Construing Your New Normal - Coping with a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Lifestyle
By Faiza Zia Khan
Newport Beach, CA
This is the most rhetorical question on everyone’s radar these days, “What would life look like post COVID-19?” It is hard to imagine with all the COVID-19 news and information surrounding us that there was actually a “normal” life before these ill-fated times.
Prior to its advent, 2020 had many hopes and aspirations attached to it but none of them involved grappling the intricacies of how to survive a pandemic. There are only two ways to define this year, the pre-pandemic and the post-pandemic times. This is how 2020 will go down in history.
Every other achievements or accomplishments that may or may not happen during the course of the present year will now be overpowered by the ripples of this pandemic. Abysmal as it may sound this is the reality we have to embrace in the face of existing adversity.
Week after week joining the leagues with millions of my fellow Californians, I put away home delivered groceries with gloved hands before wiping them down with heavily soaked germicidal wipes. I made sure I trashed all exterior packaging materials including delivery bags from the purchases outside the door so that only the contents within the packages came inside my home. I wonder if this behavior elucidates the “new normal” or is it paranoia from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat is very real as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) repeatedly warns about smaller waves of virus spreading again, if the social distancing guidelines and reopening of the economy is not tackled carefully. It is touted that every US city and county should brace for severe outbreaks, a possible second wave, and even a resurgence of the coronavirus later this year and next, should there be a fallout from the current state.
When authorities such as the CDC proclaim the present state of lockdown to be a “new normal,” we have a duty to do more than just listen. Not only do we need to strictly adhere to the guidelines and instructions implemented, we need to start a conversation around the expectations. We need to ask questions about what the new “normal” is going to be? To be more precise the accurate question to pose is, “When we finally get back to normal, what should normalcy feel like?”
Governors of the most hard hit states - Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania - issued orders or recommendations that residents wear face masks as they emerge from isolation in the coming next few weeks. Advised New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, “If you are going to be in public and you cannot maintain social distancing, then have a mask, and put that mask on.” Orders of a similar nature were imposed in the cities of New Jersey and Los Angeles while face coverings were recommended by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. Further, California Governor Gavin Newsom said, “...residents across the nation’s most-populous state would likely be wearing masks in public for some time to come.”
History tells us at some point the COVID-19 will become a distant memory just as the Polio epidemic (1916), the Spanish Flu (1918), Asian Flu (1957), and more recently the Ebola epidemic (2014) were controlled with time and development of appropriate vaccines. Although there are some epidemics such as the Zika virus (2015) where there is a danger of it returning as a specific vaccine has not yet been developed to control it. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in early April that approximately 50 potential vaccines and 100 potential treatment drugs were registered for clinical trials.
Despite these efforts the time frame for a vaccine to be available in the market is 12-18 months - that is only if everything goes as planned for testing and clinical trials. Rough calculation of these timelines means we are looking into 2022 before there is a hope of some concrete medicinal measures to be put in place. However, mass producing these vaccines in quantities required to help the millions in need of them might take years. Keeping an optimistic view, it could be the vaccine delivers what it promises, but no one is aware how long that formula will stay effective as the virus mutates under varying conditions.
What does this all mean? The fine print under the above says that we all have to mentally prepare ourselves to acclimate to a world where prevention is the only cure as no vaccine or medication targeting the COVID-19 virus strains will be available in the near future. We have to adapt to a lifestyle where we have to stay indoor unless it is extremely necessary to leave our homes.
The new normal will come with new rules about outside behavior and social organization, some of which will probably persist long after the crisis has ended. We will have to disinfect everything we bring into our homes and keep it germ free and sanitized to eliminate spreading the virus.
In our free country/free society culture where “no holds barred” is the way of life, this new social order will seem unthinkable to most people. The way things are projected, sports, concerts, going to the movies, the mall, or even organized cultural/religious events with huge crowds might be rendered a concept of the past.
When it comes to saving the human race any change can quickly become normal if people accept it, embrace it, and adhere to it. In all honesty the real oddity is how uncertain things are at this moment in time. It is natural for us to make plans in advance such as: booking a cruise, making hotel reservations, purchasing airline tickets, or something as mundane as arranging a celebratory event.
The pandemic has undercut prognosticating normal life. Strangely undermined is the predictability of routine that we always assume we will still be able to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or even in 2022. The economy is collapsing and the level of anxiety is rising, yet there is nothing we can do but be patient, as we drift aimlessly unmoored with tides of time keenly awaiting the elixir that will become our savior.
(Faiza Zia Khan holds a Master’s in Journalism degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She has collaborated with news media outlets including Global National and actively volunteers for several community investment projects for the Red Cross, United Way and the Breast Cancer Foundation)
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