The last months have seen dramatic, near instantaneous changes to so many aspects of the way we live and work. Few would have predicted at the turn of the year that within months we’d see 90% of children locked out of school, and over 2.5 million infections from a new virus. Governments are spending billions to try and keep private-sector firms from laying off staff, and many of us are learning the term ‘furloughed’ for the first time. Changes that recently would have been seen as preposterous have been readily accepted — but for how long? In part one of this article I looked at some changes I think will persist beyond the end of the crisis. In this section I’ll consider some that may persist, and some that we may like to see become permanent, but which probably will not remain.
Things that could change
Some changes may be more temporary, and less far reaching than we think. If we want them to stick then they will need more effort and commitment.
Accessing medical advice could fall into this category. Services such as NHS 111 after numerous false starts may come into their own. As widely reported, visits to A&E departments have fallen dramatically whilst calls to NHS 111 have risen dramatically. Both of these changes can be ascribed to fear of coronavirus — but they could also point to more efficient use of scarce healthcare resources…
