Reflecting on my very first article on Medium from a year ago

Here Are 7 Predictions About the Emerging 2020 Pandemic That Actually Came True

Revisiting predictions I made in March 2020 forecasting global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

by Gabriel Molina

I tend to be a very positive person, and that came through in my initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was published in my very first article on Medium from March 16, 2020:

Creating a better post-COVID-19 world

I still stand by what I predicted at that time as the potential benefits that could emerge from the pandemic (the 7 predications are in bold text below). I follow each of these predictions with comments from today, a year after the pandemic was first declared by the World Health Organization.

1. The pandemic is bringing the entire world together in a shorter period than anything has ever done before. Yes, international travel has nose-dived.
   — However, Zoom and other ways of connecting virtually with other have exploded. More people are more comfortable (maybe too comfortable) connecting via the internet than ever before. While perhaps not always ideal, our discovery of this way of using the internet has permanently changed how we do business, where we can live to do our work, and how we stay connected with our loved one — and mostly in positive ways.
2. The pandemic is expanding the global consciousness of individuals. Yes, we tend to be very focused on our own country, state/province and town, as before the pandemic.
   — However, we have now had, for the very first time, a globally shared experience. The pandemic is something that we can talk about with anyone, anywhere on the planet, for the next 100 years. And each of us will have our own personal story to share with others. Knowing this alone expands our global consciousness as individuals and as a planet.
3. The pandemic is helping humans to better understand their place on the planet. Yes, there is a big desire to…