In the US, as in many other parts of the world, the past three months have changed personal and social lives substantially. In fact, it has turned social norms topsy-turvy. The pandemic’s impact in the USA has been devastating, yet it also reflects the impact worldwide. Irrespective of age, the populace wanting to be open as the Facebook generation is now hiding behind face-masks. For the first time, the entire world has been gripped by the unsurpassed scale and dimension of Covid19. All nations need to build and acquire infrastructure for future pandemics, argues Houston-based writer Bhupinder Singh.

THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS HAS BEEN SUDDEN, devastating and has changed the complexion of life and living in the USA and the world forever. More than 118,000 people have died from coronavirus in the USA, and there have been at least 1.7 million cases. The projection by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of USA -CDC is over 123,000 deaths. It all started out as a trickle in mid-February and has now become a gushing flow. A literal body blow to the fabric of the country.

The United States of America has been in lockdown since March 15. Efforts are on to reopen. However, there are questions and concerns on the setting of the pace of reopening plus evaluating the effects of quick reopening.

The news of pandemic being amongst us hit everyone with an unexpected shock and surprise to unprepared citizens. The net result of isolation and movement restrictions were first evident in the store shelves for hand sanitizers, face masks, hand gloves and toilet rolls which were emptied by customers as if these items will never ever be available in future.

All major social gathering places, restaurants, stadiums, event venues, gyms, places of worship were closed and travel has come to standstill unleashing an unexpected vacuum in the lives of masses. Many older people have become dependent on caregivers, friends and family to help with getting the food, medical supplies and groceries as they stay sheltered within the four walls of the house, unable to leave. The little children have become irritated, because of the new curfew-like restrictions that have put children’s playgrounds and outdoors out of reach.

Life under COVID had a sudden disruption almost like an earthquake or a hurricane. Now working from home was the new norm through Remote-Ins, video conferences, Zoom classes, lessons and the works. YouTube performances instead of live events became the new norm. The sudden drop in vehicular traffic on the road presented scenarios like a curfew on the road.

With people not on the roads, at many places, animals ventured looking out for humans and simply enjoying the new environs. Gasoline demand dropped so suddenly that its prices dropped almost to 1987 level. The car sales essentially tanked, but suddenly bicycle demand has skyrocketed, as all the lockdown population suddenly reconnected with childhood fascination of the bicycle. The bicycle traffic in the evenings is almost five to ten times higher. Bicycling has suddenly become something of a fashionable filler for the time in the absence of other activities.

The new trend for needs was curbside delivery, house delivery while shopping on-line. All of a sudden the entire movie (making and screening) industry, travel, hospitality industry were standstill. Yet with more people spending time in front of their TVs have resulted in a big boost to the subscription streaming services. Suddenly the subscription to video streaming as Netflix soared high and content downloading speeds were slowing because of increased traffic.

Even the parties took the form of Zoom virtual events from home. Alternatively, people were visiting the houses of those intending to celebrate occasions to register their participation by honking their car horn from outside. Even childbirth, birthday, quinceanera, wedding and graduation celebrations have become virtual patio events, or front yard displays.

Many tech-shy people are getting to explore the connective power of video conferencing. Even religious congregations have become a virtual Facebook event. The tragic effect of all of a sudden lockdown is that it also dried the spigots of donations, bringing those religious institutions close to financial brink when they are the most needed to provide support. Many folks who were regulars at places of worship were feeling suddenly deprived and disconnected.

All of a sudden a strong feeling of loneliness has started gripping people. The sharp escalation in the number of cases of domestic violence is a pointer. The jobless numbers have climbed to 41 million which is a whopping 14.7% of the population.

The psychological impact of Coronavirus on the masses is that behind the back of their minds, there is a constant lurking of the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped. For the Americans used to larger than life living, it has been a tough act to shrink to. The result is that the masses, not used to staying at home, have started showing the psychological impact of lockdown – frayed tempers, shorter fuses.

The daily-wage earners are the worst impacted as their need for work and money forces them to become more prone to contracting the virus.

The federal PPP (Paycheck Protection Plan) to small businesses to keep their staff on payroll has been a silver lining during the gloomy employment and business market for many employees and the survival of small businesses.

The Sikhs decided to galvanize their ‘langar’ efforts at feeding the affected population and the primary responders. However, the pandemic also had some Sikh medical professionals caught in a predicament – choice of keeping facial hair versus serving the suffering community in need of medical care.

It is very sad that these professionals who had made numerous sacrifices in their life for their zeal to serve had to choose between keeping the articles of faith over to wear PPE in order to practice medicine and serve. No one should be put in such a tough position, to choose between keeping their faith articles and their profession. More so, when alternatives capable of providing the requisite face protection to the professionals with their facial hair, are available.

On a side note, Prof. Simran Jeet Singh of New York has publicly shared his own family’s struggles of dealing with Coronavirus. His medical Doctor Wife working on administering care to COVID 19 affected exposed her to the virus. She brought home the infection from the hospital, and their two children 4 and 1 also contacted the virus making them spend sleepless nights. As of now the likelihood of contacting COVID in New York is 5%.

There may be a vaccine down the road to cure the pandemic and the pandemic may become history, but its lasting impact on lifestyles will be tectonic. The post-pandemic lifestyle, the workplace will not be the same as before the pandemic as more shopping and work will be done remotely from the houses. This pandemic has made it viable.

We are all in it together, though the experience in other nations could be slightly different because of social, cultural, political, climate and traditions. The virus is going to bring a lasting change in the worldwide community.

Now the lifestyle, the workplace will be transformed forever. There will be impacts in other areas such as how medicine is practiced, classes are conducted, travel-both business and recreational is transacted, etc.

One thing that has clearly emerged from this pandemic is that the USA was unprepared for it. As future recurrence of such pandemics is being projected we need to have a plan in place to handle such emergencies. We need to build up a strategic stock of PPE, respirators, make-shift hospitals and beds etc. just like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Perhaps we need to have volunteer reserve para-medic corps that can be activated to supplement the regular medical infrastructure during such emergencies.

We are all in it together, though the experience in other nations could be slightly different because of social, cultural, political, climate and traditions. The virus is going to bring a lasting change in the worldwide community. There is a strong belief among a section of the society that this pandemic is a message to change our lifestyles and make them more family-inclined, faith-oriented instead of just being material-oriented, and consumption-focused.

An en­gi­neer by pro­fes­sion, hail­ing from Myan­mar, ed­u­cated in In­dia, Bhupin­der Singh is a Hous­ton-based busi­ness­man, with a keen in­ter­est in writ­ing books and ar­ti­cles on Sikh his­tory, mo­ti­va­tion and spir­i­tu­al­ity.