How COVID-19 will change Society

No one can deny that the 2020 covid-19 pandemic has changed societies across the world. Particularly in America, it seems like the pandemic and all the new social rules being placed within society has caused so many Americans to make changes to the way they live and will continue to do so in the near future. One of the biggest changes has been the way that we socialize with each other. We now do a bunch of our socializing through electronics, for example; instead of spending Christmas at Grandmas this year, many people opted to do a video chat with grandma instead. The biggest adjustment Americans have had to make is the requirement to wear a face mask. There have been numerous videos uploaded online of Americans refusing to wear a face mask when out around other people. Personally, I don’t know why it's such a big problem for some people to be respectful and mindful of others and wear a mask. I understand that it’s restrictive to a person's airway, but there are also options for that, people can get loose masks, bandanas, or even face shields. I don’t see the requirement of wearing face masks while out changing anytime soon. It may become optional in the next year or two but, I plan on continuing to wear the mask in public. The face mask has become a fashion trend, with so many different styles. Face masks have become a fashion trend and will continue to be a fashion statement in the future.

Now looking at how this pandemic will affect the medical field, I think it’s safe to say that we need more doctors, more medical equipment, and more nurses. I mean imagine if it had been a deadlier virus? We as a species would have been in a lot of trouble, we need to take medical expansion seriously to ensure if this happens again we have the adequate tools for success.

Another impact is the amount of travel currently going on in the world. At one point nobody was flying anywhere. Recently airports have opened up again and there are covid tests required before traveling and lots of new regulations. One of which is wearing face masks on all flights, fewer people on airplanes, and there are also rapid covid tests taken upon arrival to a new location. I don’t think the rapid tests are located at every airport, but I could be wrong. Another interesting thing that popped during the peak of the pandemic as the travel ban, particularly aimed at the United States. Instead of the US banning other countries from entering, it was the other way around. Other countries banned US citizens from entering their countries, I remember at one point the US was banned from all countries with an exception of a few. This pandemic may have caused the people in other countries to not look at the US as the leading nation anymore because of our conduct during the pandemic. There are so many viral videos of Americans acting out by not wearing a mask while out shopping, going to parties, and not social distancing. I even have a friend living in China, she’s an American, but she kept getting asked why we as Americans act so crazy and why we can’t just follow the government regulations. She said she’s always very embarrassed and can’t give them a definite answer. This is alarming as a society and I think we need to take a step back and think about how we as a society can fix this. Because if this happens again we need to take better precautions, America has had the highest death rate from this pandemic and I think that this shows us as a society we are flawed.