As a sociologist, this is my take on COVID-19 and the societal and economic consequences of the pandemic:

1. Fear.

Fear is the worst contagion. Even if we get a 100% effective vaccine or treatment against Covid, it ain’t gonna make people less fearful. Imagine the new wave of “anti Covid vaccers” who will plague our malls, outdoor places, and public school systems. Much more ripe conspiracy theories and alt-right and alt-left craziness to come.

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2. Global pandemic of fear

More distrust and fear to foreigners and others. More fear towards Asian people … after all COVID did come from Wuhan China. Thus if you look Asian, are Asian, or are part Asian… more “average folks” will be fearful of you.

3. Obesity

The tricky thing:

Fear causes people to eat more sugar, sweets, and other “comfort foods”. As a consequence, people get fatter.

Also, when people get fatter and more obese, they are at higher risk of the lethality of COVID-19. And it becomes this cycle and loop:

More fear -> More people get fat -> The more people who get fat and die from COVID, the death statistics go up.

4. Google is making gangbuster profits right now

Google is an advertising company. The more people who click on COVID related articles which are monetized by Google Adsense, the better for Google. And at this point Google is the internet.

The more fearful the people are, the more profitable.