Things that the COVID-19 Pandemic Ruined or Changed Forever …

                                                Photograph from Wikipedia Commons.

 

  THE COVID-19 global pandemic lasted from 2020-2023 and was the catalyst for some significant changes in the American way of life, for good or bad …

  Here are 11 things/dimensions that the pandemic altered, as a sampling of what’s out there still:

1.  Increased Government/Media Mistrust. Because of the lack of science in some of the Pandemic mandates, like the 6-foot distance rule; the highly overrated health value of cloth masks, etc., many Americans will NOT be so quickly to trust similar mandates in the future.

2.  Widespread Tipping Frenzy. Someone the Pandemic exploded the tipping for service culture in America. Businesses where tipping was never expected before came into being. Get an ice cream cone? There’s an option/expectation of a tip for the server. Computerized checkouts feature tip requests just about everywhere. This made things more expensive.

3.  Curbside Pickup/Instacart phenomenon. The Pandemic sparked the creation of other people doing your shopping. Obviously, for disabled/homebound  persons, this is likely a win-win, yet it seemed to have made a lot of people, especially the younger generation just lazy – as they are too busy now to do their own shopping. Even in 2026, this curbside pickup is the largest expansion parameter in U.S, grocery stores.

4.  Increased inflation. Because the U.S. Government spent so much money on combatting the virus, inflation increased sharply during the Pandemic and the vast majority of all prices has never decreased. Example: A large jar of M&M Peanut candy was about $10 as the Pandemic began. Several years into it, the price was $16. For some companies, the Pandemic was an excuse to raise prices.

5.  More Expensive Fast Food. The reasoning of this scenario are hard to define, but fast food restaurants (McDonald’s and Jack in the Box, in particular) went from the least expensive places to eat, to some of the more expensive eateries during the Pandemic, as all prices rose and never came down. This made the medium sit-down restaurants (Chilli’s, Applebee’s) a much better value than most fast food places.

6.  Relaxed Code Enforcement. Most U.S. cities overlooked a lot of codes during the Pandemic and even after it was over, never went back to enforcing such laws as tall weeds, junk in yards, overgrown trees and bushes, etc. The result is more trashy looking neighborhoods and lazier citizens.

7.  A Reluctance to answer the door bell. Since many Americans sheltered at home during the Pandemic, door-to-door solicitation took a big hit. Combined with the rapid rise of doorbell cameras, many Americans do not answer their door much anymore and this may have led to less friendly neighborhoods.

8.  Less Restaurant/Store Parking. Restaurants and stores identified many close-to-the-building parking spaces for the pickup of food and products to take home. Even today, more than 3 years after the Pandemic, these spaces remain.

9.  The Rise of Face Masks (and Riots). It was virtually the law that out in public, Americans had to wear face masks to protect oneself from the virus. The cloth masks (cheapest ones) were promoted and some people still wear them today, even though their health safety value is almost zero. Science says only the top end face masks (used by medical workers) have any real value. The end result too was that protesters and rioters/criminals learned to wear these masks to conceal their identities and this resulted in an increase in lawlessness,

10.Less Business Promotions. During the Pandemic food demos were suspended temporarily. Some never returned. RC Willey Stores in Utah and surrounding states halted their long-time free hot dogs and similar promotions during the Pandemic and those programs never returned.

                              Photograph is from Wikipedia Commons.

11.Insane/Ridiculous Behavior, tolerated by the general populace. Watching cross country footraces during the Pandemic featured idiotic behavior that no one at the time questioned. Dozens of runners would line up at the starting line, with each athlete wearing a facemask. Then, at the sound of the starting gun, they all threw off their masks and raced off, leaving a pile of trash. Logically, what good is them wearing a mask at all, when the masks were abandoned right when breathing increased and germs spread all the more during the race? Another example of such insane/illogical behavior was at airports. Travelers all had to wear masks in line and be 6 feet apart (not supported by science, just a number thrown out), while once onboard a packed airplane, that mandated spacing no longer applied and people were sitting together as close as can be.