Letter to the editor: Our radical 'new normal'

Once this crazy time in our history stabilizes, the word “normal” will take on a radical, and sometimes alarming, new meaning.

Consider this: The real estate industry will take a huge hit. Companies, realizing how efficient their operations run by everybody working from home, will reconsider why they lease so much space and adjust.

Those same firms will rethink job descriptions, and working from home will become the norm in many cases. Fewer workers having to travel will affect gas station operators and the auto industry. Fewer cars, less gasoline, fewer parts, less jobs, etc. You get the picture.

This principle could or will be applied to many industries. Full employment will come up short, and I suspect working in a factory, like years ago, will be the norm for a lot of people to survive.

An obvious change will be companies coming back to the U.S. from offshore situations. We cannot be dependent on a foreign country, especially China.

Personally, I will never shake hands again. I predict the U.S. will adopt the Asian practice of wearing a mask for even a common cold. Social distancing will be practiced for a long time.

Making supplies stretch, making fewer trips to the grocery store, doing without those special treats longer, being more careful with money — these are just a few norms we will have to adopt. Sadly, many people will never recover their former lifestyles.

The greatest change for everyone should be the preservation and appreciation for what we have. When it goes away we suffer tremendously!

Archie Atkinson

Lower Burrell