Opinion / After coronavirus, our lives will never be the same again – so what does the new normal look like?
Covid-19 has struck the entire world this year – hard. It reminds me of when I was in New York City on September 11, 2001, when the disease of terrorism spread fear across the world.
Most of us thought New York City would never recover. Years later, however, it’s bounced back and is stronger than ever. The world, too, will return – but not without consequences that will permanently change how things are done, especially with regards to technology. For example, almost 20 years on from 9/11, security screening technology has continued to advance, with developments such as scanners for screening liquids – which, by the way, are a super-pain if you are trying to bring milk for your child into the airport.
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As I sit at home, quarantined with a GPS tracker on my wrist having returned from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, here are just a few thoughts about what our lives will be like a few years from now across the globe, and which technologies will come to play a big part of our daily lives.
Body temperature screening checkpoints won’t be just for airports, they’ll be everywhere
In 2003, Sars hit Hong Kong hard, and as a result it became commonplace to take a temperature readings at the international airport. Moreover, Hong Kong’s schools frequently use handheld temperature-checking devices to make sure illnesses such as flu don’t spread. I believe from now on temperature screening will be implemented worldwide at major airports, and moreover, don’t be surprised if security tells you to take off your hat as you walk through the entrance at a Los Angeles Lakers’ game at the Staples Center. Yes, folks, temperature scanners will be everywhere.
Medicine, and the hospital, will go to you
With hospitals overrun, telemedicine is a vital way to get quickly evaluated and avoid becoming infected while waiting to be admitted to the ER or even just the doctor’s office. Wait for a doctor to video conference with you after you’ve filled out an online form on your smartphone. But let’s not stop there – did you know, for example, that you can get a full-body fat scan from a van?
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What’s to say you won’t be able to get an MRI or chest X-ray in the future from a mobile vehicle that visits you at your home? The doctor instantaneously receives your test results and alerts an ambulance to bring you in, instructs you to self-quarantine, or hopefully says you are fine. The whole process, with prescription medications and other essentials all shipped to your doorstep, may ensure you never have to leave your home, so you can rest right away.
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Or maybe each van will be so tailored to your buying habits that it will stop by your home, ping you on your phone, and a delivery person or robot will hand you toilet paper just as you tore off the last sheet.
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Rise of the robots
Speaking of needing something last minute, if you are in a hotel room and you hear a machine whirring down the hallway, it might not be a vacuum cleaner. Hong Kong’s very own L’hotel Island South will send you items and meals via a friendly robot. Now the question is, how do you hand it a tip?
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From body heat scanners at basketball games to mobile hospitals and robot doctors, how will the pandemic change our daily lives forever?