What Our Post-Pandemic Behavior Might Look Like

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when it wasn’t widely understood that germs could pass from person to person. Before the late 1800s, habits like sharing cups with strangers and spitting in public even amidst crowds weren’t considered unsanitary. Then a tuberculosis outbreak came, and our behavior changed — in some ways irrevocably and in some ways temporarily.

What will coronavirus do to our societal norms and relationships? We only have inklings thus far: Changed social expectations of face masks could be one, a new aversion to face-touching may be another. Images of crowds gathered during Memorial Day weekend may suggest that for some people, few social-distancing norms will stick. Still, past epidemics, disasters, and instances of social isolation have demonstrated how these societal disruptions can alter our behavior for years to come. They’ve also demonstrated time and again that humans are fundamentally resilient, making adjustments in the short-term but also falling back into old habits once an acute risk has passed.