
The Long Shadow of the Pandemic: 2024 and Beyond
October 16, 2020
NOMIS researcher Nicholas Christakis addresses the likely course of the pandemic over a four-year period in an article written for The Wall Street Journal.
Even when the world returns to ‘normal,’ the legacy of Covid-19 will transform everything from wages and health care to political attitudes and global supply chains.
By Nicholas Christakis

Last March, as Covid-19 lockdowns were coming into force in Europe, seismologist Thomas Lecocq of the Royal Observatory of Belgium noticed that the Earth was suddenly stiller. Every day, as humans operate our factories, drive our cars, even simply walk on our sidewalks, we rattle the planet. Incredibly, these rattles can be detected as if they were infinitesimal earthquakes. And they had stopped.
Other signs also pointed to a changing world. Last spring, many videos went viral of wild animals moving into our cities. Herds of wild goats, crocodiles, leopards and even elephants wandered streets now devoid of traffic. And as manufacturing ceased, satellites high above our planet looked down and detected the disappearance of pollution.
Continue reading this Wall Street Journal article

Nicholas A. Christakis
Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, Internal Medicine & Biomedical Engineering
Yale University