Humanity After Corona: 16 ways COVID-19 may change our future

My Predictions for a world after this Pandemic

“However difficult matters are at present, and however close to the limits of their endurance some sections of societies are brought, Humanity will ultimately pass through this ordeal, and it will emerge on the other side with greater insight and with a deeper appreciation of its inherent oneness and interdependence.”

-The Universal House of Justice (Supreme Governing Body of the Baha’i Faith) 19 March 2020

Due to this pandemic, Humanity’s resolve, collective unity, and its institutions are being heavily tested. I do believe, however, that each test and tribulation that Humanity is currently enduring will bring us all a step closer to what in my eyes in inevitable: World Peace. Given my firm belief of Humanity’s end destination, what kind of changes is humanity moving towards due to this pandemic? Below are some of my predictions:

World Health Organization 2.0 

Much like how the United Nations was formed after World War II as a response to the terrible amounts of bloodshed seen in the war, I believe that we will see the emergence of a more effective and powerful World Health Organization. This hypothetical WHO 2.0 could have significantly more power in not only sounding the alarm for a virus, but it could also be given the means to stop the virus in its tracks bypassing government bureaucracy and world leaders’ egos. Just like the United Nations this WHO 2.0 won’t be perfect but it will push us closer to world peace and it will be seen as a significant step in the right direction.

Corona Boomers (or Doomers)

We all have to do something in quarantine, right? In all seriousness, the world will have lost a statistically significant portion of its population due to COVID-19. When looking at birth rate maps 30 years from now, I can imagine that there will be a significant increase in the world’s population similar to that seen in the Baby Boomers generation after WWII. Once there is a vaccine for COVID-19, people will start to feel a well-deserved sense of calm and happy outlook on life again.

COVID-20, COVID-30… 

Unfortunately I believe we will see a resurgence or second wave of COVID-19 or a virus similar to it. This could happen as early as this year (similar to what happened with the Spanish flu), or it could happen later on. Whenever it happens, I believe society will take it more seriously. The media may magnify the severity of certain viruses in the future leading to panic and overreaction, but it is better to overreact than under react.

20 Second Washing Hands are the new Cold War era Bomb Drills

In the Cold War, students in classes practiced what to do in case of a nuclear bomb detonation. I predict that children born after the Coronavirus pandemic will be taught to wash their hands for 20 seconds, and washing their hands for any less time would be considered atypical. It will be interesting to see how parents raise their children after a calamity such as COVID-19. It will also be interesting to see how a generation that washes its hands for 20+ seconds fairs against future viruses. 

The Second Great Depression

I hope I’m wrong about this one, but I think it’s safe to say the economy after COVID-19 will be in rough shape. After the initial news of nationwide quarantine, the stock market crashed. It is currently rebounding but I’m not sure our economy can take another hit like that. The stock market is operating under the assumption that this pandemic will end within the next month or two and that after that everything will go back to normal without any interruption. I just don’t think that is the case, and once the stock market figures that out there will be another giant crash and significant unemployment. As much as I don’t want to say it, I believe we haven’t seen anything yet. 

Universal Healthcare and Universal Basic Income 

Universal Health Care and Universal Basic Income will be two of the major societal advancements that will come in a Post COVID-19 USA. In times of quarantine many people would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that: 1. if anything happens to them the health care system would take care of them; and 2. that they would still have an income even if they weren’t working. Another prediction here would be minimum wage reform, but for paid sick leave (minimum sick leave paid act)? 

Hospital Staff will be regarded as more than Heroes  

I feel that a Post COVID-19 Society will come to see hospital staff as putting their lives in harm’s way to save lives. Sure this was true before COVID-19, but I believe that after the pandemic people will view doctors and nurses on equal footing as firefighters on 9/11 or veterans after a major war. Just like with veterans, frontline healthcare workers should be subjected to receiving PTSD counseling for the work they’ve done. Unfortunately as with many things regarding mental health, PTSD from working during this pandemic probably won’t be taken seriously.

Trends in the World will Speed Up because of this Virus

On the Podcast Pivot, Scott Galloway commented that this virus is speeding up trends that previously would have taken years to catch on. He mentioned food delivery services being widely used, and old fashioned retail businesses that aren’t modern enough will go out of business quicker than before. Although he mentioned these two examples I believe that this “speeding up of the trend” applies to most things in this world. For example businesses that were going to fail 3-4 years from now will fail in the next year. Since physical retail stores are closed everyone is using online retail stores to satisfy their needs, after COVID-19 I suspect many people will realize the convenience they gained and fewer people will go back to physical retail stores than ever before. Basically take any trend regarding any aspect of life and, for the most part, it will be sped up because of the current pandemic. 

Online Universities would Significantly Improve

Right now, online learning sucks. All my classes that moved online aren’t teaching me anything -- they’re just using the internet as a means to assign extra work. It is even more apparent how broken online education is now that everyone is under quarantine. I predict that a company (or companies) will revolutionize online learning and have people actually learn something online rather than just assign work using the internet. (For more on this see my previous article on Online Education)

Schools/Universities will not Open their physical campuses for the foreseeable future

I predict Universities and major school systems will not open their campuses this fall. No school wants to be the new epicenter of the virus, always in the news about how their premature opening infected thousands of people. Because of this, even if it isn’t warranted, schools will keep campuses closed. First major Ivy leagues and bigger schools will make the announcement, then like dominos other universities will follow. Public K-12 schools on the other hand, will stay closed on a state by state basis. Education is so important, especially for children, and keeping schools closed in the fall will be devastating. In the future, I can see the government funding programs to catch all children up on the learning they missed due to this virus.

COVID-19 will not Move the Needle in the Battle for Climate Change

There are many stories online about how because of quarantine the world around us is actually improving. I predict that although we will see the benefits of reducing carbon emissions this won’t impact the world’s desire to actually work to reduce them. The world is inflicted by a disease of materialism, Climate Change is only a symptom of this problem. It will take more than a virus to reduce our emissions, and nothing short of a united, mature Humanity to tackle the disease of Materialism. 

Global Bioweapons Race and Mandatory Vaccines  

A darker prediction is that now that a Post Corona world has seen how much damage  a virus could bring economies, various world governments will decide to use this fear and devastation as a weapon. The problem with a Super Bioweapon would be that it would affect everyone including the country that released it, right? This is where I predict that mandatory vaccines could come into play. In the future, a country could have a bioweapon that they could launch while its citizens were already vaccinated against it due to their mandatory vaccinations. An enemy could be brought to its knees while the hostile country was still able to stand on its two feet. It’s a scary thought that will drive a bioweapons race to not only create bioweapons (Bad) but also improve the time it takes to create vaccines against unknown viruses (Good). 

FaceTiming People will Surpass Phone calls

When FaceTime first launched it was revolutionary yes, but it was seldom a part of the daily routine of anyone. This was due to the perceived awkwardness of calling someone and actually seeing them. I believe that after COVID-19 this will change. Let’s say that 70% of all calls one would make are regular phone calls and the remaining 30% are FaceTime Calls. I believe that in a Post Corona world these numbers flip and 70% of all calls become FaceTime calls due to everyone’s exposure to FaceTiming during quarantine. FaceTime and other video calling apps will have gone from somewhat awkward encounters to normal parts of daily life Post COVID. 

Working from Home will rise

There are many people working from home for the first time and prefer it compared to working in an office. After this pandemic, I think many people who have the ability to work from home will stay home. 

This time in history will be known as: The Great Pandemic (of 2020) 

For some reason we call catastrophic events “The Great ______” (The Great Depression, The Great War, etc.), it seems only fitting this Pandemic will have a similar naming scheme.

When things will go back to “normal” 

When I originally wrote this article I predicted we would all spend 4th of July together in celebrations without social distancing. As the days pass, this prediction doesn’t seem to be aging well. Although we could see certain places lift restrictions by the 4th of July, I don’t think things will get back to normal until we have a vaccine (and it is available to everyone). This could be as late as 2022 or as early as in the next 10-12 months. I am bullish on Humanity’s ability to work together in times of crisis which is why I think the vaccine will be out sooner than we expect, January 2021 perhaps, but this could easily slip back to later dates. This entire situation is developing every day and each prediction of an “end” date I’ve made feels wrong a week later. So for now my prediction for a return to normalcy is: I’m not sure, and perhaps just perhaps we need to come to terms that there will be a new normal that is different from what we know today. 

As this list of predictions grew, I realize that some might view a few of these predictions as a wishlist. Regardless of how positive some of these predictions are, I do believe they will happen. Likewise I also believe that some of my darker predictions will happen as well, but I hope I’m wrong on those ones. It’s easy to lose hope in the world given how the past 20 years have looked, however I believe that the more difficulties Humanity sees in the world the more perfect it will become. These hardships will lead us down a path to World Peace, and to me that isn’t a prediction but a certainty.