Indeed, COVID acted as a catalyst to speed up the rates of numerous innovations, inventions and new ways of life which would have otherwise taken some time to achieve. More lives were saved than was lost. More jobs were save than was lost. Folks picked up new health habits. Till date I still wash my hands for at least 30 to 60seconds.
One of the most important COVID-19 pandemic taught the world is that digital workflows, robots, automation are not some ideals to strive towards in the future but a present and non-escapable requirement and a must.
but on the other hand covid is also the cause of the extraordinary rate of poverty. The pandemic has cost many people their jobs and made many businesses go bankrupt. it's not about how many people can be saved, but how many people die from this virus. nor is it how many workers are saved but how many people have their incomes decreased because of this virus.
No one here is saying COVID-19 is a good thing. This plague has taken more than 4 million lives already, and will surely take more. Total daily deaths from COVID are around 7,000-8,000 currently, it is much more than from terrorism, wars and crime combined. It's a terrible tragedy. And, of course you are right, many people have lost their jobs, and even if they were partially compensated, it's a tragedy as well.
But in this thread, knowing that CIVID is overall very bad for the world economy, we are trying to find out about some positive effects, like turning of elderly people to computers and internet, in particular. It think right now it's hard to estimate how good it can be for the world economy, we have to wait several years to see the effect, but the effect will be positive and it can be huge.