Life won't change after corona, it already has

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) staff in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stores collected swab samples during the KNH's mass staff testing for COVID-19 at the hospital in Nairobi on April 14, 2020. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, those in corporate organisations heard about Zoom.
 
While others were excited at the thought of working from home, more were elated at the number of reduced meetings.
 
I mean, they can be boring sometimes.
 
In the not-so-far past, people complained about meetings that could have been emails.
 
Others joked that if there weren't any muffins being served, then do not call the meeting.
 
Some meetings are known to take up to three hours.
 
But with the measures put in place, changes had to be effected.
 
The first one was the order to work from home.
 
Like a cake lover who works at a pastry shop, all were excited, but soon we'd realise the smell of baked bread was not as fascinating.
 
Some of the things we had taken for granted, like the funny co-worker, the encouraging boss, the secretary with a vogue sense of fashion, would not be there anymore.
 
Relationships that sprouted off of hugs, handshakes or simply sharing a meal, have now been reduced to WhatsApp messages and video calls, in some instances.
 
We have come to realise what is important and what we did not need.
 
We may not have needed the meetings that lasted longer than 15 minutes, especially with no muffins, but we should have had more appreciation for human relationships that went beyond technology.
 
More have said that the pandemic did drive the digital transformation, but the strain on normal interaction cannot go unmentioned.
 
Although some countries have been reported to be relaxing some of the measures such as the lockdown, Kenya is yet to get to that point.
 
We did pass the crucial two weeks and marked a month since the first case was confirmed. But like the Health Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe, said, a little success doesn't necessarily mean total success.
 
Life as we knew it has changed. Families are stuck home together, some unsure about what the future holds financially.
 
Children are home from school, their classes now holding patients in quarantine.
 
Businesses are closing as employees take paycuts.
 
Job losses are being recorded each day.
 
Companies are struggling to stay afloat.
 
Coronavirus will not change the future, it is changing our lives today.