The pandemic has been responsible for an enormous amount of pain, agony and death. While we're not out of the woods and won't be for the foreseeable future, a few potentially positive change has been made more likely. It's easy to make a long long and think about some more deeply, but for now a short list.
° mRNA vaccines have been under development for over two decades. Their value has been shown in the most dramatic fashion. Expect many more - some for conditions that have been very difficult or impossible to treat.
° American contributions to a worldwide network of outbreak observatories were killed by the Trump administration. Finding the next outbreak early enough to contain it requires this kind of work. We've been lucky and able to catch and contain a few recent candidates early. Finally there's a large amount of interest and it's likely to happen.
° We saw an existence proof that parts of nature repair quickly when human impact is reduced. Unfortunately most of these improvements have disappeared, but many of us have seen them and perhaps some of us will be better motivated to create change.
° Many cities tasted alternative transportation and street use. It seems to be sticking in some areas. The automobile doesn't belong in cities for a variety of reasons. Side note: Electric cars are insufficient - the transportation system needs serious reworking.
° It appears that part of the reduction on business travel may be permanent.
° A huge social experiment is underway to see what kinds of work can be done remotely.
° Likewise a similar social experiment is underway on remote education. This is a very complex problem involving much more than what is normally thought of as education.
° Serious work is underway on indoor air quality. This has positive implications beyond airborne viral transmission.
° It's still a way off, but more thought is being given to single payer insurance.
° Massive universal basic income experiments are underway worldwide.
° There are indications young people are spending less time connecting online.
° There's renewed interest in good science communication.
° A few have been afforded the opportunity to create personal change. This may prove to be one of the most interesting impacts.
There's much more than this - I wrote these down in a couple of minutes. I encourage you to make your own lists. Some of these are rich topics for exploration.
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