Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: Here’s what we should build into our new normal as we leave the pandemic behind

Jun 25, 2021 | 10:40 AM

THE PHRASE ‘NEW NORMAL’ has become so overused to become cliched, but there are several practices we have learned during this COVID-19 pandemic that should become our new normals, even as we leave the pandemic behind.

Staying home when we’re sick should become normalized.

It wasn’t long ago that you would be regarded as a hero if you didn’t take sick days and, conversely, suspicious if you took too much time off with illness.

People would come to work and ‘tough it out’, spreading illnesses to their coworkers and decreased productivity to their workplaces all the while.

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In the future, hopefully employers and employees will be more apt to view an illness-related absence as helping their coworkers out rather than placing extra strain on them.

Likewise, we shouldn’t balk when, of their own free will, someone wants to wear a mask in public.

It doesn’t affect you in the least when someone else dons a mask – except in the fact that you’re less likely to catch their bugs.

Many countries, especially in Asia, have normalized mask-wearing during illnesses, and it’s time we do, too.

Keeping distance from strangers should be encouraged from here on out.

It may be impossible to stay apart when attending a concert or a sporting event, but snuggling up to a stranger while standing in line at a retail outlet shouldn’t be necessary.

Personal space bubbles are good.

Vigilant cleaning should be more common in the future.

The science supporting surface transmission of COVID-19 was never particularly compelling, but we do know that other bugs can spread on surfaces. Why not keep them clean?

Speaking of science, we have been guided through this pandemic by scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom have been singing from the same songbook.

They knew what it took to keep us healthy, and that proved to work – just like their vaccines have worked.

It’s time we normalized listening to scientific consensus, finally admitting that their time spent gaining expertise might just be more valuable than our off hours spent with Google and YouTube.

If that’s our new normal, then we will have done what we can to paint a silver lining around this dark cloud of pandemic.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.