We are waiting for things to get back to normal but it won’t happen in weeks, months, and years. We will keep on waiting for several years from now. Things will not get normal if the virus is active even in one body, as we will still stay in danger. There will be huge damage to businesses. People will stop gathering in larger numbers: for parties, hotels, cafes, cinemas, shopping malls, concerts, sporting venues, etc.
People are already having a hard time taking care of their kids and elderly people at home so that they don’t get exposed to the virus. Also, domestic violence has witnessed a surge during the lockdown, as many individuals are stuck with their abusive partners in a confined space. So, are we ready to enter this new world after the pandemic gets over? Maybe ‘yes’, with better health care systems, more availability of PPE, testing kits, drugs, and vaccines.
Our lives might get more digital; like gyms sharing online training programs more, schools conducting online classes, more walking, and cycling. But many livelihoods won’t be manageable without disruption. We will have to make several social life compromises. Maybe movie halls will remove half of their seats; meetings will be held in huge halls; when we go clubbing, people might stop asking for our ‘age verification card’, but will surely ask for ‘Immunity card’. We might also need to book our time slots to avoid crowds.
Maybe in the coming future, we have to sign up for apps or services which will track all our activities. There would also be a temperature scanner everywhere we go. We really don’t know how the future will look like, all we can do is – hope for the best. The best part about it will be we will learn how to socialize safely and in a more sophisticated way. We will adapt to other things like wearing masks and constantly sanitizing our hands.
But as usual, the big cost will be borne by the poorest and marginalised section as they are forced to stay in more unhygienic areas, which are more to this disease. The world is changing around us, all we have to do is to adopt a new way of living, working, and travelling. Our lives won’t get back to 2019. In all these changes there will be many who will lose too much, in addition to those who have already lost.