The Influence of Coronavirus Disease on Behavior Pattern (I)
As of today on March 21st, the new coronavirus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has infected over 232,000 people in 159 countries and has caused in excess of 9,800 deaths. More than 30 cities have imposed strict laws in order to mitigate the spread of this disease, such as restricting the number of people who can gather in public at any one time or confining residents to their homes. There is currently no end in sight for this pandemic, and as a result, it has changed our mindset and behavior.
Many who encountered SARS in 2003 paid rigorous attention to hygiene during that time; however, this habit waned right after that epidemic. As the current epidemic-turned-pandemic rapidly ensues, I expect that the impact of COVID-19 will last longer than SARS did and even change many people’s value position. The two most remarkable facades are 1) people’s own perception of basic hygiene and 2) the change of work value and work type.
Do not lower your vigilance…
Good personal hygiene may not have been at the forefront for many people. For example, dripping a bit of water on your hands for one second may have been regarded as “washing your hands”. But now, the public are more aware of and care about their own personal hygiene. Frankly speaking though, the rules for preventing infectious diseases are almost the same as basic hygiene rules. It is just a matter of whether people keep them in mind and then whether people take action. For example, an Italian grandmother, Nonna Rosetta, in a YouTube video recalled her experience during an epidemic in Milan and recommends that people wash their hands more frequently, cover their nose and mouth when sneezing, and do not touch their face to reduce the risk of getting sick. Similarly, when you were little and just got back home, your parents would always asked you to wash your hands, and they also ensured that you washed your hands before having a snack. These habits are actually all common sense. Some people, however, have an “it won’t happen to me” attitude and are complacent with basic hygiene or stray from government and health warnings. Do not lower your vigilance — because people are not always that lucky.
Holding an open-minded mindset to something that used to be taboo will be helpful when it comes to epidemic prevention…
When it comes to wearing a surgical mask to prevent getting infected, many people in many countries still uphold a stereotype: they associate wearing a mask as a sign of serious illness. It was the same in Taiwan 17 years ago, but this is not the case anymore. After the SARS storm, Taiwanese see wearing a mask as a way to protect themselves if they are healthy. Indeed, a mask has become an everyday personal item, just like a cellphone, a set of keys, or a pack of tissues. Taiwanese wear a mask to reduce allergies during pollen seasons, to prevent breathing in air pollution like PM 2.5, to avoid being burnt by the sun in summer, and in some circumstances, so that they do not need to put on makeup. In addition to the standard white surgical masks, a variety of options are available: a cool all-black one, a cute one with a zebra pattern, or a Hermès orange one to match your luxury handbag. Holding an open-minded mindset to something that used to be taboo will be helpful when it comes to epidemic prevention.
In relation to changing behaviors, people now are starting to talk about social distancing. Because crowded environments are commonplace in Taiwan owing to its high population density, the distance between everyone is unavoidably short. However, after the SARS crisis, people actively kept a distance between each other, especially when talking, to avoid droplet transmission. Recently, people have even been seriously talking about the exact distance between each other. For example, politicians not only in Taiwan have been considering adopting “the Finnish distance”: a one-meter space between people, which you can easily see when Finns queue or wait for a bus. I experienced the benefit of the Finnish distance back in 2015; not being forced to line up so close to others was refreshing, unlike in Taiwan where it is a familiar sight due to a lack of space. It is a great idea in a country that has a low population density, but whether this could be practically adopted in Taiwan remains to be seen. Nevertheless, as our lives in Taiwan are changing, I recognize the need to avoid unnecessary touching by designing public utilities that operate without the need to physical touch them. This will probably be more appropriate for densely populated countries like Taiwan. Take office buildings over 20 floors for example; we can use eye-tracking or voice control to call an elevator.
Currently, everyone’s life has been forced to change because of COVID-19. Over time with this forced change, the disease will no doubt impact economics and politics, but on a greater scale, it will have a strong effect on people’s vision, mission, and values. In the next article in this series, I will focus on the impact of the new coronavirus on work value and work type.
