My COVID-19 Experience

The COVID-19 global pandemic has reached levels that I think warrant any of us that are able, to collect their thoughts and share their experience. Of course, many of us do not have the luxury to take a moment to reflect and record their experiences. Too many people around the world, be it the US or Uganda are occupied with basic day to day survival. Many are also mourning the loss of their loved ones. All I can do is empathize with them. I cannot pretend to understand what they have experienced. Here is my record in my little corner of the world.

The Shutdown

Like many in the US, it was the suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season on March 11th, 2020 that woke me up to what was to come. That was a seminal moment. Before that, I had been following news of the spread of the virus and digesting internal communication emails at my job as a bystander. The company had been monitoring the situation and advising us to take our laptop homes with us in case circumstances forced us to work from home.

During that same week, the Fulton County school district had started sending parents daily updates on the spread of the virus as other schools around the country began grappling with temporary closures for cleaning and disinfecting. As luck would have it, an employee of the district was reported to have contracted the virus, and all our schools were scheduled to be shut down on March 10th and the 11th. All these seemed like temporary measures until the ‘world changed’ when the NBA dropped the hammer on March 11th.

The Immediate Aftermath

By the end of the week, big changes were beginning to happen. Other sports leagues followed the NBA in suspending their seasons. Companies were announcing office closures and local and state governments began issuing stay-at-home orders. On Monday, March 16th, I started working from home indefinitely. The Fulton County schools had now turned me into their IT guy and substitute teacher with the launch of the digital learning program. I was now doing daily team meetings at 8:30 am followed by daily safety calls and a quick dash back upstairs (from my cold basement) to have breakfast with my boys as well as troubleshoot the technical issue of the day; finding and printing assignments, zoom meeting sound issues, just finding Microsoft Team meetings. The other problem to figure out was what to have for lunch. At lunchtime!

Even though the elimination of my daily commute was more than welcome, I was busier than ever at work. I found myself a little envious of the people on social media that were exchanging ideas like; Top 25 Movies to Binge in Quarantine or 7 Best Books to Get You Through Quarantine. There was also an explosion of all sorts of silly TikTok challenges to occupy the bored masses.

The Surprises

The first surprise was perhaps the most obvious one in retrospect. I had no idea how we humans value toilet paper. It seemed like some folks feared running out of toilet paper more than the virus itself. Another surprise was the impact of working from home on productivity. Most companies did not miss a beat. Productivity did not suffer but in fact increased for a sizeable number of companies.

Another surprise was politics. I expected that the crisis would create around the effort to fight the virus. That was not the case. Instead, misinformation and partisanship ran rampant. I was shocked to see people make life or death decisions based on their political ideology. In many parts of the country, just wearing a mask became a political statement. It is also rather surprising that there has not been a movement to ensure that all people get access free or subsidized healthcare to prevent or at least flatten future pandemics.

Our supply chain was another unwelcome surprise. How could a country as big and resourceful as the US be unable to supply hospitals with something as simple as face masks? We are not even talking medical-grade face masks here. Just simple ordinary face masks. To this day, I am still baffled that celebrities can acquire and donate millions of masks and other protective gear while some of our hospitals are still struggling to get them.

Finally, I was surprised by just how thin corporate financial margins are even for big corporations. Too many companies went into immediate financial distress due to the sharp drops in revenue caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

The Future

As I write this (June 8th), the country is gripped by massive protests in reaction to the video-taped horrific death George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman. That is a big issue to step away from but is too important to tackle in passing. At times, the Coronavirus seems like a distant memory.

At this point all 50 states have re-opened for business in some fashion under a variety of restrictions. My hope is that the US and the world at large flattened the curve enough for the virus to retreat without a resurgence.

They say the Flu Pandemic of 1918 had lasting effects that have survived to this day. It forced nations to implement the concepts of healthcare as a social good. You could not just treat individuals. You had to care about the whole community to make a difference.

I think we will see lasting COVID-19 impacts in a few areas. First is the world of work. When a significant chunk of the global workforce was required to work remotely with only days’ notice, it was surprising how well the transition went. Some companies even reported productivity gains. Many large companies are already hinting that the do not expect offices to go back to full capacity for years. It is no longer necessary for folks to physically be in the office. Some companies have even gone further and pledged to allow their employees to work from home “forever.”

Of course, there are also savings to be had from all the real estate costs that companies will save by downsizing their square footage. This also means that having tasted work from home, many employees will demand flexibility on this front as well. Already polls show that working from home for part of the workweek is immensely popular with employees today.

This flexibility raises another huge problem or opportunity depending on what side of the table you sit. Now that it is acceptable to work remotely 100% of the time, a significant number of employees would like to take advantage of that perk. Physical location will no longer matter. All that is needed is a reliable WiFi connection.

Let us say you have been earning a San Francisco area salary as a software programmer (give or take $200k?). Now imagine how much further that salary would go in say, Toledo, Ohio. How about Panama City, Panama?  You would live like a king. That is the opportunity.

Here is the conundrum for employers. If regional salaries no longer make sense because geography does not matter, how much do you pay your employees? Should everyone get those hefty San Francisco salaries? Do you advise folks to move to Kansas City so you can pay them less? That is a question Facebook is already grappling with. I have no idea how this issue will be resolved, but it will be fascinating to watch.

At the end of the day, I hope the devastation wrought by COVID-19 will not be for naught. I hope we as a world learn the right lessons. It is quite clear now that all countries need to cooperate in issues such as this. Going it alone comes with a hefty price for all.