How COVID-19 Disrupted the World and Challenged Society

by Deborah Wince-Smith (*)

Photo by Nathaniel Yeo on Unsplash

Nations around the world are grappling with a challenge unprecedented in our times, the spread of the COVID-19 virus, facing uncertainty and navigating unchartered waters.

In the early weeks of the outbreak, government leaders struggled to respond to this multi-dimensional crisis hitting public health and medicine, the economy, education, finance, business and manufacturing, service delivery, and social stability. And, despite this era of Big Data, government and health care leaders were forced to make highly consequential decisions with little or imperfect information.

In the United States, the economy was cratering, as large segments were shuttered and millions of workers laid-off. Millions of other workers transitioned to telework on the shortest of notice. Essential businesses that remained open were forced to find new ways to produce and deliver products and services to reduce human-to-human contact. Supply chains have been stretched near their breaking points creating spot shortages of items in high demand, while leaders have scrambled to build new ones for critical medical supplies. Some businesses have seen tremendous spikes in demand, such as businesses that deliver food and household items, and have been rushing to scale their workforces by the thousands.

To stop the bleeding, the U.S. government threw a financial life line in cash payments to workers and loans to prevent collapse of the small business sector and its employment. But partisan differences have frustrated the response and recovery process. And, since the viral spread has not been uniform across the United States — at different levels of government — not all leaders have been singing from the same sheet of music in terms societal restrictions and reopening non-essential businesses.

In addition to its economic costs, the human and social cost has been profound. Since the first U.S. deaths were reported in February,100,000 people in the United States have succumbed to the virus and 1.7 million have been confirmed infected. Yet, due to stay-at-home orders and social distancing, many families and friends have been denied the rituals that celebrate the life and mark the passing of loved ones, and much of the support from family, friends, and their communities in which burdens are shared and sorrow comforted. There will be a price to pay for this that we do not yet understand.

Rites of passage and traditions have been curtailed or canceled — birthday parties and proms, high school and college graduations, weddings, the opening pitch of summer baseball. The U.S. population has bristled under confinement, financial stress, and an uncertain future, and some have pushed back with a few protests.

At the same time, and this gives me hope for the future, we have seen extraordinary ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and can-do attitude among the American people — creating novel ways to provide services, accelerating innovations through rapid prototyping, transforming manufacturing quickly to make needed products, and deploying new business and organizational models to continue operations and manage work remotely in the virus economy.

They say, “necessity is the mother of invention.” And, throughout human history, diseases have reshaped society, human behavior, and policy — from water and sanitation systems, to laws protecting privacy and the disabled. Now, we are in a living laboratory; the economy is reorganizing before our eyes and societal practices are shifting under our feet. There is much to learn, and much brainstorming to do to characterize possible future scenarios, identify potential guideposts to signal where we stand, to develop potential roadmaps out of this crisis to a better place, and leverage the innovations emerging during the crisis for greater resiliency and a safer and more prosperous future.

The founding of the GFCC was predicated on the belief that sharing knowledge and best practices among national competitiveness organizations and among nations would provide benefit to all. So, while we did not imagine a challenge such as this one would come to the GFCC, we are fortunate indeed to have it as a platform for sharing knowledge, experiences, and lessons learned. May we all put them to good use to help mitigate economic and social losses, and speed recovery. We are here to help each other.

(*)

President, Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils

CEO and President, Council on Competitiveness