5 COVID impacts that changed how we lived

BY ANDREW UTTERBACK

Podcast Producer

It’s been five years now since the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID not only impacted the world in unprecedented and tragic ways in 2020, but also left marks on many different aspects of life that can still be seen today in 2025.

Remote work

One of the main lasting effects of the pandemic has been remote work. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, around 9 million people in the U.S. worked from home in 2019. By 2023, the number was around 22 million.

This number is without a doubt thanks to the pandemic, as COVID ended up creating a work-from-home (WFH) culture that had not been embraced before.

ZOOM and Slack became “the office” for millions of Americans, to the point where WFH outfits and WFH video conference calls became significant cultural staples.

According to a Workforce Monitor survey from the American Staffing Association, 68% of Americans still prefer a hybrid or in-person working environment.

Studies on the productivity of remote vs in-person employees show mixed results, but a study from Forbes found that those who worked from home were 20% happier than workers who lacked the ability to work from home.

Despite this, most CEOs want employees to return to the office, and President Trump said that federal work from home employees are not working, but instead are “going out, playing tennis, playing golf” as he pushed for workers to return to in-person offices.

Streaming

There’s only so much to do at home during a lockdown before you resort to turning on the TV.

Streaming saw a massive uptick in users throughout the COVID pandemic. Both traditional streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, as well as platforms like Twitch, saw a large increase in users.

The Motion Picture Assn. said in a report that online video subscriptions went up 26% in 2020, while global box office sales dropped 72%.

To combat this drastic fall in movie theater sales, streaming services like Disney+ released new movies directly to streaming, losing out on millions from traditional box office sales.

The NPD Group, a research firm, reported that sales of 65+ inch TVs were up 53% in the first half of 2020. Stephen Baker, the NPD Group’s VP of industry analysis, told USA Today that they have seen “double-digit increases in sound bars, streaming players and mounts.”

Streaming services are still doing very well today, and platforms like Netflix and Max are beginning to sign sports deals, which many see as reminiscent of the days of cable TV.

Shopping

One of the biggest impacts of COVID was on the e-commerce industry. The Census Bureau reported that e-commerce sales increased 43% in 2020.

Online shopping became extremely popular during lockdowns and store closures, while brick-and-mortar stores (even those that remained open) saw significant drops in sales.

Bookstore sales dropped about 30%, and according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, new car production dropped 16% in 2020 as both COVID and the global chip shortage hurt automakers.

Now in 2025, online shopping remains an extremely profitable industry, with SellersCommerce reporting that e-commerce sales will surpass $6.8 trillion this year.

Delivery services

During quarantine, food delivery services saw incredible growth from the many staying indoors.

Popular food delivery service DoorDash posted their gross order volume data, which showed $8 billion in sales in 2019 and $24.7 billion in 2020. The California based company then brought in $41.9 billion the following year in 2021, which proves that people still wanted food delivered even as the pandemic slowed down.

UberEats, another popular food delivery service, saw significant increases in sales during the pandemic and is continuing to see year-over-year increases even after restaurants have opened back up.

Since many chose to stay at home during the height of the pandemic, Instacart became the preferred grocery shopping method for many.

The service is similar to DoorDash and features an app that lets shoppers select and pay for their groceries, while someone else does the shopping in the store and delivers everything directly to the user’s doorstep.

Instacart saw a 104% increase in revenue in 2020 according to PrioriData. The fairly young company had over 13 million users in 2022, but now faces competition as many stores now feature their own online delivery services.

Online grocery shopping has continued to grow in popularity even after the return to post-pandemic in-person grocery shopping.

Contactless everything

During the worst months of the pandemic, it was not uncommon to find plexiglass walls set up in grocery stores with plastic wrap covering the card reader.

Contactless payments were definitely a popular payment method during this time and remain extremely popular with the majority of U.S. merchants.

Contactless payments can take the form of Apple Pay or similar mobile payment methods, or simply as NFC chips built into credit or debit cards.

While contactless payment methods are widely liked by consumers, not all contactless COVID solutions were.

QR code menus saw a rise in popularity during the pandemic, which allowed those dining at restaurants to scan a code with their phones and then scroll through the menu. It served as a more sanitary alternative to the traditional handheld menu that tends to be fairly dirty.

However, market research firm Technomic reported that 88% of customers at sit-down restaurants prefer a physical menu. So while tap-to-pay remains an industry standard, consumers are glad that the “old fashioned” menus have made a return.