What The World Will Be Like

This Sunday morning I got to read a new report of the WHO. It is warning about that the world population would have to prepare for a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic. The reason for this seems adequate. 
There is no vaccine in sight yet, and if a vaccine is found and been tested, it has to be produced for the world population of 7 billion people. Given the fact that many will refuse the vaccine for personal reasons and many people live in remote and hard to reach areas of the world, it will take years until a vaccine will be efficient.
Next to that, scientists expect re-infections to happen and that vaccines will have to be applied with regular booster shots like we already know from the common flu.

So what does this tell us and what does it mean for life as we knew it before Covid-19?

Travel and transportation: Closed borders have been a measure to contain the spread of the virus. If closed borders will be our new reality for years to come, it will stop most travel and tourism. Bus and tour companies will fold all over the country. Cruise ships will be a thing of the past and will disappear from the oceans. Air travel will be regulated even more and fares will sky-rock. Private travel will meet harsh control measures even within the country. For years environmentalists have told us to use public transportation. But being on a train, on a bus or in an airplane together with many people will pose a danger for infection.  How are we gonna deal with our transportation needs?

Health and well being: The work load on health professionals will increase and capacities for ICUs may have to be doubled. Social distancing will mean loneliness and isolation for many. 

Sports: Best scenario will be that gatherings of thousands of people in a stadium will have to be regulated with stadium capacities being reduced. Worst case, sport games will have to cease.

Economy: The economy will have to adjust to all of the above. Millions of people will have to go unemployed for a long time. This will put a huge strain on government spending which will have to re-plan for a different way of existence of our society. Increased social costs will meet reduced tax income for the country.

How this can be done is anybody's guess at this time. 

And what happens if we will get a mutation of the coronavirus before we even get a handle on novCovid-19? Too scary a thought for most of us!

There will be one winner though - the environment! It is easy to imagine that the environment will recover from human abuse when world traffic will be reduced substantially. We have already seen clearing skies in some otherwise heavily polluted areas. Maybe this will be the new hope for human survival.