Let’s start by making a general comparison between the last two main pandemics; the Spanish flu and the current Covid-19 – Which we hope has its days numbered. The Spanish Influenza lasted approximately two years; between 1918 and 1920 and was caused by an H1N1 influenza virus postulated to be of avian origin. It’s Zero Patient was in EEUU, but it rapidly spread due to ww1, mainly to Europe. It affected mainly people between 25 to 45 years old and the main cause of death was secondary bacterial infection (pneumonia). The mortality rate was 2,5% and killed 50 Million.
On the other hand, Covid 19 locates its number 0 patient in China in December 2019 and in many countries is still active despite the discovery of vaccines. It is caused by a SARS-CoV2 virus and its origin is not official either in a wet market or Wuhan Institute of Virology. To date, it has infected 165Mill. people, and caused almost 3.5Mill. deaths worldwide. The Highest risk population are people age 65+ with comorbidities and the mortality rate oscillates between 2,4 to 3,4%.
Both pandemics lead to worldwide health and socio-economic crisis, however nowadays we have a huge tool to fight it back, telecommunications, the internet, and digitalization. Now everyone is used to “the new normal”, and phrases like lockdown, social distancing, telecommuting, and even e-party. Almost all activities may be transformed using creativity to be “covid-friendly” and heath safe. For example, many meetings may be performed with a teleconference. Corporate and residential technical support may be lead in most cases through a video call or a remote assistant, and common activities such as buying groceries may be performed through apps and webpages. This robust network of communication possibilities; instant messages, e-mails, video calls, exchange of information and documents, e-transfers, online shopping has strengthened and supported industrial, commercial, and service activities.
Further to the telecommunications industry, its underlying technologies help us understand the needs of our society. Almost every person in this world has access to a communication device such as radio tv, cell phone, computer. Big data analysis, data analysis, and artificial intelligence led to the development of different programs, applications, and technologic platforms that help us manage many of our needs, from education with virtual tools as e-learning to digitalization of supply chains and distribution, e-commerce, marketing giving to many organizations capability to continue providing public services without interruption. That’s why we want to deeply thank all the actors playing a role in the development of the telecommunications industry, you are helping humanity to face challenges such as the actual pandemic with your daily work.
Paola Viñas
Marketing Manager
JDV Partners
Specialized Recruitment / Labor Hire / Outplacement /Employee Wellbeing
About JDV Partners
JDV Partners is a Human Resources Consulting firm whose main focus is on Recruitment, Labor Hire, Outplacement and Employee Wellbeing with a primary focus in Latin America, the United States, and Europe. Additionally, supports companies from an Accounting and Legal perspective when wanting to set-up a Business entity in any Spanish-speaking country with an integral Human Resources vision.
For further information please write us an email to info@jdvpartners.com or simply call +57 3005551290.
Bibliographical Sources:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemia_de_gripe_de_1918
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19#Tasa_de_letalidad
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7521900/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11235-020-00749-8
