By Carolina Casas Anzola
The pandemic is going to make us stronger in many ways. No, it is not the end of the world. But a great change is coming for many, even if only due to living a long and unpredictable isolation: days locked up at home allow for a lot of reflection. These are some of the positive lessons that this crisis will leave us.
Value public health
No one doubts that this virus has served to better value public health and its professionals in extreme situations like this, with health at stake.
The equality of races, nationalities and genders
The coronavirus has also led us to put ourselves, once again, in the shoes of others, for example, immigrants. I remember an occasion when I used a taxi in Madrid. When talking to the driver, he told me that he was a Venezuelan doctor, but he could not practice in Spain due to national validation issues. Today, people like him are urgently requested to help Spain's healthcare problems.
Take care of nature
In an era in which climate change is reaching worrying levels due to the natural disasters that are happening, primarily in China, but also in many other countries. The virus forces the economy to collapse, but, as a result, pollution drops considerably, and the quality of the air we breathe improves. We see an example of this, in the canals of Venice.
Learn to protect ourselves
Cough at the elbow, do not touch our faces, wash our hands, maintain a meter and a half of distance between people, doctors created these guidelines years ago to teach children how to decrease the spread of communicable diseases.
But a coronavirus has had to come for us to learn, once and for all, the importance of maintaining basic hygiene as a courtesy, and individual responsibility, even for future infections of milder diseases. There are no more excuses.
The antidote to fake news
The coronavirus crisis is also going to have major consequences on the world of information and could be the perfect vaccine against fake news.
However, those who will come out truly strengthened will be the media that is reporting true and useful information to the readers. Now more than ever, companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter are taking on the serious fight against the spread of false news. All three social networks are removing all false or misleading news about the coronavirus, in coordination with the World Health Organization, to ensure that people get accurate information.
The work-from-home experiment
Working from home and familial reconciliation are two pending issues that society has been postponing. The effects of COVID-19: The closing of schools and the obligation to work at home while caring for children is creating a global experiment. A unique opportunity to assess the pros and cons of the home office will end up impacting the search for the perfect balance between productivity and family interaction.
The importance of "I love you"
Forced isolation forces us to rethink the importance of social interaction. Nothing has ever made us value a kiss, a caress or a hug as much as the coronavirus does now.
Overflowing creativity
The fear of disease has made us reflect on the need for physical contact, but it has also triggered creativity. So many new ways of relating with one another have been invented that, perhaps some, will remain forever. Private greetings, online concerts and virtual visits to museums are just some of the initiatives that have emerged to calm the feeling of loneliness caused by isolation.
Thinking and having time
We must go back to what makes us human and accept that life cannot always go so fast. Stress is caused by the anxiety of living in a constant state of movement, like robots. Coronavirus teaches us a lesson by forcing us to stop, stay home with time to think, have a conversation with one’s partner, with one’s children, with one’s parents, or with one’s friends.
In unity, there is strength
The human being brings out the best in himself in extreme situations, like the one we are experiencing. The global threat of coronavirus has tested the capacity for solidarity and empathy among citizens.
Carolina Casas Anzola is LATAM Director at the Control System Integrators Association in Mexico City, Mexico.