Life Lessons From the Pandemic

The tech revolution that seemed perpetually around the corner actually got here as the coronavirus spread—upending the way we work, socialize, and handle many basic needs.

Take telehealth. With restrictions on in-person visits, doctors saw patients via phone, tablet, or computer. More than 80 percent of clinicians who responded to a 2020 COVID-19 Health Coalition survey said telehealth improved the timeliness of care, and a subsequent HC survey found that patients were similarly satisfied. Experts say talk therapy also works well via telehealth. (What's unclear: whether insurers, who expanded coverage for virtual care during the pandemic, will continue their coverage.)

Though we initially knew almost nothing about COVID-19, over the course of the pandemic many of us learned how strategies such as wearing masks, regular and proper hand-washing, distancing physically from those outside our household, ventilating indoor spaces, and staying home while sick could help reduce the spread of the illness.

At this point, experts as well as most consumers appear to want to see such infection-protective behaviors become the norm in the U.S. For instance, 79 percent of Americans say they feel positive about the focus on cleanliness and hygiene, and hope it remains after the pandemic is declared over, according to CR's March 2021 survey. "I think handshakes probably won't return real quickly," says the APA's Wright.

And just as many people in East Asia wore masks during daily activities such as commuting by public transit after the SARS outbreak there in 2003, some mask-wearing may persist in the U.S. for a while, says Barun Mathema, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York.

This may be more likely in areas that were hit hard by COVID-19—or if a winter surge in coronavirus occurs in the U.S., according to Ali Mokdad, PhD, a professor of health metrics sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, speaking at a news briefing in April 2021.

Importantly, smart health and hygiene habits have benefits beyond protecting against COVID-19. "The flu epidemic that comes every year didn't happen this year, because of mask-wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing—and vaccination," says the APHA's Benjamin.

Those months at home gave some the chance to notice every area of their living spaces that needed fixing or upgrading. That, in turn, motivated consumers with time on their hands to try do-it-yourself projects, and built confidence in their abilities to wield a pair of pliers or a screwdriver, says Grant Farnsworth, president of The Farnsworth Group, which does market research on the construction, lawn, and home improvement industries.

The result: During the pandemic consumers started 5 to 10 percent more DIY home improvement projects—such as landscaping and installing lighting—than they typically do, Farnsworth says.

When the pandemic forced us to suddenly alter our shopping routines, many people opted for contactless pickup and online and other delivery-based options.

Before COVID-19, online shopping was growing—people already bought most electronics on the internet, for instance. But the pandemic accelerated this, says Mintel's Smith, particularly for groceries, household cleansers, and healthcare products, and tech gear useful for working at home. A nationally representative August 2020 Consumer Reports survey (PDF) of more than 2,000 U.S. adults found that the percentage of Americans who used delivery or pickup for groceries grew by more than 80 percent.

Throughout the ups and downs of the pandemic, many Americans have been reconsidering what matters most in life, and that's little surprise to the experts we interviewed.

As Richard Tedeschi, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, points out, going through challenging experiences often leads us to think more deeply about our core beliefs—whether it's our personal relationships or health, the work we do, or how we spend our free time.

In addition, the coronavirus "caused people to realize that things could change in an instant," says Mintel's Smith. The firm's recent data found that 59 percent of Americans say they want to spend more time with family. And 44 percent said they enjoyed spending more time at home during the pandemic and hope that continues afterward, according to CR's March 2021 survey. "I think people have appreciated being forced to slow down," says the APA's Wright, "to actually be present in activities" with family and friends.

Mintel also found that 58 percent of people express a desire to take better care of their physical health. Home cooking could help there. According to CR's August 2020 survey, more than a third of grocery shoppers say they cooked from scratch or tried new recipes more often than they used to before the coronavirus.

On the job front, the dedication of healthcare workers throughout the pandemic appears to have inspired more people to become doctors. Applications to attend medical school in 2021 were roughly 18 percent higher than the previous year's numbers, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. "After 9/11, [we] saw a big increase in individuals joining the armed forces," Wright says. "I think that this is probably similar."

The crisis motivated us to look out for our local communities, too, a trend that's likely to endure, Smith says. We saw this worldwide: COVID-19 drove a global surge of interest in volunteering with food banks and organizations that support the elderly, disabled, or migrant populations, according to the United Nations.

Finally, 35 percent of us say we yearn to try "something new," Mintel reports. But what? Only time will tell whether that means starting a blog or a business, learning a new language, raising chickens, relocating—or an entirely different kind of pursuit.