Some positive updates in the middle of the COVID19 crisis
COVID19, or COronaVIrusDisease2019, is messing up big time all around the globe and affecting every single one of us, including millions of corporations of any size worldwide.
As we are literally loaded with negative yet unfortunately real news about the virus and its collateral damage, it's at the same time worth taking a short breath and remind ourselves it's not all dark, with many positive things already happening all around us in so many different ways.
So, the good news.
1. Not harmful to children, youth and healthy adults
The COVID19 virus is in practice not harmful to children at all, with no (zero) reports of deaths among children, including from the initial outbreak in China. It is worth nothing that children and youths are as likely as adults to become infected and contagious by the virus. Italy has recently reported that out of its now over 3000 deaths, there has been no (zero) casualties below the age of 30, and just a very few below the age of 50, all with other serious diseases.
2. The initial outbreak in China is over
The Chinese National Health Commission last week (March 12th) reported that the number of new confirmed cases has dropped to a single digit, and with only eight cases reported the day before. Just one month earlier, on February 12th, the Chinese government reported a peak in daily cases at over 15.000. More statistics found on the Worldometer-site. We all remember the hospitals built in Wuhan in just under a week. They have now been shut down. Likewise, in South-Korea, which had many infected, are now seing a sharp turn, with the number of cases dropped significantly.
3. Things assumed to go back to “normal” after 2–3 months
The outbreak seems to last for a couple of months in each region it affects, somewhat moving back to normal thereafter. Yaneer Bar-Yam, a physicist and the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute, a research institution that studies systems and networks, based his assessment partially off China’s response. “It will take a month and a half, plus a logarithmic correction, once we start doing what’s needed,” he said, according to New York Times. The general flu (influenza) season happens every year during the peak of the winter time in each hemisphere, spiking within three weeks, and significantly diminishing in another three weeks, and it seems COVID19 behaves similarly.
4. Everything will boost significantly post-corona
As soon as things in each respective country starts to calm down, and everything start to open up again, people will have a huge need to get out, eat, shop, be entertained and much more, causing a significant boost in the economy. Just keep in mind this will take time.
5. The average mortality age due to COVID19 in Italy is over 80 years, with most of the victims having had several additional diseases
Italy, one of the currently worst affected countries with death toll of over 3000 people as per March 18th, has reported that the average age of the victims is over 80 years old. The general life expectancy in Italy is 84 years for both sexes combined, with females clocking in at 86 years while males clocks in at just below 82 years. In addition, a recent study published on March 17th, found that as many as 352 out of 355 (basically everyone) had at least one underlying disease, with 48,5% having three or more diseases before being infected by COVID19. Italy has also reported no person under 30 years have died of the virus as per March 17th, and with just 17 people under the age of 50 years, all men, and with already serious diseases. Similarly, in Norway, which has seen six casualties as per March 18th, the average age is reported by the government to be 89 years old. What's also important to keep in mind is that more than 90% of those over 80 years old who gets infected by COVID19 survives the virus. Obviously, it can be discussed if this is a clear positive news, however as many people around the world have simply assumed COVID19 kills across all age groups, it makes somewhat sense to have on the list.
6. Thousands of new inventions being made, for a better world
Crisis triggers creativity. Just days after the outbreak, people started to become increasingly creative, finding alternative ways of doing all the things that got directly impacted by the epidemic. Specially within the tech world we have already seen enormous amounts of tech inventions popping up, all of which will both change and not least improve our society for decades to come.
7. Potential vaccine already being tested on humans
Normally a vaccine would take years to make, with additional years to test it, first on animals and later tons of clinical tests on humans, before it finally, after maybe 10–15 years enters the market. Given the situation with COVID19, and the fact that the virus was quickly identified, researchers all over the world are working in collaboration to make an efficient vaccine, and now we are already seing potential breakthroughs from the US, where researchers have already started sharp tests on humans. According to researchers it seems like a relatively straight-forward process of creating a vaccine against the COVID19, and it took them only a short week after the virus was identified on January 7th, till they had an initial vaccine variant ready. And, strange as it sounds, the COVID19 is relatively weak, causing <1% mortality among all who gets infected, a number which has now been confirmed and being used by most researchers, medicals and governments.
8. Uniting the world
Obviously, one main reason for the disastrous spread of the COVID19 outbreak on such a global scale is due to the fact that the world is already brought closer together, with people being able to relocate to pretty much any location on earth within 24 hours. In contrast, at the same time it is fantastic to see so many people and even whole countries working together during the crisis, like China sending its COVID-experienced doctors over to Europe to assist on the epidemic, and people and corporations all over the world being ready to assist wherever it's needed. Such actions will unite for decades.
9. Significant drop in pollution
Although only temporarily, there has been a significant drop in pollution everywhere the COVID19 has had an outbreak, due to the fact that factories shut down, and people don't need to drive to work. In China the effect has been enormous. Obviously, although mother nature loves this, businesses and others would definitely have chosen the alternative if they were able to, for many good reasons.
10. Time to stop up for a short while
In Norway we have something called “tidsklemma”, basically short of “tight on time”, or long for “sorry, I cannot enjoy what you proposed this week as my calendar is filled up with stuff-I-actually-don't-want-to-do”. When everything got cancelled overnight, people suddenly got so much time on their hands. Time to be more with the family, to go out for a walk, to think and reflect.
Bonus: Everyone will finally be able to master online meetings.
And what about all the bad news?
Keep very much in mind literally millions of corporations all over the world are directly affected in the worst possible ways, and not least that COVID19 is a serious virus which should be treated with caution, so be sure to follow every single instruction from your local authorities. As for all the tons of other bad (real) news, I’ll let for your local newspaper to cover that part for you.
Take care!
