Positive Effects of Covid 19
Anything that human beings encounter en masse that focuses the mind and helps break down any of the manufactured walls between us – whether physical or psychological and whether the benefits be short term or long – is a good thing.
It’s not all good, of course. These unifying events can make us sick or even dead like Covid 19. Sometimes they kill us outright like wars. It could be a multi-state blackout in the northeast or a mine explosion in Chile or a devastating weather event in the gulf. Or 911.
Unfortunately, they must be dramatic events with potentially life threatening consequences because nothing focuses the human mind like death. And because the media is owned outright by vested interests whose attention span is limited to 4 or 5 financial reporting days each year and whose sense of responsibility to the people who actually own the airwaves – you and me – is “fuck you.”
It would be great if the media focused on Teacher of the Year stories in the same manner as a Bronco chase on the 405 freeway, but that’s not the world we live in. Contain and control. Maintain a heightened level of fear. That’s their mantra. That’s their mandate. That’s how they keep their jobs.
Anyhow, positive outcomes can and do emerge from the depths of despair. They often don’t last very long but in the case of Covid 19, a couple just may.
- Better hygiene and a sense of personal responsibility toward others where health is concerned
More people will wash their hands more often. This outcome alone would almost make Covid 19 a worthwhile exercise. People, Americans certainly, have historically been so incredibly selfish about their health. Or should I say generous. They are very generous in passing along infection to others.
“Don’t come to work sick.” “Go home, you’re infecting the whole building.” If I had a million dollars for every time I’ve said those words to direct reports and other colleagues, I’d have a billion dollars. (I don’t.) 99% of the time, they just wouldn’t take it seriously. But I think it’s safe to say that Covid 19 has made everyone so conscious of not just one’s own health but the health of others. I’m convinced that people will actually think twice now before coming to work – or remaining at work – when they’re sick or even just not feeling very well. The dirty looks they’ll now get from co-workers if they’re in the office coughing or sneezing will definitely help. Any part of remote working that sticks will also help.
I think this effect will be a lasting one and long overdue.
- Remote working
I may be in the minority here, but this effect will peter out. Not completely, because the benefits are just too obvious. Some key personnel will insist on it and some job descriptions cry out for it, but most employers are notoriously untrusting and many employees are notoriously untrustworthy. Seeing is believing more or less. Plus for me, and I think for many others, especially for those on the creative side, the benefits of close physical proximity are simply too much to abandon. Being in a room together is not the same as being in a video chat room together. Not by a long shot.
I’ll be grateful for the degree that this effect sticks, but I think it will be limited.
- Improved air quality and other environmental gains
These effects are sure to be flashes in the pan. Humans as a species do have self preservation pretty well baked in but it’s literally ‘self’ preservation. Humans rarely act in concert for the benefit of all. They tend to reject even the tiniest inconvenience “you can’t make me wear a mask” and have a giant blind spot that prevents them from seeing, or remembering, or being bothered to pursue, the kind of environmental benefits we’ve literally seen and felt in 2020.
I don’t have the patience right now to research the research, but I think we can all agree that the general health of every human on the planet is benefitting to some degree from the environmental improvements related to Covid 19. (The one exception being those suffering from symptomatic Covid 19.) Sadly, we can probably all also agree that this universal health improvement will be painfully brief.
Cleaner air, cleaner water, less noise and light pollution. I don’t believe that any of the unintended causes of these wonderful outcomes will endure. Soon enough, we’ll all be back on the highway, on planes, crowding into hotels, meeting spaces, vacation destinations and restaurants, interacting much as we had before Covid 19. In the extremely unlikely event that a vaccine eludes us and/or a reliable, quick-acting treatment regimen goes undeveloped, we may be forced to live in a cleaner, healthier, more tolerable environment. But I doubt it.
- Virtual education
To the degree that long-distance learning has evolved and improved during Covid19, if it has at all, the better off we’ll all be. It won’t have much impact on developed nations but in the 3rd and 4th worlds, where brick and mortar classes are few and far between, any positive impact on virtual education will be a positive for all. Education is, after all, the answer to all the world’s greatest dilemmas.
Would love to hear your own perspectives on the positive consequences of Covid. This would be a great post to comment on 🙂
Stay curious. Find the answer. Save the world.