From Jamie Morgan
Part 4 of Pandemic aware economies, public health business models and (im)possible futures
One optimistic point of view hopes our economies bounce back (a deep sharp ‘v’ shape). But this seems increasingly unlikely and is now a minority position. This is partly because of a path-dependency governments are not well-equipped to quickly or easily shift. No  effective treatments are available yet for Covid-19 and even as some become available we will still be living in more or less fearful societies that require governments to impose or organizations to voluntarily adopt ‘public health business models’. A socially distanced economy affects the potential for work and consumption and this affects different sectors in different ways.
Distrust radically reduces willingness to

From Jamie Morgan
Part 3 of six part Pandemic aware economies, public health business models and (im)possible futures
Whatever path is chosen it can still be pursued more or less effectively, and in an evolving world this matters for how things turn out. Governments need to project competence but they need also to translate this into actual competence; ‘demonstrated competence’ is an issue of logistics and practical procedures that follow from adequate planning at a national and local level. A government that was initially ill-prepared can become better if it manages the situation. It is no use simply suggesting ‘we are trying as hard as we can’. Trust relies on real consequences and incompetence has additional consequences. Governments have their public relations experts too, and are

From Jamie Morgan
Part 2 of six part Pandemic aware economies, public health business models and (im)possible futures
As we are now finding out in the UK, what happens first depends on data, treatments and vaccines. Post-lockdown societies and economies require trust in social interactions and confidence that social spaces are safe. This has always been relative, rather than absolute, but in the wealthy world the need for trust and confidence has newly been impressed on our awareness. If we think that information on who has and who has had Covid-19 is comprehensive and contemporary then who we see and how we engage them become less about ‘maybes and worse cases’. Equally, if effective treatments become available and the mortality rate for those contracting Covid-19 falls and the

From Jamie Morgan
So here we are, months into the Covid-19 pandemic and starting to feel our way through it. It is extraordinary to think that it took considerably less than a Walking Dead scenario to bring the world to a standstill. The future we now occupy has come as quite a shock. A ‘new world’ with its new language and habits of social distancing, lockdown, phased releases and perpetual background sense of dread and foreboding. A world in which friends and family are now fraternal enemies of good health and peace of mind. A world in which a handshake is now weaponized, sanitisation and sanity go hand in hand and obsessive hygiene is no longer the preserve of the compulsive.
How strange this new world looks, how unexpected it seems from a public point of view. It echoes an old