“When this is all over we should return to normality”. How far do you agree with this statement?
Not everyone will have opportunity to get back to some kind working normality, whatever that form might take. Working at home has been around for a while and a number of businesses have managed to keep a level of continuity throughout this crisis by quickly switching over to it. Some have been able to enjoy the switch over, but that’s not the full picture.
Just as the virus has seen no geographical boundaries so too has the economic suffering of those directly affected. This hardship is difficult to calculate within societies where some simply don't exist on paper or records are not held. We are repeatedly seeing employees and employers losing their livelihoods. Street traders and stores have taken huge hits. Street traders in developing countries that have previously lived hand to mouth to get by in many cases are forced into quarantine without support, creating the fear of hunger along with disease. Working from home for them is simply not an option and faced with no choice has left some to desperate measures. The cracks began to appear quickly around the World. Crowds launched a string of attacks on delivery trucks in Cape Town, stoning, hijacking and ransacking vehicles to try to take food and other provisions during the coronavirus lockdown. Police with batons and guns moved in to protect supermarkets on the Italian island of Sicily after reports of looting by locals who could no longer afford food.
The World has changed. Globalisation saw to that before the virus. Just as it will be critical to bring the health of the World back with a vaccine for everyone, it will also require joint effort to assist an economic growth for all. Bringing economies together through investment will be the fastest way to ensure a bounce back from this recession.
What do you think? What should be done differently after we are allowed some kind of normality again? What practically could be done to help those in developing countries affected begin again? Will the World begin to think more inclusively or will it remain the same?