Businesses Adapt Better to Covid-19 After Lessons Learned From Spring Surge

The Netherlands approach of balancing the potential for future economic hardship with the current risk of Covid-19 spreading has appeared to have helped the country to flatten the curve of cases faster than other areas that implemented mandatory lockdown measures. Although critics of this "controlled distribution" approach point out that the country has still seen thousands of deaths and could see future waves of outbreaks, at this point in time, "the Netherlands has both flattened the curve and kept life tolerable."

Bosch China Investment Ltd. survived the worst of the Coronavirus pandemic by taking serious precautions early on. This article lays out the specific steps in the timeline of the pandemic that the company took to protect its employees. Tactics include the usual set of tools like social distancing, face masks, and emergency preparedness systems, but it was how they executed the process that made it a success.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, owners of the French bistro Bell's took a financial risk and began investing more money in their employees to incentivize working, increase employee satisfaction and retention and overall drive more profits. The decision has since paid off and is reimagining the traditional restaurant structure.

In Minnesota, cross-sector collaboration, contact tracing, and a focus on adhering to public health safety protocols have helped Cook County avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, despite being a tourist destination. Local health officials and industry leaders presented a united front, while residents and business owners focused on ways to "keep the tourists from infecting the locals." With only seven residents contracting the virus by summer's end, the efforts appear to have been successful.

Despite a nationwide months-long coronavirus lockdown in Norway, the economy was able to remain stable due to a "decades-long effort to create an equitable economy" that helped the government to enact a package that provided businesses and self-employed individuals' tax relief and deferrals. Although Norwegians pay roughly the same amount of taxes that Americans do, their taxes largely pay for social welfare programs which include unemployment benefits, retirement pay, and health care coverage. This "national ethos of economic equity" is what helped the country to navigate the pandemic.

South Korea's economic growth is one of the few that have not stagnated or declined during the coronavirus pandemic. Although much of this is due to how effectively the country handled containment protocols from the start, the overall fiscal response – which included encouraging residents to reinvest government payouts in local businesses – also played a significant role. In one province, this included using non-cash payments "that could only be spent in shops inside the region, rather than as cash that could be hoarded."

The Japanese government is embracing the idea of "workation" trips for employees across industries as a means to "help the travel industry and keep the economy ticking" as the country moves forward in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Discounts for various travel resources have encouraged 4.2 million people to try out the idea which has been made even more feasible due to the widespread adoption of remote teleworking.

Despite a tumultuous start to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seattle area has one of the lowest per capita death rates of any metro area in the United States. Because of actions taken early on by government officials and individuals, they were able to save lives and prevent an economic downturn due to lockdowns. This longterm investment in public health infrastructure could be a model for other cities.

In Louisiana, where many communities face barriers to health care access, the implementation of a 211 hotline during the coronavirus pandemic has helped residents access the information they need to make informed decisions. The system has received hundreds of thousands of calls and because of this, the live specialists have also been able to collect meaningful data that helps the state to assess where there are areas of unmet needs.

San Francisco has reported thousands of cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, but public health experts believe it could have been far worse had the city not implemented early protocols and procedures. An early adoption of mask wearing and remote working as well as ceding communications and guidance to scientists helped keep the hospitals below their maximum capacity and avoid overburdening available resources.