This letter is not my writing but it speaks about the potential future of America after a pandemic and mirrors it with the Spanish Flu. Good reading though but could be used for a good debate over a cup of tea or coffee with your friends.
Ten things that will change after corona
1) A flight away from urban areas. You don't have to be an epidemiologist to understand how high population density provides nearly ideal conditions for fostering pandemics. This is especially true in some large urban areas in the US where people are more-or-less tolerated living on the streets with some relieving themselves in public areas. Expect the flight of millennial to the suburbs and exurbs within two years of the corona lock-down abating. This happened after the Spanish Flu with places like Long Island and New Jersey being converted from farmland to suburbs seemingly overnight.
2) Re-thinking urban mass transit. Urban mass transit in the US, particularly in the eastern cities, has long grappled with the problem of the homeless taking shelter in buses and subways. Up until the corona virus, city leaders lacked the political will to do much about it. This will change. Obviously these soiled and usually ill unfortunates carry all manner of pathogens. In contrast, mass transit systems in Europe and Asia absolutely do not tolerate this public health hazard. City leaders will either have to make strict and perhaps politically unpopular policies to radically reform public transit or see people and companies flee their cities at an even faster pace.
3) Private automobile ownership will skyrocket. It is only logical that with more people fleeing the health risks involved with public transportation combined with an exodus from the cities that more cars will be on the road. For reference, US auto sales nearly quadrupled within 2 years of the end of the Spanish flu pandemic.
4) Distance learning (attending school on-line) Already growing rapidly prior to the virus, distance learning will become pervasive, comprising the bulk of instruction by middle school. This should lead to interesting, and as of yet, unforeseen changes in what it means to be a teacher as well as student. Teachers’ unions will try to mute this change, but will eventually adapt.
5) Many "green" initiatives will get the healthy level of skeptical review they deserve. An example is the "green" reusable grocery/shopping bag. After years of ignoring reports from credible institutions such as the Loma Linda University of Public Health warning of the dangers of these bags spreading pathogens they will become a distant memory as cities and states outlaw their use. Conventional single-use plastic and paper bags are sterile and easily recyclable - and most importantly, don't present a potentially lethal disease vector to store clerks.
6) Much stricter enforcement of border and immigration laws. Avoiding the importation of diseases has always been an important function for immigration departments world-wide. But again political correctness has muted many of these efforts in the US. Such wrong-headed open borders thinking will no longer be politically acceptable going forward. Here’s what happened after Spanish Flu – on May 19, 1921 a national quota system on the amount of incoming immigrants is established by the United States Congress in the Emergency Quota Act, curbing legal immigration. This was followed by the Immigration Act of 1924 greatly reducing the number of immigrants to the US.
7) A more conservative and capitalist mindset will sweep the US millennial. Following the Spanish Flu, the "progressive" movement of Woodrow Wilson was soundly rejected by the once socialist-leaning voter base. The Democrat ticket of James M. Cox and FDR was defeated by the largest popular vote percentage in US history. This resulted in the next three presidents elected to office following the Spanish flu being Republican as well as both the House and Senate enjoying Republicans majorities for the succeeding fourteen years.
8. The aftermath of the corona pandemic will further ensconce the United States as the world’s only economic, military and cultural superpower. The US allies in Europe no longer have the economic mass to take leadership positions in world events and even our close and very capable friend, Japan, is suffering from a two-decade long economic malaise. The US recovery from corona will echo the early 1920’s when the US represented nearly 40% of the world’s industrial output.
9) The virus will provide the final nail in the coffin of the European Union. The government in Brussels was an anachronism when it was founded in 1992 and has now been shown to be an impediment to just about every member state except Germany, Belgium and to a lesser extent, France.
10) The demands for a government takeover of healthcare in the US will decrease. As of the date of this writing (4/10/20) Italy, Spain, France, UK, Sweden and Denmark all with government healthcare system have 3-4 times the COVID-19 mortality rate of the US. Of course, there will be much more telling data available over time, but for now, having a government run health system isn’t a distinct advantage.
source unknown. Was shared to me by a smart person
Topic: What the future of America may look like after Covid......... (Read 583 times)