As Society Looks to Rebound from Covid-19 the Ideas and Resources we Need to Cope and
Succeed will Look Different Than Before
How will People Change and Grow in the Wake of the Pandemic? As human beings, we all share the same sorrows, the same hopes, the same potential. The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us how interdependent we are: what happens to one person can soon affect many others, even on the far side of our planet. Therefore, it is up to all of us to try to cultivate peace of mind and to think about what we can do for others, including those that we never see. It is natural to feel worry and fear at a time when so many are suffering. But only by developing calmness and clear-sightedness can we help others and, in so doing, even help ourselves. In my own life, I have often found that it is the most difficult challenges that have helped me gain strength. The current global health crisis also reminds us that what affects the human family has to be addressed by all of us. The solution to this, as to many other problems, especially concerning the environment, depends on international co-operation. Ultimately, if humanity is to thrive, we must remember that we are one.
In-person, mask-free interactions seem like a thing of the past, but will eventually return, as the importance of face-to-face relationships has become very clear in past months. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, as countries jostled for test kits and protective equipment, global supply chains imploded, and low-income countries found themselves at the back of the queue. The World Health Organization (WHO), working with United Nations partners, developed a procurement platform. The region now has more than 750 laboratories able to test for the virus. However, many low-income African countries are still struggling with a distorted market and less than optimal testing rates. Ensuring access to a Covid-19 vaccine is potentially an even greater challenge. The speed of vaccine development has been extraordinary and it’s likely that we will have a viable vaccine in record time.
Relationships continue to be strained as social distancing and lockdowns stretch into 2021, causing some experts to worry about loneliness stemming from isolation. The pandemic has ruptured work for millions of people across the globe, leading to a painful period of uncertainty and anxiety. Being able to work is central to many aspects of life: survival, capacity to contribute and achieve, social connections and self-determination. This crisis is exposing the impact of the lack of protections and support for working people, which is now painfully clear. Because of the porous safety net that has allowed so many people across the globe to experience food, housing and health insecurity, I believe that this moment offers an inflection point.
In addition to mental health challenges, the pandemic has also revealed challenges in our systems and institutions, which were already riddled with inequalities and problems. Presently, however, the pandemic is undisputable, causing suffering and deaths across the world. The question then arises as to how this could happen, and various forms of fake news and unrealistic narratives have flourished, in social and other media. Some argue in favour of increased nationalism, blaming globalisation for the pandemic. Other arguments are also seen, such as ‘nature fights back’, providing ‘nature’ with social agency. Rather than adhere to conspiracy theories, nationalism, mysticism or other kinds of anti-intellectual attitudes, we need to return to the core ideas of the Enlightenment, questioning all kinds of orthodoxies, political and religious, and emphasise the scientific method (to develop vaccines) and international collaboration (to disseminate the vaccination programs) as the only way out of the crisis.
Wellbeing and happiness need to be bigger priorities for everyone in society, experts say. Hidden behind face masks, distanced six feet apart, we are quite literally losing touch with one another – starved of the social connectivity and engagement that is the very marrow of urban civic life. We turn instead to the echo chambers of social media, immersing ourselves in a sad simulacrum of the city – a kind of subdivision in the ether where we encircle ourselves with only those who look and act and think the way we do. Now the pandemic has revealed in stark relief what those of us who have studied economic inequality already knew: Covid-19 laid bare the vast network of underlying fragilities that continues to threaten the health and well-being of the United States. The latest economic research shows the many ways that high inequality – in incomes, wealth, and across firms – serves to obstruct, subvert, and distort the processes that lead to widespread improved economic well-being.
Travelling will likely be profoundly different for the foreseeable future, experts say, including who'll be able to travel and where they'll be able to do it. In the travel game, it’s tough even to understand what’s going on in the present. Some countries (Australia) won’t let people out, other countries (America) won’t let people in, even when they’re coming from a place with a better virus story. Or you can leave (the UK) and go somewhere else (the list changes daily) only to find (typically at 4 a.m.) all sorts of restrictions on your return. None of this encourages travel, and it’s probably a safe bet that merely making the decision to head for the departure gate is going to be a fraught choice for some time to come.
Quite apart from dealing with the bureaucracy and rules, I’m afraid that post-pandemic travel will be to a very different new world. Will we be welcomed? Will we be safe? And can we afford it? It will be a sad new world if travel becomes something only for the rich and gap-year travel becomes a rite of passage that ceases to exist. Of course, a travel reassessment will give us the opportunity to tackle some of the industry’s inevitable drawbacks from a fresh perspective, but will we tackle overtourism and climate change, or just turn the power back on and hit restart? Fewer planes are flying through the sky in the age of Covid, and the ultimate fate of the travel industry remains unknown and hanging in the balance.
Urban living may be replaced with remote work in suburban or rural areas. But the city dwellers to stay put will grapple with continued, Covid-underscored inequalities. Without a doubt, the ways we used to explore and engage while travelling have changed drastically. As we are now living with Covid, it is imperative that destinations, hotels, attractions, airlines – really the entire global tourist industry – continuously innovate solutions to meet the needs of “Gen-C”, the post-Covid generation. Our communal experience is driving changes to lifestyle and safety requirements for the new way of travelling. At the forefront is restoring traveller confidence and communicating how adjustments are impacting travel experiences at the local level. The heart of this is creating and marketing experiences that lend to stress-free travel within this new world.
The biggest unknowns in a post-pandemic work world. It’s been nearly a year since the novel coronavirus began spreading around the world. While we’ve learned a lot about Covid-19 since January – and how to live and work in lockdown – there’s still much we don’t know about how the pandemic will change our societies. What Covid-19 has brought “is a mindset difference that allows people to view remote work as a new normal rather than an occasional opportunity”.
Covid-19 will likely have permanent effects on the way we work. But the way we live, socialise and move about the world will be different, too. 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. Over the past six months, thousands of AI innovations have sprung up in response to the challenges of life under lockdown. Governments are mobilising machine-learning in many ways, from contact-tracing apps to telemedicine and remote learning. However, as the digital transformation accelerates exponentially, it is highlighting the challenges of AI. Ethical dilemmas are already a reality – including privacy risks and discriminatory bias.