The New Normal COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we interact, conduct business
The “new normal”… it's an expression people have tossed about since the very first wave of coronavirus-related lifestyle restrictions.
Working and socializing from a distance has meant internet shopping, chatting, virtual learning, medical appointments, meetings … well, all things internet.
But how many of these adaptations are the “temporary new” and how many will stick?
“It's far too early to say,” said Dave Wittmann, vice president of cable marketing at Armstrong, where broadband usage doubled in a matter of weeks.
Wittmann said the company adapted to the usage uptick and all regulations on a “daily, sometimes hourly basis,” but was fortunate that it was already in a growth mode.
“Data usage is exploding; it has been at a 40 percent compound growth rate for several years. In the past couple of weeks, it's been significantly beyond that even,” said Wittmann in mid-April. “Thankfully, our networks have headroom, and we're working like crazy to stay ahead of the use.”The usage trend, Wittman said, changed from peaking at evening hours with prime time at 8 p.m., when most people would be home from a day job.Now, Wittman said, usage sees its peak by lunchtime and stays active until bedtime.“Broadband is more important than ever to most households and businesses,” he said, noting that is due to people using computers to telework and complete school assignments remotely.Mary Salony, assistant director of the Tri-County Workforce Investment Board, said she sees local companies across the spectrum adapting to internet-based commerce.“Many of these companies were interested before this. This just pushed them to move faster … that has meant everything from video calls to something as simple as how files are saved,” Salony said.Increasing access
Those who were not working — including an unprecedented number of people who filed for unemployment compensation in the past month — need internet access, too.“In speaking to the (Pennsylvania) Department of Labor & Industry, they don't even want paper (unemployment) applications unless it's absolutely necessary … because then someone has to accept them and go in and file them,” said Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel.That's why county and state officials are cooperating to generate new “hot spots” of internet access in rural communities that have no service, such as portions of Petrolia, Chicora and Bruin.Boozel said these communities are too sparsely populated to make it feasible for a company to offer service there. However, with a dedicated landline, any brick-and-mortar structure can host an internet hot spot that could be accessed inside the building or in the general outside area.“People could drive up and apply for unemployment in the parking lot if they don't have internet,” Boozel said.The goal, Boozel said, is to establish three new hot spots in buildings of public use, like libraries.Some libraries already privately offer hot spots. But under the plan, in addition to helping pay for the service, Boozel said officials hope to provide these locations with a limited number of internet friendly devices.
“Which is where it becomes a true win, win, win,” Boozel said.After pandemic needs have passed, the hope is the hot spots and devices would continue use as workforce development tools, like GED preparation classes and resume writing. And those same internet access tools would still be there for people who need telehealth appointments or to do schoolwork remotely.“This could change how we do business,” Boozel said.Medical roleIt could also change how we visit the doctor.At Butler Health System, ongoing investments into telehealth not only proved a valuable asset for measures related to the coronavirus, but also demonstrated that it has a prominent future in medicine.Dr. Norman Beale III, BHS' chief innovation officer, said doctors have daily been completing virtual visits with patients using smartphones or tablets.These visits can include pieces of technology that track heart rate, blood pressure and even temperature.“Now, we have these platforms that we deployed to all of our outpatient settings, so we can see them all in their homes,” Beale said.He added that often these measurements are taken by the patients and relayed to the provider for assessment. But sometimes neighbors or at-home nurses assist.
Beale said these visits keep the sick at home and away from others. And, it can keep healthy individuals away from a potentially risky environment.“The patients and the providers have been really great in adopting this form of encounters,” Beale said. “I had physicians talk about how emotional some patients were about being able to connect.”The same technology also is used for doctor-to-doctor interactions, whether it's from ICU to ICU at different hospitals or from a floor dedicated to coronavirus to a different department in the hospital.“They have plenty of tools attached to either side,” Beale said.Through technology, doctors also can offer patients emotional support. Since the pandemic outbreak, BHS has restricted visitation. To help patients cope with missed loved ones, they may request one of a “few dozen” tablets the BHS staff has on hand to make a call with some assistance.Beale said this type of interaction could be implemented any time a patient must be isolated.“I think a lot of the work here is going to help patients socialize and normalize this technology,” Beale said. “Maybe it's the new normal for now, but maybe it's the new normal in the future.”Not so temporarySalony predicted that the longer local companies are forced to use technologies new to them under pandemic conditions, the more likely they are to integrate them in the future.“Some of this is definitely going to stick, and it will change a lot,” Salony said. “The younger generation already is used to doing everything electronically.”But, she noted, “For certain industries, it just won't work. You need that personal contact.”Glenn Miller, owner of Thompson-Miller Funeral Home, said his industry is among those likely to shy away for a bit, at least locally. “Virtual funerals” where services are broadcast over a camera to a Facebook group or YouTube channel are very popular offerings by his contemporaries in other regions.With that in mind, Miller said he researched the technology to best provide a virtual service that is respectful yet has good video quality. He's developed a process and plan he could enact very quickly.
But so far, no clients have requested it. “In the beginning (of pandemic restrictions), it was very difficult for families to understand the restrictions,” Miller said of the state-imposed 10-person limit at services, which includes funeral staff. “But as time went on and news spread, it has become more easily accepted. People get it.”Miller said virtual funerals are more in demand in regions where family is spread remotely.Here, in cases where the limit was particularly troubling, Miller said families were more receptive to holding a memorial service at a later date, after the pandemic. “This has really turned our world upside down,” Miller said. “We have all been raised to be there for each other and be near each other, to hold hands and put your arm around someone. That is the entire basis of a funeral.”
