Coronavirus Pandemic: Latest Update (April 24, 2020)

Several weeks into the largest global pandemic of our time, several jurisdictions are now in the process of slowly unlocking their lockdowns in order to get their economies back online.

The easing of restrictions couldn’t come sooner for the embattled people of Italy. Once the European epicentre for the virus, millions there have been locked away under the continent’s strictest and longest lockdown. According to my dear friend in Rome, Vanessa, Friday marked Day 45 of the lockdown.

“The situation in Italy because of the pandemic is very, very tough,” RAI TV anchor and correspondent Liana Mistretta told me on my Global Impact podcast. “We are forced to be locked in our homes and can only go out for food or medicines or work.”

U.S. coronavirus fatalities now exceed 50,000. And the controversial governor of the state of Georgia loosened regulations so that businesses such as hair stylists, massage parlors and tattoo shops can re-open providing their implement social distancing measures. The governor presented no science to back his actions and many business owners said that, out of concern for their own safety and that of their staff and customers, will remain closed.

As we inch towards a new normal, new challenges for business owners are emerging. How they deal with them will be life or death decisions.

For example, restaurants - which even pre-Covid already operated on notoriously thin margins - can they survive with capacity caps of 50 percent or less?

In the United Arab Emirates, malls and restaurants are being allowed to open but only with 30 percent capacity caps and with two meters/six feet social distancing measures.

Indeed, former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz said Tuesday that “restaurants are probably going to operate at 30% to 50% capacity for a couple of quarters as things become normalized.”

While businesses - both large and small - attempt to navigate the brave new normal some are developing innovative practices to re-assure customers and protect their staff. General Motors, which has re-tooled some of its lines to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE), is piloting Samsung Bluetooth wristbands which alert assembly line workers when they get within six feet of each other.

I’m especially impressed with a package of measures implemented by Emirates Airlines: chief among them are providing ground staff and cabin crews with PPE. Flight attendants will wear protective disposable gowns over their uniforms, as well as a safety visor, in addition to masks and gloves. Passengers, too, must wear masks and gloves throughout their journey from check-in until they disembark.

Emirates cabin crew have been issued with PPE for all flights

The UAE-based Emirates is also minimizing contact between cabin crew and passengers by scrapping inflight service and offering bento-style meal boxes. It is also blocking middle seats to provide more distance between passengers - and upping checked baggage allowances so that fewer items are brought into the cabin. I do question whether fares for premium cabins will be adjusted in order to take into account the lower level of service.

Hotel chains are turning to experts to figure out ways to reduce explosive to the highly-infectious Covid-19 virus. This week Marriott International announced a series of measures which include electrostatic sprayers with hospital-grade disinfectant to sanitize surfaces throughout hotels and possibly adding partitions at front desks to provide an extra level of precaution for guests.

“We want our guests to know that we are doing everything we can to welcome them back to a safe and clean hotel environment when they start traveling again,” said Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International.

“As we inch towards a new normal, new challenges for business owners are emerging. How they deal with them will be life or death decisions ”

Covid-19 collateral damage

Several initiatives are underway worldwide to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 and until that happens, the civilized world faces rolling restrictions and perhaps even a resurgence of cases in the coming months.

But public health professionals also tell me that they are worried about an increase in cases of preventable diseases such as measles and polio due to a fall in routine immunization and vaccination campaigns.

Said one public health expert: “We are all worried about a post-COVID resurgence of polio and other vaccine preventable diseases. The long term consequences of the current pandemic are serious. We are trying to think through post-COVID scenarios.”

As COVID-19 continues to spread globally, over 117 million children in 37 countries may miss out on receiving life-saving measles vaccines. Measles immunization campaigns in 24 countries have already been delayed, with more campaigns likely to be postponed - according to the Measles and Rubella Initiative.

I also worry that even once a Covid-19 vaccine is developed, will many parents succumb to the disinformation propagated by anti-vaccination campaigners and prevent their children from receiving a life-saving jab? Already I’ve received fake news items from friends and contacts in Eastern Europe and Asia claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic is a conspiracy cooked up by such entities as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Or that 5G is to blame for the spread of the virus.

Many parents in the developed world rely on the build-up of herd immunity and avoid having their children vaccinated. But this practice has led to outbreaks of measles, polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases in recent years.

Measles is far more contagious than Ebola and is associated with significant mortality, particularly among children under the age of five years. On average, a case of Ebola results in two new infections, while one measles case can generate up to 18 new cases among susceptible persons, says MRI.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Marriott International and Marriott New York for their support during my visit to NYC in March to report on Covid-19.