Two years of COVID-19: How the pandemic changed everything
It was two years ago Friday that the World Health Organization officially declared the then-rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Many of us waved goodbye to co-workers as we headed home for what was supposed to be a two- or three-week stint in mid-March 2020.
As the pandemic wore on the collective psyche, and American people openly debated a second Trump term in the White House while massive protests over racial and social inequalities, some of them taking destructive turns, gripped American cities in the summer of 2020, a new and growing class of retail investors planned their attack on the Wall Street establishment. This ultimately led to the January 2021 short squeeze in brand-name stocks like GameStop Corp. GME, -4.
“People are home for COVID, they’re a little depressed, and they want that bundle of joy,” Petco Health & Wellness Co. Inc. WOOF, -1.26% CEO Ron Coughlin told MarketWatch in January 2021, shortly after the company went public. Online pet-care marketplace Rover Group Inc. ROVR, -1.75% also went public during the pandemic, making its debut in August 2021. And online pet-products shop Chewy Inc. CHWY, -7.88% gained 5.
Tap payments have become a popular cash substitute when it comes to small-ticket transactions like the purchase of a cup of coffee, and financial-technology companies have worked with cities to enable contactless payments at mass-transit terminals. Transit is “one of the best ways to habituate people to tapping,” Visa Chief Product Officer Jack Forestell said at a recent investor conference.
But it won’t be all “Animal Crossing” parties in 2022; the pandemic boom in videogames is forecast to evaporate this year. — Wallace WitkowskiInfectious-disease doctors, epidemiologists like Michael Osterholm and immunologists including Anthony Fauci became media superstars, educating us on the nightly news and on Twitter about R0 , clinical-trial terminology and herd immunity. Moderna Inc. MRNA, -2.08% and Pfizer Inc. PFE, +0.92% became household names.
Andy Jassy, who became Amazon’s CEO last summer, told investors that his “retail teammates” have operated in “peak mode for almost two years.” In Amazon’s annual report in pre-pandemic 2019, when Jeff Bezos was still CEO, there was no mention of the company’s aspiration of being seen as a good employer, much less the world’s best.
COVID-19 has not only changed the way customers shop but transformed the way retailers sell goods and think about the shopper experience, with technology being the key driver to that continued evolution as we enter Year 3 of the pandemic. — Tonya GarciaAs people started spending more time at home, many invested in making their immediate surroundings more comfortable and attractive.
For Airbnb, the work-from-anywhere trend that became popular because of the pandemic has meant more long-term stays. While some travelers still prefer hotels, employees who want a change of scenery while they work may prefer staying in houses with kitchens and room to move around. From the then-all-time closing high on Feb. 19, 2020, through the pandemic bottom on March 23, 2020, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.43% fell 34%. After that, it took only until Aug. 11, 2020, for the index to recover and close at a record high. For all of 2020, excluding dividends, the S&P 500 gained 16%, followed by a 28% gain in 2021.
The Biden administration tried to require businesses employing at least 100 people to either make their workforces test weekly or be vaccinated, but the Supreme Court’s conservative majority blocked the regulation from taking effect, saying the administration had overstepped its authority. — Andrew KeshnerMany Americans halted their retirement savings — or, in some cases, dipped into their nest eggs to make it through the pandemic.
Then came COVID-19, and telehealth usage surged. In April 2020, in the midst of the lockdown, telehealth visits made up 13% of all private medical claims. Though numbers have leveled out and now hover around 4% of claims a month, that’s still much higher than it was pre-pandemic. Though the new vaccines stem from decades of scientific research, the companies were able to develop safe and effective shots while also preparing to manufacture them for billions of people within about a year of the virus’s first being identified.
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