The new world post-pandemic seems unbelievable and overwhelming. We will have to live with it. One must have never imagined that this can happen. Sometimes it feels like we have walked into an old dream. All of this is not real, and people will wake up soon. It is all because we haven’t seen this before. Some people roughly knew what it would be like, but then this pandemic made us encounter something strange.
If you cast your mind back a few weeks, and imagine someone is telling you that schools will close soon, you will have to cancel all your planned public gatherings, etc. What would have been your reaction? Not believing the fact. But, this is what pandemic has done. Hundreds and millions of people around the world are jobless. Government is also knocking some of the economic stimulus packages in history. Pandemic has changed everything, and people are trying to cope up with things, striving to adjust themselves.
It is hard to believe, but you will have to believe that things will never be the same again. This is what is new normal, and you will have to stay with it. This question is in everyone’s mind, and they are all eager to know the answer. Will things go back to normal? The clear answer is no. Some fundamental changes will take place in the lives of people and also in businesses and economic functions.
You will have to go through a lot for the next 12 months. Businesses will have to strive to continue to stay, and some may die. However, people have gone through some economic adversities in the past as well. New industries will also emerge, with a renewed hope of recovery and the betterment of the economy.
Well, you can say that eventually, things will go back to normal. But, you will also have to change the definition of normal. We welcome you to the new normal. COVID-19 has had a greater impact on the entire world as a whole, and there are not one or two nations dealing with it. Let us observe the situation a bit more and know what COVID-19 has done to the life of people.
Life in the time of COVID
It might be a mouthful, but we can have a look at what you should expect in the near future. Liquidity will remain tight, and at the same time, the cost of borrowing will jump upwards. This pandemic is a humanitarian disaster which is novel in its spread. It also requires a
sudden and crucial measure to support the action. However, people should not panic, and it shows that safety measures will help them stay away from the grasp of COVID-19. Work, decades of literature and experience on disaster management shows that full recovery will take a few years. New normal will take shape, and people will have to live with it.
The disaster has helped us draw some parallels and lessons from the disaster studies, and with it, we can also work on strengthening the current health system.
First and foremost – Cascading failures will take place because of disrupted essential services. Several low and middle-income countries, the spread of such infectious diseases is more because of a lack of health infrastructure. Safe drinking water, proper drainage, open spaces, awareness and practices, related to safe hygiene is crucial to fight any disease. The measure namely lockdown and the ban on movement of the population helped to control the spread to a great extent. However, the need for medicines, food, nutrition, education, clean drinking water, sanitization widened.
The pandemic has emerged as a significant challenge when the hospitals across the entire country are struggling to procure equipment for the protection of health staff. People should also inculcate good hand hygiene and other similar practices among the staff. No one is alone in this, people are all together, and we have to fight it together.
Secondly, the disruption of routine services has impacted the most vulnerable groups. Children, elderly, disabled, women, etc. are affected immediately. Some other groups are impacted severely, and there are vulnerabilities among some social groups of people as well. Labourers, migrants daily wagers, those with pre-existing health conditions, etc. have had some serious impact on their lives. Their social networks and capabilities have deteriorated and continue to be so. Lockdown measure has impacted them, and there are gaps in the understanding of their water, nutritional, sanitization, and hygienic needs.
However, the pandemic has impacted everything, but industries are still looking at the possibilities of taking advantage of the situation. They are looking for instances to grow their business online. Several companies are still recruiting, such as warehouses and retail businesses. Let us have a look at some of them.
Industry boom during COVID-19
There is still a need for people in the businesses involved in food products. The demand for food is rising, and they need people to meet the rising demand. Coronavirus has also changed the flow of how products reach consumers. Businesses are paying more attention to safety and control, rather than delivering efficient services.
A boom in the eCommerce industry is observed. This is because people are maintaining social distance and self-quarantining themselves. Several giants are amping up their supply chains to cope up with the increased demand for food and other essentials. Several businesses have become successful that initially started as e-commerce businesses.
Some retailers are also experiencing an increase in the online demand for several products between 150 and 500 per cent. It is the correct time to start digitalization of your business. There is no better time than this. The impact of COVID-19 and its consequences are unpredictable, and people say that you will have to live with it. It is advised that you should keep doing what you know is best and adapt to new normal.
A business continuity plan is the outline of procedures to prevent damage. Maintaining productivity is crucial in the event of national emergency and disaster.
