For more than a year, I’ve been told by top-notch public health experts that every global citizen is required to normalize—but not minimize—mask adoption, contact tracing, quarantine and vaccination. Since I’m in my solitary confinement-like social distancing, I’ve stocked up plenty of food for thought. To make my cash-strapped life rich, I transport my rich mind to my birthplace Guangzhou, which is now battling the latest COVID-19 outbreak derived from the dangerous coronavirus B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant. As of June 1, this triple-mutant covid variant from India was reported to be detected in more than 60 territories, including the US. I wonder: Is humanity on the ship of covid TITANIC on which the poor and disadvantaged will die first? Or is humanity changing course on the ship of CINATIT, the reverse of TITANIC, with collective action to fight dual crises—the pandemic and climate change?
It’s summertime. For such a weighty question, I’ll chew on it slowly this month while joining the global army of unemployment. Without any conflict of interest, I indulge my bold assumption that this phenomenon of unwanted job losses and willing workers without jobs will persist. It happens not only because human beings are unable yet to control the pandemic as a unified communal species but also because it is inevitable for all industries and governments of all sizes as well as every global citizen to make timely decisions and action with sustainable development in mind.
When I threw my caveat this early February in my previous op-ed piece, I had questioned whether humanity was racing against time with coronavirus variants, the vaccine distribution and administration. I didn’t expect my caveat to become a reality. China and the U.S. have presented two drastically different approaches to handling the local outbreaks. But this is a pandemic that requires global alignment and commitment. We’re on the same boat. What’s the point to argue about which captain should steer the wheel when the boat is leaking?
Whether it’s COVID-19 pandemic or climate change, the people who suffer the most, and sadly even die without being known, are those in the third and second class of passengers on the ship of covid TITANIC. The wealthy and powerful have their means to hang on a bit longer. Fly to another island maybe or deploy troops for unnecessary fatal killings.
Don’t forget we are living on the same planet. For those innocent people who will die for history that is written by the victors, they will rest in peace. However, the last surviving first class passengers are most likely to live in painful memories and loneliness. As long as we live, we remember things. The power of memory makes us human. Loneliness comes from the lack of competition that brings progress and prosperity. So, do you really think a solo captain will be happy ever after?
I have this May dataset from the U.S. Department of Labor that stuns me. There are 9.8 million out-of-work Americans today. Remarkably, there are 8.1 million job openings today. If the former group would simply get in touch with the latter group, would that not solve our nation’s 6.1% jobless rate? The problem is that the 8.1 million job openings—the highest number recorded in U.S. history—has increased by 1.2 million in just the last two months. Employers nationwide have been underwhelmed with the quality of job applicants submitting resumes, resulting in millions of jobs gone wanting.
The word “underwhelm” has caught my eye. Does the employer have a high expectation for the candidates? Or have the worn-out applicants learned to stand up for themselves for a secure and respectful workplace? As an ordinary job seeker who understands crisis management, I can’t help thinking the current dual crises are more of an opportunity for the human race. Crisis (危机) in Chinese is composed of two characters, wēi means danger, and jī means opportunity.
The commonality of the pandemic and climate change first and foremost is boundary spanning. This is a term in social science and yet I’ve generalized it to apply to the context of my subject matter. Simply put, if every capable worker is human capital for an employer, the human capital like myself that can play the role of linking the organization’s internal networks with external sources of information is considered boundary spanner. To seize the opportunity of sustainable development, lifelong career training becomes crucial from C-suite to assembly line technicians because the SMART machines that we rely on bring us information and problems quicker than ever before. Specialists are important but generalists who know boundary spanning well are equally invaluable. The pandemic and climate change are both global challenges without borders. So we need a mindset and workforce that can embrace diversity and inclusion. Will this logic explain some of the underwhelmed condition in the job market between employers’ advanced fuels-model expectation and applicants’ fossil fuel model-status quo? Or vice versa.
Let us read a 400-year-old poem by John Donne before you join me onboard to the ship of covid TITANIC that is heading to Guangzhou for a field study. According to China’s 2020 census, Guangzhou has an urban area population more than 18 million inhabitants.
No Man Is An Island By John Donne No man is an island Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, As well as if a promontory were, As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
Coronavirus is like any given hurricane or earthquake. They both share the same trait of boundary spanning as I put it. Coronavirus has no eyes. It hits the ground running wherever the environment is suitable and whenever the timing is ripe. Similarly, a cyclone hard-hit region will see more intense and frequent natural disasters as a result of adverse effects of climate change. On the same day of May 22, just hours apart, China was hit by two massive earthquakes, killing at least three people. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the Qinghai earthquake at a magnitude of 7.3 and the one in Yunnan at 6.1. No official update of the death toll since. But if I refer to old stories, I may dot my i’s and cross my t’s. In 2010, a 6.9-magnitude quake in Qinghai left 3,000 people dead or missing.
As for COVID-19 prevention and control, China leads the world with respect to early contact tracing and mask adoption. However, when people relax their mind of wearing masks and return to business-as-usual crowd gathering, they also provide an ideal environment and condition for coronavirus variants to mutate and spread. That’s exactly what happened. During the May 1 Labor Day holiday week, Chinese people relaxed mask adoption and traveled about across the country. Two weeks later a positive covid case in Guangzhou was confirmed, and then all hell broke loose. As of June 3, half of the city was in lockdown and a citywide massive contact tracing was performed within three days. That’s 18 million people strong.
As of this writing to my knowledge, no American municipality has a sophisticated and thorough contact tracing system. Plus, from mask adoption to testing and tracing, Americans had never been in unison at the outset of the pandemic. Globally, rich countries are hoarding more covid vaccines than their nationals, among whom reject vaccination resulting from misinformation. Like food waste, vaccines have their expiry dates. On the one end, vaccine manufacturers say they cannot produce large quantities of vaccines within a short period; on the other end, many vials are unused and on their course toward expiration. On the one end, vaccinated people minimize covid precautions; on the other end, medically disadvantaged people are dying from covid in the meantime engendering seemingly unstoppable covid mutation.
We must respect Darwin’s law of natural selection.
Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, the ship of covid TITANIC has something for you to respond to. Do not let more innocent lives die. Get off this ship as soon as possible.
Whether you’re hawkish lobbyists or dovish strategists, the ship of covid TITANIC will make your career shine only if you don’t let it sink. Learn to smile to your opponent, or better, a handshake, will make your survival rate high in the lonely world of yours.
Whether you’re a stable breadwinner or an anxious soul like me in the job market, the ship of covid TITANIC gives us nothing but a key to the future. Think and learn on your job and out of your job. Ask how to enrich myself with unlimited growth with limited resources.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak in Guangzhou China [map] has raised an alarm to the world. The authorities confirmed that recent surge of new infections are contracted with a fast-spreading virus strain detected in India. At about the same time, Vietnam has detected hybrid of Indian and UK Covid-19 variants. How much do we know about the B.1.617 variants which could expedite the leakage of the ship of covid TITANIC?
Since coronavirus B.1.617 variant was first reported in India late last year, researchers have since identified three subtypes, known as B.1.617.1 (the “original” B.1.617), B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3, each with a slightly different genetic make-up. To avoid stigmatization related to COVID-strain names, the WHO has adopted a global naming system by using Greek letters to name SARS-CoV-2 variants. The emergence of variants is characterized into Variants of Interest (VOIs) and Variants of Concern (VOCs) based on risk levels to global public health. For example, the B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant originally discovered in India is now named “Delta Variant.” Corona beer took a hit because of its name similarity to the deadly virus. I wonder how the “Delta Variant” will impact the Delta Airlines or perhaps a boost for marketing.
Public health experts learned that the genome and proteins of B.1.617 differ substantially from the multiple variants found in California and in New York that are currently circulating in the U.S. As said, we must respect Darwin’s law of natural selection. The Delta Variant may be heat-tolerant that allows it to spread fast and wide. If this hypothesis is proven, global warming cannot be more inductive to viral mutation. And the summer won’t offer a reprieve but allow the new variants become far more contagious than previous strains. Nevertheless, the U.S. has hailed relaxed CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans and Americans have celebrated with Memorial Day travel frenzy. Will a new wave of covid infections be far behind?
As said, even in a covid tightly control country like China, Guangzhou’s latest outbreak has raised an alarm to the world. I cannot imagine what devastation the covid TITANIC with the Delta Variant will cause in South Asia, Africa and South America where vaccination distribution and administration have fallen far behind. Poor second and third class of passengers are on my mind all the time.
Every global citizen has the right to inform oneself about what is the next iceberg to watch the covid TITANIC is heading. The WHO issues weekly situation reports (detail). As of May 30, India and the United States, one developing country and one developed country, remain on the top the chart of death tolls respectively.
Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center also provides credible information about each state and country (detail). Stay alert and safe is all you need to do. The ten lessons in crisis management from COVID-19 to climate change by the Aspen Institute is a good self-taught boundary spanning reference to many prosperity-yearning-and-socially-conscious Americans.
Absolute freedom does not exist unless you’re not a social animal called human. When one’s freedom becomes harmful to others, that is not freedom but selfishness. Only when humans are doing things right with their own ability and for a broader sense of global community can we jump ship to CINATIT in a timely fashion for a sustainable future for all.