1. Covid-19 is different from all other plagues, humankind has suffered from and yet the same.

Covid-19 is not the deadliest disease, rabies is by far worse (lethality close to 100%, no treatment available). It is not the fastest spreading disease; Ebola is by far worse. It is not the most widespread one, tuberculosis is far worse and so on. We don't mention the historic curses of mankind, smallpox, pestilence, cholera and the Spanish flu have left most atrocious tracks of dead. They may be prevented (by vaccination or hygiene), treated or cured (e. g. by antibiotics, if bacteria are the cause). What's now so special with COVID-19?

• COVID-19 may be lethal, but lethality is highly discriminatory: age, gender, health status and social status.
• COVID-19 spreads very easily: just normal social interference may be enough to catch the ill (still close to Ebola, but far from Rabies, where you still have to be injured by an infected animal).
• Spreading of COVID-19 is a question of how efficiently we can contain it. Social distancing seems to work pretty well (but has severe consequence of its own).
• COVID-19 may be treated: even severe cases can be treated by intensive care, reducing lethality somewhat. Treatment may be improved in the future, when cures and vaccines will be developed (I'm optimistic, that they will; the question is when they are widely available).

And still it's the same: we face a state of inability to handle this menace, despite our advanced medical knowledge and technological abilities. It has caught us cold. We have to abandon our civil liberties, face economic shutdown, stock exchange crashes, unemployment and finally a significant number of casualties. Just like in Justinian's time, during the renaissance or after WWI. It's just like then that the feeling of sudden powerlessness hurts us the most

2. We haven't been prepared at all.

In naïve disbelief that something like Covid-19 could happen, we ignored all warning voices from scientists or the WHO. And we didn't prepare, neither medically nor politically, socially, economically or ethically. It is at least positive that most of our scientists, politicians, fellow human being and those responsible for our economy have managed to adapt rather fast (with, admittedly, some sad exceptions). Normative and applied ethics still need to pick up. 

3. Corona is not a health issue, it's an ethical issue.

And these are the questions: it can be treated, even the severe cases can obtain some relief and increase of the survival rate. But emergency care is expansive. Not only the treatment itself, but holding the capacities ready, and not for standard loads, but for peak loads! In non-pandemic times huge idle ER-capacities may seem as a luxury or even waste of money. But in pandemic times they quickly became rare. And all of a sudden medical staff had to decide whom to treat in ER and whom not (means: sentenced to death, in the worst case). Military med staff is trained in this kind of decisions, called "Triage"; civil med staff rarely. And I envy none of them having to decide such cases. And there is another decision to be made: prevention, as much as possible through curfews, shutdowns interdictions etc. or let I go in order to obtain herd immunity. The latter would be pretty efficient, since the disease spreads fast and mortality is moderate compared to other plagues. But again, it would imply that we risk an atrocious death toll, especially among the group a high risk: elderly, prestressed by other health issues, socially or economically underprivileged. We daily see the casualty numbers and can compare the countries where prevention worked with those where it failed.

4. There may be Triage with infected, there will be Triage among values.

Most countries chose prevention, imposing severe restrictions on any public life, considered by many as stranglehold of our civil liberties. It is, but it's triage of values: the freedom to go out anywhere, anytime or the protection of the frail. The right to party or the life of a few retirees. The crucial question becomes: when are those restrictions to end? Will we retain democratic control over this, or do we have to succumb to the verdict of scientist or, what worries me the most, the ideas of (some) politicians (who don't listen to scientists).

5. Rethink your values, and remember which of those, up to now considered as self-evident, are real values!

Economist have tried for quite some time to find objective measurement for equity, fairness or justice. One idea to such objectivation could be the following thought experiment: You ask a person to distribute resources (or economic wellbeing or whatever) within a society, where the person itself is a member of. The individual appreciation of the distribution should be considered equal, fair or just. But there is a veal of ignorance: the person does not know who he will be in the society. If the distribution is very unequal, or test person may end up as a millionaire or as a poor. It is to be expected that a majority of test persons distributed with at least some degree of equality, in order to minimize their own risk of ending up as a poor. I don't remember what the real outcome of these experiments have been and the critical scientific discussions thereof, but I find this idea very intriguing: what anti-pandemic measures, if any at all, would you impose if you don't know yet who you will be in the society concerned. The healthy sportsman, the pre-school kid the working-class mommy or the overweight retiree with chronically high blood pressure. And now apply this line of thinking to the current pandemic, would you opt for the riskier rules and maybe die from it due to your decision? Or would you go for a safer way?

6. No organization is fault-free, but whenever, talk about with them and not about them!

Written in one of my favourite pubs, just above the regulars table: we talk with people and never about people. Should be self-evident but isn't. What is true for people should be true for organizations. Indeed, most organizations do, most of the time, a good job, for our and our society's benefit. Sometimes they fail, luckily rare enough. 

7. Never shift the blame!

Remember when as a kid you pinched some chocolate from the forbidden drawer in the kitchen and your mom caught you, your cheeks still filled with that sweet stuff? Would you now shift the blame on your pet dog? See its eyes when getting scolded for something, he didn't do! Absolute authority implies absolute responsibility, never one without the other!

Whoever says he/she is not responsible for something admits that his/her authority is inexistent. 

8. We don't need less globalization, we need more.

Nationalistic isolationism is a poison to global welfare. And it is spreading everywhere. World population is approaching 8 bn and terrestrial land surface is ca. 150 million square kilometres (source Wikipedia). Urbanization is probably around 55%, with a tendency to increase at high speed. We can't afford to isolate. We already stick too densely together! Global integration needs to start at a very local level, within your community, and, at the largest extent, comprise the whole world. We need fast, honest and open communication. I'm truly convinced that global integration, mutual understanding and free communication will help us to mitigate the risk of future pandemics. And future pandemics will come, that for sure.

May 2020

About the author: Stefan Hock (*1957) lives near Munich. As a studied economist he works as a consultant, coach and trainer for corporate and financial strategy and negotiations. Apart from his professional interests he likes philosophy, cooking, rock music and motorbiking.