What Will Happen If the Pandemic Never Ends?
March 16th, 2022
Imagine wearing the mask in the following 20 years. It has been 2 years since the covid-19 broke out on Dec 1st, 2019. Now, people are used to wearing masks, having online meetings, and eating at home. Nevertheless, many still wish to return to normal life so that they can travel abroad without quarantine. But no one can tell us when the pandemic will end. All we can do is to be prepared for this massive-changed world. If the pandemic lasts forever, there are both positive and negative effects which will happen in three diferent perspectives: interpersonal relations, the environment, and emerging industries.
From the side of interpersonal relations, mask will become an obstacle for people to build up new relationships, because they cannot recognize others who cover their faces with masks. Here is my experience. Last semester, I never saw my group members’ faces from the first class to the last one. Owing to this reason, I hesitated to greet them on the street because I might mistake other people for them. Sometimes, I try to recall the person’s image, but what comes to my mind is just a vague figure. They are just like familiar strangers. I am wondering whether you have the same experience as I did. Moreover, an experiment (2021) done by The University of North Carolina school of medicine shows that patients trust the surgeons who wear transparent masks more than those who wear traditional masks. We can see how essential face revealing is in people’s communication and relationship. As a consequence, it will be hard for people to build up new and deep relationships with mask covering.
However, one of the positive effects is the environment will get better due to the significant slowdown of social and economic activities. Although the pandemic brings us lots of inconvenience, it also gives a big advantage to the environment recovering. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020) indicates that water and air quality has improved because of the restriction of social and economic activities. For example, on account of the shutdown of heavy industries in China, the estimation of the amount of N2O and CO has reduced nearly 50%. In addition, the river Ganga and Yamuna in India also become purer due to decrease of industrial pollution. If the pandemic never ends, we can expect the Earth will become clearer in the future with restriction on human activity.
Finally, thanks to the pandemic, two kinds of industries will continue to grow to satisfy people’s needs at home. The first industry is remote meeting software. More and more office workers tend to work from home to avoid indoor gatherings, and so do students. This results in the development of software like Google meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. According to BBC News (2021), in 2020, the Zoom company’s sales hit $3.7bn which grew 40% compared to that in 2019. This huge number on their sales shows that people are trying and accepting this remote meeting in the virtual world. As a consequence, people might be more willing to take online courses or have online meetings in the future because they have had the experience during the pandemic. And the second one is food delivery, such as Foodpanda and Ubereat. Food delivery provides customers with convenient services with social distancing, so people can get their delicious meals without risking themselves. Although the pandemic shows a sign of easing, the food delivery industry is still growing. We can expect this industry to prosper from now on no matter in urban or suburban areas to contribute to a convenient world.
In conclusion, there are three effects that might take place in the future according to what have happened during the pandemic or the post-pandemic era. First, people will be difficult to build up a deep relationship when people are wearing masks. Second, the environment will become purer and cleaner without overwhelming human activities. Last but not least, the remote meeting software and food delivery industry will become prosperous. Although we cannot predict when the pandemic will end, we can try to live with the significant changes in the world. After all, life still goes on.
References:
BBC News. (2021). Zoom sees more growth after 'unprecedented' 2020.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56247489
The National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability.
The University of North Carolina school of medicine. (2021). New Study Shows Impact of Mask Wearing on Patient Trust and Perception of Surgeons. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7498239/#:~:text=Overall%2C%20the%20pandemic%20has%20caused,et%20al.%2C%202020).
Source:
(https://www.twreporter.org/a/after-covid-19-ten-turning-points)
