Coronavirus 
 

Second Order Effects 

 
 
 

  Failing to consider second- and third-order consequences is the cause of a 

lot of painfully bad decisions... Never seize on the first available option, no 
matter how good it seems, before you’ve asked questions and explored. 
—Legendary Investor Ray Dalio 
 
 
 
Second-order effects is a m​ ental model​ that 
helps you make better decisions. It is particularly 
important now during the Coronavirus crisis.  
 
When we think of the future, we tend to think of 
obvious and immediate consequences. As a result, 
we tend to ignore the domino chain of effects. 
 
In life, the more you consider second-order 
effects, the more successful you become...  
 
When you see future challenges, you can avoid them. 
When you see future opportunities first, you can 
capitalize on them first.  

Second-order effects are often surprising.  

 
Who would’ve thought that cars would eventually 
lead to hotel and restaurant chains.  
 

Learn More Mental Models You 

Should Have In Your Arsenal    
 

 
 
 
 
 

About This Doc  About The Creators  

 
This document helps map the possibility 
space of Coronavirus effects. It helps us 
understand how it could transform our 
lives as individuals, workers, and 
citizens.  
       
It was developed via a combination of  @EmersonSpartz  Michael Simmons  Camille Ulmer 
listening to podcasts, reading reports,  Serial Social Entrepreneur /  Visual Architect. Direct 
Middle school dropout. 
and consuming articles; talking to  Learning How To Learn  Response Designer. 
Antifragility signaling. 
friends in different sectors; and personal  Teacher / Contributions: Inc,  Storytelling Believer. Chess 
Founder (​@Dose​, 
reflection. Hat tip to @
​ balajis​ and  Harvard Business Review,  Nomad Converted to 
@OMGFacts​,​ @MuggleNet​). 
@chamath​.  Forbes, Fortune, Entrepreneur, &  Existentialist Philosopher 
NYT Bestselling Author. 
Time 
 
 
 

 
  
 
 

 
Top Contributors 
This is a Collaborative Project 

We originally created the table for  Feel free to comment or suggest  ● Mark Ingles  ● Shayna Englin 
ourselves. After sharing it with a few  changes below. ​You can be  ● Charlie Graham  ● Tara Demren 
friends, we decided to make it a  listed as a contributor in this  ● Sawyer Trice  ● Daniel Koff 
collaborative project where anyone  document, by making a lot of  ● Annie Lalla  ● Eben Pagan 
could contribute.   high-quality additions.  ● Ben Clarke  ● You!! 

 
 
 
 

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● Marriage  ● Manufacturing &  ● Stock market  ● Online learning  ● Taxes  ● Climate  

● Dating  Supply Chains  returns  field grows  ● Policies  ● Safety 
● Home  ● Deliveries  ● Buybacks  ● Homeschooling  ● Structure  ● Cultural change 
● Pets  ● Consumer  ● Dividends  grows  ● Elections  ● Volunteering 
● Funerals  Behavior  ● Higher ed    
● Religion  ● Fashion  ● Professional 
● Geography  ● Entertainment  education 
● Money  ● Entrepreneurship 
● Physical Health  ● Travel 
● Mental Health  ● Energy  
● Time  ● Retail 
Management  ● Insurance 
● Work  
● Education 
● Employment 

 
 
 

Personal 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

● More arguments  ● Couples counseling 

● Divorce rates increase  ● Divorce lawyers 

● More sex (Condom shortages)  ● Virtual midwives 

● More babies  ● Increase in baby clothing 
● Overwhelm of hospitals starting in 9  demand in 9m? 
Husband, kids, and wife spend 10x as  months 
much time together  ● Increase in home births 
Family 
Deeper understanding of each other. (i.e.,   
deeper understanding of kid’s school 
work. Seeing spouse during workday.) 

Increase in child abuse / spouse abuse   

More attention is paid to elderly family  ● Improved mental (and perhaps   

members than under normal  physical) health among elderly 
circumstances 

Culture shifts around  Dating apps evolve to include 

Seeing someone in-person during a 
non-hetero/non-monogamy, as dating  video date add-ons, guided 
quarantine becomes a sign of the level 
Dating  and relationships move to the privacy of  conversations, other virtual 
of commitment in the relationship 
digital connection versus in public  relationship-building  
 
 
 

Less cheating (at least in-person     

cheating or one-night stands) 

Decline in “hookup” culture   ● Expanded virtual/online 

Less dating overall as there are less 
sex industry 
opportunities to meet in-person.  
● Sex toy sales boom 

More competition in home storage   

Innovation in “home storage” industry  industry 
 

Work from home:  ● Streaming services reduce resolution  ● More apps in the 
  in order to handle bandwidth.   collaboration ecosystem 
● More desks are bought (standing    (zoom and teams 
desks)  ● Increased pain due to work stations  marketplaces) 
● More computer peripherals are  that are not ergonomic (back, carpal  ● Home remodels from the 
purchased (webcam, microphone,  tunnel syndrome, neck)  currently popular open 
mouse)     plan to more smaller 
● More purchases of comfortable  ● New attack vectors due to unproven  rooms to be able to work 
office chairs  software that is quickly rushed out  from home and close the 
● More "artwork" to make your office  door from the office 
look better 
Home  ● More noise cancelling headphones 
purchased 
● More collaboration services used 
(Zoom, Houseparty) 
● Upgrade to people’s Internet speed 
to support video conference calls 

Home heating and cooling bills are     

higher because people are home all of 
the time 

More people begin to grow food in  Seed shortages. People buy gardening   
home gardens.  tools. 

People desire larger homes as they  People move out of cities   

spend more time there 

Increase in obesity:​ Some people are   

less fit because they lost their gym 
membership and routine that it took them 
probably years to develop 

Decrease in obesity: S
​ ome people are   
more fit because they have more time to 
exercise.  

Increase sales of home exercise   

Exercise  equipment: 
 
● Resistance bands 
● Dumbbells 

● Virtual Group Classes (like 

Physical   Peloton) really catch on 
Health  ● Virtual/remote personal 
Innovation in the home exercise industry  trainers. 
● Virtual coaching on 
helping people set up an 
ergonomic workspace 

People put off elective surgeries and     

treatments 

There is a shortage of specific drugs,   

People hoard drugs that are purported  which then impacts patients who depend 
to work (e.g., hydroxychloroquine)  on that drug (e.g., Lupus patients depend 
on hydroxychloroquine) 

People lose access to/can’t afford  Alternative/folk therapies explode   

actual healthcare. 
  
 
 

People feel more anxious and don’t  ● People get less sleep   
have in-person gathering as a coping  ● Alcohol consumption increases [​1]​  
mechanism. 

People catch up on sleep     

People eat more due to more time  ● Weight increase   

spent at home / less routine 

Loved ones can’t have in-person    Virtual funerals 

funerals for those who pass away 

Funerals  Mass graves   

Not enough capacity to bury and 
cremate those who pass away in a 
timely manner  Change of human behaviour— not   
needing a funeral? 

Increase in religious participation (often  Increase in sales of Bible, Quran, and  Virtual religious communities 
increases in times of chaos)  other religious texts 
 
Religion  OR 
 
Decrease: in-person community is a 
major reason for participation 

● Pets are happier  ● Create more pet toys 

People spend more time with pets  
● Pets more fit 

Pets are surrendered because people  Shelters are overwhelmed   

have trouble paying for their food 
Pets 
Neighbors loan dogs to each other in     
order to be allowed to be outside of 
their home and get a breath of fresh air 
(for areas where you aren’t allowed to 
leave home unless it is for essentials or 
walking their dog) 

Purchase real estate in 

Virus spreads faster in cities.  
suburban areas 

Cities have more social unrest.    

Decrease in local geographic network   

effects (ie - Silicon Valley) 
Cities become less popular. Suburbs 
Geography 
become more popular 
Viruses typically enter countries   
through major cities 

Growing ease of informal, 

People get used to working and living 
ad-hoc global collaborations 
at home, so location becomes less 
(esp. In face of poor gov 
important.  
response) 

● Events move online  Streaming TV providers have 

● Reading  higher retention rates. 
● Watching    
● Creating  ● Creating 
● Internetting  ● Internetting 
Increase in content consumption and  ● Social media  ● Social media 
gaming   ● VR 
● Porn 
 
● Creates of offline experiences create 
Time  
online versions 
Management  
● Conferences -> Virtual Events 
● Virtual Museum Tours

● Painting  ● Reinvention  
● Crafts   ● Side hustle  
People pursue hobbies more  ● Knitting   ● Increased donation of 
● Meditation  home items that are 
● Board games   decluttered 
 
 
 

● Drawing  ● Arbitrage of decluttered 

● Musical instrument  items 
● Poker 
● Decluttering 

Many people have less money and  ● Mortgage default  ● More stringent lending 
start putting off all of their bills  ● Mortgage refinancings  requirements (again) in 
  ● Rent/lease defaults  future 
● Small businesses closing  ● Foreclosure purchases 
● People hold on to money  ● Property management 
● People lost their savings  companies go out of biz 

  ● Bankruptcy filing services 

Bankruptcy of highly leveraged  and bankruptcy recovery 
businesses  services (credit 
counseling) 

● Credit Card companies seeing  ● Burst of discretionary 

reduced portfolios  spending once things 
People reduce discretionary expenses  ● People with steady incomes during  reopen? 
Money  this time will end up with more 
discretionary money later in the year. 

Increased usage of wireless payment     

methods (e.g., Apple Pay) 

Shopping both online and offline is  ● Consumerism decreases   

difficult. Offline leads to lines and risk  ● DIY increases 
of infection. Online has more items out 
of stock and deliveries taking longer. 

Decreased usage of cash     

Everyday people lose jobs and need  See government policy section below   
income fast 

Improvement because people are     

relaxing and getting more sleep and 
gratitude for what they do have and 
realization of what’s important 

Stress and anxiety every time you go     

out because you might catch it. Stress 
and anxiety of being cooped up with 
people all day (especially if you are an 
introvert). Stress from uncertainty 
and/or losing income or loved ones.  
Mental  
Health 
● Depression  More personal development 
People who already live alone feel 
● Increased use of drugs and alcohol   online workshops  
more lonely 
● Increased suicides 

People miss face-to-face interactions  Rise of niche online communities    

Depression because of joblessness  Increased use of drugs and alcohol    

More attention being paid to mental  ● Increased help-seeking behaviour   

health, de-stigmatization of loneliness, 
depression and anxiety 

  Therapies move online  Sites like Betterhelp.com grow   

 
 
 

Business 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

  
 
 

Dramatic reduction in just-in-time  Complex goods (electronics) rise in price   

inventory practices 

Certain factories are closed or have  Missing component can halt an entire  Shortages of certain 
less demand  supply chain  products 

Digital   ● In-demand products 

● Cloud services  have shortages and/or 
● Zoom  price increases.  
● Slack   ● Other manufacturers 
● Semiconductors  stop manufacturing their 
  own products and 
Consumer  produce products for 
● Toilet paper  healthcare industry (New 
● Puzzles  Balance creating masks, 
Certain products suddenly have 
Manufacturing &  ● Board games  Tesla creating 
huge-demand 
Supply Chains  ● Game consoles  ventilators) 
● Non Perishable food items   
  ● Plumbers are incredibly 
Health  busy with cleaning 
● ICU beds  drains because people 
● Ventilators  are flushing 
● Masks  non-flushable items, 
● Gowns  because they lack or are 
conserving toilet paper 

Increased usage of robots and     

automation (avoid integrating humans 
who could be infected) 

Development of alternative supply  Trend toward insourcing and  Costs of many goods 
sources outside of China  proximity-based manufacturing  increases  

  ● Local-to-local delivery 
services, very small 
product list for 
local-to-local purchasing 
(the anti-Amazon?)  
Growth of grocery delivery   
● Growth of sanitary 
delivery and storage 
solutions for consumers 
and businesses (e.g. UV 
Deliveries  delivery bins) 

Growth of farm-to-home delivery and     

farm-to-trunk delivery 

Amazon becomes more of a target for not   

having a safe enough working 
Growth of Amazon 
environment or not compensating 
workers enough for “hazard pay” 

Growth of Ubereats / Grubhub / etc.  Growth of usage of plastic containers   

Increase sale of moisturizers because   

people have dry hands 

A generation of kids with low immunity   

due to all the hand washing and 
sanitizing 
Increase sale of lysol and wipes 
Consumer   More resistant strains of viruses evolve   
Behavior 
Less communicable disease infection in   
the short-term because people are more 
sanitary 

Increase usage of RV parks  Increase in RV Services 

Increase in staycations (vacations that 
(Repair, Rehab, Furnishings, 
are driving distance away) 
Service) 
  
 
 

● Fitbit, Oura Ring, Apple Watch, and  ● Biometrics incorporated 

● Wearing a personal health  other trackers see increased demand.   to tell body heat  
tracker becomes standard  ● Privacy violations by big tech and  ● Daily “certificate” given 
  governments  for tested and unsick 
● current devices enabled to track  ● Increase of invasive data collection  individuals enabling 
more biometric data  (trade-off between privacy and  them to attend events, 
safety).  rideshare, the office, etc.  

Many people who avoided technology     

take more time to understand it better 

Fewer “wet” markets     

(animals/perishables)

Less fashion purchases:  ● Fashion businesses have 

  to pivot / evolve their 
● Shorts  marketing etc. 
● Pants  ● Live filters that make 
● Socks  people look more 
● Skirts  professional and beautiful 
People care less about their  ● Perfume  (like ones that already 
appearance that isn’t on camera  ● Heels  exist on Tik-Tok and 
Instagram) 
● New category DIY beauty 
Youtubers (ie, how to dye 
and cut your hair) 

Fewer haircuts   
Fashion 
● Shortage of masks  ● People sew their own 
masks  
Wearing masks in public if sick will be  ● New consumer mask 
regarded as a politeness like in Japan  companies emerge 
providing fun stylish 
masks. 

● Longer hair   
● Beards 
● More casual style endures even when 
people go back to work 
New fashion styles emerge 
● Fashion-based face masks will be 
popularized. Even advanced tech 
masks that reduce the appearance of 
a traditional mask.  

Boom in esports      

New movies premiere in homes, not  ● Remote watch parties become more   
just theaters  mainstream  
Entertainment 
Creators from multiple verticals  Services around being able 
Increased interest in linear broadcasts  experiment with live streams and linear  to manage linear streams 
(live streams and curated content  broadcasts (IPTV) that are digital-first  will be an opportunity for 
broadcasts)   many to capitalize - content, 
tech, production, etc. 

● Companies increase length of trial  Teaching companies how to 

periods.  do corona-virus sensitive 
Companies that are promote too much  ● Companies offer their products for  marketing. 
or too hard are criticized  free. 
● Companies improve the functionality 
 
of their free products 
Entrepreneurship 
● Digital  Shorter interview periods, 
Increasing interest in business 
● Virtual  greater use of trial periods, 
opportunities that are less impacted by 
● Training  starter projects and contract 
pandemics 
work 

Increase of healthy testing at airports  Increase of smart devices that track in   
and other places  real-time 
Travel 
Travel insurance price increase     
  
 
 

Air travel decreases     

Less demand for gas  Lower price of gas   

● Many companies in the oil industry   

Low oil prices  take on massive debt, get sold, or go 
Energy 
out of business. 

Alternative energy demand for home  Increased Solar Energy 

More energy consumed at home 
increase  Systems installed for homes  

Small retailers stop paying rent  Malls get decimated   

A large percentage of retailers go out  ● Dramatically lower commercial rents   

of business. (Owners don’t feel like  ● Strip plazas are razed for other uses 
fighting. Business was already in a  ● Millions of hourly workers permanently 
precarious position. Not enough  out of jobs and need new 
Retail  demand. Too much debt)  opportunities. 

Self checkout becomes more common     

Amazon’s checkout product where     

people don’t have to even do a 
checkout goes mainstream 

Cost of doing business increases for   

some:  
Certain premiums skyrocket - others 
 
plummet - personal auto drops due to 
● Auto Insurance will dramatically 
75%+ drop in personal auto claims  
increase for delivery drivers (who will 
be a much larger segment) 

Government creates a complement to  Creates path for national 

Insurance   Demand for pandemic insurance  
TRIA   insurance programs 

Insurance companies become  Loss control expands to deal with   

responsible for helping customers deal  pandemics - new companies - new skills 
with pandemics   required for actuaries  

Harder to finance large events  Fewer large scale events 

Event insurance no longer offered 
(SXSW)  

Older people disproportionately  Senior position in companies and  Create a way to capture 
impacted   organizations open up  institutional knowledge 

Dramatic decrease in popularity of     

open office environments 

People with disabilities find it easier to     

participate in the workforce  

Office buildings become more vacant  ● Lower price commercial 

Workplaces become more flexible with  real estate 
  childcare policies  ● Office buildings 
Work  repurposed? 

Lack of in-person meetings decrease     

dealmaking around complex and 
trust-driven transactions (M&A in 
particular) 

● Less traffic on commute   

● Commercial real estate goes down 
Working from home dramatically 
● Fewer car accidents 
increases even after virus 
● Employment at companies goes more 
global  

Office space demand plummets as  Cyclical demand changes for awhile  Properties will need to be 
companies realize the amount of  companies waiting for freefall to stop  “bio-safe” - early adapters to 
Real Estate  people that can work from home +  before addressing their staffing needs  this will retenant more 
recession  quickly 
  
 
 

Even after air travel resumes, there is  Adaptive reuse of properties 
large amounts of vacancy with limited  such as affordable housing & 
Many hotels go out of business 
travel  student housing and health 
care pop ups 

● Poverty increases  Charity impact 

Immediate layoffs and furlough of  ● Less disposable income  Pawnshop business 
employees  ● Bankruptcies increase  Loan Sharks 
Apartments 
Employment 
Further increase in contract workers,  Providers of contract and 
Employees seen as liability in crisis  temps, outsourcing  temps workers or those that 
facilitate outsourcing 
 
 
 

Investing 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

Backlash at public companies that  ● Stock buybacks become restricted  ● Lower stock valuations  
seek bailouts  ● Dividends switch from shareholder right  ● Harder to retire on fixed 
  to being viewed as irresponsible  income 
 

● Stock buybacks reduced or eliminated  ● Lower stock valuations  

Companies conserve cash 
● Dividends reduced or eliminated   
Stock Market 
Looking for scapegoats leads to  ● Short sellers get vilified  ● More volatility/bubbles in 
attacks on major hedge funds  short-heavy stocks 

New financial instruments created to  Pandemic ETFs, ETNs    

profit from pandemics 

Return of gold   
Flight to safe haven assets 
Bitcoin gets more legitimized 
 
 
 

Education 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

● Coding  ● Former service workers become  ● Create training for 

● Design  knowledge workers  retooling of service 
● Content creation (Writing,  workers 
Youtube) 
● Coaching 
● Teaching 
● New language  

Most people work as specialists but     

are repressed polymaths - they 
Online learning   have little free time/energy to 
field grows  explore diverse interests. Many 
will use their new free time to 
become generalists. 

Homeschooling increases. Parents  This new education paradigm:  ● Education startups 

realize that online learning can    and/or top private 
work under the right conditions and  ● Offers better outcomes for many  schools begin offering 
with the right resources.  students  curriculums for 
● Brings an increase in mental-health  elementary and high 
issues in adolescents as a result of  school students and 
recruit the best online 
  
 
 

decreased socialization and exposure to  teachers. 

social adversity.   
● Software that helps parents understand  ● New technologies 
their child’s talents and desired learning  emerge for online 
outcomes. The software then designs a  teachers to monitor and 
learning curriculum tailored to the child.  discipline students (eye 
Software also matches the child to the  tracking technology, 
best teachers.   etc). 
● Alternative educational styles as parents   
select the curriculum and teachers best  ● The best grade school 
suited to their child.  teachers, who were 
  previously limited to 
  teaching students in 
  their school districts, 
gain large online 
followings. 

Low income students without  Community hubs develop as a place for  ● Branch Libraries with 
Internet or computer have trouble  low-income students to access learning  full technology 
accessing the Internet  infrastructure.  capabilities 

Increased learning divide based on  Rich parents can afford access to the best   
financial class  online teachers. 

● Parents realize that their kids  ● Teacher appreciation grows  ● New online activities to 
are not being challenged  challenge kids. New sites 
● Parents get overwhelmed by  to organize all of the 
kids.   online activities that 
emerge. 
Rise of 
homeschooling 
Teachers scramble to figure out    ● Curriculum designed to 
teaching online  be taught online that 
actually works.  
● New trainings for 
teachers 

● Need For Alternative 

Education     
Fewer people willing to pay a 
high fee to go to college 
because they have less money 
and because online learning is 
Family Budget  increasingly good 
for Education  ● Enrollment in higher ed 
Decreases  decreases 
26% of families with 
prospective college students 
reconsidering their choice of 
college (fear of coronavirus 
exposure), 12% may defer 
altogether.​ S
​ ource 
 
 
 

Government 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

Many of the issues that were the     

top issues suddenly fade into the 
background and make little 
progress in legislative bodies 

  Current and future presidential candidates   

Government   Universal basic income 
run a platform of UBI 
Policy 
Super profitable businesses will  Companies will be valued lower   
be taxed at a higher level in order 
to make up deficits 
 
 
 

Loans to businesses     

Fed cuts rates  Less ability to act in a future crisis  

Tax revenue plummets Increased government debt 

Tax holiday  at a national, state, and local 
level 

● Increased government debt at a   

national, state, and local level 
Tax revenue plummets 
● Local, state, and national governments 
look for ways to increase tax revenue 

Realization that eating too much  More sin taxes, stigmas, or pressure to   
sugar and smoking make  reduce unhealthy behavior  
populations more susceptible to 
pandemics 

Creation of a nationalized   
insurance program (similar to 
TRIA for terrorism) 

Creation of a large public works   

initiative started to repair and 
rebuild roads, bridges, and 
tunnels in order to put people to 
work and to take advantage of 
fewer cars being on the road.  

Public transit loses appeal in   

emerging cities like Austin and 
Denver 

Citizens accept less freedom  Some govts retain these “war time” powers   
(movement) and privacy  after the crisis (like the Patriot Act) 
(movements, health data) in order 
to combat the spread of the virus 

New laws try to prevent bailouts -- create  Large sums of money 

Company bailouts 
huge cash balances   in-efficiently allocated 

Taxes on commercial insurance products to   

pay for pandemics (similar to terrorism)  
 
New Taxes 
Industry specific taxes to fund bailouts - 
which will become acceptable BAU (similar 
to China)  

Humanity is “vaccinated” against  ● Medical suppliers have a 

Huge investment in resources to 
even-more-lethal pathogens in the future  sustained increase in 
tackle future pandemics. 
demand. 

Inflation increases  ● Infrastructure projects, 

including connectivity 
upgrades to trusted 
brands (away from 
Government prints money 
Huawei, ZTE) 
● Gold and BTC prices rise, 
drives digital currency 
race 

The virus causes aircraft carriers  ● Navy is more vulnerable.   - Broader use of drones 
to dock  ● Countries with a robust navy have an 
Military 
  even larger advantage 
  ● Military projection capacity decreases.  

● Regime change    
Government(s) mishandles crisis  ● Riots  
Government 
● Push for decentralized innovations 
Structure
Elections have fewer voters  Strong push for mail-in ballots   
  
 
 

Court cases occur online and are     

live-streamed 

Handling of the pandemic  More awareness drawn to health initiatives.   

becomes the major issue in 
political elections 

Authoritarian governments are  More authoritarian policies become more   

more successful at flattening the  palatable.  
curve 

Policies that would have  Socialism becomes more widely accepted   

previously been considered 
socialist bail countries out 
 
 
 

Others 
 

Category  Second-order Impact  Third-order Impact  Opportunities 

● Better health in some capacities. Tens  ● Global pandemic response 

of thousands of lives saved.   sets the foundations for 
Climate  Reduction in CO2 emissions  ● Reduction in political will to fight  future global 
climate change in the short-term as  collaborations 
focus shifts to pandemic response. 

● Fewer cars on the road  Fewer car accidents   ● Increased deer population 
Driver Safety 
● Fewer trips  ● Fewer deaths and injuries 

More people raising chickens   

More people making their own bread  ● Online cooking classes - 

interactive and 
More people cooking  performative (i.e. IG live), 
where signup comes with 
delivery of supplies and 
  ingredients. 
Risk of infection at grocery stores 
Food  ● Number of home-made 
recipes explodes 
● Increasing in cookbook 
sales 

Increase in gardening    

More online shopping   

More ammo and gun sales     

More people are desperate to  Crime rate increases   

make ends meet 

Because police force gets infected  Crime rate increases   

is overwhelmed, its stops 
Safety  pursuing non-violent crime 

People with low incomes​ will be     

hardest-hit by social-distancing 
measures, and most likely to have 
the chronic health conditions that 
increase their risk of severe 
infections.  

People become more sensitive to  Growth of certain insurance markets in the   
large, but rare risks in their lives  future   
Culture Change
● Continued social mingling/gatherings by  An opportunity for collective 
Generational conflict  young people deemed “careless” by  (and understanding of the lag 
effect and irreversible change 
 
 
 

older generations more impacted by  of exponential change) will 

Covid  emerges, which enables 
● Younger generation turns that narrative  demand for carbon pricing to 
in reverse, making clear that older  fairly allocate change 
generations are being careless with the 
future lives of the youth

Increased nationalism   

Many healthcare workers risk  Celebration of healthcare workers  

their lives going to work everyday 
and also become burned out.  

● Qauranteam   
● Quarantine and chill 
● Doom-scrolling 
● Covidiot 
● Qurantini 
New words created  ● Zoom-bombing 
● Virtual happy hour 
● Coronials 
● Quaranteen 
● Covidivorce 
● Coronacation 

Hugs, handshakes, and cheek  New distance greeting innovations - e.g.   

kissing become less common as a  the “Corona (Elbow) Bump” 
social norm 

Decrease in smoking behavior     

and increased stigmatization of 
smoking 

China criticized by US  Racism toward Chinese?  

government for “wet” markets 
and hiding information at the 
beginning of pandemic 

Creation of a Peace Corps     

equivalent (“Immune Corps”) for 
Volunteering   volunteering at hospitals during 
times of need (i.e. the new “​Candy 
Stripers​”) 

 
 
   
 
 
 

Appendix: Top 100 Fastest Growing & 

Declining Categories in E-commerce 
March 2020 vs March 2019 
 
Stackline​ reviewed E-commerce sales across the U.S. and compiled the amazing list below. Stackline 
is a retail intelligence and software company. Their software helps thousands of the world’s largest 
brands manage and grow their e-commerce businesses