Trends and Technologies sped up by COVID19 that are here to stay.

As a scientist, the concept of a pandemic is not all too novel. As a matter of fact, it is something we spend a lot of time thinking about – which virus would it be, what would be the origin, how would we test it, how would the public and policy react to it? We run simulations & prepare for the eventuality. Just to clarify, this is not because we spend our time in the lab creating mutations but rather we study it. Caveat here – that is not to say these viruses can’t be engineered or used as biochemical threats – but I think I speak for most scientists who have dedicated their lives to research when I say – we research viruses purely out of passion and our innate curiosity to understand mechanisms of action but more so the biology and molecular biology underpinning these changes. One thing that we know is everything changes – human nature changes, animals change, human beings evolve, so why would viruses not do that same thing? It is only logical. Look at the Influenza A Virus for example, it mutates yearly to escape our own body’s immune response to viral infection.

So here we are - February 2021, almost a year since the World Health Organisation officially declared COVID19 as a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. Following this, we have seen and experienced different strategies from countries responding to the outbreak. As it stands today February 22nd 2021, according to the latest data from Statista on COVID19 deaths worldwide per one million population, the United States of America has the highest number of confirmed cases with 27,999,614 registered cases, the United Kingdom has 4,103,444 registered confirmed cases while China where the virus was first detected in December 2019 has 100,758 and Australia - 28,930 confirmed cases. This has all been as a result of the intersection of policies and healthcare. I will definitely explore this in more depth in another article.

However, today, I am focusing on the effects of COVID19 on society - the trends and the technologies that we have seen in the last 12 months. According to a McKinsey & Co report – COVID19 has accelerated 5-8 years of change in 1 year. Here are some trends I have particularly find interesting & I am excited for the future and prospects they brings:

1-    Remote working:

Personally, this has been one of my favourites. I have always been an advocate for remote working, I have worked remotely pre-COVID19 and I have absolutely loved the autonomy and flexibility it gives. Being able to wake up slightly later, no commute hours, fitting in a workout in the morning, reduction in carbon emission (might as well address global warming while we are at it), “signing out of work” and having a bit more time in the evening for our families and so much more. I understand that this reality is different for parents who are home-schooling children and also not everybody can work remotely. However, if this is a possibility then definitely why not exploit it? I know there are other cons around this such as working longer hours due to not creating defined boundaries but also not creating work hours and work spaces boundaries. As with everything – change comes with adaptability; it is up to us as individuals to create new routines to thrive.

 2-    Video Conferencing:

“You’re on mute” was probably the statement most used in 2020 after the word “unprecedented”. I am sure we have probably had our fair share of video conferencing platforms be it Zoom or Microsoft Teams but we can agree it has allowed us to appreciate all the meetings and events that could have been held online. I would always be in support of face to face meetings and human contact but the normalisation of video conferencing greatly supports remote working but also gives us the ability to truly prioritise what needs to be a face to face meetings and what could be held online.

3-    E-Commerce to V-Commerce:

We always knew the power of e-commerce nonetheless, prior to the pandemic, shopping online was a convenience and for some shops, a nice to have however, the pandemic made it a necessity. As evidenced by online giant Boohoo purchasing high street store – Debenhams for £55 million, Dorothy Perking, Burton & Wallis for £25 million and ASOS purchased Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge for £330 million. Taking it a step further, Anifa Mvuemba a Congolese designer staged a fashion show over Instagram Live, with 3D renderings in place of models. This takes the world of fashion, shopping, runway shows, catwalks to the next level. The opportunities for this in the future are endless – a potential reduction in model fees, the politics of “front row” seating at fashion shows and so much more. I look forward to seeing how this evolves.

4-    Entrepreneurship & Career changes:

Another thing COVID19 has presented us with is a lot of time at home. Time to reflect on our families, careers and all round contentment & happiness in life. A recent report showed 53% of workers based in the United Kingdom plan to make career changes in the next 12 months. A lot more people are up skilling, retraining and/or starting businesses. Plato said it best – Necessity is the mother of invention.  A McKinsey & Co report showed there were more than 1.5 million new business applications in the United States almost double the figure for the same period in 2019. While France saw 84,000 new business formations in October 2020, 20% more than in the same month in 2019 while in the United Kingdom, this rose to 30% in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. I think one thing COVID19 has reminded us is that – life is short and fleeting, considering how much time we spend working, we need to ensure that we enjoy and love what we are doing. So if you have the entrepreneurial flare/curiosity, why not delve into it?

5-    mRNA Vaccine:

Previously, vaccine development has focused on using inactivated or attenuated form of a virus to allow our bodies to develop an immune response to the viral infection. The concept of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines has been around since 1990 with researchers making it work in mice. Essentially, mRNA vaccines carry instructions that tell the cell exactly what protein to code for that would prompt an immune response. The mRNA is then broken down within 24 hours. These are the first vaccines to have secured regulatory approval. The benefits of mRNA vaccines are that they are made from sequencing a genetic code, this can be done in a lab within 48 hours, once you have this code and set of instructions, an experimental batch of vaccines can be produced even within a week. This means it can be standardised and scaled up pretty quickly which considering an epidemic or now pandemic, which is a case of public health emergency, this is a substantial benefit. Again, the nerd in me - is super excited for the future of bio-technology (another topic I will cover another day)!

Let me know your favourite COVID19-enhanced trends that you hope become permanent.