When COVID-19 began to spread across the globe, a lot of things started to change. Grocery stores went out of stock very quickly. Schools shut down. People lost their jobs, and those who were still working had to take extra precaution just to step through the doors of their work place. A lot of places have shut down, some of them never to reopen. It’s been eerie and sinister to take a walk and see all of the abandoned areas that were full of life and happiness not so long ago.
Lately, however, things have been looking up and taking a turn for the better. Now that the vaccine is being administered and the number of people catching the virus has gone down, people are less stressed and businesses are opening back up or going back to their regular hours. However, there are likely going to be a lot of changes regardless.
For instance, political campaigner and entrepreneur Alexander Djerassi strongly feels that many places are probably going to still require masks and follow social distancing rules for a while, just to make sure their business isn’t taking any risks. Understandably, Djerassi also predicts that many people will continue to be overly sanitary and obsessive with cleanliness long after the virus disappears completely. Of course, we can’t blame them. A lot of people lost loved ones due to the virus, and some people managed to beat COVID, to major relief among family and friends.
It’s a huge relief to see that grocery stores are back in stock without having to monitor all of their merchandise 24/7, and people are not as afraid to socialize anymore, although it is still good to see people taking precaution and continuing to stay safe. It will likely be a while before things go back to the way they were before, although we can’t help but feel that nothing will ever be exactly the same. The most we can do right now is take a step at a time, and help one another get things back to normal.
Online jobs have also been in high demand lately. Many people have turned to freelance writing, or otherwise creating jobs of their own so they can make profit in less stressful circumstances.
Schools will most likely be much different than before, with social distancing, mask requirements, and extremely sanitary conditions. Nobody really knows how long these things will last. Sometimes these conditions are frustrating, but it is much better to remain on the side of caution than to take a risk. In other words, better safe than sorry. However, these changes don’t have to be a bad thing. If anything, they can be thought of as new traditions, not inconveniences.
Yes, things have changed due to COVID, and will probably continue to do so, but we are all in this together. Alexander Djerassi thinks that we all just need to take things a step at a time, and pretty soon we will have re-adjusted to the beautiful world around us.