As if we are currently living in a badly produced movie, the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has been at least one of the most bizarre experiences of my lifetime. A couple of short months ago, in January, the news that a new coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, was spreading in Wuhan, China is one of those stories that you are concerned about, but the distance and faint familiarity of this story makes it seem like just another global calamity that is ever-present in the 24/7 news cycle.
This time, however, the story took a different turn: the virus has different traits than previous viruses of the same class, such as SARS and MERS, do not generally have, in that it is both highly contagious and the symptoms lag behind the contagion factor: all the right ingredients for it to quickly spread. To make matters worse, it is now becoming apparent that China tried to cover up the awareness and seriousness of the virus going back to at least November 2019, which allowed it to spread to thousands of citizens before they took decisive action. By then, it had jumped across countries and eventually continents, becoming a global pandemic that threatens not only lives but now will have a negative impact on the global economy and dampen markets and commerce for months, if not years, to come.
The media also began to both politicize and sensationalize the coverage of the spreading virus, pointing the finger of blame at those officials they are against, while stirring up fear and panic with overblown speculation and opinions. Thankfully, the United States has implemented measures to slow down the spread of the virus from overseas through travel restrictions and is expected to further restrict domestic travel soon. While some citizens are not thrilled at the prospect of having to stay home and as a result possibly lose wages, we are in a critical phase of the outbreak that could make things much, much, worse, or conversely under the right proactive measures, could slow down and even stop the spread long enough to buy time for treatment and vaccines to become available.
One action we are doing at my company is formulating a decisive Outbreak Response Plan with guidance from the CDC. It covers how to address different levels of severity and plans how to allow and encourage sick employees to engage in social distancing by working from home, and also how to properly interact with our customers and other external relationships. While no plan can address every scenario perfectly, it is our hope that we provide enough guidance and actionable information to allow management and employees to simply know what to do and when to do it.
In taking a look around our county already, Seattle is already being referred to as a ghost town in areas where people were mingling and going about their daily activities only a couple of weeks ago. The Amazon dog park in central Seattle, which is the U.S.’s third-fastest growing metropolis, is completely empty at the moment.
In towns all across America, from Auburn Hills, Michigan, to my local town of New Tazewell, TN, shoppers are buying up everything they think they will need for an extended isolation period at home, and even things that make no sense whatsoever, such as huge packs of toilet paper. It is effectively a run on retail stores as if the country is about to be invaded by a foreign enemy.
I have tried to remain rational and filter out the propaganda from actual facts as the situation unfolds, but even I can feel myself succumb to a rising fear of the unknown. As most parents do, I worry about my son, who lives in Florida, and when he doesn’t answer my calls, a creeping sense of panic kicks in. I worry about my two dogs, what if I get sick and am unable to take care of them? I am sure many others have similar concerns with their family and friends – we are jointly trying to survive while also protecting those we love and care about.
Whether this becomes a true “apocalypse” in the sense it changes humanity forever, or it fizzles out as treatment and vaccines counteract the spread, remains to be seen. Hopefully we will all be around to find out!
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