What changes do you see coming in society.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

Due to the coronavirus? I personally see changes coming all over the place. More screening to cross an international border. More working from home - fewer hotels and fewer airlines - fewer restaurants - more self employment due to fewer jobs - health care and education moving online and staying online - commercial real estate taking a huge hit due to less office space being needed with more and more folks working from home - what do you see coming? Rob

[catherine]

On my wishlist is the realization that universal healthcare is better for everyone.

[Tradd]

I don’t think the work at home numbers will change much. I bet a whole lot of companies aren’t going to want to give up the control over employees in the office, overseeing everything they do.

Older students might be able to work more easily from home, but friends tell me their younger kids really need to be in a classroom.

I do think that there will be an even bigger expansion of people ordering stuff online. The grocery stores will have to expand pickup/delivery capacity.

I do believe that business travel will be reduced as people will get more exposure to the teleconference software and its capabilities.

I hope more people will travel in their own countries, or nearby ones they can drive/travel by train to. There’s too much galavanting about and spreading weird stuff, like this plague.

[Tradd]

On my wishlist is the realization that universal healthcare is better for everyone.

I’m beginning to accept we’re going to have to go this direction. Problem is, I know people in both the UK and Canada, and I’m well aware of the issues with both countries. Getting a GP appt can take a long time. Appt that fits your schedule? Tough! You’ll take what we give you and if you have to miss a day’s work, too bad. Specialist appts can take months and months. You can wait years for something like knee replacement.

In Canada, the provinces run it. In the UK, it’s at the national level.

I don’t know how we could implement it without it descending into total chaos quickly.

[ApatheticNoMore]

More people having a closet full of toilet paper? I don't know. Even with us working at home now the company has become more distrustful and paranoid about whether we are working or not. In truth we are working as well as we possible can considering the world is collapsing around us, it's hard to 100% tune out, a health crisis and economic crisis, but people are trying their best to push it out of their minds to get work done, without much understanding that we're all on edge emotionally. So I don't think companies actually like it. They do it because: pandemic. But I do thank every company that has done it and hasn't had to - saving lives. But when things are normal I think it's back to the office for most.

I dearly pray there is less wasteful travel, I don't have my hopes up. Citizens could choose more green living to a degree and more local living, oh how I wish, I have only so much hope they will. Much of the reduction of pollution is sheer government forcing people to work from home etc. Don't think that will last. They could however heavily encourage working through home with tax breaks for companies that do it etc. but they have never done so.

Fewer restaurants maybe. Maybe more people are cooking from home and learning to cook but then maybe not. I mean it's MUCH EASIER at this point to order take out or delivery from a restaurant than to buy food and cook it as grocery shopping has become a major ordeal and grocery delivery inadequate to the population, yes I cook because I always have, but it's a strain now. I don't think fewer jobs lead to more self employment, I suspect it leads to less in many ways, as self-employment also depends on people with disposable income generally to buy things, and if almost noone has any because we're in a depression, unless one serves some niche that still has money to spend ... Some do start businesses in some recessions, but that happened less than usual in the Great Recession of 08.

[early morning]

I am afraid there will be a reduction in small, local businesses to begin with, but I hope that is a short-term thing. IMHO, there are too many big businesses already. I agree that businesses will likely reduce business travel, not only to reduce expenses, but to expand that control over employees that Tradd mentioned. I am hopeful that this will cause us to address universal health care in a sane manner, but I sure wouldn't bet on it.

I think this is going to lead to more stockpiling, which isn't necessarily bad; I've never been a fan of just-in-time inventory control. It will probably lead to MORE gun and ammo sales. Personally, I see this as bad; others will disagree. I don't think increasing gun ownership/ammo purchases as innately bad; I'm more concerned with the mindset of many - though not all- stockpilers of weapons. And I know plenty of them, so don't accuse me of some BS lefty bias. I know of which I speak here, and am carefully not tarring all gun owners/purchasers with the same brush. I'm a gun owner and have plenty of ammo. I'm just not convinced that some townie is going to come take my toilet paper and will have to be repelled with gunfire.

I agree that more people are going to be comfortable with online purchases, and with online banking, etc. I do think we're going to see that impact in the form of a slow recovery and subsequent reduction in brick and mortar shops.

[JaneV2.0]

Cutbacks in obligatory hugging can't be a bad thing; hand-shaking as well. Less business travel, I hope. Prudent stockpiling for emergencies is always wise. We'll probably be more mindful of the possibility of infection from now on, and take appropriate precautions.

[razz]

Very little will change. It is similar to a food diet or exercise plan, man will stick with some changes for a while and then revert back to the former familiar.

We have gone thorough a number of crises over the years but the haves will continue to be in charge and the have-nots, wherever they may be, will still be trying to catch up.

I believe the chaos theory will rule and cause change at some point. The load of sand will continue to build higher and higher with little occasional grains of red until one day, there is one grain of sand or red being added that simply starts the whole pile to unravel. Then and only then will change possibly occur. Empires have gone through the chaos theory and collapsed and over centuries recovered.

[SteveinMN]

I would not expect to see many big sweeping changes right away. The true changes will take a generation or two to show up. If ever.

Some low-hanging fruit will be collected now. The many businesses which quickly offered take-out/curbside service will find a sustainable level of demand for that even after people can go back into the store and shop. I think people who were pushed on-line (using a banking app or picking products via Web site for delivery) have found it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. But the ones who found a social component to patronizing businesses or who have complicated situations to address will make bank deposits in person and pick their own 2x4s as soon as they are able. The increased surveillance people are tolerating/welcoming now (for example, maps of people movement through mobile phone usage to identify virus hotspots) will not go away and, in fact, likely will pave the way for even more. Wearing a mask when one is not feeling well may become much more common in the U.S. -- at least in urban areas. There may even be unexpected outcomes, like masks becoming the kind of fashion statement that eyeglasses have become.

Some damage will be temporary. Soon, the stock markets will be back at least to the levels they were before. For all the restaurants which are said to be unable to return, I don't see home economics classes coming back to schools or people no longer eating out because their favorite didn't come back; other places will appear. Inventory levels will increase in some places; people may salt away a package or two of toilet paper (but they won't likely stock up a freezer); depending on how many times COVID-19 catches fire again, hospitals and emergency repositories may stock more masks and ventilators. But, despite bellowing pronouncements to the contrary, some people did see a pandemic coming, and yet it was judged "not worth it" to stockpile experts and products and to make sure they worked. Expect that kind of risk vs. expense assessment to continue.

But real change, like deciding that tying medical insurance to having a job is not the most efficient, most benevolent way to provide for citizens? This pandemic may plant the seed that changes that. But 'Murrica still sees itself as an exceptional country and, therefore, is very resistant to learning much from any place else. It's hard to see the loss of a couple hundred thousand people (or fewer) changing that trajectory. More people have died in other causes and not moved the needle.

[catherine]

Cutbacks in obligatory hugging can't be a bad thing;

I'm as non-demonstrative as anyone can be, but I do appreciate a good hug, so I hope that's not a fallout. However, I completely understand your position.