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#12 Life and Love in the Time of Covid-19

My wife and I boarded a plane for the Dominican Republic at the end of February this year.  The trip was an early celebration of our 25th year of marriage.  At the time, Novel Coronavirus or Covid-19 was certainly in the global news stream.  However, the impact this disease would ultimately have in the U.S. was not readily apparent.   At least three planes landed roughly at the same time as ours on the island’s small main airport.  Consequently, there was an hour’s wait in a crowded cattle pen-type area to clear customs.   There was a single man who was a bit older than I who candidly looked a bit rheumy-eyed and to me a little vertically unstable.  He was the only one in a crowd of several hundred who was wearing a surgical mask.  Social distancing would become a reference term in the weeks ahead. On this day it didn’t exist. The resort awaited.

First, this was a very nice vacation. Our timing could not have been better, for as we departed, the resort was beginning to get what would be a tsunami of cancellations.  As we retuned to the U.S. at the end of the first week of March a new world order was beginning to unfold.  The significance of what Covid-19 would mean for life in the U.S. for the next three months or so was a function of where one turned for news and one’s perception of veracity.  Depending on your information source Covid-19 was nothing more than the flu or it was a highly contagious disease of plague-like proportions with victims preparing to besiege our healthcare system’s capacity for treatment.  As is often the case, especially where social media is concerned, lots of incorrect and conflicting information made its way onto various platforms leaving most consumers ill-informed (though many rarely thought so) and confused. 

There have been several virus-related epidemics in recent history.  Among these epidemics are SARS, Swine Flu, Ebola, H1N1, etc. (1)The origin of many have been in China or Africa. They generally did not rise to the category of pandemic. In the U.S. our Center for Disease Control (CDC) is tasked with managing our response to these diseases, often in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).  While the U.S. remained aware of the rapid spread elsewhere of Covid-19 the current administration did implement a travel ban from China in late January.  (2)However, the same administration also chose to propose cuts to CDC and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funding.  These organizations exist to formulate, execute and coordinate policy relating to many diseases.  This effort by the administration was reversed after significant push-back from Congress.  (3)It would not be inaccurate to characterize the current administration as lacking a belief in the scientific method.  However, this is better left for another article.  Nevertheless, with at least two months of advance knowledge of the highly transmittable nature of Covid-19 little was done Federally to prepare the U.S. for what would be required to provide some measure of protection for our citizenry.  There exists science fact and science opinion, the latter yet to be proven one way or the other.  There also co-exists science and politics.  As we have seen heuristically, the problems arise when the latter tries to inform the former.

What Covid-19 has done is to poke holes in the belief of American exceptionalism.  Sadly, transparency suffers; truth becomes political. Weaknesses are self-evident in elements of one’s day-to-day living.  (4)Many years ago when Ross Perot ran for U.S. President he referred to the “Giant sucking sound’ of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement. His perspective was prescient, referring to the American job losses as our formerly U.S.-based supply chain moved out of America to Mexico and other locations in Asia.  Supply chain issues involving food, technology manufacturing and other key components now produced in foreign locales illustrate fragility in those systems. Worker representation suffered, wage growth stagnated, too big to fail was born, income inequality grew to historic levels, stock buy-backs as opposed to organic growth drove up equity price levels along with debt, all combining to increase stress points on the U.S. population. 

It’s sadly ironic that so many organizations whose compensation benefits a select few on the way up, rally for the benefits of unregulated free market capitalism as the growth curve ascends, yet clamor for what amounts to corporate welfare when fortunes are reversed.  If ‘we’re all in this together’ on the way down, why doesn’t this apply on the way up?  Covid-19 has simply illustrated the human cost of the way things were.  I’m not sure if it’s unanimous to go back to the way things were.  It may be time for a new normal.

As I write this, we, as a society, are possibly on the verge of a summer of discontent, especially if one’s skin isn’t white.  By the mid-2040’s Caucasians in America will be a minority.  This scares the s*** out of an extreme politically-right portion of a white segment of society. It’s game over and there will likely be a reset, especially in terms of policing .   I remember well the protests of the 1960’s. It was a turbulent decade.  However, N-95 masks were not a fashion statement or a health necessity at the time as they are today.

This reset will ripple across many areas of society, both in the U.S. and globally. The current work from home (WFH) experiment is still in progress.  Clearly, organizational leadership will look at the hard costs of physical plant, particularly if there is consensus among employees for a more flexible work schedule and environment. While WFH may not be for everyone, it’s the upcoming Millennial generation leadership talking over from the Boomers and GenX that will define the direction.  (5)Productivity, mental health, need for socialization and other key variables will figure prominently in this decision-making process.

(6)I’ve written about the state of healthcare in America in a previous article.  (7)However, the current pandemic has illustrated how fragile one’s healthcare benefits are when furloughed or laid-off.  (8)Too, hospitals, often operating under thin margins, have struggled during this pandemic.  It’s time for Congress to pass legislation that provides a meaningful level of healthcare coverage for those U.S. citizens that are not covered by an employer-sponsored plan.

(9)The collective shutdown of our global economy has had a major positive effect on the environment.  It’s naïve to believe that the air, water, flora and fauna of Earth will be in this healthier stasis once our economies ramp up.  This pause, though, does provide a window of opportunity to assess how to move forward in manner that allows us to be better caretakers of the only world to which we have access.  What kind of stewards do we want to be for ourselves, our children, grandchildren and future generations.

While I’m not quite sure what the new normal will look like, I’m hoping that it is simply not a return to the status quo.  First, the pandemic is not over.  It will return.  Having responded to the initial outbreak it’s important to heed the lessons learned to be better prepared.  Interestingly, as the U.S. begins to reopen its economy an election season is preparing to get underway.  As is often the case, the contrasts between the candidates is profound.  Whether standing in line at a polling location or at the post office, you have a vote.  It’s your voice.  Speak.