The rethugs keep pedaling the idea that that once we open back up (soon) everything will be

[captain queeg]

Back to normal. I seriously doubt that. So then they’ll have to launch a new narrative. Obviously they’ll continue the blame game and many of their cult will lap it up. But as the recession drags on and people keep dying who knows what evil they’ll perpetrate. Hang onto your hats.

[tulipsandroses]

1. There will be no "normal" anytime soon. - No matter how they push for it. People will stay home

I'll be ordering almost everything I need online. Including clothing. I will not be shopping at malls and stores. What do they plan to do about people trying on clothes? No thank you. I don't plan to try on clothes someone else tried on.

This is too serious. People will worry not just about themselves, they have to worry about bringing the virus home to their loved ones. The Republicans pushing for people to go back are not going to like it when they see that there is no "normal". What are they going to do then? Order people to leave their homes?

[Marie Marie]

2. They see any subsequent deaths as collateral damage for the good of the economy,

[PSPS]

3. Society has changed in some permanent ways

I spend most of my day on the phone working with contemporaries in various parts of the country. We're all working from home now. The topic of adjusting to working from home frequently comes up. To a person, everyone expresses the same sentiment which is typified by one of my conversations today.

I was talking to someone in Denver and she told me she had tickets for a music festival there that she was really looking forward to. It was cancelled, of course. She was sad about that but said, "even if they put it back on later, I'll be afraid to go."

That's the conundrum with this, especially for the MAGA crowd. Even a MAGA republican governor will have to give in eventually. It's just a matter of how long they can last as the torso pile outside the governor's mansion grows higher and higher. The mayors, even republican ones, are closer to real people and routinely contradict the MAGA governors. But, going beyond the MAGA governors, business owners will see this too. Sure, open your restaurant and watch your empty tables all night. Who's going to want to go there fearful of getting deathly sick or dying?

People have now become used to and like ordering things online, home delivery, restaurant take-out/delivery, zoom meetings and the rest. The companies that had a presence in this space are doing very well (Amazon stock is up 50% in the last six weeks,) and other companies that were nimble enough to adapt, like groceries, hardware stores, car dealers, etc., know the score and put themselves in place to prosper in what will be the new normal. Shopping malls, airlines, cruise ships, commercial office space and the like, all eviscerated from this, will never return to old "normal." People will (if they haven't already) view them as unnecessary and, worse, undesirable.

[agtcovert]

4. Indeed...

I've said to several people that the "open it now" crowd is assuming people want to be back in proximity to other people. Frankly, no one I know plans to change much of anything in the immediate future. I think we're all going to wait and see -- I view a second wave as inevitable given the utter mismanagement of the crisis.

I know there are people who can't work from home; I'm interested to see where commercial real estate goes. Offices are expensive, equipping people to work from home is much less cost in the long run and generally leads to happier people. I work remotely 100% of the time (did before COVID). A lot of my coworkers were skeptical of it at first, but now they are seeing the advantages, even with kids and homeschooling and all that. Plus--my company--which is relatively small--is saving a good deal of money not having the offices open.

Also, factor in the environmental plus of not driving/communting to an office every day.

[SoonerPride]

8. It sure seems like office buildings are relics of times gone by. Why waste the money and time?

Corporations have found that they can get employees to work quite well from home.

I daresay a huge number will keep this going forward.

Why force people to commute and pay for rents in expensive buildings in crowded urban cores?

[thesquanderer]

5. They're peddling (not pedaling)...but when it doesn't work, they'll be backpedaling! (n/t)

[Andy823]

6. In a couple of weeks

the number of new cases in the red states the open too early will jump, and we will see the damage done once again by trump and his cult followers.

[AdamGG]

11. and then they'll somehow deny that they did reopen sooner

and 43% of Americans will agree

[Brainfodder]

7. After a week open, the areas that do, 4-5 weeks later expecting the spike?

1 week for it to jump around hosts.

Then 4 more weeks to actually have the damage hit?

The level of stupid is strong here.

[machoneman]

9. Will the last Floridian alive turn out the lights..... before you die?

[tclambert]

10. We won't get anywhere close to normal. We may never get back to the old normal.

I personally am done with hand-shaking. If I don't wear a face mask all the time, I will at least keep one handy. And I will try to avoid handling cash whenever possible.

[Nitram]

12. Magical Thinking meets Denial.

[patphil]

13. Normal is a relative term.

It implies that there is a place that we can go back to where we resume "business as usual".

That place no longer exists, and will never come back. The new "normal" in a post covid19 world will not be anything like the old "normal.

It's going to be an entirely different economic and social landscape out there from now on.
We need to come to terms with that.

[Pause]

14. Sad

I will not be going out anytime soon.
Neither is anyone that I know ready to shop
for anything except food and other necessities,
The past is prolog.







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