In which ways, for better or worse, would you think Covid has changed America?

For the worse the right totally believe the people on Fox over health professionals .
It’s here for the long haul because people can’t be bothered to wear masks, social distance and get vaccinated.

For the better it will kill off a great deal of these morons that think there is no problem.

College kids won’t have to leave home for work soon apparently.

More remote workers, better hygiene (hopefully), cognizance that our own health/practices affects others.

Covid probably helped defeat Trump, so there’s that.

Curbside pickup for shopping and restaurants is here to stay, I’d say.

@SQUEEKY2 …..“For the better it will kill off a great deal of these morons that think there is no problem.”
But, them not wearing masks, not distancing etc. has caused some of the best people their lives. And the diligent about COVID kind of people have helped the ones who refuse to mask up distance etc. survive or not even get COVID.

I think it is has been very informative, on a personal level, in identifying people who are anti-science and therefore not in a milieu that I feel comfortable with, versus those people who are rational and reasonably intelligent.

So in an ass-backwards sort of way, COVID has been beneficial in that it lets my identify the idiots.

It assisted in reminding many of the value of life without many unecessary conviences and or products.
To live a simpler life and enjoy nature.

Stunted the education and social skill of kids in ways that may effect the future.

It made companies and organizations more flexible now with Zoom and other meeting platforms, instead of all meetings and conferences having to be in person.

I think long-term this hybrid/remote work is going to commodify “white collar” jobs. The connections we have with our coworkers and management is going to be damaged beyond repair. It’s another nail in the coffin for the middle class.

@Blackwater_Park Why do you see it as a negative? I see it as a major benefit as do my coworkers, especially the parents. Just curious.

I believe that Americans have tasted freedom; From jobs that they hate and will be harder in refusing jobs that they hate, for some time.

Families who live at a distance can be and are more in touch through zoom.

Workplace changes like hybrid office/home.

Politics is even worse in the country.

More online shopping, which I overall hate when it comes to clothes, but it’s been great for groceries. The groceries I pick up curbside, and the curbside where I live is very busy.

Some things have not changed enough! I was really hoping covid would cause Americans to be more cautious about spreading their colds and flus around in general, but it seems like mostly that’s not the case. Sick people still don’t care about getting others sick if it’s “just a cold.” The least they could do is wear a mask if they must go out. We need a cultural shift for sick people to protect others like in Japan.

Now, we are dropping masks on public transportation, but I wish there was a cultural shift for that also, where wearing a mask on planes and trains was still fairly commonplace. I don’t even mean the majority of people necessarily wearing them, but simply more commonplace.

@KNOWITALL I believe most companies will start to view employees even more like commodities. There are a lot of negatives that come with that.

I’m thinking this will finally put a check on runaway rates for commercial rental space. It’s been an unforeseen blow to that racket, particularly for commercial office space, along with probably millions of former brick & mortar storefronts whose former operators are now happy to do without. The congestion nightmare formerly plaguing downtown San Francisco is below levels seen in the 80s. Part of that has as lot to do with the city’s open war on motor vehicles. The town went crazy during the pandemic, restricting and eliminating traffic lanes and parking spaces, erecting speed bumps on virtually every block, and painting so many new restrictions and regulations on the roadways that town from above could be a Jackson Pollock painting.

@Blackwater_Park I do think for younger people especially working from home can be difficult. If they are new in the workplace and in their careers then training and face-time with upper level is probably important.

In the service industry they still have to show up. Restaurants, hotels, even hospitals, that can’t be done from remote. Lots of the lower paid industries those people often weren’t treated well to begin with. Some of them their jobs are threatened by robotics and automation coming down the pike anyway.

Employees have been treated more like a number for years.

The flexibility in schedule has had a long time coming. If employers had been more flexible a long time ago the covid situation might not have had so much impact. Now, there is a huge swing in the opposite direction, and might settle back somewhere in the middle. There are all sorts of middles to be had that employers have been reluctant about for no good reason. Like allowing more flexible hours in the office, or a four day work week, or even working from home a day a week.

So much of that could have been done the last 20 or 30 years. Saves on fuel, helps for getting domestic chores done, frees up the full weekend, thins out rush hour in the area, so many reasons to do it.

This is a town ( if you can believe it) with too much money).