Post Covid World !!

Pic Courtesy - Chris Tony

We will all be back soon, to what we say normal life and things will be quite different than, what we had anticipated. There will be so many changes to the life which we had before Covid, some of which are easily visible, while some are not.

We will have vaccines and new treatment methodologies based on millions of patient data and also, strict guidelines on how to prevent another pandemic of this scale.

There will be so many other changes as well and here are my feeling about what we should be looking forward to see in the Post Covid World.

Human 2.0

There is a chance that a new upgraded version of humans are going to emerge. This is not a superhuman which, I am writing about. This is the collaborative human !! Which will share information without any borders and will work in a highly collaborative environment without messing with Mother Nature and the only mission is the survival of mankind.

Upgrading the Health Care System

The pandemic at this level has exposed the flaws in the Health Care Systems worldwide. The main example here is US where it has spread so quickly and vastly even though US boasts itself as a technologically advanced country. Death count and disease spread is going out of hand in US. Meanwhile in Germany and South Korea the death count is less mainly because of its efficient intensive care system. Government and Hospitals worldwide will focus more on upgrading the current system and will also involve digital health wherever possible.

Technology shift to involve ML and AI

We have already seen how an AI assisted system can sent out first alerts of an outbreak. This will be widely used now and along with that these new generation technologies can speed up vaccine research and also in efficient management of available resources in a crisis. They have immense possibilities in insurance settlement, claim management, supply chain management, banking and most importantly in farming food crops for the mass population. This new reality will significantly impact governments and companies - costs, revenue, and operating models.

Work from Home

Major companies are all planning to go ahead with this new norm of work from home even after the Covid period. The main advantage is that the employees can be more safe at their homes. Also, on a long term it can be saving of office commutation hours, saving on office rent and its maintenance and more importantly the flexibility it gives when you want to work or do something outside your work.  This change could also mean other companies adopting remote working more aggressively in the future. So this new norm is going to continue and people, will have to adapt to this new way of working.

Digital Health

Telemedicine and use of digital health apps have sky rocketed due to the pandemic and this is going to continue.  Devices like digital stethoscopes, portable ECG monitors and digital otoscopes can be used at home and the results shared remotely with online doctors. These will eliminate doctor-patient visits whenever it’s avoidable and also help reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Such devices should become commonplace, shifting the point-of-care to the patient.

Immunity Passport

People might have to be certified to be immune to virus to get access to normal life or else they will have to stay indoors. It might be a mandatory requirement for travel, as what is happening now with Emirates Airlines. They are doing rapid tests for all their passengers at airports before the travel. This might get applicable in other areas like - rejoining back to work, attending a conference and so on !!

Forced Surveillance

As a matter of fact everyone hates surveillance and intrusion into privacy. But all this rules against surveillance is going to be a thing of the past and many Governments have already taken step to enforce surveillance and tracking mainly for contact tracing and quarantining suspected citizens. Germany, India, Israel, Singapore and many others have used phone tracking to locate and alert their citizens. South Korea went further ahead by using CCTV footage and bank transactions in addition to phone use in its tracing process.

New Habits

Pandemic has increased the awareness for personal and public hygiene measure and hand washing, sanitising and social distancing are all going to be the new norms in society. People will get used to wearing face masks, as a daily dress accessory. There will be lesser shake hands for a long time and the traditional Indian Namaste will get popularised world wide.