Living in a covidian world

Part 2

AN UNDERSTANDING that we are now living in a covidian world must underpin everything we do.

Yesterday’s column dealt with the critical need for an aggressive public education campaign. Today, I want to explore measures both the public and private sectors should adopt as we think about emerging from our doomsday bunkers.

For starters, we need to ramp up testing, which will have to continue even after businesses are reopened. What we learn about the local spread of this disease will shape policies and determine the level of acceptable risk we can manage.

Social distancing must become entrenched culture in business places, reinforced through adequate signage and regular awareness education through in-house videos. Covid19 must become a prominent feature of occupational health and safety protocols. Interminable staff meetings should be permanently replaced with video conferencing.

Staying clean and apart, though, is only the beginning. Companies should also formalise work-from-home arrangements among certain employees.

Government must make immediate investments in tech-driven delivery of public services. Crowding of government buildings should be eliminated. More forms should be digitised so they can be filled out online and submitted electronically. Payments for government services and fees also need to go online.

If the public-sector leads shifts to the online world, the private sector will follow. While some businesses adopted online workarounds for covid19 restrictions, these changes must be the norm.

Groceries, pharmacies and other retail outlets need to digitise stock and offer online payment facilities, delivery services and express pick-up windows. Websites need to evolve past digital flyers and become interactive tools making it easier for businesses and members of the public to conduct transactions safely .

Banks need digital education campaigns to encourage greater use of online services. This can help reduce the serpentine, glacial lines in banking halls. I can’t think of a single banker who’d be happy with a branch crowded with people wearing masks.

We will need to learn how to return to work and do business effectively while keeping the virus at bay.

One of the sectors facing the most challenging adjustment is tourism. Players in that sector will also need to rely heavily on education to face the challenges ahead. Given what’s happening in global oil markets we can no longer play footsie with diversification.

As people around the world reassemble their lives, there will be lingering fears about travel. People aren’t likely to be eager to jump on a plane or board a cruise ship.

Tourism industry players need to start thinking about creating covid19-safe zones in their businesses. For example, ongoing conversations about reopening the food and beverage industry in other countries centre on suggestions of spacing out seating in dining areas.

In hotels and guest houses there should be rigid enforcement of safety protocols and adequate signage to support them among both staff and guests. There should be prominently placed signs informing guests of the measures being taking to ensure their protection, encouraging them to be a part of the process by adhering to the recommended safety behaviours. The industry will have to walk a fine line between relaxation and being too relaxed.

Additionally, the Government must do everything in its power to ensure our health sector is constantly in rapid-response mode. Our facilities must be equipped and ever-ready to treat any coronavirus cases, or other illnesses for that matter. Travellers should feel comfortable in the knowledge that should they fall ill while on holiday, they will be well taken care of.

Moreover, the tourism industry and the Government might want to consider collaborating on a type of covid19-certification process. This could include testing hotel staff, guest house and tour operators as well as frequent site visits from the health authorities to ensure proper covid19 protection measures are being observed. The Government can get its paid consultants to work out the broad strokes. This is a column, not a white paper!

Recovery in the tourism sector will present the toughest challenge. How we adapt our offerings to make guests feel safe, the calibre of healthcare we provide to them will, to a considerable extent, determine the sector’s resilience in this crisis.

Covid19 has already given clues about the hand it’s holding. Our survival depends on making the most strategic use of the hand we’ve been dealt, our wit and ingenuity.

Staying home and playing all fours was never the answer, just a pause button. How we plan for the road ahead will take our futures out of the hands of this pandemic.