Life After Quarantine
Like many of you, this past month I have been watching this whole coronavirus catastrophe play out with a sense of disbelief, and am now finally realizing just how susceptible the world is to such a disease. Every day, the news seems to grow more and more dramatic. Of course, one of the wildest bits of information we’ve recently found out is the terrible irony of ironies, the Health Secretary himself has officially tested positive for coronavirus.
Not in my lifetime, nor my parents, nor probably their parents, have we witnessed a public health scare of quite these proportions. A month ago, to someone living in Manchester like me, all this talk of a flu-like virus transmitted in Chinese street markets seemed all so far away. Now, it comes to our front doors and it’s no longer operating only as a mere biological virus. Like some unpleasant computer bug with an intelligence all its own, it has put entire economies on hold, with businesses across the globe simply shutting up shop. It has quite literally infected the infrastructure of the world and forced it to shut down, much the way a virus attacks the cells of the body.
If for nothing else, this virus has proven to be a great leveler, affecting all people from all walks of life. If you’re a celebrity like Tom Hanks or Idris Elba, there’s no special protection that makes you less likely to catch it than the common man. In a way, I think it’s made a lot of people realize the fragility of life and the institutions we hold dear. We’re all in this together, and the entire human race is being forced to unite to fight this virus. Though we’re all locked away in our homes unable to see many of our family and friends for a while, we’re all connected by this experience in a way we haven’t been before.
It’s uncertain how long this is going to last, and even less certain what life will look like after it’s all blown over. The global economy will undoubtedly take a hit, that much is obvious. It may be a rough couple of years for many, leaving some bouncing between job centers, hoping to rub enough notes together so they can pay the gas bills. But, the night is always darkest before the dawn. And out of the ashes of desperation and destitution, there will come a new era of innovation. Only after being brought to our knees, can we reach up and touch the skies.
The days where children trudge their way from classroom to classroom, and where university students must amble from lecture to lecture whilst nursing a hell-sent hangover are numbered. With that, gone is the old excuse of ‘my dog ate my homework’ or ‘there was traffic, so I’m late for school’. The truth is, these are phrases that the next generation simply will not know. Futurists have long been speculating our world is about to become technologically unrecognizable, and I believe this is only the beginning. Face to face contact in school, within a couple of decades, I can see going the way of floppy disks and typewriters.
Will this make schools more ruthlessly efficient, meaning education and knowledge will only become better and cheaper for everyone who can afford a computer? Or will this mean the camaraderie and friendship we all knew in school will become a distant memory and force the younger generation to resort to new ways to seek out each other and form attachments?
With the rising popularity of Zoom, people can now see each other face to face and take part in pub quizzes from the comfort of their own homes. This has made life easier for many of us with friends and relatives who live far away, and there’s something about it that makes it feel rather more intimate than a crowded pub where you can hardly hear from your friend desperately whisper the answer across the table to you. Is the video chat about to replace all of this? From now on, will ardent followers stay in their homes where they can have an even more direct conversation with their local pastor? Is this how the Pope will now make his addresses?
But before we see any of this, we must deal with the economic fallout. The sooner we work together to beat the inevitable recession, the sooner we can find out whether we’re on the brink of a technological utopia or dystopia. Across the entire world, there are record numbers of unemployment claims and stock markets are plunging in value. This has the potential to be an economic disaster like we haven’t seen since 1929. Many companies are having to pay their usual costs but making no money in the meantime. Because of this, they’re going to struggle to meet the inevitable spike in demand for so many goods and services when this is all over.
Many are also speculating about whether there will be sanctions levied against the Chinese government. It’s unclear whether the number of cases currently being reported is accurate, and a lot of people similarly don’t think the Center for Disease Control and Prevention or World Health Organisation have been entirely transparent either. However, I doubt any action will be taken against those who may or may not be responsible for any under-reporting. It’s unlikely that governments are going to risk antagonizing the next global superpower and miss out on all the products made in China, from smartphones to action figures.
What has more people concerned is the expansion of government surveillance and the use of drones to makes sure everyone is keeping to the rules and staying indoors. There have been police patrolling the streets in what has some feeling like they’ve been dropped in the middle of a futuristic dystopian novel where face to face interaction is outlawed. Will this be the new normal? Unlikely, given how reluctant the government has been to extend these measures. But, this could be a worrying genie to have emerged from the bottle and I think we will do well to keep an eye on this. Future governments may want to use this to tighten their grip on the population and use any crisis like this as an excuse.
We don’t yet know how badly we’ve been hit by this. What is clear is that we will have to face it together, regardless of how long the road is. The medical field may never be the same again, and we’re about to see unbelievable leaps in testing and treatment, because when humanity witnesses a crisis like this, it’s in our nature to think up new ways to avoid it. Necessity is the mother of invention, but a crisis is the father of invention.
