The World, in particular Europe, looked very different prior to the 14th century A.D. The divide among the upper and lower classes of Europe was vast and profound thanks to feudalism and other forms of stringent government practices. This was the product of centuries of uncertainty following the fall of the Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. Yet, by the start of the 15th century A.D, the quality of life of the peasantry of these countries saw a drastic improvement which were not seen in past centuries. Many findings and improvements were made in the disciplines of art, science, medicine and even warfare and this ushered in the ‘’Renaissance’’. Many historians attribute this sudden and unforeseen change in attitude and quality of life to one of the largest and most destructive pandemics the world had ever seen, ‘’The Black Death’’.
Although it is unlikely that the current COVID-19 pandemic will have the same effects on population and culture that the Black Death did, we can see that, now that it is in fact changing the world in unprecedented ways, many of which will last once the pandemic is long gone. The key among these is the rapid increase in e-commerce and other forms of technology that make it seem as though things are normal again. For instance, the video conferencing app ‘’Zoom’’ saw an exponential growth in their usage following the onset of the pandemic and as a result, their stock doubled in value. This most likely would not have happened had the pandemic not taken place. Other such e-services too have seen an increase in their usage since the pandemic. Services such as Netflix have seen their number of subscribers grow in the months since the onset of the pandemic. It is evident that most of these e-mediums do not bring anything new to the user but rather offer a different method to experience something familiar. For example, people who used to frequently visit movie theaters would now stream a movie at home on Netflix. Therefore, it is not something new that people have to get used to, but rather it is something familiar in a different form.
The one thing which has been consistent within civilized societies is the fact that people tend to follow the money, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the income from some sectors to those mentioned above. Therefore, it is highly likely that people will back these new mediums. Therefore, if businesses wish to remain relevant in the post-COVID world, it is imperative that they actively start findings ways and means of staying relevant. One example of this is ‘’mind|body|fitness’’ a yoga studio in North Carolina, USA who had traditionally conducted all of their classes in-studio and now do it all online thanks to a newly configured website and on-demand content, they did this all within the span of five days and did not skip any classes.
In conclusion, although the current COVID-19 pandemic won’t bring about the monumental changes brought about by the ‘’Black Death’’, we can clearly see that it is changing society and businesses are changing accordingly. If any business or person does not keep up, they will face the same fate that the draconian laws of the middle ages faced and be left in the annals of history.
