The mass spread of the coronavirus has drastically changed the way everyone goes about their daily lives. People rarely go outside of their own house, and when they do, they leave prepared with masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and anything else that feels necessary. After all, no one wants to contract the virus.
While at home, a lot of people have probably thought of questions like this: What’s next? How is society going to act after the pandemic? Will wearing masks to public places become second nature? Will people politely shake hands without worrying about getting sick?
As it turns out, companies all over the world have started to ask themselves the same questions. For example, Disney Theme Parks usually have thousands upon thousands of guests coming to their parks. However, ever since the breakout of COVID-19, Disney was forced to close. While enthusiasts all over the globe wait for the announcement, what would a day in the famous theme park look like once the gates are back open?
First of all, when the theme parks do open back up, some areas are still likely to be kept shut down. This kind of approach has already started in Shanghai Disney. There, Disneytown and Shanghai Disney Hotel opened back up to the public on March 9. The actual park remained closed, due to the fact that some areas go against regulations made in their country, for quite some time. However, once things started to settle down in Shanghai, the park opened again on May 11. A lot of regulations went into place when it opened, like temperature screenings, maintaining distance in restaurants, wearing a mask at all times and more.
Once America opens back up and regulations start to get lifted, the same could start to happen at Disneyland in Anaheim and at Disney World in Orlando. While some areas of the parks may still be closed, some aspects could start to open slowly under certain precautions. Once time goes on, more regulations by health officials will get lifted, and more of the parks will open up.
Disney is not the only one thinking about an approach like this. All non-essential businesses are going to open up eventually, but at a rough start. The same goes for the businesses that are still open.
Also, when a business changes, people change as well. While no one knows exactly what the day-to-day life of a human will look like post-pandemic, one thing is for certain; normal has a different definition from every person.
According to The Atlantic, Séamus Power, a professor from the University of Copenhagen, states, “People are going to keep interpreting this tiptoe back to normality in a more extreme way than it’s intended by the government. This has to be one of the next big challenges of the unfolding crisis around the world: when things start to open, how people are subjectively understanding this.”
In other words, reactions are going to be different for every person once their normal lives begin to slowly open up. Some may just go about their day like it was before the coronavirus, but then there will also be the few that will take caution. Change is different for everyone, and people have to adapt to any regulation that comes into place.
This is what happens when tragedy occurs. For example, before the attack of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, there were not a lot of security measures taken. After the tragedy, airports strengthened security, places with huge crowds of people usually get bag-checked upon entrance and more. In general, a lot of security measures were taken all over the country.
Although it sounds like a lot and it took some time for everyone to get on board, people are used to these security measures now. It’s just a matter of time until the same thing happens after COVID-19. People are going to act differently once stay-at-home orders are lifted, but whatever comes next, people will start to adapt to it. But for now, what’s most important is to stay safe until that future comes.