© PrepLounge Brainpower: COVID-19 – Can we find solutions?

Hi Christine,

here are my thoughts on some possible solutions that can be implemented by governments and public authorities on the mentioned points.

1) SHORT-TERM ECONOMIC IMPACT

• Provide public debt financing to companies to meet cash flow needs
• Offer subsidies to most affected sectors (eg travel and tourism)
• Create incentives for companies to keep employees
• Keep single political message without contradiction to avoid further confusion and drop in demand due to lack of confidence

(Source: https://sites.google.com/site/paolosurico/covid-19)

2) HEALTHCARE AND SOCIAL IMPACT

• Develop inter-state connections to favour exchange of medical products and support when needed
• Create public sector support system for old and disadvantaged people, supporting activities such as groceries delivery
• Provide subsidies to no-profit addressing social isolation
• Increase criminal punishment for domestic violence
• Study and isolate specific people more likely to spread disease based on big data. Concentrate efforts for them rather than keeping measures equal for everyone
• Develop and spread mobile apps to track infected cases
• Create multinational support for vaccine
• Expand areas for healthcare prevention and request retired doctors to work if needed
• Keep long-term view and don’t succumb to short term emotional reaction.
  • Avoid partial solutions, as implemented in Italy, where a gradual red-zone area management was implemented, instead of creating a stronger initial lockdown
  • Keep track of asymptomatic cases as well
  • Avoid stopping protective measures too early to avoid a new exponential growth of the active cases

(Source: https://sites.google.com/site/paolosurico/covid-19)

3) ECONOMIC LONG-TERM IMPACT

• Increase efficiency of public sector cutting unnecessary expenditure and decrease debt
• Create long-term subsidies to most affected sectors to ensure industry recovery
• Ensure that low-income families have money for essential needs long term (eg pay rent/buy groceries) to attenuate drop of demand
• Ensure that salary is paid to workers even if they work at home/cannot work to attenuate drop of demand
• Allow transition of workers from one sector (taxi driver) to another (online delivery)
• Ensure government package of support is at least as strong as the expected drop in GDP

(Source: https://sites.google.com/site/paolosurico/covid-19)

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi Christine,

Thank you for your question. Here is just something to start the discussion.

I would structure possible solutions along different subjects affected: 1) companies 2) individuals 3) governments.

Solutions for companies:

• Support employees making sure that everybody stays healthy, but the work can continue
• Reduce unnecessary spend (e.g. fancy consulting projects ;)
• Prepare the financial plan with the worst case scenario (extremely low revenues / no revenues for the foreseeable future)
• Prepare a plan for “going back to normal”, i.e. plan to ramp up operations once the quarantine is lifted
• Create a long-term strategic plan adjusting to a new reality (online and remote are here to stay?) – think outside of the box, each crisis is an opportunity
• Monitor government responses and new regulations – regulations in your industry might change, be ready to adapt as soon as this happens

Solutions for individuals:

• Follow the quarantine rules (wash your hands, stay at home, practice social distancing) and stay healthy (exercise, sleep) – stopping the pandemic is first and foremost an individual responsibility
• Re-imagine your life. Is your job resilient to the upcoming recession? If not, what can you do instead to earn money? Or maybe you want to go study instead during the recession?
• Use the quarantine time as an opportunity. Maybe you always wanted to learn a new language? or coding? or maybe you wanted to learn how to ace MBB cases? ;)

Solutions for governments

• Flatten the curve of the infections to ease the pressure on the health system (the more strict are the measures the better they seem to work)
• Work towards the herd immunity (invest into vaccination research)
• Spend spend spend to keep the economy afloat and to ensure a rebound once the pandemic is over

Best,

Daniel

The possible and plausible solutions to the negative impact that COVID-19 are numerous and a lot have been mentioned by other community members but I must bring to light so key impacts of this virus.

Alternatives to doing work have been created and just as with every new invention or innovative idea, individuals can now adopt and adjust to concepts such as remote working. This reduces a firm's cost of operations significantly or if not reducing the firm's costs redirecting costs towards follow up and internet coverage for employees. The roads are emptier than ever before which gives room for a cleaner environment and fresher air in the society.  Planes have been grounded so we can conclude that the ozone layer has been break thus curbing the ever detoriating effects of industrialisation.

Now to the solutions - how can we get the economy i.e. individuals, firms and businesses back on track?

1. Countries must make growth more inclusive because a lot of citizens in a number of countries especially developing countries had to make a trade off between "hunger and "catching the virus".
2. Stimulus packages to bail out the most affected industries should be created and distributed when the dust of the virus has setlled. The industries have to be working to reduce the  unemployment rate thus increasing demand for goods and services.
3. With the strongest health care systems in the world being overwhelmed at this time, governments will now have a change of heart when itcomes to the priority given to health spending and investors will now be more deliberate in having a stake in health care and pharmaceuticals because the saying, "Health is Wealth" would never go out of fashion.
4. Before the coronavirus episode, there were nmerous talks on the workplace of the future. Apart from the robotics and the AI we speak about most times, employees at the lowest cadre should be offered benefits that would not keep them in a worseoff position. That beig said the future of the workplace must also revolve around ensuring the livelihood of employees are much better.