The New Normal post-COVID-19:

No one will disagree with the fact that COVID-19 has been disastrous to the public healthcare and even for the economies. It will give any dry run to any recession in the past hundred years, even counting the 2008 GFC (Global Financial Crisis). How can I ever forget GFC? That was the year when I was placed in the corporate world and it did hit the start for every profession into the Financial sector. That year also brought many transformations and hence I wanted to pen down my thoughts on the possible New Normal.

Related Read: How to talk to children about COVID-19

There seems to be no rulebook for this crisis, as more than 1/3rd of the world’s economy is under the most trending word “Lockdown”. Such zoonotic viruses are here to stay, they will keep infecting people, and again it will prove the theory of “Survival of the Fittest”. While the normalcy will regain over few months, certainly it will not be the same, as the pre-COVID era. There have been enough realizations in this phase, the way we work, eat, and yes live. It ain’t be easy to return to our same old habits until next year, don’t you think so?

Read more: Indoor activities to do with kids

There will be some “New Normals” but definitely not an absolute “New era”. This pandemic multiplied as we live in an interconnected world. It has triggered many transformative changes, right from the working spaces to Logistics to Travel and it seems that things won’t change that quickly. It will be a cautious Era and the basics will once again be the luxury.

Post-COVID-19 Work culture:

Telecommuting or Work from home seems that it will stay, as it addresses the continued need for “Safe social distancing”. People have found out the ways to manage their family time and working time, while at home, and a sudden shift again, might lead to loss of productivity in many fields. Maybe this long pending work culture is here to stay for some time.

Post-COVID-19 Education:

Face-to-face learning’s to be a part in education and blended learning might increase drastically. Online learning programs, might see a dramatic rise, more so for higher education. Though normalcy of schools and colleges might resume, Online Education is here to stay. This has the potential to make education more affordable with a greater amount of flexibility.

Post-COVID-19 Travels

With Non-essentials trips being reduced around the world, we’re able to witness Earth once again. Restricting Non-essential travels will again be the norm. This phase has forced us to slow-down, and even in the next few months and years, we need to have a more thoughtful and responsible approach, when it comes to Travel. More local and slow travel will be preferred, which means helping the environment in many ways. As a traveler myself, I can’t imagine this world without travels and beautiful explorations, but it ought to be meaningful now, else, we will not have the real beauty of this planet to ëxplore”.

Post-COVID-19 dining:

Is contact-less dining soon to be here? The dining experience may not be the same again in the near future. There will be a whole new technology involved in the dining processes. You might also see COVID-free certified restaurants, to give the comfort of safety. But India is a social country, we step out to enjoy, interact and have a gamut of social experiences, it will be interesting to see the way human and tech components are blended for the right experience.

Well, with so many uncertainties around. Talking about New Normal, any Normal cannot be New and something New, cannot be normal. But it will be an interesting watch across the industries, how confidence is won once again. Social distancing and stringent hygiene measures will continue for much longer-term than we can imagine. Mass gatherings of thousand’s are not going to happen that soon. The future ain’t foreseeable but this pandemic has brought a lot of transformative changes, in almost every business.

[What are your thoughts on this? How do you see the months unfolding in the latter half of 2020? What could be the New Normal?]

Stay Safe,

Much Love,