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Technology Moderates Economic and Personal Impact of Sudden Stoppage and Social Distancing
In reflecting on our COVD-19 containment and mitigation strategy (flattening the curve) and the important role of social distancing, we need to be thankful that today's computer, mobile and cloud technologies are in place, to facilitate so many important activities of daily life.
Online education (virtual learning model), online purchases, work from home, streaming entertainment, online tax filing and online social sites, all blunt the negative impact, of the sudden stoppage in service and manufacturing industries.
A thirty percent increase in internet activity has been handled well, so far, by our digital pipes, fiber networks and airwaves (wireless).
Zoom meeting services has allowed governance of businesses, not for profits and government to continue online and with continued public input in many cases.
The Courts’ wheels of justice will continue remotely according to Massachusetts Chief Justice Ralph Gants. He has asked the courts to unleash the creativity, adaptability and imagination of a MASH unit in times of war.
Many new technologies, many of which had ignored, are facilitating online connectivity. Just this weekend our friend celebrated his 92nd birthday remotely on ZOOM Media, with 72 attendees from all over the world, including singing and dancing!
Unlike pandemics of past generations, our digital technologies have underpinned the release our ever-increasing biotechnology prowess to locate solutions to treat and vaccinate, at breakneck speed. Even better than our response to Ebola a decade ago. None of these technologies were available for the devastating 1918-1920 pandemic (Spanish Flu) that killed an estimated 100 million worldwide including 650,000 in the United States.
Peter Landon
Longmeadow resident
