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At this point it's sort of hard to tell, because a lot of the changes have become so normalized. I think something that has changed about the world fundamentally is the way in which we view and react to perceived safety in public spaces. I think everyone has a conception of how 'clean' or 'dirty' a public space is, ('cleaner' places being a public park, 'dirtier' being the airport or the grocery store) but in the pandemic we've reconceptualized 'cleanness' into more human terms. What's deemed as clean or safe is now determined upon the number of people in a place and their potential for coronavirus contacts, not necessarily how sticky the floor is or how grungy the walls may look. With this recontexualized idea of safety, I feel like after the brunt of the pandemic is over, people will still continue to change their behaviors to reflect this perceived safety, namely by continuing to wear masks in places deemed 'dirty' (full of people). I've been watching videos of people in airports and on planes for example, and even though the footage is from pre-pandemic times, I still can't believe that people weren't wearing masks in such crowded, dirty places. I think starting now, people will be wearing masks in places like airports, or even crowded public transit, now that we have an idea of how quickly pathogens can spread in those congested environments.
October 2, 2020