The Coronavirus Experiment

Reflection is often thought of as a process that begins at the end of an event or series of events. It is, however, a useful mechanism to leverage during a moment of pause – whether that pause be naturally occurring or self-initiated. My reflection as of late, has been a mixture of both.

My new day consists of the following: I wake up, make some coffee, eat a little breakfast, and turn on my computer at the makeshift workspace I created in the living room – a space that prominently features an HP monitor that sits atop multiple textbooks to prevent my neck from craning all day. A half-full bottle of Purell is the primary fixture on my desk. For seating, I use a beach chair…the comfortable option in the house. Bloomberg is streaming on the TV, and it provides market information and background noise. At around 11 or 12, I take the bicycle for a 5-mile ride for exercise. The Coronavirus Task Force Briefing comes on around 5:30 or 6, which is followed up with a run and a workout later in the evening, and some reading interspersed throughout. That is about it. Nowhere I need to go…nowhere I need to be. My car sat so long that the tank hadn’t been filled in several weeks, and the engine barely started when it was my turn to drive for groceries.  

With limited mobility and a simplified lifestyle, my propensity to ponder and reflect has taken the driver seat. Here are some of the observations that surfaced:

Power of choice has increased – while not a profound discovery, it’s the abundantly obvious one. Routines are typically occupied by work or school – the obligations — with the remaining hours punctuated by the distraction du jour…watching TV, virtual argumentation (hello Twitter), or video games. In the coronavirus era, the places we always needed to be have been removed from the equation, leaving us with greater power of choice. For those performing work or school functions online, you must still perform, but there is new optionality as to when and how you will do so. This leads to my next observation, which is…

People are taking two routes with their time– one in which time is allocated in greater quantity to virtual distraction; and the more productive route, where high achievers focus their time efficiently, and are likely to accomplish personal and professional goals at a comparatively higher rate. Now, for those with children at home or who happen to be members of essential services performing their duty during this crisis (thank you), the circumstances are different; however, the general attitude and subsequent actions that they choose to take, will fall into one of the two buckets.

The coronavirus schools of thought – two opposing, vocal camps of people have emerged during the shutdown: one group that is inclined to feel we moved too quickly or too broadly to halt activity and economic production, thereby impacting the livelihoods of citizens in a significant, yet different way than the virus itself; and the other that believes the science community knows how we should respond during the crisis, and whose recommendations are delivered with a high degree of problem-mitigating accuracy.

Only in time will certain answers be revealed. Each camp is likely to discover that any response to the crisis would not be without costly trade-offs and missteps, and that there is not one right way of handling the situation.

Patriotism Remains – despite the differences, we have largely come together as a people. Politicians have thus far managed to move swiftly and definitively in the public’s interest with a high level of collective buy-in from the populace, and American industry has reengineered itself for the greater good, producing materials of need in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

The public health and economic experiment unfolding before us will be slow to yield final results. The impact to the economy, to livelihood, and to the health of many, has been and will continue to be substantial.