Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

This week, let's take a diversion from our previous conversation to think about this global pandemic we find ourselves in. As I write this, I've been living and working from home for almost 3 weeks, waiting for an Uber Eats delivery, and about to jump into a video game to spend time with friends. The restaurants are empty, the offices are following suit, and the streets are eerily quiet.

We could of course look backward, and think about how we got here, ignoring prescient warnings and inviting disaster. But for now, let's look ahead. Quebec just extended it's official closures until May. The US overnight doubled in cases with 13,000 new cases in New York alone. It looks like we're in this for the long haul.

So, the question on many of our minds. When does it end? When do we return to normal? And will what is normal change?

For my part, I think we haven't seen the worst of this yet, either in it's estimated or actual impact. The US in particular presents a worrying problem, with few mechanisms for a concerted effort to address the situation, many areas with little political will to do so, and a healthcare and economic system that seems set up in the viruses favor. The numbers will climb there, we will lose a great many people, and the face of that country (I think especially that country) will be altered.

And all of this in an election year.

Perhaps we can spend the next few cycles diving more deeply into how this will affect various sectors of our lives: Food, Travel, Entertainment, Work, Education, Healthcare. Please feel free to choose from any of those or anything else to kick us off next week.

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