Originally Posted by
lsquare
I totally agree with you. I am fairly certain a post-COVID19 world will be very different even with an effective vaccine and anti-viral treatments. The last few months have shown that working from home is possible and in some ways even desirable. In densely packed cities, taking public transit or being crammed into offices can get people sick. I think people are going to be more of a germophobe going forward. We'll continue to innovate and come up with new ways to be productive while not get sick. My understanding is that the the reality for rural or secondary cities in the US may be different as their internet infrastructure traditionally lag behind the "first tier" cities.
I'm not certain that the internet connection quality in lower-level cities will matter but so much. Yes, better quality is better, but for many purposes, including mine, lower-quality connections will still allow me to get my work done over the course of a work day, albeit, at times, with frustratingly slow speeds, but adequate speeds the rest of the day. As long as workers are happy working at home despite the occasional hiccups in internet connections and employers are happy with the work produced, it almost doesn't matter where you are anymore. Our landlord put my employer on a five-year lease three years ago after moving us to another floor in our building and doing a major renovation, apparently out of the belief (valid at that time) that the local real estate market was on the upswing. I suspect that we will get a very favorable lease offer to maintain our current footprint when renewal rolls around although we may very well want to reduce the space we lease.