Covid-19: The Problems we are Neglecting

Covid-19

Since the end of World War II, no other crisis has been more costly economically, than the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 is going to be.

As of June 2020, the world is racing and struggling, to contain the economic fallout of the pandemic, the spread of the virus and the death rate as a direct consequence, of the infection in people.

A Singapore Example of Distractions

While most of the focus for the first half of the year, has been on the Covid-19 pandemic around the world, in tiny Singapore, with a citizen adult population of just over two million, 9261 people have already been infected with dengue between 1st January 2020 and 2nd June 2020. That is far more than double the number of people infected with dengue, for the first half of 2019. Twelve have died from dengue so far, with a far higher kill rate than Covid-19. A morbid reality, but mere example, of how attention to Covid-19, is diverting much needed attention from other problems, of no less magnitude. Had the country and its people not been distracted from this annual outbreak, that comes with being a tropical island, by Covid-19, possibly twelve lives may have been saved so far.

It is a numbers scenario. The more people get infected by dengue, the more die of it. The more vigilance and attention, the less the spread of mosquito outbreaks and infestations, and therefore, the less the spread of dengue. The more attention Covid-19 demands, the more we neglect the possibility of mosquito breeding, infestation and dengue spread around us.

To be fair, the government of Singapore kept its guard up, with a dedicated agency, dedicated manpower and dedicated resources, for the annual battle in the suburban areas against dengue. The rest of the population however, was overwhelmed by the more global pandemic, losing sight of the dengue battle. The moral of the story here, is that human and societal well-being and security, are not just governmental prerogatives.

Climate Change Battle

We are very short of time on reversing the latest climate change process, which has been triggered by our economic and industrial activity, of at least the last 100 years. We need to reverse this by 2024, after which we may not able to. We cannot be certain we will survive the planetary conditions once the change is complete. The first half of 2020 lost, to the distraction of Covid-19, largely, was a very precious period.

The folks celebrating the waters in canals and rivers around the world is clear and clean, are wrong. That the skies are clearer, with stars more visible, are wrong to celebrate.

The lockdowns around the world, travel restrictions, stay-home measures, have all slowed industrial activity, human movement, use of carbon-based fuels and carbon emissions. Conceded, we have slowed the climate change process. We have not stopped or paused it. We have not begun to reverse it.

The phasing in into society of plant-based diet to replace the animal harvesting for food has also slowed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our negative footprint on the environment, resulting from animals on the plate has not diminished.

The marine life has been disrupted further, with a spike in reckless disposal of material from gloves, masks, sanitizer bottles and so on, ultimately to end up in the oceans. The ability of the oceans to keep our carbon out of the atmosphere, to prevent spike in atmospheric temperature that primarily drives the climate change process, continues to thus deteriorate.

Disruption to research and development has occurred, in the direction of alternative fuels, energy sources, more eco-friendly production and everything else, necessary, to reverse the climate change process. Disruption, we could ill-afford.

Protecting forests from burning and destruction, is now seemingly a forgotten topic even among the most ardent of vocal environmentalists as of June 2020. Forget the much needed reforestation and afforestation requisites for climate change reversal.

Overall, looking at the long-term bigger picture, the environmental cost, of Covid-19, far outweighs, the economic. Our very human existence, depends on our environment.

Dream Scenario for Terrorists

Probably, not everyone has been honestly, sincerely, diligently, been working from home. People not leaving their front doors are perfect scenarios for terrorists to, through their fronts and facades, bombard information upon, with overt, covert, subliminal, implicit and all other forms of strategic messaging, to manipulate mindsets into their nefarious directions, and to then recruit.

It takes no risk or courage at all to state this in writing, that the Covid-19 pandemic may very well look like a laughable joke for all of humanity compared to the terrorism situation we may subsequently head into, if all companies in the global private sector, universally, do not update their concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility soon enough, to play their crucial parts, to combat new terrorist threats that could well follow soon ahead.

If your company hires or continues to employ persons, who are either non-secular, or worse, anti-secular, you are possibly contributing to future terrorist acts, attacks and devastation. If you are procuring goods and services, from organisations or persons, who are non-secular, or worse, anti-secular, you are possibly contributing to future terrorist acts, attacks and devastation.

A myriad of factors intertwined delicately, humanity needs unity rather than division, universally, now more so than ever before. Through updating their concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, corporations need to play that important part, in building and maintaining cultures and environments for secularism, that are requisite for any semblance, of any such unity. And that would mean more or new roles for Human Resource Management as well as Procurement:

1. Screening people for non-secular or anti-secular views, conduct or subscriptions
2. Maintaining vigilance against conduct contrary to secularism both within the workspace and without
3. Diligence, on what a seller is connected to, or what a seller could be a front for or what a seller could be funding

To justify, one needs only asks, who get recruited into terrorism anywhere, how and how does terrorism get funded?

Placing short-term profit, before social responsibility, may not cost you long-term profits, but rather, it may just cost you the long-term altogether; the lives of you and your loved ones.

Conclusion

Covid-19 is a problem. It is a big problem. It will remain a big problem until a vaccine works, and is rolled out sufficiently around the world.

Covid-19 is not the only problem. It is not the only big problem. It is not the biggest problem. Relatively, it is, and it will be, a short-term problem, smaller, than the more long-term ones, that threaten the very existence of our species, altogether.

Harish Shah is Singapore's first local born Professional Futurist and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting and Keynote Topics include EmTech, Industry 4.0, HR, Digital Transformation, Product Development, X Reality, Marketing, Strategic Foresight, Systems Thinking and Organisational Future Proofing. In an Open Letter in 2019, Harish has called on fellow Futurists around the world to emphasize in their course of work, on the need for Environmental Salvation.