Keller: Here are some good things that came out of the COVID pandemic
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
For many, the current spate of five-year anniversary reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic resurrect memories we'd just as soon forget. The panic shopping and chronic shortages, the seemingly endless testing and masking, the shutdowns, isolation and loneliness - and, of course, the terrible death toll.
But the pandemic left behind some positive changes that are still with us, including:
Online public meetings
Before the pandemic, you had to be on Beacon Hill or at your local city or town hall to participate in important public meetings.
But the Massachusetts Legislature is poised to extend online access to many events via Zoom for another two years, continuing a widely applauded trend of giving more access to government meetings than ever existed before COVID-19.
Telehealth
The stopgap funding bill that just passed the U.S. Senate was controversial, but there was bipartisan agreement on a part of it extending the use of telehealth services, a pandemic-era staple that has proven to cut costs and improve healthcare access.
Work from home
And then there's the staying power of the working-from-home habit.
It's a nightmare for office-building owners struggling with sky-high vacancy rates, but it's the gift that keeps on giving for the 73% of telecommuters who tell Pew Research pollsters the arrangement has done wonders for their work-life balance while not damaging their productivity. Among them, a record number of women are now working, with a notable increase among women with children under 5.
And the pandemic gave many entrepreneurs the extra time and cash they needed to spawn an unprecedented surge in new businesses, resulting in more than 7 million new jobs.
Our national trauma was a nightmare in so many ways, but it also helped many dreams come true.
