The COVID-19 pandemic will change our society in ways that are difficult to predict with precision, but will undoubtedly be far-reaching, just as earlier crises from the Great Recession to the 9/11 attacks resulted in dramatic policy and social change. As the long-term damage from our current crisis unfolds in the coming months and years, we will need answers to the myriad of problems that ensue, from municipal fiscal distress to housing instability and unemployment, and we will need better preparedness for future pandemics.

The dramatic policy responses to the coronavirus such as mandatory mask-wearing and fiscal stimulus have proved divisive. There is no shortage of sharp disagreements over the best policy path forward. But at the same time, there are things so obvious and necessary that if we had a less polarized society, we could achieve a broad consensus.

Here are five common-sense, transactional changes to our society that should occur in the wake of this crisis. If people are willing to look beyond partisan blinders and lay down ideological swords, these shifts can be attained:

  1. Better Respect and Pay for Teachers
  2. Sick-Leave for All Public-Facing Workers
  3. Better Public Hygiene in Public Spaces and Public Transit
  4. Temperature Checks in Sensitive Buildings and Airports
  5. Make Voting by Mail the Default

Years from now we will look back on our society and realize that some things that we used to do were dumb, just like how we look back at smoking in bars, spitting on sidewalks, and inadequate screening in airports to see that they were all mistakes. The hope is that we can muster the will to make these necessary changes as well.

Read the full article about post-COVID solutions by Stephen Menendian at Othering & Belonging Institute.