound the all clear, if they ever do. Eventually, the conclusion will be that the long run survival of the country is more important than the lives saved by keeping the economy shut down for a prolonged period of time. I say this with great sadness, and can only imagine the social unrest..but I think it is going to happen.

+1. I don’t think it’s a “possibility,” I think it’s almost certain we’ll have to ‘move on’ before the healthcare crisis is completely over. There won’t be an obvious moment that it’s time to move on, so it’ll be a gray transition. And I don’t disagree with the steps we’ve all taken as a society, but the longer it goes on the more economic damage we incur to individuals and businesses, and the more irreparable. We can’t afford to wait until Covid-19 has been completely eliminated. Like many things, there are tradeoffs with no easy answers.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

...
- Handshaking? I am personally done with that and suspect others feel the same way....

And "bro' hugs"! (As seen ad naseum these past few years on late night talk shows when the hosts greet guests.)

 

[Which Roger]

Call me an optimist, but I think once we understand the virus better, we will be able to manage it much better with much less impact on the economy and on our daily lives. We will learn which containment and remediation strategies provide the most bang for the buck, and the ones that provide little or no benefit can go by the wayside. Just like post-9/11, although perhaps with a longer timeframe. We shut everything down right after the attacks, then loosened the restrictions with no repeat of the terror.