The economic impact will be pretty bad. But not for those who have the ability to entertain & deliver over the internet to all those who all of a sudden have few places to go and less to do. In the US all the 330 Million have been asked to distance themselves to curtail the spreading and the infrastructure has been set up for those who require treatment.
Aid from governments are coming to support the impacted sectors and from financial institutions to encourage spending. Stock markets have crashed with higher volatility than the 2008 economic crisis.
The oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the Stock markets before and after the Pandemic are all topics running under the radar amidst the Pandemic
What are the unprecedented changes that induce shock and that one silver lining? Wait. is there a silver lining here?
Hourly paid workers are at the highest risk — The contract workers. They are the ones who will have the rug pulled off from under their legs in times of economic uncertainty.
Work from home means higher productivity — Quite recently a study was conducted at a Chinese Tech Giant who wanted to encourage their employees to work from home to mitigate the high costs of leasing office space in Shanghai. The ones who worked from home were also under observation for 9 months and their productivity was up by 13%. That’s phenomenally high considering you already saved money from the cost of maintaining an office space. Also, their quit rates were extremely low.
Long term effects on Mental Health — If Social Distancing is to go for more than 6–8 months, there is an impending danger around the corners related to mental health stemming from a feeling of isolation & depression which could lead to the therapists getting paid more than ever before. Overall it looks pretty bad for the extroverts.
For C level employees & Management — If you were to listen to a financial expert, they would give you a rather counterintuitive approach to what looks like a blip where the older investors would want to sell everything and liquidate. You shouldn’t look. Don’t act on emotion. This is a phase that shall pass very soon
Commuting to work is dead (If it can be avoided) — Satellite towns will increase and young people paying exorbitant rents to live in overpriced neighborhoods will soon be an extinct concept. Why would they want to go back to the 30-minute commute?
Air Pollution — Lowest in years!
Institutionalized Education will die — Students will pick courses only those that train them to learn hands-on skills. Why would someone get an admit to an institute where they teach methods and formulae? Tough questions here. Home-based teaching has begun
Highlighting the silver lining amidst this black cloud seems like an audacious attempt but here are a few.
- 45,000 fewer deaths due to reduced pollution vs 3000 deaths from Covid-19
- Fewer people will die from car accidents
The pandemic highlighted everything urban humans are up to when life is normal outside. This is just data and the silver lining is not relevant right now. We should maybe not wait for the next pandemic to curtail Air Pollution and let us maybe not ignore Climate Change and call it a hoax.
