The New Normal Of The COVID
Let’s wind the clock to a year back when there were no restrictions, no masks, and you could do everything that was on your mind. Traveling, working, going to school, college, and every daily activity you were engaged in. Came February and March, the horrors of the pandemic were ringing alarm bells from the Wu-Han province of China, and within a short time, the entire world was gripped with this viral infection which was making the people sick and killing them too on a massive scale. Well, whatever happened after that is known to all of us, and it was probably the most gruesome part of our lifetime. Even the most powerful nations like the USA, UK, Germany, Japan, and Australia were seen helpless in front of this deadly virus, and it ultimately resulted in a worldwide lockdown, shutting down our normal lives completely.
Now, after spending a punishing period of lockdown and various other restrictions, life is coming back to the ‘New Normal’ again. The new normal defines the life that we are spending with the COVID-19 situation and unlocking after months of strenuous lockdown. Things are reopening again, and business activities that jammed due to the pandemic are turning its wheels once more. People who were imprisoned in their homes due to lockdown are yet again resuming their daily activities and trying to set things back on track again.
All the things that were completely shut during the pandemic lockdown are making its way back again. Restaurants, hotels, pubs, and entertainment zones, which were shut in the lockdown period, are opening once more for people. However, though these places are opening up again, there are a number of restriction norms that have to be followed. Social distancing and the use of masks and sanitizers are mandatory in all these places. Before allowing the customer in, these establishments have to screen them thermally and also provide sanitizers to them. Multiplexes and cinema halls are once again allowed to reopen and hold shows at their screen. However, they can only allow fifty percent capacity of their seating arrangement and have to keep a one-seat gap between two people to maintain social distance.
Public transport is also chugging again and right from buses, metro trains, local trains are starting yet again. The only challenge in opening these transport modes is maintaining the social distance and applying the other precautions that are mandatory during the COVID times.
Schools and colleges are yet to open again, and till now, no government has taken a stance of opening the educational institutions. Though everything is slowly opening up and things are resuming back on track again, the danger of pandemic is far from over. New and fresh cases of infection are being registered every day, and countries like UK, France, Denmark, and Germany are witnessing a dangerous second wave of COVID cases, compelling them to shut down everything partially. In India as well, the infections have not come down to a comfort level, and fatalities are also occurring. Although people are heading out of their homes to get a breather of the new normal life, it is full of fear and suspicion as no one knows for sure from where the infection can strike. Unless there is sure shot vaccination for the cure of the coronavirus infection, the new normal shall continue but under the clouds of gloom.