Thought of the Day - March 17 2021 - One Year of the Neighbourhood Blog

Happy Saint Patrick's Day - The NeighbourHood COVID Blog has been published for a full year now, triggered by a thoughtful email of support from a neighbour ( The Start ) back on March 17th, 2020.

Whod'a thought a year ago this is where we would be twelve months later? Well, at the macro level, actually quite a few people. Things have not unfolded too differently from the thinking one year ago:

• that the virus would spread to all parts of the world around the world ( Thought of the Day - November 13 - The Last Island Hideouts );

• that a million Canadians would get infected and twenty-five thousand or so would die ( Thought of the Day - November 6 - And Now For Something Completely Different );

• none of the mitigation strategies: "Lock 'Em Up", "Slow the Burn" or "Rapid Herd-Immunity", were attractive ( Thought of the Day - What Strategy to Choose );

• that the public would still not know the origin of the virus ( Thought of the Day - June 17 - The Search for the Source );

• vaccines, if possible, would not have an impact until 2021 ( Thought of the Day - April 14 - Hope for the Vaccine ).

What was not understood a year ago were the social and political implications. For example, the simplest things, such as wearing masks, would be the hardest to implement, and yet the hardest things, such as the development of a vaccine that people would consider safe and effective would be achieved in record time.

And of course, it was difficult to anticipate the massive economic changes still underway ( Thought of the Day - December 20 - By the Numbers ) as we adapted, compensated and took advantage of the pandemic. For example, the richest person in the world today (well depending on the day) was not even on the Forbes Top-10 list in March 2020. Of course, Tesla has always made more money from credits than selling cars, but in 2020 the tech sector received massive cash injections from government purses and therefore became the darling of the investment world. Today Apple, Alphabet (Goggle), Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Delta Electronics, Tencent, Alibaba are all there in the Top-10 by Market Cap along with Tesla. Edging out traditional companies like Berkshire-Hathaway, Visa and J&J. And closing in Saudi Aramco for the top spot. For example, this blog uses Wix, something that most of you had never heard of before. In 2020 Wix became the second-largest tech company in Israel, right after Checkpoint that does IT Security, due to the growth of small online businesses.

Moreover, a year ago it would have been difficult to convince people that China would get COVID under control yet it would still be rampant in the western world.

So as, hopefully, the medical impact of COVID starts to subside later in 2021, we still need a crystal ball to understand the socio-economic impact. As terms like "the new normal" become passé, new terms like the "great-reset" or "revenge travel" come into common parlance (will have plenty of new material for another crossword ( Thought of the Day - January 15 - COIVD-19 Neighbourhood Crossword )).

Thanks for all your support and suggestions over the past year. Looks like we have another fascinating twelve months ahead of us.

Cheers

Cliff

P.S. I have added a new view just for you - a blog archive - so it is easier to peruse the 250 posts that were "oh so 2020".