It's Covid-19's world. We just live in it.

Welcome back to Making sense of coronavirus. This edition looks at our difficult new reality, the threatening new wave of imported cases in Asia, what's so special about a $1,000 cash giveaway to citizens, why the Olympics should be postponed, how the video game industry stands to ride out the pandemic, ending ISP data caps and managing your mental health in the face of it all.

Also, Switzerland could turn off Netflix.

Coming to terms with our new reality

Trudeau, Trump, PM Lee in Singapore and leaders across the globe are warning their citizens we could be in this for the long haul and that we're in the midst of a "once in 100-years type of event."

Many countries are still groping for the best coronavirus response as there are signs the global recession may have already begun.

With the UK, there was a sudden shift in tone and action after the release of a report from Imperial College Epidemiologists which predicted dire consequences for the UK and U.S. if efforts to curb the virus weren’t drastically stepped up. The report was also taken seriously by the U.S..

There's no way to sugar coat it, it's a pretty grim outlook and we'll have to live with the impact for quite some time.

It may be grim, but one reason to hold onto optimism from a professional perspective is watching how many companies are taking action in support of their employees, the homeless, education for out-of-school children, the fight against the virus and their industries. This is the moment where leaders must step up and actually lead, even if it comes at a sacrifice.

The second wave 

Imported cases of Coronavirus from other countries have surged in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Here in Singapore we had the most cases yet reported with 47. Thirty-three of them were imported. Hong Kong saw 14 confirmed cases with all but one being imported. China had 34 confirmed imported cases.

It is a signal of the massive scale of the pandemic that these countries which have already weathered the first wave successfully are now already facing a second wave. This is the future for every other country. Once a country manages to contain it, if there are still significant outbreaks around the world, the risk will exist.

How Singapore, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong handle this new wave of imported cases will provide a template for how other countries could potentially respond.

Maybe this time more will pay attention.

Is $1,000 magic?

U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced a plan to give a $1,000 to every American as a part of a $1 trillion stimulus plan. Former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang pushed giving every American $1,000 per month before the pandemic hit. Facebook is giving $1,000 to each of it’s 45,000 employees. Hong Kong announced in February they’d be giving HK$10,000 ($1280) to every citizen.

But why $1,000?

I asked fellow LinkedIn Senior Financial Services Editor Devin Banerjee. Banerjee tells me, "As the lowest 'four-figure' amount, $1,000 could play a psychologically stimulative role for recipients while also being a viable amount on which policy makers holding the purse strings can agree. A round number also makes the most sense — anything else would only raise questions as to how exactly it was determined."

Basically, $1000 sounds like a lot and it doesn't raise a ton of questions, but the actual impact is likely pretty questionable. Think about what you'd spend that $1000 on. Take Japan as an example, the last time they gave stimulus cash to every citizen in 2009 it "ended up as savings and hardly led to propping up consumer spending."

How many people will spend it on what they need versus what they want to buy? How much is $1,000 worth to somebody that makes $200,000 a year compared to somebody with an income of $35,000?

Anyway, if you're already thinking of buying that new 55 inch TV or PS5 when it hits in December, read this article for better ways to spend the money.

Postpone the Olympics

Imagine you're a South Korean, Spanish or Italian Olympic athlete for a moment. You'd be right in the thick of training and completing trials for the Olympics. But instead, you're locked down, can't train and you're not sure if you'll even be able to participate in qualifying events. Then the International Olympic Committee (IOC) tells you the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are still full steam ahead.

You'd probably be upset.

When officials have to confirm an event like the Tokyo Olympics are not canceled, you just know there’s some serious confusion on the matter.

Airlines are shutting down; there's those serious concerns around imported cases; athletes can't train; the world is focused on defeating the virus... there's any good number of reasons why the Olympics should be postponed the least of which being there's currently a raging global pandemic.

Should the Olympics be postponed? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Everybody is a gamer

As in video games. We’re already seeing "bored" NBA players turn to gaming. Luka Doncic, Trae Young and more are falling back to gaming to keep a competitive edge and entertain themselves while in isolation.

Professional sports teams have also taken to simulating matches.

I'm suggesting games to my colleagues and am preparing myself mentally to get destroyed in FIFA by one of our European LinkedIn counterparts.

Gaming is a massive, massive industry around the world and stands to take much less of a beating than the film industry which banks so much more of it's income on "butts in theater seats." The video game industry might actually achieve gains during the coronavirus pandemic as stuck-at-home masses turn to interactive digital entertainment. Though, esports will take a hit because live events can't be held.

More people will come out of this crisis having played games than went into it. With demographic representation already on the rise in gaming, it is one industry that could survive the crisis and provide jobs.

Work in the gaming industry? Comment about the outlook below.

Switzerland can't handle Netflix

Swisscom, Switzerland's largest telcom is having a hard time coping with the added load on network infrastructure with workers, students and school children suddenly all working and learning from home. 

Should the network be overloaded and create problems for accessing essential online services, video streaming services like Netflix could be temporarily shut off.

My God.

Since when was Netflix considered a non-essential service? Tell that to my kid when you try taking My Neighbor Totoro or Grizzy and the Lemmings away from her.

If you're ever in a situation where you lose Netflix or your streaming service of choice, I hear art activities and video games are pretty good alternatives.

Coronavirus shining light on ISP data caps

I hate to use “positive” and “coronavirus” in the same breath, but one potential outcome that isn’t terrible is that the outbreak could force cable companies to abandon restrictive and unnecessary data caps forever.

For companies and networks that are perfectly capable of handling bandwidth loads, and in times where there's not a raging global pandemic, there shouldn't be data caps.

Data capping isn’t so much of an issue here in Asia as it is in the U.S., thankfully. We’re lucky.

Matters of mental health

We're finding ways to cope with the new reality we've all suddenly found ourselves in. I wonder how many people are actually sleeping well, or getting enough exercise. How many are withdrawing into themselves without human interaction?

It's heavy.

Take some time to consider your mental health if you can.

The W.H.O. has developed a 31-point guide to advise on safeguarding mental health. Good for individuals or businesses if you're struggling for some guidance on how to engage with colleagues or employees on the matter.

Now, I'm going to try and sell you some rainbows.

There's plenty of reasons to continue to focus on positive emotions as a counter to the onslaught of negative news. You can read about why it's important here.

Psychotherapist Nick Blackburn wrote a great piece on LinkedIn about how to understand what you're going through.

LinkedIn editor Siobhan Morrin curated a fantastic list of professional suggestions and LinkedIn community comments on how to cope with the stress of coronavirus and you'll find some great ideas on managing your mental wellbeing in this LinkedIn post.

Have some tips to share to help people manage their mental health in this time of crisis? Share them in the comments below.

Possible for next time...

• What it's going to be like when you finally go back to work
• Here's why you can't sleep right now and what to do about it
• The video game industry is poised for a revolution

Official information on coronavirus pandemic

Find updates from official sources here on LinkedIn.