The global response to the COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in sweeping social, economic, political, and cultural changes. People's behaviour has been drastically altered by a combination of blanket media saturation and coercive restrictions on travel, work, socializing, assembly, and even speech.
As a result of extended lockdowns and limited freedoms, the public have been conditioned, both physically and psychologically, in ways which will persist even if the pandemic is declared over, and which may in some cases prove permanent. This level of compliance, coupled with pandemic security infrastructure remaining in public places, sets a precedent for government responses to future emergencies, real or imagined.
