Living in the covid19 pandemic: The New Normal

As lockdown is lifted or loosened at places, there is a new debate on how to avoid surge in number of coronavirus cases. As there is no definite treatment and vaccine may not arrive before 2021, we need to to get used to a very different day to day living even if the restrictions are eased. 

Despite with the increasing trend in the numbers of coronavirus infected persons, there is an extreme financial pressure on governments to open up their economies. We all have understood that living in covid-19 era is the NEW NORMAL for the whole world and we need to adapt to it as soon as possible. Wearing a mask while we venture out of our homes maintaining social distancing avoiding overcrowded places are the few norms of the new normal life. 

We need to have a paradigm shift in our thought process in tackling the covid19 pandemic. We need to understand that we have moved ahead from containment of infection spread to community spread. Now this new covid19 pandemic is eventually going to infect all of us over a period of time and confer immunity or discovery of an effective vaccine gives us immunity before we get infected.

Our Society and the government administration needs to prevent stigmatization of the infected people. Building up of stigma against person, profession or organisation will lead to serious fallout. We need to have a collective spirit in fighting both the coronavirus infection pandemic as well as the fear psychosis of pandemic.

The fear of contracting infection will change the way we do shopping, indulge in entertainment activities, and did our daily activities. While there is a growing list of business houses promoting flexible work arrangements which can be done from home or work shifts which avoids crowding in their office complexes. Organisations need to to adapt to the new normal by considering social distancing at workplaces. E-Commerce will definitely play important role in coming times. The new normal that will emerge in the post viral covid-19 era will witness a dramatic restructuring of both economic and social order.

 We have witnessed a  very few changes in the Healthcare system in the post World War II era. Now we will witness enormous change coming in policies on critical healthcare infrastructure, contingency plans and medical supplies. We need to adapt to the pandemic by evolving newer guidelines in managing our patients. We not only need to understand the clincopathology of corona virus infection and treat the covid-19 patients properly but also need to evolve our healthcare systems to treat noncovid19 illnesses in present pandemic. We need both resolve and resilience to tackle the present situation. While the medical fraternity needs to learn faster in the new normal, the governments across the globe need to learn to protect the workforce engaged in fighting against pandemic. Protecting the workforce is of paramount importance in dealing with any  disaster. Without physically and psychologically safe and healthy workforce, excellent healthcare is an impossible feat to achieve.

We need to go on virtual care for our patients and involve telemedicine in creating better patient care without exposing them to risk of infections. Covid-19 has again stressed that robust public health system needs to be in place. The covid-19 damage is certainly the largest paid damage for not taking public health preparedness seriously.

The aftermath of pandemic will also open up a plethora of innovations and experiments which will make life of individuals as well as society better in coming tough times.