For more than a month now, the most emphasized news items have been linked to the new corona virus and the relatert disease know as COVID-19. Societies have been closed down around the globe.
Next to no-one seems to have been prepared, and the consequences, both in human terms and economically , of not closing down have been so bad that this option have been avoided. Even if most people and societies cannot afford the price of staying closed.
Now, however, a new debate is emerging: Those eager to get back to work, are challenging those who want to stay closed.
Although we are all in the same boat, together fighting the virus, people have different roles, stakes, and preferences. Thus, even if there may be agreement on what we are up against medically, there is increasingly disagreement regarding the appropriate remedies.
Although this tendency towards discord should not be exaggerated, I expect this trait of our current situation to become more pronounced, before it eventually fades.
This raises some severe challenges for public policy and leadership, particularly in poorer countries where imminent needs to produce income are pressing, but also to some extent on our fortunate turf here.