After the pandemic: How will COVID-19 change the world?

new_trader

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One of the few positives that I can think of:

1. Upping the Average Hygiene Game

You know those people you’ve seen leaving public bathrooms without washing their hands? There’s a chance coronavirus might scare them into changing their ingrained habits. And washing their hands on an ongoing basis could reduce contagion during future Cold and Flu Seasons.

 
Less traffic? Remote working will boom and so will the companies engaged in these services.
 
One of the few positives that I can think of:

1. Upping the Average Hygiene Game

You know those people you’ve seen leaving public bathrooms without washing their hands?
There’s a chance coronavirus might scare them into changing their ingrained habits. And washing their hands on an ongoing basis could reduce contagion during future Cold and Flu Seasons.


Nah, I've seen this happen DURING the pandemic with signs all around showing people HOW to wash their hands, thats a whole generation lost.
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After the pandemic we will see an even bigger divide between the rich and poor,
- rich people riding out the loss of earnings (I dont think Bill Gates earning $8Million per day changed his lifestyle)
- poor people getting even deeper into debt
- while a few million more of those who had their heads just above water have now gone under.
 
Nah, I've seen this happen DURING the pandemic with signs all around showing people HOW to wash their hands, thats a whole generation lost.
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After the pandemic we will see an even bigger divide between the rich and poor,
- rich people riding out the loss of earnings (I dont think Bill Gates earning $8Million per day changed his lifestyle)
- poor people getting even deeper into debt
- while a few million more of those who had their heads just above water have now gone under.
I completely agree with the bad hygiene comment but imo the knock-on effect will be real and (relatively) long-lasting. Of course people will continue to be stupid, careless and cavalier and a fair few will die because of that. A bit further down the line, children will be routinely taught how to keep themselves clean(er) from kindergarten onward and any parent genuinely wanting to protect their progeny will reinforce that. The current grubby generation get to star in their own reality show with Darwin as the compere.

As to your "divide" idea - maybe yes, maybe no* - There is a growing comprehension of the inequality you refer to and the media are doing what they do best i.e sensationalising and promoting national indignation about behaviour seen as not PC. I'd argue that millionaires being mean with their moolah now falls into that category and that the norms of the New Order to come could well see the obscenely rich fall from grease.

*I'm certain of that.
 
Widespread global rioting, looting, murder and general crime as people begin to starve to death through lack of food.

It's not the virus govts need to be afraid of in the second wave.
 
Chinese style censorship on public platforms in the west. I would say its coming after covid but its already here.

Coronavirus protests test Facebook's free speech pledges
Mark Zuckerberg says his company is combating "harmful misinformation" by taking down posts promoting defiance of social-distancing rules. But conservatives like Donald Trump Jr. call its actions "chilling & disturbing."

 
the point is not how to change the world, the point is how people themselves change, and then they will change the world, it all depends on each other
More AI bot software running lose again clearly written by a 12 year old.
 
With more companies re-structuring their businesses to accommodate work-from-home (WFH), I wonder if we are also re-structuring our businesses to be slowly outsourced to foreign lands?

We are already used to low-level, low-skill services outsourced to India and the Philippines, etc.
If businesses can create the mechanisms and procedures to work remotely, offering more higher-level, complex tasks to be done off-site, it will only be a matter of time before these tasks can be outsourced, at a deep discount to the company?

Payroll, basic HR, Business Reporting, Marketing. All this done from Kolkota?
A zoom call from leafy Kent is no different than from Manila, with perhaps a fraction-second delay difference. Maybe an accent difference, and time-zones, but thats just a logistical issue.

I am on the MeetUp app, where people can (used to) come together to enjoy common interests.
There are a lot of Zoom-based ones now. (eg, Tai Chi)
 
With more companies re-structuring their businesses to accommodate work-from-home (WFH), I wonder if we are also re-structuring our businesses to be slowly outsourced to foreign lands?

We are already used to low-level, low-skill services outsourced to India and the Philippines, etc.
If businesses can create the mechanisms and procedures to work remotely, offering more higher-level, complex tasks to be done off-site, it will only be a matter of time before these tasks can be outsourced, at a deep discount to the company?

Payroll, basic HR, Business Reporting, Marketing. All this done from Kolkota?
A zoom call from leafy Kent is no different than from Manila, with perhaps a fraction-second delay difference. Maybe an accent difference, and time-zones, but thats just a logistical issue.

I am on the MeetUp app, where people can (used to) come together to enjoy common interests.
There are a lot of Zoom-based ones now. (eg, Tai Chi)

I agree. Once companies are comfortable with their workforce performing tasks remotely it is inevitable that many of those jobs are off-shored. What difference does it make to a London based firm if their workers are in Cornwall or Sri Lanka, apart from cost of wages?

At the same time I don't expect the inflow of immigration to slow, quite the opposite in fact, meaning more competition for a decreasing pool of employment opportunities.
 
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I think we will see an exodus of the middle class from big cities, in fact it is already happening.
 
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