Whatever happens with covid19 -- and I hope that as few people get sick or die as possible -- I'm already thinking about *after* the outbreak, and what happens then...
Because most of the changes that are being mooted (or in some countries made) to deal with the crisis are changes that would be genuinely good things for the world on a long-term basis.
A lot of the stuff to reduce infection this time will also reduce infection the *next* time there's a pandemic.
And a lot of things like people being able to work from home if their job is one that could feasibly be done from home are accommodations disabled people have wanted.
And a lot of things like people being able to work from home if their job is one that could feasibly be done from home are accommodations disabled people have wanted.
Like, I would almost certainly still have a day-job, rather than quitting it through illness four years ago, had I been allowed to work from home rather than have to be present in an office to be "part of the team".
(There are *dozens* more examples of changes that are being made that are net positive goods, like sick pay entitlements being widened and so forth.)
Now, when this is over -- and it will, one way or another, eventually be over, there will be calls for a "return to normalcy". Some of that will be good -- like I don't want all concerts cancelled forever, and so on.
But we should push *hard* in every way we can to keep those "temporary" measures that benefit people, and that would mean that next time there's a pandemic the curve will be flattened in advance.
The other option is to go back to the way things were, have people say "What was all that fuss about? We're all still alive, aren't we?" and ensure that as well as being miserable until the next pandemic, we're caught off-guard then too.
