Returning To The World After Covid-19 - What Will Be Different?

As the world starts to cautiously reopen after months of quarantine, it’s naive to assume that we will simply go back to how things were before COVID-19 swept across the globe. How we interact, how we make transactions, and how the stores are set up are all likely going to be impacted. This is to reduce the much-feared second wave of the virus or a variation of it.

There has been much speculation about exactly how this will play out and exactly what the level of impact would be on our communal habits and patterns. Some changes we are already seeing are the new maximum capacity threshold for restaurants and stores. Maintaining social distances and minimizing physical contact would likely continue for the foreseeable future.

So what other changes could we expect to become part of our new norm and how should we prepare for them?

1. Internal Environment - Air Quality

We realized that many of stores, hospitals, offices, and other commercial properties were woefully unprepared for the pandemic. Full shutdown was the only option to prevent human-to-human contact and accidental aerial transmission of the virus. Partitions at cashiers and counters will be the new norm to ensure workers and customers are protected.

A recent study showed that nine people in Wuhan, China were infected from the air conditioning vent inside a restaurant. This small sample size study does not mean we should ditch air conditioning altogether. Good ventilation is needed for human survival and comfort. Air conditioners have gotten more and more sophisticated, providing better air quality features beyond just cooling effects. ACs with stronger filtrations which remove smaller particles will likely become more mainstream. Beyond air quality, requiring masks, gloves, or use of hand sanitizers will also likely continue as we walk in and out of places.

2. Location Tracking

During COVID-19, a new job was created to trace the spread and transmission of coronavirus to intervene to prevent people who may have been exposed from unknowingly spreading it further. Experts indicated we need at least 100,000 coronavirus contact tracers to manage the workload. These tracers identify anyone and everyone who may have come in contact with the confirmed cases and quickly notify them so they can self-quarantine.

As the world reopens, tracking of the individual whereabouts will become more accepted. In Australia, all restaurant and bar patrons must use the government-created COVIDSafe tracking app or leave their name and number at the restaurant so these tracers can quickly notify them should there be a chance of exposure. Concern for privacy will need to be at least temporarily deprioritized in the matters of public safety.

3. New Way of Working in The Office

As companies are allowed to reopen their offices, there will be restrictions that both the government and each individual company will set to minimize future outbreaks. Ability to work remotely to avoid overcrowded office space is going to become common. Facebook announced that they will support remote work permanently and expect about half of the employees to take up on that offer. How this new working environment will impact not only our productivity but also our salary expectations will be interesting.

Some are expected to implement rotating days to maintain social distancing. Some may move away from the open-plan workplace and transition back to the old days of cubicles and private offices. A workplace planning expert suggested that keeping the staff numbers at about 30% of original capacity would be ideal for social distancing. This demand for limited time in the office may be exacerbated by the initial fear of taking public transportation where it’s difficult to maintain distance in a crowded space.

4. Contactless and Virtual Transactions

Across Europe, Australia and New Zealand, the use of contactless payments skyrocketed as people explored ways to minimize human-to-human contact. Mastercard saw a 40% increase in contactless payments during the quarantine. Contactless payments reduced the risk of people accidentally touching an item that could transmit the virus to others. Contactless payment systems were not as widely adopted in the US prior to the pandemic but that is likely going to change.

More brands and stores will allow virtual orders and delivery or pickups to support the non-physical transactions so that their revenue stream can be pandemic-proof. Last mile delivery innovations, including experiments using drones and robots, has been regaining attention as a way to remove the health risk of using couriers completely from the eCommerce activities.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes