This pandemic is going to have some far-reaching effects:
1. Telecommuting will become permanent for millions of workers as businesses realize they can get their business done with much less office space and overhead. Office buildings will empty out.
2. Online shopping for everything will accelerate and become permanent, closing tens of thousands of retail businesses, large and small. Mall closings will accelerate. Municipal tax bases will shrink. Hundreds of thousands, if not millins, of retail jobs will disappear.
3. Online learning will become the rule, rather than the exception, leading to "classroom" sizes in thousands, with no intellectual interaction among teachers and students. More rote learning, less thinking and discussion.
4. Supermarket and restaurant delivery/pickup will become more widespread.
5. Social media will grow dramatically because people will spend weeks in isolation.
6. The travel industry may never recover. Airlines and cruise lines will have wholesale shakeouts and consolidations, with many gone forever. The enormous loss of wealth in the stock market will leave people with far less disposable income for travel and leisure for years.
7. Temporary movie theater closings will become permanent as studios directly stream first run movies to viewers, or through Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
8. Sports fans will get more used to viewing their teams on TV rather than in stadiums. Ticket prices will fall.
8. With rallies and conventions cancelled due to Corona, political campaigning will change dramatically. This will probably help Trump, who will get far more exposure because he's the incumbent and already dominates the news cycle as no other president before him. The Dem candidate won't have big audiences and mass turnouts to boost his chances. Going forward, voters will have much less chance to see their candidates in action--only in ads and on social media, in images that they create for themselves.
Your views?
I definitely agree with a lot you say here, but I don't think it'll happen quite so quickly once this "pandemic" blows over. I use the quotation marks because honestly, I believe this is mostly media driven. Not to say the virus is made up or we shouldn't be cautious, but it's definitely not the doomsday scenario the media will have you believe it is (remember, we're just 8 short months away from a Presidential election). But to get back on topic, I think as thebigfella said, most people are ready to get out and be around others again. I personally don't mind as it's given me time to slow down my daily life, reflect, begin reading again, and do other things. Furthermore, I wish more of the precautions we're putting into place now (such as washing our hands, being more mindful of others around us, having something simple like hand sanitizer available at stores we patron) will all go away once this is over and we as a society will have learned nothing unfortunately.
To break it down more, 1) telecommuting is beneficial, but I'm sure many places want their employees at work "to keep an eye on them." How many people are home right now actually working vs. "working"?
2) Can't disagree with this as this has been the trend thanks to Amazon but when people need something in a pinch (like TP, water, bread, etc. now), people will still hit up the brick and mortar stores.
3) Again, I think this is further away than the current trend. They want kids in school (and believe me) the parents want them in school too.
4) This I can definitely see as well, however, don't underestimate the power of "a night out" rather than "Netflix and chill."
5) This has already happened and will only continue to get worse.
6) I hope both industries will adopt this "cleansing" between trips as they're doing now, but again, due to cost measures, once it's more readily acceptable to travel again, it'll go away. Airline travel is a necessity for many. Cruises are a luxury and should definitely feel the effect more.
7) The idea of streaming moves in theaters at home has been floating around for a few years now. However, the sticking point has always been price. The studios want to make as much money as possible, being that they financed the picture and the theaters in turn want to maximize it too. Might be hard pressed with a $20 price tag to get me to switch (but for couples/families, it could be a different scenario). However, until this becomes more of the norm, studios will still prefer to have their bread buttered at the theater.
8) Prices are already too high and more fans are staying at home due to HDTV's and the comfort of their own home. True, there is nothing like experiencing a game live, however, for a family or anyone who isn't a corporate sponsor, it can seriously add up quickly.
9) I don't think lack of crowds will help Trump. Once this is over, people will still come out to support what they're passionate about. This will either hurt or help Trump but that'll all depend upon the economy. Personally, I think this whole coronavirus is nothing more than an attempt from the left to derail Trump. All of the gains he's made in the stock market are virtually gone. People are basically out of work in some industries due to having to be at home. This is an election year and they want him out so badly, they're pulling out of the stops in order to prevent his re-election.
