Five positive things to come from the Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak

To be sure, Covid-19 is not a positive thing, but (in part to counter the downbeat tone of my previous post) when it is over (and it will one day be over), there may be some positive things we can take away (please excuse the oxymoron!).

1) We will appreciate what we have much more

Many of the things we have learned to take for granted will seem much more precious than they did: our health, freedom, transport, communities, delivery drivers, and even the humble toilet roll. If we go into mass lock down, we will waste much less as we maximise the benefit of what we have. To have a society with more gratitude, less arrogance and less waste would be a good thing.

2) We will all get better at using technology

Whether it is learning to use video conference-calling technology for the first time, or managers learning to manage remote-working teams where they had previously felt they needed their staff where they could keep an eye on them, or - as I did this weekend - teaching our parents how to use WhatsApp for video calls, many of us will open up a new way of doing things that might reduce the need for travel and commuting in general. That might be good for the environment - but it might be offset by those of us who get better at ordering things online for delivery.

3) We will have unrivalled data sets

Planners and policy makers will be able to answer questions that most analysts would not even think of trying to model (and would struggle to validate anyway) and that nobody would dream of testing voluntarily e.g. "What if (say) 70% of all flights and car journeys were cancelled for a few months?" "What if only part of a population demographic were allowed to travel?" We will have a real insight as to the actual impacts on pollution, asset degradation, health, alternate transport behaviours, reduction in road traffic deaths etc.. Some of it will generate a utopian dream, but some might produce quite unexpected results. All of it will be useful.

4) We will be better prepared for the next time (and there will be a next time)

Provided national governments are prepared to work together and share what worked and what didn't, we should have a road map for organisations to follow the next time a virus of this kind circulates.

In a bizarre circumstance, I was asked over Christmas what I thought the greatest risk facing the world was, and I defined it as "an aggressive fatal virus with a highly contageous but hidden gestation time of about 30 days". I won't claim to have been prophetic, and in fact I don't think Covid-19 has quite achieved that doomsday status, but another one might. Hard though this current epidemic will be for us all, it might just be a dry run for an even worse scenario but when it comes, we (and future generations) will be doing a lot less guessing on how to manage it.

5) We will re-evaluate the context and purpose of our own lives a lot better

OK, so this is perhaps an extension of my first point, but focussed closer to home. If the Covid-19 Coronavirus kills only 0.1% of the population (and if 20% of the population is affected, this could be a significant underestimate based on the current estimated mortality rates), then of the number of people who read my previous post to date (approx 2,500) 2 or 3 might be expected to die from it (and of course, it could even be me).

For those of us who have a near miss, either for ourselves or a relative or close friend, we may breathe a sigh of relief. But maybe too we'll take time to stop for a moment and think a bit more about what we're spending our lives on and why we're doing it. It could stimulate a time of great adventure, opportunity, change and courage as we examine our sense of place and purpose, and perhaps contemplate a change in our life's direction.

Maybe we'll even take some good advice from the great 'Satchmo' in his version of 'Nobody knows the trouble I've seen' (from 00:40s) "Seems like everybody's sick, sick, sick! And I'm right in there wit' 'em. Well there's one thing that's for sure - it ain't no use cryin'. Y' just git in there 'n' pitch. Sometimes you need help, and that's when you, kinda look up, you know, yessirr". Now, there's a man well before his time, and well worth listening to.