Covid 19 Silver Linings

The U.S. national emergency to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic ended last week as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan congressional resolution to bring an end to it after three long years!

The national emergency allowed the government to take sweeping steps to respond to the virus and support the country’s economic, health, and welfare systems.  Some of these emergency systems have been wound down while others are in the process of being phased out.  I have no doubt there will be bumps in the road trying to unwind programs, such as the shakeout from the Covid-19 loan forbearance programs.

Does this mean that Covid-19 is over?  Not really, as Americans are still dying from this virus every week.  Arguably, 1.13 million Americans have perished directly or indirectly from Covid-19 over the past three years, which I call “the Covid-19 era!” 

There is no doubt it has been an unforgiving three years of Covid-19 and its ripple effect on our economy and families.  You would be hard-pressed to find an American that hasn’t been affected by Covid in one way or another.

On the positive side, there are some silver linings.  In some ways, Covid-19 has been an accelerant, meaning it has expedited trends that were already starting to emerge. 

My top 10 Covid silver linings include:

1. Remote Work Being Universally Accepted: More time working from home leads to less commuting and a better quality of life with more free time for the family if budgeted for properly.
2. More Disposable Income for Salaried Workers: Working from home between 2-5 days per week saves substantial time and money on a weekly basis.  In addition to commuting costs, working from home keeps purchasing several outside meals per week and improves the possibility of eating healthier. 
3. Opportunity for Better Work-Life Balance: With the extra time saved, parents can spend more time with children and attend school events such as plays and sports during work hours from time to time.
4. Increased Efficiencies: The emergence of Zoom like videoconferencing and e-signing documents has improved communication, efficiency, and effectiveness in many fields.
5. Less Junk Mail: Have you noticed how much less junk mail you receive from the post office and your email box?
6. Birth of “The Financial Wave:” This column started as a weekly Covid-19 briefing I emailed to clients, friends, and family until someone forwarded said briefings to Wave Editor Mark Healey, who called and asked me if I was interested in starting a new Wave Financial-based column.
7. Nurses Getting the Recognition They Deserve: One of the most significant silver linings is nurses being hailed as heroes, which they are!  The next step is to significantly raise their salaries commensurate with the amazing work they do taking care of us!  Doctors could not function and do their jobs without nurses helping health recovery strategies come to fruition!
8. Forced Creativity and Problem-Solving: Covid-19 created new lifestyle shifts for commuting, mixing business home offices with family life, and technical problem-solving.  I have several clients and friends that have become YouTube self-help experts!
9. New Hobbies Have Emerged:  With forced extra free time over the last 36 months, there have been shifts to pursue hobbies that we thought we would never have time for. 
10. More Focus on Well-Being: This one has affected me.  Pre Covid-19, I rarely got to sleep before midnight nor 7 hours of sleep per evening.  Covid has nudged me and many others to move up well-being on my priority list.