Asia is certainly doing much better thanks to the experience built during those pandemics. But that is not what I was talking about. I was referring to changes that went and will go beyond learning how to face a similar situation, and will change the daily life. Let me offer you an example. In Italy to get a drug through the healthcare system we used to go to the GP to get a prescription on a special sheet of paper, which allowed us to pick up said drug at the pharmacy for nearly free (some had a tiny copay). The healthcare system had already created a more streamline system for these recipes: if you are following a therapy with a certain drug and therefore the doctor does not need to visit you, you can receive it in a digital form, as a code number through which the pharmacy can download the prescription and give you the drug. Most of the times, though, the patients didn’t want to use that system because they were just too used to getting the written prescription. With Covid-19 we need to limit the number of times we see our GP in person to prevent unnecessary risks. So, doctors are starting to push for the digital recipe, which makes everything easier: the doctors sends you via mail or via text message or also dictates you over the phone the code number, you go to the pharmacy, show the code to the pharmacist, who downloads the recipe and hands you the drug. This is easier and faster than getting the paper recipe, and after having been force to use this new method, many people will not want to go back to paper recipes and long queues at the GP’s office. The changes I was referring to are these What I fear are not changes in economy and infrastructure (we may finally get a proper ICU even on more remote hospitals). What I fear are political changes. There was a huge shift towards fascism in many countries – like mine. Instead of following the law (issuing proper State of Emergency, attaching preventive measures to it, to the extent it allows it, etc.) … the government literally abuses power, goes around the courts (and laughs them in face – cancelled preventive measure, just remove one exception and push it again, as it will take court at least month to cancel it again for same reason). I’m very concerned about this trend being continued, and government is going to abuse its power for anything (instead of discussion, persecution … instead of liberty, only repressions). Everything can be now advocated by blaming citizens and spreading fear amongst them. This is a very, very bad template they have set up.
Not to mention, corruption scandals happen daily – again advocated by “crisis” and any investigation is denied because “it is crisis”.
It is true but not in the sense you may mean. Any great event causes changes. When WWII broke it set in motion a series of things that made people’s lives different. Before WWII, for instance, aviation was putting lots of effort into seaplanes. Quiet sea waters, lakes, and even artificial basins were seen as the perfect place to make big seaplanes take off and splash down. When a city had no large body of water that could be used, it got to the point of creating its own artificial pond for seaplanes.
Milan’s Idroscalo was built as an artificial basin for commercial seaplanes in Milano, it is now Milan’s beach area. On the left of the photo you can see part of the Linate Airport.
Now, have you ever flown on a seaplane? I never did for sure, and I did have a few flights. What made the commercial seaplane idea get ditched and the commercial airplane idea win? That’s easy: WWII. Throughout the war, air warfare got so important that loads of airfields were built. Many were in the middle of nowhere, some others near cities. Besides, the bombers rapidly increased in size and needed proper strips to take off and land, and these were built too.
The Milan Linate airport in the 1950’s
Now, what happens if you build a number of airfields with long landing strips, a radar, and a control tower? After the war is over you have the infrastructure to use for larger commercial airplanes to take off and land near cities, so you can stop using lakes, seas and artificial basins for seaplanes, which are slower and not as reliable and can’t take off or land in certain weather conditions, and have size limits.
Air traffic over western Europe
WWII created the conditions for modern commercial aviation. It created the technologies that we now commonly use in a million of applications in our homes, from artificial rubber to cellphones. It dramatically changed the political face of the world. It made the women’s work valuable, opening us the doors to careers that before were men’s only. And it changed the way people lived in a million other ways.
Back to Covid-19. This past year made a great impact on our lives. The pandemic will probably end in 2021 or early 2022. This winter will be long and heavy and we will spend it with quite severe restrictions if we want to keep the number of victims under control. This will give us different habits. More people will be buying on-line, more will work from home, businesses and services will learn to function differently, while meetings will be held on-line. Some of these changes will stick.
By spring the number of infections will start to drop, like it happened in the spring of 2020. In Summer we will live with very few limitations while we will start getting our Covid-19 shots. Come fall 2021 fewer limitations will be put in place, as the vaccines will reduce the number of people who may get infected. But by then we will have acquired some habits that we will want to keep regardless. How much cheaper and easier it is to have certain meetings on-line, keeping meetings in person only with people nearby or for the most important ones? Masks have been made popular in the west, how many of us will keep wearing a mask when visiting an hospital, we have a cold or a flu and for some reason must go somewhere (maybe shopping because we have run out of food)? How much more often we will buy on-line? And what about what is happening in many south american countries, with the political crisis in Perù or the legalization of abortion finally close in Argentina? The EU is being changed too, thanks to both Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, and maybe for the better.
When we think to the post-Covid-19 pandemic world we should not think of a continuation of the limitations that are now necessary to keep the spread of the pandemic in check. What we have to think of is our new habits, as well as the political and social changes that the pandemic-related limitations have been creating.
Picture Source Google
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