Most countries around the world are beginning to push to get back to normal. Countries in the west had worked on getting a giant chunk of the population vaccinated. There were challenges for many countries, which revolved around distribution and large population because they did not have a proper mechanism or the ability to hasten the distribution. America worked on giving about 70% of its people at least one shot of the vaccine through various plans by even incentivizing them. In the UK, close to 50% of the country received their first shot as well
A few months into 2021, most countries opened up restrictions or reduced the harsh rules they implemented, allowing people to move around freely. However, there were issues with the changes that were taking place. Many countries did not ease up on their travel restrictions, and they were still very strict about people moving from one country to another. Furthermore, depending on the number of infections in some countries, they received a red marking, which meant other countries were careful about people entering from or leaving to those countries.
Changes to regular life through the pandemic
Schools, colleges, and universities around the world were working with the new system. They had to keep up with the changes in those countries and move toward a remote mode of education and learning. Many students from various countries were studying abroad, with a large number of them making their way home at the onset of the pandemic because they could attend their classes remotely and did not have to live in another country when the restrictions were quite harsh there.
When it comes to the learning process, the challenges were tough for teachers teaching younger students in primary or kindergarten, with both teachers and students trying to make it work. Students at that age could not only study online and had to meet and play, but with restrictions and chances of catching the virus and getting sick, they made changes and had to get through the process remotely. As the restrictions were being eased up, institutions were pushing to have some of their exams in person, while there were others who were fine having them online.
Environment through COVID-19
COVID 19 brought about many changes, but the most significant one was people not leaving their homes. People were working remotely and could only interact with others other than their close family virtually. The massive changes lead large office buildings to shut because they were not coming in and getting things done. Overall, there is a significant amount of positive environmental news. With fewer people moving on the roads, using cars, and fewer people working from office buildings, the environment got a chance to breathe. However, this was not the case in all countries. Additionally, there was a significant decrease in the number of animals hurt in road accidents with fewer people travelling. Animals were getting a break through the pandemic. Poland saw a 50% reduction in the number of hedgehogs hit by cars. Countries like India saw the air in their major cities like Delhi or Mumbai get a little better with fewer people in the streets and barely any vehicles moving about. However, other countries saw an increase in pollution. The change was short-lived, and most countries got right back to where they left off as they started easing up further on restrictions.
Governmental changes through the Coronavirus
World leaders from various Governments had not seen anything like this and were unsure how to react to the virus. In the initial stages of the pandemic, other than businesses and companies shutting down, they had to make sure that people were as safe as possible.
All countries around the world began implementing mask mandates. Additionally, they were implementing new rules revolving around social distancing, restricting service to restaurants and most public locations to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus. Even traveling into these countries needed additional documentation and certification, including vaccination certificates and, in some cases, background checks.
Companies could no longer function the way they were in the past, and most jobs had to hit the brakes on the work they were doing. Companies could not stay shut for long and were moving to a new remote working option. Not all companies could work remotely, but the ones that could start some form of online check-ins and handling as much as possible. The new trends were changing the way companies were marketing and working on other processes and structures that they had put in place. Even with the restrictions being raised, they were using the same online metric to continue marketing.
New changes for companies
One of the most popular trends was outsourcing which was becoming very common especially when companies were unsure about changes. It was challenging for most to keep a regular salary tab, especially without meeting deadlines or a steady income stream. While a large number of businesses temporarily shut at the start of the pandemic, the closure for 60% of them was permanent.
Another change was marketing which for the most part was in person for many medium and smaller companies, but now they made changes for these to be handled online. For the longest time, companies were not prioritizing an online presence, but during the pandemic did not have a choice. Furthermore, most people were making purchases online, and without leaving their homes, companies would have no other way of creating awareness about their brand. Additionally, spending most of their time indoors, they were only consuming all the information they needed through the internet, and not having a website meant you were missing out. Online marketing was now even a requirement for brands and companies looking to work in person because they needed people to know their names.
Another process that changed through the pandemic was interviewing prospective employees for jobs. Most companies lost a large part of their staff through the pandemic because they had to let people go during the lockdowns. However, now that people were returning to work, even remotely, meant that they needed to start working on interviews and getting companies to begin these processes again. Online interviews were a first while there were very few companies conducting them in the past, it was becoming a lot more mainstream now. Companies were going ahead and getting interviews through virtual mediums like Zoom, Skype and others. However, people applying for the position, although remotely, had to make sure they submitted their documentation.
Companies were now making it mandatory to provide a background check to make sure they did not have a criminal record. Multiple background checks depended on the position that they were applying for. In some cases, there were checks to make sure they were meeting travel requirements. In other cases, they had to be meeting educational requirements and so on. Additionally, coming into an office needed a COVID certificate with the same rules applying to traveling and visiting most public locations.