Epidemiologist Predicts 'Roaring 2020s' Post-Pandemic Filled With 'Sexual Licentiousness'

Things may be really grim at the moment, but there is a bright future ahead - if you're into socialising, partying and bonking that is.

Epidemiologist Dr Nicholas Christakis has laid out his vision of the decade ahead of us in his new book, Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.

Looking back at the impact of previous pandemics, he has predicted an exciting era of liberalism ahead.

PA

Speaking to The Guardian, he explained: "One of the arguments in the book is that what's happening to us may seem to so many people to be alien and unnatural, but plagues are not new to our species - they're just new to us.

"We're the first generation of humans alive who has ever faced this threat that allows them to respond in real-time with efficacious medicines. It's miraculous.

"During epidemics you get increases in religiosity, people become more abstentious, they save money, they get risk averse and we're seeing all of that now just as we have for hundreds of years during epidemics."

However, once the threat subsides, Dr Christakis expects to see these behaviours flipped on their head, as religiosity and conservatism erodes and a period of free spending and 'sexual licentiousness' sets in.

Don't get too excited though, as he reckons it will be a while before this era gets under way.

When exactly it is fully realised will depend on how rapidly the vaccine can be distributed on a vast scale, which could take a good part of next year.

Then there's the challenge of repairing the currently unfathomable socio-economic damage caused by the pandemic.

As such, he reckons it could be 2024 by the time this roaring 2020s gets properly going.

He said: "In 2024, all of those [pandemic trends] will be reversed. People will relentlessly seek out social interactions."

Pexels/Edoardo Tommasini

Until then, Dr Christakis hopes we learn lessons from the past and remember that this will pass.

He said: "Many people seem to think it's the actions of our government that are causing the economy to slow - that's false.

"It's the virus that's causing the economy to slow, because economies collapsed even in ancient times when plagues happened, even when there was no government saying close the schools and close the restaurants.

"Our world has changed, there's a new deadly pathogen that is circulating, we're not the first people that have had to face this threat, and a lot will be asked of us, and we're just going to have to be grown up about it."

Topics: World News, Interesting, Coronavirus

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey