Regarding Society: It sounds crass to say in the face of such a massive tragedy, but we got lucky this time and we've gotten lucky every time before. Mother nature is a creative murderer; imagine if this had been 5x more virulent or if it had been fully airborne. We'd be counting losses in another order of magnitude. This is our chance to learn how to be a 10B person species. I've long believed that some solutions emerge from a sufficiently critical mass of human power (if coronavirus requires a 7B-mind solution, imagine what a 14B or 21B-mind human species can solve!). But to experience them, we have to figure out how to do our species at scale. This is mom taking off the training wheels. It's on us to embrace our teetering and from it learn balance.
Regarding Education Systems: Hinging on our willingness (because I know we are fully capable) to adapt is the educational welfare of a generation. We are entirely up to this challenge -- of figuring out what a no longer pre-Covid globe does to keep it's children safe while educating them effectively. It kinda puts the struggles of before into stark perspective. But if there's anything I have experienced to be true of our species, it's that when we come together, when we pray together, when we work together, we can cause tremendous blessings for our loved ones. That is now at stake for our children. Take a few minutes to grieve yesterday, certainly. But remain not in pining for a past that will not return; seize the new possibilities for our children that circumstance will challenge us to create.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615370/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing-18-months/