COVID-19 has accelerated the future of our homes and given them a new role in our lives.

While working from home was the exception before the pandemic, it will increasingly become the norm for jobs that allow it. The home will therefore become more than just a place for leisure time, it will be a hub for work. This will include its increasing use for professions such as fitness instructors, broadcasters and psychotherapists. Furthermore, the home will become a hub for learning as university aged students are increasingly likely to spend a semester or two at their parents’ home.

The future home will also be transformed into a real digital fortress with smart sensors, detectors, secure courier drop off points, and even integrated health monitoring such as electronic diagnostic equipment and apps to allow people safety and independence.

In the future, it will be a place where we will get medical care and which will accommodate equipment and services for the elderly. In the long-term, some families may choose to create space in the home for the care of an elderly family member; this space will be equipped with health monitoring and video connections to allow vulnerable family members to be looked after remotely by health professionals while in the comfort of their own home.
 

The reformed societies that will emerge from the pandemic of 2020 will be wiser and far better prepared to deal with any new risk to public health. Public opinion is going to demand more health expenditure from governments, and countries will increasingly localize medical supply chains to ensure quick access to medicines and equipment.

Doctors as well as patients will continue, as far as possible, remote routine consultations online, as the digital delivery of medical services and information has the potential to ease the burden on healthcare systems. During the COVID crisis, other than providing consultation and support to patients, telehealth also helped prevent the spread of the virus by reducing the number of people visiting breeding grounds such as clinics and hospitals. Digital health technology will become the norm, with rapid adoption of wearable health technologies.

The arrival of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown produced a sharp spike in patients reporting mental health issues such as grief, increased anxiety and depression. Mental health professionals have also been making considerable use of remote counselling which allows a better long-term medical follow-up for those who have suffered the most.

It is predicted that the mental health aftermath of the pandemic will last longer than the pandemic itself; it is very likely that mental health professionals will continue to use video consultations in their mix of treatment methods in the future.
 

While the wearing of “smart face masks”^** will make it possible to identify people who are ill, and the volume of passengers on trains will be reduced; many people will rethink their trips.

During the COVID-19 induced lockdowns, people discovered that they could order their groceries or other shopping items online with ease and speed. Many worked from home, and they will now ask themselves whether it makes sense to own a car. This is likely to accelerate the trend towards short-term car rental rather than full car ownership and is likely to add to the number of those using car sharing schemes.

In the past months, thousands of miles of new bike lanes have been built in cities which are being closed to traffic. Commuters around the world have massively adopted the bicycle as they emerge from months of COVID-19 lockdown. This will have a positive impact on the use of new modes of micromobility, such as bicycles, electric bicycles, e-skateboards and e-scooters (shared and owned) that could get people from A to B in ways that avoid using public transport, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving urban air quality.

At the same time, the authorities will have to provide charging points, create more bike lanes, and regulate usage to ensure riders have the correct insurance, observe speed limits, wear helmets and dock shared mobility items responsibility. With increased usage, micromobility providers will also need to ensure the safety of riders by providing clear hygiene rules and safety tips.