Covid 19: What of the future?

Maybe it’s a bit too early to speculate or think about the future faced with this pandemic, but one thing I am certain, with the corona virus around or not, the sun shall set and rise to usher a new day with new opportunities, new challenges and goals to set.

The new corona virus pandemic is upending life as we know it.

More than one-quarter of the world’s 7.8 billion people are now largely confined to their homes, as governments step up curbs on movement and social contact in a bid to contain the virus.

In many parts of the world, borders are closed, airports, hotels and businesses shut, and school cancelled. These unprecedented measures are tearing at the social fabric of some societies and disrupting many economies, resulting in mass job losses and raising the spectre of widespread revenue loss among people.

Much remains uncertain, but analysts say the pandemic and the measures we are taking to save ourselves could permanently change the ways in which we live, work, worship and play in the future. Envisioning that post-pandemic world is key in ensuring we change for the better, not the worse.

So what will the future look like?

There will be big earners and losers maybe loses in the short run but as people and societies ‘get into the flow’ these adjustments may lead to a better world, for starters I think the earth is already breathing given the minimal carbon emissions and interference by humans now confided in their enclaves (but this is an article for another day, right?).

The physical analog world is being decimated, with traditional analog businesses including hotels, restaurants and airplanes in crisis. The digital world, however, is thriving. We are surviving through this pandemic because of technology.

Everyone is sitting at home, and their window to the world is through their smart devices and computers with businesses having the confidence to continue operating given the fact that technology provides appropriate tools that enables them.

In the post-pandemic world, technology will be as ubiquitous as it is now, if not more, and tech companies will become even more powerful and dominant. Prior to this, we saw a period in which people were increasingly more cynical and critical of technology. But, as the pandemic increases our dependence on technology has become mandatory to improve productivity and as it seems, this may become a new normal, remote and virtual business office models have been struggling in the recent past and I see this changing moving forward.

The technocratic authoritarian model in Beijing and East Asia, such as in Singapore and to some extent South Korea — countries that are dealing more effectively with the virus — now appears more viable than the Western democratic one, maybe this too could change drastically.

One thing that has stood out for me, in my quest to understanding this covid 19 outbreak basically because more people keep getting infected is that despite huge advances in medical knowledge, we are forced to respond in much the same ways as we did to previous pandemics.

Despite all our medicine, despite all the technology we have at our disposal, we’re really back to what our ancestors would have had in terms of dealing with these kind of diseases — just stay away from each other in an effort to slow down its spread.

A lasting effect economic effect of Covid-19 could be on how supply chains are managed in the future.

In the era of globalization and freedom of movement that we had before a big part of that economically, was the ability to build long, complex supply chains that prioritized efficiency and low cost.

But I think what you’ll see from talking to people now is that you’ll look to build supply chains that are more resilient, which means they’re capable of responding to disruptions. And those disruptions aren’t just pandemics, — climate change, and natural disaster those will only worsen over time. And you need a supply chain that is as resilient as possible that will not be shut down by an external event if you can.

This will ultimately mean moving production close to home.

We have technology like 3D printing that might allow companies to actually make many of the components they might need on their own, which would really change things hugely. Give for example tele-medicine and the ability of 3d printers for ‘printing’ prescriptions; it’s a viable option that is no longer confined in theory.

I suspect many people will look back and see this as a time when things changed in their lives.

A lot of our lives are habitual, and habits are highly effective in helping us work, look after our families and pursue our goals. What a shock to the system does is change those habits. People work and travel in a different way, their daily routines and the very rhythm of their lives change, including when they eat and how they communicate with their families. And when you are forced to do things differently, new habits begin to form. This doesn’t have to take long — it could be as short as a few weeks or a month.

More than that, what we know about shocks like this and system change is that they can have lasting effects on people’s values. We know societies that go through war generate stronger ties. This pandemic is far from a war, but it requires pulling together. And when people realize what collective action can achieve, it could change how they relate to others, resulting in a greater sense of community.

Having said all this, how the world and communities decide to move forward in the middle of this pandemic will usher a new mode of living, as governments provides subsidies through policies and companies too. We should not just be hoping for a ‘cushion’ in times of great challenges as this but also live lives with strong foundations which can with stand such situations.

Ofcourse nothing here may work as clock work given the nature of human beings but it can be a start to developing a new world where systems and policies work in cohesions for everyone’s sake.

It’s really necessary that we come together, as we figure out how best to stop this, how best to slow it, because of course, because the disease is contagious, if it spreads out of control in one country, it does represent a threat to every other country.

As we look into the future there’s really no way to stop the movement of microbes and we need to realize that now and develop policies and instructions which will work to uphold life not only to survive but to thrive. I would love to add more into this article as we figure out ‘what next’ so your comments and contributions are highly appreciated.

Stay safe, stay healthy, let us remain optimistic and beat the corona virus. I recognize the selfless efforts of medics across the globe who are in the frontlines fighting the corona virus, the first responders, doctors and nurses, philanthropists, persons companies and organizations working around the clock to uphold the value of life, may you keep the spirit of servitude, thank you for your service and my God bless and protect you.